Maid of Honor

“You’re still crying,” Kennedy stated seconds after he saw me.
“I haven’t moved either.” I replied, still staring at the wall. “How could he just leave, Ken?”
Kennedy sighed and sat down on the step below me.
“I have no idea, Dorinda.” He stated. “John’s just…complicated. We all know that, but you know him better than any of us.”
“I simply can’t understand why everyone was telling me to go for it, and to confess my love for him, because he loved me, and then he just rejected me.”
“Dorinda, maybe I can’t get you to see this a tad bit clearer. John loves you. He honestly does, but he’s really bad with girls. You know that first hand. Yes, he should have probably said something to you, but he’s not like that. Julie made the first move toward him when they first started out, Dorinda. He was clearly too shy to even think about asking a girl out. That’s just the way he is.”
I huffed.
“I know that, Kennedy.” I replied, whipping some tears from my eyes.
“So you understand why he can’t just up and forget about Julie? The girl has feelings to, and in case you didn’t remember, today is not only John’s wedding but it’s also her wedding. Julie’s a sweet girl, and John just doesn’t want to drop her like she meant nothing to him. She does mean a lot to John, he obviously wouldn’t have asked her to marry him if he didn’t. You just so happen to mean a little bit more to him than she does,” He replied.
“Kennedy?” I asked once his little speech was over with.
“Yeah?”
“When did you get so smart?”
He laughed and stood up.
“I’ve always been smart, Dia.”
“No…I mean, when did you get smart enough to go all Yoda on me?”
Kennedy shook his head and offered me his hand. I slowly stood up from the stairs and sniffled a little bit.
“I have strict orders to take you to this one model’s photoshoot,”
I rolled my wet eyes.
“Of course Maria demanded it,”
“She talked to the photographer, and he said that he would be happy to shoot you,” He replied.
I giggled a little bit.
“I’m glad he’s happy to shoot me,”
“You know what I meant,” Kennedy stated, rolling his eyes. “Come on, and get up. We’ve got a few hours before we have to be at the church, and I know you secretly are dying to be a model.”
“Sure…” I sighed before we both started walking down the stairs, and out the front door.
“You’re still going to the wedding, right?” He asked me. I nodded my head, feeling more tears building in my eyes. “I’m going to beat the fuck out of John for making you cry like this.” He swore. I couldn’t even smile at that. I just stared out of the window as he drove toward the building where Maria was currently working. My tears were dry by now, and I was thankful. We both walked into the building. The photographer called to Kennedy by name, which I found slightly weird.
“Kennedy, there you are.” She smiled, walking over toward us. “This must be the one and only Dorinda,”
I blushed.
“You know me?”
“Honey, you’re an Olympic gymnast, and you’ve done a few ads. It’s my business to know exactly who you are,”
“Ohh…okay…”
“Is it alright if you do a shoot with us today?” She asked me.
I shrugged.
“Why not?”
“Great! Regina! I need you to come fix up Ms. Pope!” She called. “In the mean time, would you like to see the template I’ve already put together for Maria?”
“That would be great,” Kennedy replied. The photographer led us over to where her camera was hooked up to a large computer. She pulled up a document and showed us the pictures. “Those are amazing, Missy.”
“Thanks,” She smiled and nodded. “We’re going to do something similar with you, okay? Maria’s changing into her normal clothes and then we’ll get you back there, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I agreed with a small nod. Kennedy and I walked over to two free chairs and sat down in them. “Am I seriously about to do an actually photoshoot?”
“I think you areeeee,” Kennedy sang and then laughed. “As soon as Maria gets out here, I have to say goodbye and then leave,”
“Why?” I asked, pouting.
“Because I have to get to the church and try to talk my best friend out of one of the biggest mistakes of his life,”
“You’re the best.” I stated and I hugged him tightly.
“I try,” Kennedy laughed.
“He is pretty freaking amazing,”
We pulled apart and saw Maria smiling at the two of us.
“You look amazing,” Kennedy smiled.
“It’s my wedding attire.” She smiled at him before she kissed his cheek softly.
“I hate to run, but I’ve really got to go,” Kennedy smiled sadly at the two of us. “Take care of her. I mean it.” He said sternly.
I giggled at how serious he was being. Kennedy was more like my big brother than anyone. He’s taking care of me ever since we first met, which was before either of us new Maria.
“I will, Kenny.” She laughed before he kissed her full on the lips.
“Gross, lipgloss!”
“That would be why I barely kissed your cheek, sweetie.”
“Whatever,” He rolled his eyes. “See the two of you in two hours!” He called, running out of the building.
“Why is he in such a hurry?”
