Ms. Matchmaker

One purple flower, two yellow, four red roses, ten sprigs of rosemary, and one light blue ribbon. Wait, dark blue. Yes, a dark blue ribbon. The baskets can be bought and not hand woven as long as they are white. The weaving pattern doesn't matter.

And the dress... Off white, long trailing veil, heels with an over-lapping strap and a button. It will go perfectly with the flower arrangement. The floral beading on the bodice will go hand in hand with everything else.

Now, the cake. What am I going to do about the cake? Vanilla? Yes, vanilla. Vanilla with, with butter-cream icing. Classic icing. Home-made icing. That way everyone can appreciate the unique taste without immediately ridding the cake of the icing because it's too sweet.

The date. Oh, the date! It should be nice and warm, but not too warm. I know the couple is very fond of beaches, so maybe a boardwalk wedding? Yes, perfect. Everything is perfect.

"She'll love the plans!" I clapped my hands together in such a way that they were barely every touching every time they got close. My hands were fairly small to begin with, so that didn't help at all.

"Oh, my God." My roommate looked at me with dagger eyes that just cut her statement into my skin. "You are getting so worked up over this and it's not even your wedding." Katrina rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Amory, you set them up, but that does not mean you have to worry about their wedding." Katie pleaded with her pale hands folded out in front of her towards me. "Incredibly giant emphasis on their."

"Well, I—" I exhaled a deep breath with a smile hooked on to the very end. "What do you expect?"

"We expect you to relax and to find a guy for yourself." Katrina folded her hands across her lap. "I mean, you incessantly try to set up your friends, and, don't get me wrong, you are remarkable at it because, well, you set me up with John and Katie with Andy, but, Em, open your eyes. You need to find someone."

"I second that extraordinarily extensive motion," Katie held up her index finger and pointed upwards to count her vote. “Ammy, ever since we graduated, it’s like this is the only thing you can do to make sure you’re not bored, and, frankly, it’s kind of frightening.”

"Girls, I really don't know what to tell you," I stood up and shrugged. I still hid the excitement over the wedding behind me and managed a reply. "I'm quite happy on my own.”

Katie examined my face. "But are you really?"

"Of course!" I laughed it off, pacing across the room.

Katrina shot up out of her seat. The chair she was on screeched on its way back. "Bullshit."

"What?" I laughed once. "You don't believe me?"

"No." The pair looked up at me with the same facial expression.

"So much for trust in a friendship." I shook my head to myself.

Unfortunately, it was the truth. I guess I was really the only one in the room that didn't have any convincing evidence to back up my case mostly because they really caught me off guard. Usually when we started talking about this stuff, there's a bit of leeway for me to sum up a few sentences that can justify my stance. Right now, I'm just out of luck.

All of my friends gave me the title Ms. Matchmaker because I knew the right people and hooked them up. They were ecstatic, and yet they confront me every time I insisted on going to their weddings without a date. I didn't need one. And according to them, I am clinically insane in the love-sick sense of the term.

"Sweetie, you know us! We just care about you, and we're kind of getting a little bit worried that you've gone so long without a guy in your life." Katie's sentiment went on. "We, and by we, we mean all of your friends not just us, we think that you should take a break with the cupid-play and let us find you someone." Her auburn curls framed her face and bounced every time she nodded towards me.

Katrina put her hands on my shoulders. Her grip was firm and intimidating enough that I didn't flinch out of her way. "We know you, Amory. If there is anyone else who could pick a better guy for you, then please point them out."

I lifted the corner of my mouth in a sort of crooked smirk. It was a tough decision I had just made in the back of my mind, and at the moment, it was just too early to argue with them any further. "Fine—"

The girls high-fived each other and completely ignored my further statements. "YES!"

"But!" I held up my hand to make way for the conditions I had set for them.

They settled down. I could see the apparent excitement in their posture begin to disappear as I began to speak.

"I am only giving you a week. And when that week passes, you have to give it up and let me live my life," I conditioned. "No ifs, ands, or buts—this is the way it will play out."

The two shook their heads in unison. Their waves bobbed up and down with their gestures. I could almost laugh at how they looked if it weren't for the atmosphere in the room at the time.

"You guys really are hopeless." I smirked, laughing towards them as I did. "I don't know how I can put up with you."

"You love us." Katrina rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Yeah, and I'll love you even more after this is over and done with, and you’ve completely forgotten my ‘condition’ or however you wish to address it." I respired.

"Give us a break. We're just trying to help." Katie pouted.

"Well, if you just happen to pick out a druggie, I will know that you are clearly inexperienced and that I should be in charge of all this." I rehashed.

Katrina rolled her eyes, "We aren't that inexperienced, thank you very much."

"Says you." I chuckled.

"On the contrary, we hang out with you long enough.” She batted her long, mascara magnet eyelashes towards me. “We picked up some tips."

