Three

Emery

“Heidi, what are you doing to my hair?” I asked.

Heidi laughed hysterically behind me. “I’m making you look presentable, Em. You just wait. It will come together at the end.”

She threaded a few more strands of my hair into this crazy braid.

If Heidi and I hadn’t been best friends since kindergarten and if I hadn’t known all her deep, dark secrets, I was sure she would have dumped me for the cool crowd. Despite her obsession with geometry, her all black attire, and her pool-slinging skills, she had been a cheerleader and obsessed with popularity.

My sister, Kimber, had been the girlie girl—prom queen, homecoming queen, voted most attractive. The whole shebang.

But not me. Though I never had a problem with finding a date, I had not been the typical teenager. I had played varsity soccer my freshman year, I’d skateboarded circles around the dude-bros in town, and I had made up my mind that my dream job was to become a vampire slayer.

At the time, Landon Wright had tested my friendship with Heidi. Why would the star quarterback have any interest in the loner tomboy? I hadn’t understood it any more than Heidi.

I closed my eyes and pushed the thoughts aside. I was only thinking about Landon because I knew he would be at the wedding this afternoon. He hadn’t crossed my mind in a long time, and I hadn’t seen him in longer.

“I swear, it’s going to be cute,” Heidi assured me.

“I know. I trust you,” I said. “I cannot believe that you talked me into going to this wedding with you. Is it going to be like a high school reunion? I don’t know if I’m prepared for that.”

“It’s not a high school reunion,” Heidi said. “I got invited because I work for the Wrights and, like, half of the company was invited. It’s going to be a big wedding. I doubt you’ll even run into him.”

“I am not worried about running into Landon. It’s been almost ten years since we broke up,” I told her.

“Didn’t he get married anyway?” Heidi asked.

She yanked on my hair, and I winced.

“I don’t follow him. You would know more than I would.” I glared at Heidi in the mirror. “Stop giving me that look. Do you know how many guys I’ve dated since Landon? No, you don’t. Because I can’t even remember, but it’s a lot. And I’m currently sitting right here because of guy trouble.”

“I just know you and Landon,” Heidi said dreamily. “Perfect high school couple. That was, like, the only thing that you beat Kimber in. You and Landon got Best Couple in the yearbook.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please stop reminiscing about high school, or I’ll vomit.”

“You were cute,” Heidi added.

“If you think for a minute that something is going to happen with him at this wedding, you’re out of your mind. Not only is he married, but he’ll also be there with his wife. And, as of today, I’m officially swearing off men.”

Heidi laughed. “Yeah, right, Em,” she said. “You are boy crazy and always have been. Even when you were our little skater girl.”

“Look, Mitch fooled me into thinking that he loved me. He was, like, fifteen years older than me and a total player. I’m almost certain he was sleeping with an undergrad,” I told her. “I mean…how bad is my judgment skewed that I ended up with someone like that? I think I just need to be single for a while.”

“All right,” Heidi said with a shake of her head. Her blonde hair swayed back and forth down against the middle of her back in an amazing wave that she’d somehow created. “More for me tonight.”

“All for you.”

Heidi stepped back and observed her creation. She messed with my bangs and then added one more curl into the end. “There. What do you think?”

I looked in the mirror and hardly recognized myself. While I wasn’t still a tomboy, when I felt down, I’d tend to fall back on old habits, as in no makeup and messy bun galore. But Heidi had practically digitally remastered my face. My makeup was flawless, and the shimmer shadow brought out the green in my eyes. My dark hair was braided into a crown atop my head that wove into a low side ponytail with curls.

“You have a gift,” I told her. “You’ve made me look human again.”

“Go put on your dress,” Heidi said. “I can’t wait to see it all together!”

“All right. All right. I’m going.”

I shimmied into the dress that Heidi had picked out for me from a boutique downtown.

I stepped out of the closet. Heidi whistled.

“You’re ridiculous.”

But I liked the dress. Sutton’s wedding was formal attire, and it was hard enough to find a dress I liked, let alone a full-length dress, but Heidi had done it. The dress was black with a gold shimmer layer underneath that accentuated my figure when I walked. Everything came together with cute peep-toes. Benefit of a winter wedding in Texas was that it would reach the seventies during the day if we were lucky. The weather was pretty erratic.

“You are so getting laid in that dress,” Heidi said.

I dramatically rolled my eyes. “No boys. This is a no-fly zone.”

“You won’t be saying that tonight when you’re getting fucked. All I’m saying,” Heidi said. “Hopefully, it’s Landon Wright. That would be so full circle.”

“Don’t even say that. If I see him, I will run in the opposite direction,” I told her.

Heidi grinned, as if laughing at her own inside joke.

“All right, all right,” Heidi said when she noticed my glare. “No boys. I got it. If Landon approaches you, I’ll distract him. I still have some cheer moves.”

She kicked her leg and nearly touched her nose. Then, she spun around in some intricate dance move. I wasn’t even sure how it was possible that she was this flexible.

“Oh my God, if you do that in your dress, you are going to be more than a distraction for Landon. You are going to rip your dress in half for the entire party to see.”

Heidi laughed and shrugged. “I’m going to get dressed, and then we can go.”

