That's Just Life

That's Just Life - The Calm Before The Storm

What is marriage? Is it what you do when you want to spend the rest of your life with someone? Is it just a binding contract to show your love for someone? Or is it just a trap because you don't realise how long forever actually is?

Either way its what a lot of people want. It makes a person feel happy to know they will always have someone with them forever, but not me I think its kind of scary to commit yourself to someone forever and they will never ever leave you. Lets just say weddings aren't really my thing, but today they have to be because it's my cousin's wedding and I'm her maid of honour and it'll be on my shoulders if anything were to go wrong.

"So you're really not bringing anyone?" Jenna said looking at me through the mirror as I was curling her hair.
"No I'm not, I had no one to bring"
"Sure you did, there's Myles or that hot guy who keeps texting you every five minutes", she said nodding her head the direction of my phone screen that keeps lighting up with new messages.
"You don't take your ex who's in a relationship to a wedding and you don't know that the other guy is hot"
"No but you do take your ex that kissed you the other day because he clearly still has feelings for you and if the other guy wasn't hot you wouldn't still have him saved in your contacts as 'Hot stalker guy' with a heart eyed emoji next to it" she said picking up my phone.
I put down the curling iron and took my phone from her hand. "For the record he put that in not me and second of all Myles is still with someone else so he obviously doesn't intend on getting back together with me"
"Doesn't mean you can't still have a little fun with him" she said winking at me.
"Jen!"
"What don't act like you wouldn't ever even consider it"
"Besides I think it's a bit late now considering the wedding is in an hour"
"Nah it's never too late, I vote you call 'Hot stalker guy' and see what he's up to"
"Jenna, today is about you not my messed up love life"
"Weddings are always about partying, right ladies" she said turning to all the other bridesmaids.
"Woooooo" they replied holding their glasses up in the air.
"Okay I think we are ready to go" I said putting all the hair and makeup stuff away.
"Wait!"
"What? Did I forget something?"
"No everything is perfect"
"Then what is it?"
"I'm getting married"
"You will be if we move now"
"No, I don't know I just have a really bad feeling about this"
"It's just cold feet you'll forget all about it when you get there"
"I don't think so, can we just like wait ten minutes"
"Not if you don't want to be late to your own wedding!"
"Okay you're right let's go it's nothing"
"Good alright then lets go get you married," I said with excitement in my voice trying so hard to make myself sound excited even though I was dreading it.

As we were getting into the car I looked up to the sky that was covered in dark grey clouds, then I felt one drop of rain on my cheek.
"It's a good thing the wedding is not outside I said, getting into the drivers seat"
"Are you sure you're okay to drive, you're not gonna drive on the wrong side of the road or anything?"
"Ha ha you're so funny, I can assure you I'm a very good driver on both sides of the road thank you very much"
"Just checking," she said smiling at me. So I just turned to her and stuck my tongue out like when we were kids.

At the Hotel Tyler and the rest of his and Jenna's family are awaiting our arrival.
"Tyler, you treat my daughter well or I'll..."
"That's enough Sam" Kathryn says cutting him off mid sentence. "He means we are so happy for you both and we hope you have a bright future together" she says taking hold of her husbands arm.
"I can promise you I'll take great care of your daughter Mr Lester, she means the world to me I would never let anything hurt her"
"Alright, alright save it for the vows I was just messing with ya"
"Hey, Joey are they on their way yet?" Mrs Lester says
"Mum they left before me they're not here yet?"
"Clearly not"
"Should we be worried?" Mr Lester said taking out his phone.
"I'm sure they just hit a bit of traffic on the way in she'll be here soon" she said rubbing Tyler's arm.

An hour passes and there was still no sign. People were getting anxious but not as anxious as Tyler. Kevin Tyler's brother and best man whispered in his ear "Dude it's been like an hour where is she?"
"I don't know has anyone called?"
"I bet she realised she had to wake up to your face everyday and ran" he said chuckling.
"You're so hilarious you know that kev"
"I do try," he said looking quite pleased with himself.
Tyler took out his phone to call them but as he did so it started to ring, he didn't recognise the number but answered anyway hoping it was one of the girls. "Hello" "speaking" Then his face drops.
"Oh come on man you know I'm joking"
"Kevin shut up!" "Okay" "I'm on my way"
"Is everything okay?" Kevin said.
"That was the hospital, they were in a car accident"


