A Quiet Kismet

Chapter Twenty One

AGE 26

"I swear my feet are going to fall off and find new owners if I don't find a seat soon." I groaned, plopping myself in a seat between Delia and one of the other bridesmaids. Catalina? Katerina? I don't know, but she's the quietest one in our group. I'll just call her Cat-Kat.

"Do you think Julia should be drinking that much?" Cat-Kat said watching my sister down her third shot since we arrived, a half hour ago. When we arrived Jules immediately ordered everyone tequila shots and a kamikaze shot for herself. I opted out of either and instead nursed a bottle of water.

"Lighten up Sister Catherine." Delia rolled her eyes swooping up to grab another shot glass from the attendant in our vip room. "To matrimony bitches!"

I laughed and tipped my drink back. I wanted to be of sound mind when I got up the courage to talk to Jules, she had avoided me throughout the whole ride to the club and mingled more with her friends. Not that I could blame her. I was being a really crappy bridesmaid and an even crappier sister.

"What's up little sister," Delia slurred wrapping her arms around me. "You've got that really thoughtful face of yours on. Whatcha thinkin bout?"

"Delia for the love of God, switch to water." I grumbled, throwing her arm off of me.

She made hissing cat sounds and smiled even wider when I glared at her. "You've got a lot of nerve being the pissy one here Millie. In fact, I should be the one who's pissy!"

"In England you would be considered pissed." I said dryly. Marlene, my first New York roommate, would call us pissed when we drank too much. Of course this goes over my sister's head and she narrows her eyes at me.

"I am, because you're taking out your anger on me! I'm not the one who was late to the rehearsal dinner because I was working when I promised not to this weekend! And I wasn't the one who didn't make a heartfelt toast to my baby sister on one of the most important nights of her life." She yelled garnering the attention of everyone in the room including Jules who was in the corner ordering another drink.

Jules grabbed her drink and made her way towards us, her face set firmly in a disapproving scowl. "What are you two fighting about?" She demanded.

"Nothing-" I said at the same time Delia said,

"Millie being a sucky sister."

Her eyes cut to me and she shrugged, "Carry on." She said brushing past me.

"Jules!" I chased after her, thankful that I hadn't been drinking so I still had my coordination to navigate the crowd. Thankfully Jules was a little drunk so she stumbled slowly and I easily caught up to her. "Wait, can we talk?" I begged.

She stared at me like she was trying to decide if she wanted to or not. This was a stark contrast to the girl I had grown up with. My baby sister Jules hated when we fought and was always the first to extend the olive branch. Of course the woman standing in front of me was guarded and not in any rush to forgive me. I deserved that.

Instead she crossed her arms over her chest and nodded her head, gesturing for me to continue my groveling. "I'm sorry for being late to the rehearsal dinner, and for disappearing after the fitting. I should've called someone but I started writing and I lost track of time and-"

"You were working?" Jules said dropping her arms, her fists curling up at her sides. The left side of her nose twitched and a vein popped out on her forehead, nearly identical to Mom's when she's pissed.

"I wasn't working that long-" I tried to backtrack but it was too late. Jules was already angry enough.

"You're freakin unbelievable!" She threw her hands up, "Millie you said no work this weekend! God, you disappeared all day, came late to the rehearsal and didn't even make a toast. I thought you would've said something nice. But I guess you used up all your words on that stupid book of yours." She huffed walking away but I wasn't going to let her walk away. I wasn't done talking.