Book Half Unread

A month has passed since I left Warped Tour behind me in Atlanta. Being home has felt so refreshing and wonderful; I love my mother very much. Ever since my father shipped out to Iraq when I was in high school, she has felt so lonely and I think it only made it worse when I left Maryland for college then moved away to Baltimore. Every night, she and I got together and did each other’s nails, baked sweets and cooked dinner, and did so many things together; I missed this mother-daughter bonding.

My mom and I had spent today at a bridal boutique looking through and trying on different dresses. Dress after dress, nothing seemed right. I sighed as I slid off my last dress of the day. The dress made me look shorter and extremely wide. I pulled my dress back on, thinking that I was done for the day. I had already spent the two hours I scheduled with this associate for today.

“Thank you very much for your time Sarah,” I said, getting ready to say my goodbyes to her. “I need to schedule another appointment at the desk.” I picked up my black clutch with white daisies all over it.

“Oh, but wait. We have ten more minutes and I have one more dress for you to try on though. I really think that this is going to be the one,” Sarah said, brushing her blonde bangs away from her face. Biting my lip, I nodded and slipped my dress back off, sitting down in the dressing room as she ran off to get it. This was the seventh time she said that this dress was going to be the one. She returned soon, carrying a huge white dress. “Okay, this one is from the Rose Collection we have.”

“How much is this one?” I asked as I stepped into it and allowed her to adjust and tie the back to my size. I adjusted my chest, hating that I had to take my bra off for this one.

“This is actually a little above your forty-five hundred price range. It’s five thousand.” She stepped back when she finished and helped me out of the dressing room. I looked at my mom and saw her face light up. I smiled and stood in front of the large mirror and gasped. I loved this dress.

“Mommy… I love this one,” I whispered softly, my smile growing larger. I hid my toothy smile behind my hand out of habit. I’ve done this for a long time.

“Aimee, this is the one. It’s perfect for you,” my mom said.

“I guess this is my dress,” I whispered.

We went through a process of papers: ordering my dress, taking my measurements, and specifying what exactly needed altering on it. When we left, I was so excited that I immediately wanted to look at the bridesmaid dresses they had. It took a while, but I found the perfect one. It was yellow and modest, but still pretty and attractive. I bought one in a small and another in a medium. I would have only two bridesmaids. Jenna would be my maid of honor and Rian’s girlfriend Kara would be a bridesmaid. London was going to be Colin’s best man while my best friend Christopher would be a groomsman. I had called Chrizzy the day after I came back from tour. He was excited for me. He immediately told Jenna who told Josh, who then told Marc, who claimed he knew already. If that was true then I assumed that Zack probably told Coloussy, who told Vinny, and Vinny told Marc.

I was glad when we finally made it home. I could curl up on the couch, call Colin, and finish making the guest list with him through the phone. I changed out of my dress into shorts and an over sized tee and made some tea. I went down into the basement and plopped onto the couch, turning the TV on. It was a special on mummies on the Discovery Channel. Sitting there for a while, I simply stared at the cushion beside me on the couch. A deep frown was set onto my face. There was something strange; it was like déjà vu. Shaking it off, I called Colin.

“Colin?” I asked when I heard a click.

“Hey baby,” I heard him say to me warmly.

“Hey. You know I had the strangest feeling just now. It was like déjà vu. I don’t know why though.”

“Well… what did you do?”

“I’m on the couch in my basement and I just turned the TV on. It was as if I was sumo slammed. I don’t know. Anyway, I have to finish the guest list. Give me names.” I picked up my laptop and pulled up our pitiful guest list of about twenty people. Jenna, Christopher, London, Josh, Kara and Rian, my mom and dad, his mom and dad, his aunt and uncle and two cousins, London’s mom and dad, Jack, Zack, and I had reluctantly agreed on inviting Alex who would bring Lisa by default- no doubt.

“My Yaya’s going to want to come. Her name’s Sophie Canisteo. Oh and my gram and gramps need an invitation too, Evelyn and Franklin Livesay.” I typed them down quickly. “Aimee, have you heard anything from your dad yet; you’ve been sending him letters right?”

I was silent for a while. I have not heard anything from my dad at all. I think it was useless to talk about him. The last time we had spoken was through a one-minute phone call from him the day I graduated college. “No, Colin. I still haven’t heard from him. It’s okay though. I’m sure we’ll hear from him soon.”

We spent an hour from there talking about the invitation list. Instead of twenty, there were now sixty people in total on the list. We finally hung up when London started bitching about how he could not concentrate on his driving. The tour was far Midwest at this point.

“Aimee! You have visitors, sweetie,” my mother yelled from upstairs. I quickly got up and raced the stairs. I had not told anyone I was back in town and if I had, they were gone for the whole summer. I shut the basement door behind me and walked to the foyer where I froze.

“You guys!” I cried out, running and hugging my best friend Christopher. I then gave Jenna and finally Josh a hug. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be in the islands and Florida for the whole summer?”

“Forget about us Aimee-baby,” Chrizzy said, enveloping me in another hug. “You need to tell us about you and your summer!”

“Yeah girl and since you’re getting married it’s only right that you have your maid of honor helping you plan this shebang!” Jenna said, laughing. I then noticed she was holding hands with Josh.

“You two!” I shouted, pointing at their hands. “Spill it: when and how?” We ended up going upstairs and sitting in my room talking for hours. I learned that Jenna and Josh hooked up at some party before the summer and after a few weeks of being awkward about it all, they finally made it official on the plane ride to the Bahamas. “You’re still Jenna,” I laughed, throwing my pillow at her.

Christopher grinned. “She is. Dating all her guy friends until there’s none left. What would you do if you only had chick friends? And you, woman. You’re going off and getting married. What the hell am I supposed to do? You were my only hope for a wife,” Chrizzy state dramatically, falling over across my lap. He sat back up quickly however because it was extremely uncomfortable for him.

“We grow up Chrizzy. And if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it,” I teased him, laughing as Josh and Jenna broke out into song. I gasped suddenly. “Jenna, I have your dress picked out.” The guys groaned, Josh placing his face in his hands and Chrizzy falling backwards on my bed. I giggled at them; this was what I needed although something still felt strange. I still have not figured out what is missing.