Earlier on that day as we got onto the motorway the rain started to come down harder, I could just about see the road in front of me.
"Did you call 'Hot stalker guy' in the end?" one of the bridesmaids said making eye contact with me in the mirror from the backseat of the car.
"No I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be interested anyway", I said concentrating back on the road.
"Well how do you know if you're not even gonna call and ask?" Jenna said picking up my phone from the cup holder in between the driver and passenger seat.
"Jen please don't!"
"What I'm doing this for your own good so you're not sat at a table all by yourself later when everyone else is dancing with someone"
"Jen, you know I don't dance at weddings or parties anyway it's cheesy"
"Uh hello is this 'Hot stalker guy?" she said putting the phone on speaker so I could hear. Then a muffled voice replied
"Well it depends who's asking?"
"This is Jenna Isla's cousin, It's my wedding today and she'd really love it if you could come to the reception later?"
Then I sigh and shake my head at Jenna.
"It starts at six"
"Okay I'll be there", he replied.
"Oh and she is going to rent a hotel room for afterwards if you are interested"
"Jenna!" I said reaching over to grab the phone and hang up
"Isla the road!" she shouted.
I could feel the wheels slipping out of control beneath me. The headlights of the lorry coming the other way were blinding. All I could see was white light. Then for just a single moment, less than a second there was silence, that deafening silence that makes your mind wonder. I guess that's why they call it the calm before the storm. You're left there just waiting for a collision not knowing when or what comes next until.... It happens. 
I don't remember much of what happened next just the faint but distinct sound of sirens from all around. Then everything stopped and I was still, my mind was finally at peace until...
"I'll get it for her"
"No I will I'm closer!"
"Guys would you shut up! She's not even awake, she doesn't bloody need water!"
"Kate?" I said gradually opening my eyes.
"Isla you're okay", she said as a sigh of relief coming over to hug me.
"Ouch, my head is pounding"
"The doctor said you have a mild concussion from your head hitting the dashboard but you'll be okay"
"Jenna?!"
"Jenna is in the other room she was unconscious last I checked"
"I need to see her!"
"No you don't Tyler and Joey are here with her"
"Do you need anything?" Myles said.
"Yes, I'll get you some water" Aaron said reaching for the jug.
"I got it" Myles said snatching the glass before Aaron could reach for it.
"For the love of god you two, would you just stop for five bloody minutes?!" Kate shouted taking the jug and glass from both of them.
"We'll just wait outside", Aaron said exiting the room after Myles.
"So much for not wanting guys in your life" Kate said chuckling.
"I don't!"
"Well that's not what they think"
"Ughhh I know," I said shoving my face in my pillow.
"Aaron can't seriously be the cute guy you were talking about, not that he doesn't look the part because he really does. He was just acting so... childish, well they both were but we knew about Myles for a long time"
I just sat there with my face in my pillow.
"They must really like you if they're willing to act like that in public?" she said laughing.
"You think so I said taking the pillow off my face"
"Ya, only problem is there's two of them"
"Not really because Myles is with someone else"
"Okay, I'm gonna tell you this and you're probably not going to enjoy hearing this so I'm just gonna take the water away from you" she said putting the glass and jug to the side.
"What is it?!" I said thinking of all the possible things she could say next.
"Myles broke up with his girlfriend before he kissed you"
Out of all the possible things she could have said I was not expecting that to come out of her mouth, "No!"
"He was gonna tell you but..."
"I ran away" I shoved my face back in the pillow.
"He knows you're not actually with Aaron so there's a bit of competition between them."
"Ya, no shit!"
"But that's okay I can go tell them right now that you don't want any guys in your life at the moment and that you're not interested" she said getting up to reach the door.
"Wait!"
"I knew it you like one of them! Which is it," she said pulling the chair closer to the bed.
"I don't........... know yet"
"Oooooooh damn girl you like them both? That's not good"
"You're telling me!"
Then Tyler comes into the room, "Jenna is awake!"
Kate pushes the wheelchair towards my bed for me to get in. I gradually push myself up from the bed and sit in the chair.
As we entered the next room I could see the many cuts and bruises all over her face
"The doctor said that Jenna will be fine she just needs to take it easy for a few days"
"But the wedding..." Jenna said croakily reaching for Tyler's hand.
"It can wait until next week", he said placing his other hand on top of hers.
"But we had everything sorted for today"
"It's okay I will sort everything out you just focus on resting", he said bending over to kiss her forehead.
Then she turned her head to look at me in the chair, "at least now you have time to invite someone"
"Ha-ha, yah" I said looking over to Kate. She just bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.
The doctor entered wearing a typical white coat carrying a clipboard. "Okay everyone else is good you can leave when you're ready just be sure to take it easy for a few days and if you pass out or start vomiting you must come back immediately"
"Thanks Doc", Tyler said getting up to shake his hand.

On the way out I saw one of the doctors talking to a lady. She had light brown hair and she was wearing a black blazer jacket that matched her skirt. He then kissed her on the cheek and carried on with his work. She was very smiley and looked at him with that look that everyone talks about. She looked familiar but I couldn't put a finger on it I knew that I definitely knew her I could feel it, maybe it's was a lost connection or maybe I just know someone who looked like her.
"Isla?"
I heard a voice behind me it was her. It then hit me. I know who this person is. "I'm sorry do I know you?"
"It's me, come on you know who I am we were best friends for so long"
I listened to the words she spoke and focussed on the fact that she used 'were' instead of 'are' it is true we haven't spoken in so long... Though there was a reason for that. So I guess you couldn't really call us friends at all. I know who this person is and I know what happened between us.
"I'm sorry you have the wrong person", and just carried on walking.

Later on at the café on the pier our old and regular hangout spot. Blake was being his usual goofy self. While Kate was trying to keep Adam quiet by feeding him biscuits, James complaining that they don't sell beer in a café, Tymira agreeing with James' complaint and me trying to avoid eye contact with Myles.
"Well if no one else is gonna say anything about the elephant in the room I will, She's back so what?!" I said taking a sip from my drink.
"Of course she is, once she caught word that the group is back together she's not gonna let herself be forgotten is she", James said taking the fork out of Adams hand that he was about to shove in his mouth.
"Centre of attention as per usual, even when she's not here she always finds a way to be the topic of conversation", Kate said rolling her eyes.
"We know what she's like, we're not gonna let her do what she did last time", Myles said trying to make it not sound like a problem but no matter what we say or do there is no avoiding the fact that she is a huge problem.
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"Look we don't even know what she's here for or if she is even planning on seeing us again"
"Oh she will she will find a way she always does"
"It's a big city how hard can it be to avoid her"
"Very hard apparently", Tymira said looking in the direction of the till.
"It's not too late if we all run out the back door now maybe she won't see us" James said standing up.
"Well, well, well look who it is", she said walking over from the till stirring her drink with a smug smile on her face.
"Crap!" He said sitting back down again sighing.
"The group back together again who would have thought?"
"Hello Lillian", we all just looked down at our drinks avoiding eye contact with her like she is Medusa, which wouldn't surprise me it would actually explain a lot!