Daisy stood in front of the vanity mirror in her hotel bathroom, inspecting her tear streaked face. She let out a huge sigh and began to wipe her face clean with a wash cloth. She wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to re-apply her make-up or jump in the tub that was silently calling her name, hoping things would be better in the morning.
She heard a quiet knocking at her hotel room door, which was getting louder with every knock. Noah. She surprised herself with that sudden thought. No, he didn’t know her room number, but she knew someone who did and went to let her in. She wasn’t angry at Freya, she was more angry at herself that she’d let her best friend make her wedding about finding her a date, rather than the delight of getting married to her soul mate. Charlie was a saint to go along with her and her crazy ideas.
“Daisy, I’m so sorry.” Freya threw herself around her as she opened the door. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied as she pulled herself out of her best friends clutches. “You look as bad as I did. C’mere and we’ll get your make-up sorted.” Leading her into the bathroom she turned, speaking over her shoulder, “I guess you being here answers my dilemma of whether to fix my makeup and go back downstairs or jump in the tub.”
Freya looked miserable and it broke Daisy’s heart. She knew her friend had her best interests at heart and she knew she was partially to blame because she’d let Freya assume too much about her over the years. Never contradicting her nor doing anything to show her otherwise. “Freya, this is your weekend. Let’s put all this behind us and have fun. You want to be able to remember this for all the good reasons, not for feeling miserable and crying in my hotel bathroom.”
“You forgive me?”
“There is nothing to forgive. You did it for the right reasons but please no more match making. Promise me.”
“Okay I promise. Noah said the same.”
Noah? She needed to find out what he’d said and was not going to allow Freya to warn her off again. She was an adult and could make her own decisions on who she could and couldn’t date. Date? She thought about it for a second. Yes, she wanted to date Noah. For some reason she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, at least she hoped he wouldn’t.
“What did Noah say? He saw me come up in the elevator but I just couldn’t face him. He looked worried. Is he okay?”
Freya scoffed. “Noah is always okay.” Then shook her head and faced Daisy. “That’s not fair. I haven’t been fair to either of you. I know I warned you off him because of his reputation, which is well founded by the way, however he is a great guy even if he does suck at relationships,” putting relationships in air quotes.
“I really like him Freya. He did come across as a player when we first met but he doesn’t feel like that anymore. I know I’ve only known him a few hours but can you trust me on this. Even if Noah was playing me, do you not trust me enough to know that and choose whether or not I want to be played? Maybe a player is what I need right now. Isn’t that my choice to make?”
“Oh no what have you done with Daisy? I’ve unleashed a monster.” Freya joked, then turned serious. “Are you sure you’re okay with all this? I promise I won’t meddle anymore. I’m so proud of you for how you are handling all this, me not so much.”
Picking up a wash cloth Freya washed her face and then started searching through Daisy’s make-up for everything she needed to look presentable again. Daisy smiled, feeling relieved this had been sorted so she didn’t have to deal with this for the entire weekend.
It only took them twenty minutes to get ready and head back down to the rehearsal dinner guests. The dinner luckily had ended before all this drama had started and the guests were now congregated in the main downstairs bar.
There was a renewed confidence in her step as she walked Freya arm in arm to her soon-to-be-husband. She knew Freya wanted to spend as much time with Charlie as she could before midnight when they’d be separated until the actual wedding ceremony. She glanced at Freya who was back to wearing a grin that spread from ear to ear. Yes, things were back to normal thank goodness.
They walked into the bar and her eyes automatically began to search out Noah. She spotted him almost immediately as if her eyes had Noah detector senses installed. This would have been a good thing if she hadn’t been met with a sight that had her heart dropping to the floor. Freya must have noticed at the same time as she did and dragged Daisy to the side of the room before everyone else noticed her reaction.
A blonde wearing something that was just short of decent was hanging all over Noah at the bar and he wasn’t pushing her off. He was actually talking to her. So much for being a changed man.
Taking a deep breath, wanting to be strong for her friend, she moved towards Charlie, pulling Freya behind her. She would not spoil her best friend’s wedding and if that meant sucking up what had just happened and acting like an adult then she’d do it. Once she was safely back in her room the deal was off, she just needed to make it that long.