“He’s going to go kick John’s ass.” I shrugged. “Or knock some sense into him…same difference.”
“How are you holding up?”
“I’ve certainly been better.” I admitted.
We only got to talk for a few more minutes before Regina was pushing me back into a dressing room. She and three other people instantly went to my face and hair while tossing clothes on me. They were fast, and before I knew it, I was modeling the clothes and such in front of Missy. We did a lot of different shots, and I was finally able to go back into the dressing room. I told the hairdresser that was back there how to fix my hair, seeing as I wouldn’t have enough time at the church. She was fast, and she did an amazing job. Right when she finished, Maria rushed back into the room.
“We’ve got ten minutes to get to the church.”
“Are you serious?!” I nearly yelled while the hairdresser sprayed my hair with hairspray. I lunged from the seat, and followed Maria back to Missy.”
“I have to show you some of the photos before you two leave,” She stated quickly. We looked at the screen, where she already had the template pulled up.
“Those are awesome!” I stated, really excited for them. “They look amazing! May-.”
“We’ll call you later! We’ve got a wedding to crush!” Maria stated, pulling on my hand. We ran out of the building, which shocked me because she was in nearly six inch heels, and out to her car. I hoped into the passenger seat, and quickly buckled myself. “Here we go,” She stated before she started speeding toward the church. She nearly ran three red lights, and probably should have gotten pulled over, but we made it there in record time.
“Holy shit…we still have five minutes.” I laughed, looking at my iPhone. “That was insane, Maria.”
“I know,” She winked. “I should be a racecar driver.” She stated proudly as we slipped out of the car. Instead of running this time, we walked slowly, trying to breathe form the slight fear we had. There was no way that we could be late for this wedding. It would look extremely bad on our parts.
“Maria, wait.” I sighed before we could enter the church.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head.
“I busted my ass over this past week to make sure that John isn’t going to marry Julie. I’ve lied, I’ve manipulated people, I’ve pulled others into my scheme, and I admitted that I was in love with John. And none of it actually worked. He’s still going to marry her, Maria. John’s going to actually say ‘I do’ to some other girl that isn’t me. He was my best friend, I was his. He promised me forever one day, and I held him to it. We’ve shared secrets and nights. We have those stupid inside jokes that no one else knows or would understand. John made me a promise, Maria. If we didn’t find anyone by the time he was 23, he was going to marry me. I made the same promise. Now John’s getting married to a Saint, and I’m left out in the cold.”
Maria’s face softened.
“Have a little faith, will you?” She asked me. “Kennedy has been with him for the past two hours. Surely, John’s thought about a lot now. Then there’s the part where you can always object to the wedding.”
“I’m not going to do that.” I stated, shaking my head. “I can’t do that. John has to, I’ve already made my move. He needs to make his.” I stated.
“I’ll be damned if this turns out just like that Julia Roberts movie.” Maria stated. “You will get John. You will get your prince.” She stated.
I smiled weakly.
“I’m not so sure of that anymore, Mar.”
“We’re not going to find out by just standing there! Go!” She instructed with a small laugh. We walked into the back of the church and into the ladies room. Julie and two of her other best friends, Yancy and Penny, were all putting the finishing touches to their make-up.
“Oh, thank God!” Julie yelled. “I was beginning to think that you wouldn’t make it.”
“Are you kidding? I couldn’t miss this for the world.” I said, placing a big, fake smile on my face.
“I still don’t understand why you’re the maid of honor.” Yancy muttered.
“I don’t think we’ve properly met. I’m Dorinda Grace Pope, and I happen to be John Cornelius O’Callaghan the Fifth’s best friend in the entire world. And you are?”
Julie and Penny giggled at the look of shock on Yancy’s face.
“You might want to shut your mouth, Yance. You’ll catch flies that way,” Julie said, sending me a wink in the mirror.
I smiled a small smile in return before I quickly changed into my maid of honor dress.
“You should have seen your face.” Penny giggled.
“Hush up,” Yancy snapped.
“And Yancy?” Julie called.
Yancy looked over at Julie, who was now just a little to the left of me.
“Yes?”
“Dorinda’s been more of a best friend to me more this entire week than you have the whole seven years I knew you,” Julie announced.
Yancy’s jaw dropped and she turned around and left the room with a huff.
“You look gorgeous, Jewls.” Penny smiled before she left.
“Why isn’t Penny the maid of honor?” I asked as soon as she was out of the room.
“Well, John asked if you could be, but he never really told me why, and second of all, Penny’s my sixteen-year old cousin. She’s not exactly old enough for maid of honor. So all in all, you saved me from…. that”
I laughed, and looked down at my black nails.