"Oh, yeah?" I cocked my head to the side at her statement.

"First, look at fashion, and then you go after him." Katrina held up one finger. “Crocs are a no, but Burberry is a definite yes. And if we can help it, we’ll make sure he makes a good decision when it comes to cologne.”

"Second, ask if he is straight and single." Katie followed with a second. “Nonchalantly, of course! We don’t want to scare him away, so we’ll pull the answer out of him casually by asking if his friend is single or something along those lines.”

Katrina pushed Katie aside. "Third, ask what his job is and if it has good pay.”

"Fourth, look at his smile." Katie spoke louder. “No crooked teeth!”

"Fifth, see what he's interested in."

"Sixth—"

"Okay, alright! I get it!" I stopped them.

"Trust us. We can handle this." Katie folded her arms across her chest. “We won’t get into trouble, and we’ll report right back to you after we find out all of our information—“

“And we’ll make sure to get a good picture of you to show to him!” Katrina clasped her hands together and swayed back and forth. “It’s fool-proof, Am, we swear!”

My cheek bones twitched under their words that were floating about my head and around the room. “Have you been thinking about this before this conversation was even brought up?”

“No.” Katie answered a little too swiftly.

Her face just screamed right passed her little white lie. “OH!” My jaw dangled while I rambled for the adequate words to yell at them. “You dense wankers!” I pushed passed them and headed towards my room but not before turning back around and giving them my final judgment. “One week. That’s all you have.”

"Whatever you say!" Katrina held her hands up innocently, completely not taking into account my appearance.

I guess they were right. Not having to look forward to seeing any classrooms or any of my classmates tomorrow or even in a few months left me feeling empty on the inside. I was lonely, but really not lonely enough to go out of my way to look for someone to fill the void. I’d just be forcing my feelings.

However this ends, speaking as if they keep to their word, it can’t hurt, I supposed. Let’s just hope that I’m in my right mind for not refusing.

___________________________________________
-Katrina
___________________________________________

“She called you dense wankers?” John expressed amusement at my expense. “I’m not surprised. You must’ve pushed her really far considering how straight she is with manners.”

“Hey!” I thumped his arm. “Don’t laugh at me! Amory needs this—without our help, she might as well become one of those bloody psychic palm readers in the back of the monthly flea market!”

“She can’t be that bad.” He sipped his tap beer casually as I continued to rant about my own problems. “Amory’s an independent girl—well, woman, and she knows what she wants. Maybe you shouldn’t force this on her.”

“John,” I heaved a sigh. “Don’t you see? I was lonely once, and when I was like that I did anything to fill the void—romance movies, chocolate, partying, anything just to make me feel like I was part of something.”

John looked up at me from his drink and waited for me to continue.

“And when she introduced me to you—“ I held back a smile and flustered visage. “Everything just fell into place. I want her to feel this kind of happiness before she’s beyond repair.”

My boyfriend eyed me with a sort of pleasure. He leaned closer and set his rouge lips on mine, a motion that I would never grow tired of. “You’re sweet, darling.”

I pulled him closer with my arms around his neck. “Oh, am I?”

“Yes, you are.” John chuckled. “Might I suggest a man that might be able to take orders?”

“No, Amory is way too considerate to date someone like that.” I scoffed. “It’ll be a miracle if we can find the perfect guy who is sweet and thoughtful and still take charge and be romantic when he needs to.”

“And athletic?”

“Not too athletic.” I sighed. “Don’t want him talking about sodding football every two seconds.”

“You are quite a woman of standards, babe.”

___________________________________________
-Katie
___________________________________________

“Bloody hell, this week is going to be stressful.” I hissed into the phone receiver. Andy’s familiar cackle entered my ear like he was right beside me instead of all the way in Rome for a business trip.

“Baby, you’ve got to calm down.” Andy continued his hilarity and attempted to calm me down. “It’s only a week, and it’s not as if you actually have to do this.”

“Yes, but now that I posed the challenge, I need to grasp it. I can’t let Amory stay like this; she’s just too good to al of us to be so alone, don’t you think?”

“Well, did you ever actually ask her if she was lonely?”

“Not really.” I answered quietly. “Well, yea, once, but we didn’t really believe her when she said she wasn’t.”

Andy exhaled noisily. “Not everyone needs a romantic reason to go on in life. Maybe she’s telling the truth. But now that you’ve made this decision to help her find someone, you might as well go on and do it.”

“I suppose.” I nibbled on my bottom lip.

Just thinking of him made me long for his touch and his kiss. Katrina was so lucky that John was a rising musician and not a business man. At least he’s home most of the time or she can even go with him on tour. When Andy is away, it’s just bloody lonely.

“I miss you.” I murmured. “So much.”

“I miss you, too.” I could hear the beam in his voice.

Sodding distance, just make it disappear already.