I'll Be Your Friend, I'll Help You Carry On

nine

Wedding planning was a major pain in the ass. For the past eight months, weddings had become Chantal’s life; it was what she ate, drank, and breathed. Sidney was as interested as most men were; not at all. He was helpful when Chantal absolutely needed him to do something, but any other time the word ‘wedding’ came up in conversation, he always found some way to excuse himself.

It didn’t exactly bother Chantal, she never expected him to have a huge interest in the wedding, but it did annoy her that he almost seemed afraid by some of the things Chantal would ask him.

What kind of flowers do you want? Should we order chicken or fish? What’s our budget? Where are we having the reception? And most importantly, when should we set the date?

The only thing he would say; whatever you want baby.

It was as if he really didn’t care.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were officially in the playoffs and were playing their hearts out. Chantal could see why Sidney wasn’t paying attention to the wedding, she really could. She knew this was his dream, and for him to be so young and to achieve his dream would leave him the rest of his life to dream up bigger dreams.

Chantal had a seat at every Pittsburgh home game, in a box at the top as the Mellon Arena was selling out every game and Chantal didn’t want to be responsible for someone missing out because there weren’t any seats left, and she cheered with the other girlfriends and wives just as hard as she would with a glass seat.

May was just around the corner, which meant summer was just around the corner. It also meant that in three months it would be a year since Sidney had proposed. In that year, nothing had transpired from the proposal.

Chantal’s mother was constantly on her case about the wedding, as well as her future mother-in-law. Her only excuse was, “We’re only 21, we have lots of time to get married.”

“Hey baby, what are you up to today?” Sidney asked his fiancé as he sat at the counter with a newspaper opened up and a cup of coffee in his hand.

Chantal shrugged as she walked over to the counter in a large Ryerson University, her alma mater, t-shirt hanging off her thin body. She walked over to the coffee pot, grabbed a mug, and filled it with the brown liquid. Taking a sip, she let out a low sigh and sat down on one of the bar stools.

“I don’t know, Sid. I haven’t really planned anything. Do you have practice today?” She asked, looking at Sidney over her coffee mug.

Sidney shook his head and smiled, “Nope, our next game is on May 18th and it’s at home, so Coach is giving us a few days off to relax and regroup.”

Chantal nodded, thoughts and plans already gathering in her head, “Well, I was thinking, maybe you could, I don’t know, come with me to the baker? Go cake tasting?”

Sidney wiggled uncomfortably in his chair as he chewed on his lip. Cake testing? For what? For fun? For his… wedding?

“Oh, I don’t know. Why?” Sidney asked, playing dumb.

“For the wedding. That’s one of the only things that I haven’t decided on; the cake,” Chantal explained, sitting up a little higher.

Sidney hummed and hawed until he reluctantly nodded his head, “Uhm, yeah I guess I’ll go. I don’t really have anything to do today.”

Chantal smiled and nodded happily, “Great! I’ll go get dressed then, I made the appointment for 11:50 to 12:50.”

Sidney internally groaned but smiled and nodded for Chantal. As Chantal left, Sidney slammed his head onto the counter and groaned.

“What have I gotten myself into?”

---

“This one is Black Forest cake, this is Cheesecake, this is Double Chocolate Fudge cake, and this one is Strawberry Shortcake. Please feel free to have as much as you’d like!” Margret, the lady who was helping them, said as she brought in a tray with pieces of each cake.

Chantal smiled, said thank you, and picked up her fork as Sidney sluggishly picked up his own.

“Are you okay? Do you not feel well?” Chantal asked her fiancé.

Sidney shrugged and pulled over the Black Forest cake, “No, I’m fine,” he said lightly.

Chantal frowned as she took a bite of the Cheesecake, normally her favourite type of cake, and continued to chew. What was his problem?

Slamming her fork down, Chantal sighed, “Look, if you’re not going to enjoy yourself or take this seriously, you can just leave and I’ll pick out the cake.”

She folded her arms across her chest as she tapped her foot impatiently. Sidney looked at her wide mouthed and wide eyed. He rolled his eyes, similar to a child, and put his fork down. Sidney stood up, “Fine, I’ll leave.”

Sidney walked out of the room, effectively slamming the door, and leaving the rest of the room quiet. Chantal placed her head into her hands as tears started to come to her eyes.

“Are you alright?” Margret asked, walking back into the room, looking concerned.

Chantal sniffed as she carefully rubbed around her eye, as to not smudge her makeup, “Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry about that.”

Margret shook her head, “Oh please, it’s not the first time it’s happened. That was your fiancé, right?”

Chantal nodded and sniffed once again, “Yes, he was just… he didn’t want to be here so I told him to leave.”

“Well, can I tell you a story, about when I was getting married?” Margret asked.

Nodding, Chantal sat up a little higher and focused her attention.

“My husband wanted nothing to with our wedding. He never came to any meetings or even help me decide on the date. It honestly seemed as if he didn’t care. I did the same thing as you; I convinced him to come to the cake appointment to try the different cakes. He walked out after trying the first cake. Two weeks later, I confronted him about it as we were set to get married three days later,” she explained.

“I asked him why he wasn’t interested in anything about the wedding, and if this was what he wanted; to marry me. He didn’t say anything, and then he took my hand and took me out to the car. We drove for forty minutes before pulling up to a small chapel. He turned to me and said, ‘I don’t care about the big wedding, it’s not important to me.’ We got married ten minutes later by ourselves.”

Chantal nodded and gave a small smile, “So, you think he does want to get married but he just… doesn’t care for the big wedding?”

Margret nodded, “That’s exactly what I think. Now, try the rest of the cakes, I’ll stay with you, and then head home to your fiancé. It’ll all work itself out.”

“I hope,” Chantal whispered.