“Do you..uh know why John pushed for me to be the maid of honor?”
Julie laughed and shook her head.
“Not one clue.”
“I think you need to know the story then,” I stated with a small shaky laugh. I led us to the small couches that were the dressing room, and we sat down. Julie was across from the me the entire way.
“Is it bad?”
“Depends on what your definition of bad is,” I smiled slightly. “I want to start off by saying that you’re one of the sweetest girls in the entire world, Julie. You have a heart of freaking gold. No one can take that away from you,”
“Okay….”
“With that being said, I guess I should start the long story that is John and Dorinda.” I stated. She only nodded and I took in a deep breath. “I met John the very first day of high school. I was the new girl from North Carolina. I had small Southern accent. He was a tall, lanky kid with a lot of hair. We were in the same homeroom and in my science class. I was the first person to speak to him. He just looked up at him, and then back down to his paper with the biggest blush on his cheeks,” I explained, smiling.
“Awe,” Julie cooed.
“You know that we were paired together, and that’s how I started spending time with him. We just sort of became attached at the hip. When I was fifteen and John was sixteen, I um… we were sitting in my living room and he got all serious,”
"Doe?" My best friend called out.
"Hm?" I replied softly, paying attention to Kennedy and Garrett's mindless banter.
"Can we talk?"
I turned toward my best friend.
"What about Johnny?"
His eyes passed over the guys all piled up in my living room.
"I-uh...follow me."
"Okay?"
I shrugged off his odd behavior, and followed him without a question.
"Dorinda? Earth to Dia?"
"Sorry," I apologized for spacing out. "What do you want to talk about?"
"What if Kelsie's not right for me?"
"You have plenty of time to worry about that. You've only been together for two weeks."
"What if any girl isn't right for me? What if YOU'RE right for me?"
I laughed.
"John, you're not making any sense."
"Will you make me a promise?"
It was like a subject change.
"Of course..."
"If we don't find anyone by the time I am 23...marry me,"
I playfully giggled.
"John O'Callaghan....are you asking me to marry you seven years from now?"
"I said if...." He mumbled, slightly embarrassed.
"Yes, John. I promise." I replied. "But only on two conditions."
"Which are?"
"One, you make the same promise to me."
"Done...and the second?" He asked me, his green eyes never breaking contact with me.
"I get to be the maid of honor at your wedding if you don't marry me. No ifs, ands, or butts about it."
"Deal. Love you, Pope."
I laughed and hugged my best friend.
"Love you too, O'Callaghan.

“John beat up a guy for trying to defile me,” I laughed at the words John once used years ago. “He was always there for me. John was my first everything. He was my first kiss, my first friend in Arizona, my first best friend, and my first. John does have my virginity, and something like that it hard to give up…well for me at least. He was there for me when my dad was paralyzed from the shoulders down. The only feeling he has is in his neck and up. If it wasn’t for John, I don’t know how I could’ve gotten through that. I was with him when The Maine first got signed. He was so excited, they all were. We decided to move in together because we just both needed to get out of our parent’s houses. I’ve never been closer to anyone in my life. I’ve always loved John, I however didn’t realize that I felt more until last week, when he told me he was engaged.”
Julie furrowed her brows at me.
“Huh?”
“Julie, I’ve some things that I’m not proud of in the past week. I changed my entire appearance just to compete with you. You’re freaking perfect, Julie. I feel so freaking…normal next to you,”
“You think I’m perfect?” She asked, looking upset. “Seriously, Dorinda? John has you on a freaking pedestal. No one will ever compare to you in John’s eyes, not even me. You’re his best friend, and I swear sometimes that he’s in love with you and vice versa.”
I sighed.
“Julie, I am in love with John. He’s been that constant in my life, and I don’t want to lose him. Before you came along, I honestly believe that I would just end up marrying him. If he didn’t meet you, we would be planning our wedding right now. I wouldn’t have to move out of my house, or lose him to someone else. It kills me that I am. I’ve done everything possible to stop him from marrying you, but I just…I can’t. He’s yours….you win. You win John.”
“Dorinda…how long have you known that you’re in love with him?”
I looked down, feeling like I was going to cry again.
“Three, maybe four days,” I answered her. “I…please…”
“What are you trying to say, Dorinda?” She questioned, looking all over my face.
“Girls, it’s time!” I heart Bob call from the other side of the door. Julie got up and walked toward the door and I followed her.
“Julie, please…” I begged.
“Please what, Dorinda?”
“Please don’t marry him. Don’t marry John.” I begged.
“I…I’m sorry,” She said, looking heartbroken.
I nodded and looked down.
It was worth a shot.