Walk the Line

13 - The Time She Plans a Bachelorette Party

this is long overdue and I am sorry 

13 – The Time She Plans a Bachelorette Party

"What are you doing for Caroline's bachelorette party?" Blythe asked me.

"What?" I asked, choking on my drink.

"You're the maid of honor, Eleanor. You have to plan a bachelorette party. Ford's been working on the bachelor party, haven't you, babe?" Tiffany said, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer to her. Ford looked like he was in a daze.

"Hm? Yeah," he replied noncommittally.

I'd been home for two weeks and so far our weekly Saturday night hang outs at Kyle and Blythe's place had become a near-tradition. It was only last week that Blythe had begged me to come over and when I finally agreed, I met Tiffany, Ford's girlfriend. I hadn't even known he was dating someone, but he and Tiffany had supposedly been dating for a few months and came over every Saturday night for drinks and dinner.

Tiffany was the kind of girl you wanted to hate but couldn't find a fault with her worth hating. She was tall, with the best legs I'd ever seen on a girl with perfect blonde hair. She was nice, super nice, which made it even worse that I desperately wanted to hate her. When I mentioned how perfect and white her teeth were, she told me all of the ingredients in her homemade whitening paste. She even went so far as to mix them all together and make me my own batch. It worked really well, too.

"I guess I kind of dropped the ball," I said, "I hadn't really thought about it."

In fact, I hadn't. I started my job at the Franklin County News Agency two weeks after Caroline's wedding, and as if that wasn't eating away at me enough, Caroline was using up my ever spare moment with crafty centerpieces and last-minute phone calls to caterers, bakers, and tailors. I was at my wits end and a bachelorette party with Caroline seemed like hell.

On top of that, I was searching desperately for an apartment or house to rent just so I didn't have to live with my parents any more. Not that I didn't love my parents; they'd been really great to let me crash back in my old bedroom and give me my own space, but it just felt a little weird moving back. Like I was regressing instead of moving forward after college.

"It's okay, you've been moving around a lot and I'm sure it's really hectic! I already have a Pinterest board full of ideas! I can help!" Tiffany said. And then I was ushered into a Pinterest board full of pink tulle, glitter, and phallic-shaped items. I could never look at bananas the same way again.

Ford and Kyle went off to do their own thing, and within a few hours, we had her entire bachelor party planned.

"I'll tell Caroline that we're going out for dinner, just the two of us and then instead of taking her to a restaurant, I'll just take her here?" I asked.

"Yeah, sounds good to me. I should make sure that it's okay with Kyle first, though it shouldn't be a problem," Blythe said.

"I can go shopping for stuff with you on Wednesday," Tiffany offered.

"Sure, that sounds good," I said, "We'll start here and then end with a bar crawl around town, the main goal is just to get her as drunk as possible. She really needs to chill and have a good time."

"Has she been a bridezilla?" Blythe laughed, handing me another beer.

"Understatement," I laughed, "My hands are scarred from all the hot-glue. No one even cares about the centerpieces! I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting. I guess I'm just not the type to sit and plan my wedding from the age of twelve like every other girl on the planet."

"I was the same way. People would ask me what my wedding theme was and I would tell them the colors and they would be like, 'no the theme!' It's a wedding, not a kids' birthday party, the theme is wedding," Blythe laughed.

"I think she just wants it to be perfect," Tiffany defended, like the perfect person that she is. I was already dreading going shopping with her. It would probably be just perfect. Ford and Kyle came back and rejoined the conversation

"Ford said you're looking for a place to move to, have you checked Hubbard Realty?" Tiffany said, "That's who he bought his house from and it's just perfect, isn't it baby?"

"I've checked everywhere," I laughed bitterly, "You just can't really find many places to rent around here and I can't afford another loan because I have so much student debt." I'd seen Ford's house. He'd bought it sort of recently and it was an old massive farmhouse he'd always admired on our drives home from school. The way Tiffany said it, however, set me the wrong way. Ford had purchased the house soley for himself—only his name was on the loan, but the way Tiffany talked, it was like they were living together, and the last time I checked, they surely were not.

"I'm sure you'll find a place," Blythe said, "If not, just move in here."

"I appreciate the offer, but I really don't want to move in with my married brother. Besides, you guys should be filling those rooms with babies soon," I said, mocking my mother who was desperate for her first grandchild.

"I did not have five kids to not have any grandchildren!" Kyle, Blythe, and I all mocked my mother's voice before laughing.

"She's even starting to nag at me to settle down because her 'birth children seem to be slacking'," Ford laughed.

"That's completely unfair though, Allison isn't even out of high school yet," I defended.

"I think she just misses the house not being as loud as it used to be, everyone's moving out," Kyle mused.

"And I'm moving back in," I said bitterly and took a large gulp of my drink.