Ben Sullivan owns New Order Advertising with his best friend Huxley Andrews. A New graphic designer joins the company and throws his world into chaos after he already made a terrible first impression on her on a night out.
Really enjoyed writing my...
The girls were all in Rae's room getting ready. The wedding was at noon, so they'd all gotten up around 8 a.m., breakfasted and were now preparing: a process of showers, clothes, hair and makeup. Rose was doing Paige's hair while in her pyjamas. Paige and Rose's mum, and any other relatives were banned due to their demanding and pushy behaviour at every dress excursion, shoe shop and generally every decision Paige made. Phoebe was doing her hair, and Rae was about to jump in the shower. They were all vaguely humming along to the music playing in the background. It was early, and so it was a mixture of girly sing-along but bluesy rather than depressing- Julia Stone, Norah Jones and Cat Power.
"I'm gonna shower and warm up the vocal cords," Rae said as she exited the room for her en suite. She wasn't feeling particularly nervous; she'd sung the pieces loads of times and knew it off by heart, so didn't need lyrics, and she didn't need to worry about an accompanist. They'd done a run-through yesterday regarding where she'd be standing. Thankfully, due to the outdoor setting, there would be no microphone to worry about regarding levels which suited her cos she hated them. The issue was that she wasn't a naturally good performer; she didn't easily engage with her audience. Rae liked having something to hold and pretend to be looking at. At open mics singing acapella, she often sang with her eyes closed and occasionally, even though she knew she looked weird, she'd open one eye slightly to see how it was going. Today, however, required looking somewhere but not scarily staring at just one person; she'd look at Ben and tell him beforehand so it didn't freak him out.
Clean, shaven and with legs nicely fake-tanned, Rae exited the shower and saw Phoebe was pretty much ready.
"Phoebe, can you give me a hand with my hair? You know the back always looks shit if I do it myself."
"Sure. All warmed up?"
"Yeah," Rae said as she started up the hairdryer.
"Right, my turn to shower. The bride is all yours, for god's sake; don't let her get plastered," Rose said as she went to wash.
"I'm fine. Will you relax," Paige answered as she began her makeup with a tinted moisturiser. Paige didn't ever really do makeup, and what she did was subtle. Rae and Phoebe would be giving her a hand with a few minor touches, which would take a matter of moments. Rae planned some mascara, a touch of blush and lightener to make Paige's cheekbones glimmer and some subtle eyeshadow and liners to make Paige's eyes pop in the photos.
Once the bridesmaids were ready and dressed and Paige's makeup was flawless, it was time to get Paige into her wedding dress. Bizarrely, Paige's shoes went on before dress, lace-up gladiator-style sandals in white and grey, which were easier to attach pre-dress rather than after under layers of fabric. They'd learnt this the hard way at the fitting. Her dress was simple, nothing fancy or covered in jewels and lace. A triangle-shaped top with spaghetti straps Paige always thought she looked best in her bikini top or sports bra, so finding a dress with a similarly shaped top was just perfect. The skirt was layers of light, see-through tulle. What made it stunningly beautiful were the hints of colour- it wasn't white. Paige hadn't wanted a block colour dress or a typical 'I'm not having a white dress' dress, which for some reason meant black or red and steampunk style. The dress was subtly grey with darker hints interspersed throughout like watercolour. They were zipping Paige up and fanning out the layers of the skirt when there was a knock on the door.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
