Just Once More

One

“-Gisele” Lily’s mellow voice breaks off my ten-minute rant. She’s standing in front of the mirror with a hand on her hip and a frown on her face. She relaxes her red carpet-pose to survey my flushed reflection. “Do I look beautiful?”

I give her lacy dress with tiny spaghetti straps the once-over. The dress is perfect for Lily. Dreamy, blush and backless with a tulle skirt that only just skims the floor of my room. She looks ethereal with her long curls crowned with daisies and makeup simple yet elegant. For the first time ever it’s dawned on me that my only living relative is getting married in less than three hours. After the helicopter accident that killed Mum, Dad and Tyler - Lily’s all I have left.

A million responses run through my mind but I say the one we both know is true, “You look absolutely beautiful”

“Really?” She sounds doubtful now looking at me properly.

“Yes.”

 “I wish Mum was here.”

On the list of people that have annoyed me today, Lily has replaced the catering company with first place. It’s bad enough that I have to spend the whole day with her snotty friends, now I have to listen to her moaning.

“Well Lily, I wish I was a size two with legs for days but we don’t always get what we want in life.”

Lily pouts, staring at me with puppy-dog eyes. “You’re supposed to be nice to me today.”

I push myself off the bed with a sigh, careful not to trip over my ridiculously long dress. I should be nice to her today. After all it’s the one day she gets to feel like a princess.

“Alright, is there anything else you want done?” I ask as the other three bridesmaids return from checking if everything downstairs is going according to plan.

I can see Lily’s attention has already diverted so before excusing myself I reach out for the jar of macadamia cookies on my bed stand.

“Ouch!” My hand recoils as a result of Lily’s friend slapping it. “What was that for?

“No food until the reception.” Jas moves the jar out of my hungry line of vision. “You don’t want to look like a fat whale in the pictures now do you?”

“I’d rather be a fat whale than a lollipop head.” I mutter, rubbing my stinging hand. I’ve been on this stupid diet for three months just so I could fit into the size eight dress Lily went ahead and ordered. What kind of crazy person buys a dress two sizes smaller?

“And you wonder why you don’t have a boyfriend.” I roll my eyes at her harsh comment. As if I would take relationship advice from a two-time divorcee.

“Oh shut up Jas.” As I stomp off Lily calls my name. “What is it Lily?”

“Do you think you might be able to give Dom a message from me?”

My hand freezes on the door handle. My breathing has stopped at the sound of Dominic’s name and my face begins to flush again. My heart feels like a hammer against my ribs. The rate at which my lungs pick up when I start to breathe again is shocking. In short, Dominic Vasquez is the reason for my respiratory system going haywire. I should be over this by now… This shouldn’t be happening today of all days. Feeling Jas’ suspicious stare on the back of my head, I quickly regain composure. I look my sister directly in the face when I turn my whole body around.

“Okay,” I whimper. “What do you want me to tell him?”

A warm smile begins to creep up on Lily’s face. “Tell him I love him and can’t wait to spend forever with him.”

I die inside. “Okay... Anything else?”

“No, nothing else. That’s it…” Lily sighs like she’d rather skip the next three hours to be with Dominic. “Thanks Gisele... For agreeing to give me away. I couldn’t ask for a better older sister.”

I nod and leave as my eyes start to sting a little. The second the door clicks shut behind me the tears start to flow freely.

~*~

“Where’s Dom?” I ask one of the guys setting up the final touches for the ceremony outside after looking in the room Dominic’s supposed to be in.

The man shrugs. “I last saw him grabbing something to eat in the kitchen about half an hour ago…”

I make my way back through the open French doors to see the family’s bulldog chewing on a squeaky toy. For our parent’s wedding anniversary, the three of us had bought Sofi as a gift so it only felt right to bring her home after the accident. A decision I kind of regret now. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against dogs but Sofi is more than anyone can handle. Sensing me in the room, Sofi’s eyes dart up and she abandons her toy to try to tackle me to the ground in my bridesmaid’s dress.

“No… No….Don’t even try it Sofi. Stop right there.”

Tongue waggling, Sofi ignores my command and runs towards me. As a result I stumble in the opposite direction out of the kitchen and find myself in one of the guest bedrooms moments later. Thank God I escaped because the last thing I need is to give Jas another reason to be nasty. Partially out of breath, I listen as Sofi barks for me to come out and play on the other side of the door.

Great.

I still haven’t managed to find Dominic and now I’m stuck in here. I heavily exhale and go over to the other end to open the blinds up.

“Oh shoot, sorry” I begin to apologise as my head comes into contact with a hard bare chest. “I didn’t realise there was someone in here… I’ll leave.”

“No you don’t have to leave.” A thick foreign accent invades my personal bubble. I step backwards and the back of my legs hit the edge of the bed. I gulp fearfully in the darkness, recognizing his voice in an instant when he says, “I was kinda hoping to see you before the wedding.”