A few minutes later, Heidi reappeared in a floor-length mermaid dress in the deepest, darkest purple. She shimmied over to me and winked. “Come on, sexy. You’re my date tonight. Let’s get Kimber to take a picture of us!”

We hurried into Kimber’s bedroom, and Kimber agreed to take the shot. Heidi handed her phone to Kimber. Then, she threw one hand up in the air and placed the other on her hip while making a pouty face. I pointed my finger at the camera while kissing Heidi on the cheek. When we got a look at it, I just giggled with my girls. It was the most ridiculous and the most us picture in existence.

“This is so going on Instagram. Damn, it’s good to have you back,” Heidi said.

“Use a filter,” I insisted.

“You just filtered your face,” Kimber said, pointing out all the makeup on my face. “You don’t need a filter.”

“My life needs a filter,” Heidi muttered.

Heidi posted the picture and then grabbed her clutch. She stuffed her phone and ID inside. I hated carrying a purse anytime, especially when I had to navigate a dress and heels. So, I gave Heidi my phone and ID, who rolled her eyes and added them to her bag.

“You really don’t mind dropping us off, Kimber?” I asked.

“Not a problem. I want to hear all about the antics when y’all are done.”

“I’ll live tweet you,” Heidi said.

“Oh my God, you are not going to be on your phone all night,” Kimber said. “You should enjoy yourself. Get drunk and make a mistake or two.”

“Done and done,” Heidi said with a wink. “Let’s get out of here.”

We all piled into Kimber’s car. The traffic around the Historic Baker Building, a venue in downtown Lubbock, was outrageous. And that was saying something because the only time traffic got this bad was on Texas Tech game days.

“How many people did Sutton invite?” I asked, craning my head out the window.

“It looks like everyone she’s ever met,” Heidi said.

“Or the whole freaking city,” I grumbled.

“Maybe we should hop out here,” Heidi suggested.

“Be safe,” Kimber said. “Take some condoms for the kids.”

Heidi rolled her eyes.

I laughed as I hopped out of the SUV. “Thanks, Kimber.”

“Bye, babe!” Heidi called, following in my footsteps.

She slammed the door, and we darted through traffic and onto the sidewalk. The Baker Building was a block or two down the street, and already, I was cursing myself for wearing high heels. They had looked so adorable in the store. Now, they were little torture devices.

Who invented these?

Men.

Men invented these to torture us and make our butts look awesome.

Thank God my butt looked this awesome. Otherwise, I’d be taking these off so fast.

“Stop hobbling,” Heidi said, strutting around in her heels like they had been made for her.

“I’m not hobbling. I just don’t think I’ll be able to wear these all night.”

“We’ll take them off once we get to the reception. But, right now, you need them to be able to see.”

I smacked her arm. “I’m not that short. I can see fine. You’re just super freaking tall.”

“Well, we can’t both be perfect, Em.”

“Oh my God, why are you my best friend again?” I asked.

“Beats me,” she said with a giggle. Then, she looped our arms together and strode up to the entrance of the Baker Building.

The place really was packed. At the entrance, a dozen ushers were escorting people to seats, and people milled about as they waited for their chance. I recognized about ten people in the span of a minute and slowly angled my body so as not to have to engage with anyone.

Eventually, it was our turn, and Heidi and I wrangled one usher for the both of us.

“Bride or groom?” the boy asked. He had ice-blue eyes and a real Southern drawl. He was probably in a fraternity at Tech and had gotten coaxed into this with the promise of free booze.

“Bride,” Heidi said. “We’re friends of the bride.”

“Cool. How do you know Sutton?” he asked as he walked us, arm in arm, down the aisle.

“We grew up together,” Heidi said.

When I raised my eyebrows, she shrugged.

“Family friend. Got it.”

Then, he walked us right up to the third row. I felt myself panicking. Why were we so close? Couldn’t he have given us different seats? I did not want to be this near the Wright siblings. I was here for the booze and had been promised a good time.

“Family friends up front,” he said with a smile, gesturing for us to take our seats.

Heidi smiled brightly at him and then took the second seat inside.

“You’re leaving me on the end?” I hissed at her.

“Yeah. Sit your ass down.”

“This was not part of the deal, Martin,” I spat at her as I sat down.

“Ohhh, using my last name. I’m real scared.”

“You owe me big for this.”

“Just enjoy it, Em. It’ll be over in, like, fifteen minutes, and then we can drink for free all night.”

“Right. Priorities,” I muttered as the doors finally closed behind us.

As the remaining guests took their seats, my eyes traveled the room. It was elaborately decorated with flowers attached to every chair and shimmery curtains draped across the entire front of the room. White lights that twinkled down on the attendees were strung on the second-floor balcony.

Softly, a string quartet began playing classical music, and the lights dimmed. I looked back to the front as the pastor stepped out from a back room with the groom and a long line of groomsmen following in his wake.

My eyes scanned the length of the line. Nine. He had nine groomsmen. Holy fuck!

There were so many of them that they had to stand in two lines.

And the last three men in the line were very distinct and downright gorgeous.

The Wright brothers—Jensen, Austin, and finally, Landon.

The party had arrived.