Fall Out Girl

“EMMY! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Brian yelled from the kitchen. I was still in the bedroom packing everything up.

“BEDROOM!” I yelled back. It was two weeks until the wedding and we were leaving in a few hours to fly to California.

“I can’t find my blue tie, do you know where it is?” he asked softly from the doorway.

I looked at him and snorted. “Honey, we’re going to be on a plane for four hours. I doubt your family wants you decked out to ruin your nice suit.”

“Emmy, you’ve met them. They expect everything to be professional.”

I rolled my eyes and walked up to him. “Hon, your parents love you. It doesn’t matter what you wear, but, if you want to dress nice, then put on a polo or a dress shirt and a nice pair of jeans. Get rid of the jacket,” I said, tugging his jacket off.

“Emmy, you better not start something you can’t finish.” He said huskily as my fingers ran over his torso and arms.

“Oh, I can finish everything, Sweetie,” I whispered seductively back before returning back to packing.

I smirked as his arms wrapped around my waist. His teeth nipped lightly at the nape of my neck. “You’re a fucking tease,” he breathed into my ear.

“I know, that’s why you love me so much. Now, shoo, I need to finish packing.”

He moved to my side and helped me fold clothes. “So, what are you going to do about a dress? Are you using your mom’s?”

I snorted at that. “Um, sure, if you want to go back in time a little more than 18 years ago, be my guest. No, I’m getting a dress there when we land. Your mother and sisters are going to help me pick it out.” I placed the last shirt in the suitcase and zipped it up. “My mom burned her wedding dress the day my dad left.” I explained, noting his confused face.

“Why? I thought your mom liked sentimental things.”

“Oh, she does. It’s just that dress is cursed. Every bride who has worn that dress has either been murdered, had their husbands murdered, their husbands leave them, their husbands jailed, had a restraining order against their husband, or got a divorced. That dress has brought nothing but pain to my mother’s side of the family. She told me as she burned it that she couldn’t bear to see me go through pain because of a stupid dress. No, the dress is gone and so is the curse… hopefully.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around me. “Hopefully your mother’s eccentricness isn’t genetic.”

“Would you love me less if it were?”

“Nope,” he whispered, kissing me tenderly. “You never talk about your dad… or your childhood for that matter.”

I slipped out of his grasp. “Do you really want to know?”

He nodded his head. “I want to know everything about you.”

“When I was little, my father would sexually harass and abuse me when Pat and my mom
weren’t around. One day it got to the point where he tried to rape me. Luckily Mom and Pat came home when they did. He left that night. Mom filed for divorce and put in a restraining order before burning that damn dress. But, no matter what she did to ensure my safety, the damage was already done.” I looked up to see tears in his eyes. Smiling, I reached up and wiped them away. “That’s why I want our wedding on Halloween. To show him that I’m not the little girl he left broken on her Barbie bed in her little fairy princess gown. I want to show him that I’m smart and strong and that I made something with my life- I’m nothing like he said I was.”

Brian reached over and pulled me into a hug. I didn’t realize that I had been crying until I felt my tears on his shirt. “Shh, Sweetie. You’re the most beautiful, smartest, and strongest woman I know. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you anymore. Are you okay to travel?”

“Yea, I’ll be fine. It’s just… always hard to talk about.”

“I understand. Let’s go, future Mrs. Macone, we have a plane to catch.”

~*~
Right as we got to our gate, I spotted a familiar tuft of brown hair out of the corner of my eye. I stared at that spot for the longest time, trying to figure out if I really saw him. At the nudge of Brian's arm, I quickly shook my head and sat down next to him.

"Are you alright, Sweetie?"

"I'm fine, Brian. I just thought I saw someone. Don't worry about it."

"Ok. Well, we only have a few more minutes. I'm going to the restroom. Would you mind watching the bags?"

"Of course not."

He quickly kissed me before leaving. I sat back in my seat and sighed.

I looked up into sparkling emerald eyes. He shook his head at me and disappeared into the crowd. "Parker, wait!" I yelled, grabbing both Brian's and my bag before running after the figure. I chased him down nearly to the Concord Train. "Parker!" I yelled, placing a hand on his shoulder and spinning him around. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I thought you were someone else."

He shook his head. "Crazy woman," he muttered before taking the escalator down. Feeling completely bummed out, I returned to my gate without a second to spare. Brian was waiting for me with a confused look on his face.

"Honey, where were you?"

"I thought I saw someone I recognized. It turns out it was a false alarm. Have they called our section yet?"

"Yea, let's go."

Amelia, you need to stop chasing ghosts. He's been dead and buried for almost eight years. You did not see Parker Lewis.