The One

Chapter 8

After three months of FaceTime and texts, I was ready to see Brad again. It was the morning of August 16th, and I had to get up and start getting ready. Melissa walks in the house with Starbucks for Klaudia, her and I.

"Maranda, I got your favorite!" she exclaimed.

"A vanilla bean frappuccino with two pumps of raspberry?" I asked with excitement.

"Yes ma'am, and Klaudia, I got you your favorite too!" she said.

"A double chocolate chip frappuccino?" Klaudia asked with excitement as well.

"Yes ma'am. Now don't drink them too fast. I'd hate for you two to get sick during the wedding," Melissa said.

"I'm going to feel sick to my stomach once I see Brad," I said jokingly.

We all laughed as there was a knock at the door. Melissa opens the door and it's her friend that's going to be doing our hair. She brings multiple bags inside and catches up with Melissa while she was getting the curling iron heated up. Since she was doing my hair first, I had to show her a picture.

"Oh my goodness! That is going to look beautiful on you!" she exclaimed.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Sophia," she said.

"Well it's nice to meet you," I said as she started a french braid with my hair.

I gave Melissa faces to show her how bad it hurt, but it really didn't. Melissa and Sophia carried on their conversation as Sophia curled my hair.

"Alright Maranda, since the wedding isn't for a few hours still, I'm going to roll up your curls and clip them to your head so they don't fall out," Sophia said.

"Okay," I said as I finished my frappuccino.

She sprayed my hair with more hairspray before Klaudia came in the room.

"Is it my turn now?" Klaudia asked.

"Yes ma'am, it is," Sophia said.

As I was leaving the room, I saw Klaudia hold up a picture of Elsa's hair on coronation day in the movie Frozen. Melissa handed Sophia some ribbon and told her to somehow weave it in her hair. I was texting Brad and putting a few sneak peek pictures of my hair on Facebook. Melissa hooked her phone up to the speaker and started playing music from Frozen. I could hear them all singing it from upstairs.

"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight

Not a footprint to be seen.

A kingdom of isolation,

And it looks like I'm the queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside

Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!

Don't let them in, don't let them see

Be the good girl you always have to be

Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know

Well, now they know!

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go

Turn away and slam the door!

I don't care

What they're going to say

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway!"

They all honestly sounded like a bunch of little girls singing this song together. I decided that I was going to join in, but I had to get my dress on first before doing so. When the final chorus came up, I copied Elsa's motions that she does throughout her ice castle, but I did mine in our kitchen. Once the song was over, we all started laughing so hard we had tears coming from our eyes. Melissa looked at me afterwards and gave me a weird look.

"Was that your voice?" she asked.

"Like, was that me singing?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Uh, yeah, that was me singing," I stated.

Melissa turns on some more music and listens to me sing. She looks at me with pure joy as I catch my breath after dancing and singing.

"Maranda, I never knew that you had it in you," Melissa said.

"Well, when you're a cheerleader and play clarinet in the band, you know that anything is possible," I stated.

Melissa gets a big smile on her face to show her pride. Sophia weaves the ribbon into my hair before I go upstairs to do my makeup. Once I got upstairs, I decided how I was going to do my makeup. Since it was summer and I didn't have any acne, I didn't have to worry about putting on foundation and cover up. I looked through all of the makeup that was laid out on my dresser, and decided that I was going to do a smokey eye. I started with a layer of a coral color that matched my dress. After both eyes were even, I put a tiny bit of black in the corner of my eye. Then, I took my thumb and wiped it across both of my eyelids, and the makeup was perfect. Of course then I had to wipe my thumbs with makeup remover to get the eyeshadow off and then I put my mascara on. A few minutes later, my makeup was perfected. I walked into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I gave myself a look in the mirror and realized how beautiful I really am.

When I stepped downstairs, Melissa's dad was standing in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. He also was wearing very nice clothes, which I didn't see on him too often. I grabbed my suitcase with clothes for the night and put my high heels on. I told Melissa goodbye as she was getting her hair done. Once I stepped outside, I realized how bright the sun was and how beautiful it was outside. I put my suitcase into the back of the van as I watched Melissa's dad help his wife into the van. It was in that moment that I realized I wanted a relationship like them. I shut the van door and looked at Klaudia as she took selfies on her phone. I took one quick and perfect selfie. I uploaded it onto Facebook and told Brad that I was on my way to Rotary Gardens in Janesville.