Wedding Bells

04| a small party

•Jamie•
I heard a knock on the door and soon, Anil- my secretary- was popping his head in with a plastic takeout bag hanging from his right hand. I gestured for him to come in and he entered, placed the food in front of me, then left. Right when I was about to open the food packaging, I heard a 'ding' come out of my phone, signifying that I had received a text. I swiped open the phone to see that it was Katherine.

Katherine- I'm having a small party with some close friends. Be there at 20:30 sharp. Don't come empty handed.
Me- If you need help setting up, I can send someone. I'll get wine and flowers.
Katherine- My friend is allergic to flowers. Just get the wine.

I asked Anil to buy some wine and to clear out my schedule for today evening. She was having a party on a week night- it was ridiculous. Nonetheless, I asked him to check in with Katherine's secretary to make sure she didn't require any help with the party.

I ate my food in a rush because I had an important meeting in 2 hours and still had some preparation to do. As soon as I finished, I went through my emails and started preparing for the meeting. I was less than fifteen minutes into the prepping when my office door opened to reveal a stunningly dressed Amelia.

She was wearing a short, tight red dress with a furry white zip-up jacket and white strap on heels. Her lipstick was a bright red- in classic Amelia style and her smile, as always, was flirty and suggestive.

She shut the blinds in the office and locked the door behind her as she approached my desk. She gripped my suit's lapels and pulled me closer. I quickly swatted her hands away and stepped back.

'You can't just barge in and act like this,' I informed, opening the blinds in my office as fast as I could.

She raised an eyebrow. 'I thought this was our thing,' she explained, 'dropping in unannounced and kissing in the office.'

I scurried across the room and opened the door before replying. 'It used to be our thing but it's not anymore. I'm getting married.'

She scoffed at this and rolled her eyes. 'Something like that would be all over the news. Irrespective of a public statement, someone is bound to talk about it. Are you messing with me right now?'

I patiently explained that getting married to someone people call 'the queen of media' meant that everything can be kept under wraps rather neatly. She still couldn't believe it but eventually, decided against holding an argument.

'If you were getting into an arranged marriage, why not with me?' She questioned, crossing her arms and furrowing her brows.

'You and I both know of all the scandals and rumours about you. My parents would never approve,' I told her in a soft voice.

She suggested having lunch together but I denied and recommended that we don't see each other again unless it was business related. She seemed a little sad but her lies tend to be rather convincing. Knowing Amelia, she was probably going to leave my office and enter the next head office to continue 'her thing' with someone else. One boy was never really enough for her.
—
The driver opened my car door and I stepped out. I stood before Katherine's door and fixed up my tie before ringing the bell. As soon as she opened the door, she furrowed her eyebrows.

'What are you wearing?' She asked, removing the tie from around my neck, 'And, is that a potted plant?'

I put my hand forward to give her the plant and she picked it up. 'Your friend was allergic to flowers so I wasn't sure what to get,' I murmured.

I also handed over the wine as she opened my shirt's first two buttons and removed the blazer. She began rolling up my right sleeve, then my left. After she was done, she took a step back and did a small twirl.

'How do I look?' She asked, a warm smile plastered across her face.

She was wearing an all black outfit. A glittery black tube top with short shorts and thigh-high boots. She looked pretty, but I chose to lie.

'Not that great,' I said nonchalantly before entering the house.

I saw all her friends in similar casual outfits and suddenly, felt a little out of place. She picked the plant and the wine off the floor and walked away.

'I was worried I had misjudged you by writing you off as rude and harsh, seeing how you were all kind on Saturday. But I suppose I wasn't wrong.' She explained, placing the plant near a window and the wine on a table.

I don't usually lie just for the sake of being mean but it felt right in the moment. She's never all that nice to me anyway and my day at work hadn't gone that well so I gave myself a pass for being harsh and took a seat at the table with her friends.

They were all eating chips, doritos and fruit loops by the handful as they stared at me and sized me up. Just as I poked my fork into a mango piece, all the girls started asking me questions at the same time. It was clamorous and chaotic and I couldn't even hear all their questions because of how loud they were.

Among the 7 billion questions they must have asked, I must have heard less than ten but I answered the ones I could. Soon, Katherine was over at the table pouring wine in all the glasses, asking the girls to ease off. She pushed a glass of wine towards me but I shook my head to say no.

'I have a low alcohol limit so I avoid drinking,' I justified, taking the deck of cards on the table and shuffling them.

I dealt the cards and we must have played almost 30 rounds of card games before we decided to move onto charades. Within a few hours, we had exhausted most game night options. We were done with card games, Pictionary, charades, 20 questions, twister and a nerf gun war. We also watched half of 'Aladdin' despite my strong protests.

It was almost midnight now and none of us wanted to stop. Well, a small part of me wanted to stop. But none of them did. We were simply staring at each other, trying to come up with ideas.

'Beer pong!' One of Katherine's friends- Sky (I think)- yelled into my ear.

I was just about to oppose the idea of playing a drinking game like a bunch of high school kids, when Katherine removed a stack of red use-and-throw cups from a nearby cabinet. I decided to simply give into the 'peer pressure' and play the game.

Even though I had a feeling it wasn't going to end well for any of us.

Um, so quick question- do you guys like the little outfit collage things that I make? Does it help you envision it better? Or do you prefer reading without the collage thingy?
I hope you guys liked it. Love yous.
Don't forget to vote and comment.
<3