I've Forgiven You for Things That You Have Done

Bright morning light suddenly floods the room, burning my eyes through my closed eyelids. I groan quietly, rolling over onto my stomach and burying my face in the fluffy pillows of the plush hotel bed underneath my body.

“Juliet, time to wake up,” Kit’s voice chirps from across the room, accompanied by the sound of drapes being pulled open. I groan again in response, shaking my head and pulling the pillow beside me over on top of my head. She giggles quietly, her weight settling down onto the bed beside me, followed by her hand patting my ass. “Today’s the day; aren’t you excited?”

“Nervous as fuck is more like it,” I grumble almost unintelligibly, scooting over to the edge of the bed, getting as far away from her as I can without actually having to get up onto my feet.

“But you’re getting married,” she states, pulling the covers back off of me and lightly tickling the back of my thigh. Damn her for knowing the exact way to get me moving. I squeal and jump up out of the bed, my eyes wide. “You should be excited! Not wanting to stay in bed.”

“There’s just… So many things that could go wrong,” I yawn, shuffling sleepily across the carpet to the small bathroom of the hotel room and slipping inside. I leave the door part of the way open as I go about my business; it’s not like she and I haven’t shared more private things than urination before. “I mean, I went to my cousin’s wedding when I was fourteen, and the hotel where they were having the reception overbooked and shoved them into one of the smallest rooms ever, and everyone was crowded as hell. They didn’t have the champagne they ordered, but warm sprite to toast with. The groom’s cake wasn’t the flavor they ordered, and they got stuck with peonies instead of forget-me-not’s for the table settings. Even though they were told that everything was the way they wanted it to be the night before during the rehearsal.”

“It won’t be that way today,” she says, coming into the bathroom as I flush the toilet and turning on her curling iron. “I’ll make sure of it. Or else it won’t be just shit hitting the fan, it’ll be raging diarrhea.”

I laugh as I lean over the sink, dragging my toothpaste covered toothbrush under the faucet then shoving it into my mouth. I watch her, brushing my teeth as she starts curling her hair into corkscrews, “Scout and Saskia are going to be here at noon to help get you into your dress, while I go on over to the church and make sure everything is the way it should be. We’ll have your hair ready to be taken out of the curlers by then, and the limo is going to be here at one p.m. sharp. It’s a fifteen minute drive to the church, which will give us fifteen minutes to do any last minute things that need to be done before the ceremony starts at one thirty.”

“What about after?” I ask after spitting out my toothpaste and rinsing my mouth.

“After,” she starts, setting her curling iron down and pinning certain portions of her hair back so that other parts of it frame her face. “You and Ronnie and the rest of the bridal party will go back into the bride’s room until the church is cleared out, then we’ll go back out into the church for pictures. Then we have to be back here at three thirty for the reception.”

“Sounds like you’ve got everything under control,” I sigh, picking up my hairbrush and working the tangles out of my hair. “I just hope goes off as effortlessly as you make it seem like it will.”

“It will,” she nods, reaching over and giving my arm a reassuring squeeze. “Stop being such a Negative Nancy.”

“Have you paid any attention at all to the happenings of my life?” I question, slowly turning to face her and setting my brush back down. “If you have, then you know that I have every reason to be negative about something as large as my wedding.”

“Oh lord,” she chuckles, shaking her head and walking out of the room. “Take your shower. I’ll be out here waiting to help you start working on your hair when you‘re finished.”

---

“Alright,” Kit grins, wrapping me up in one of the tightest hugs I’ve ever had. “I’ll see you at one fifteen.”

“Be careful,” I whisper, hugging her back just as tightly. She rubs my back softly for just a moment before pulling away. She smiles happily up at me, nodding her head slowly before turning and walking from the room. Sighing, I shut the door behind her then walk back into the main part of the hotel room to where Scout and Saskia wait for me, my dress, stockings, and garter waiting on the bed for me. “We ready?”

They both nod, Saskia picking up the garter belt off of the bed and holding it out to me, “You’re gonna look like a princess, Juliet. I swear to god, this is the prettiest dress that I’ve ever seen.”

I smile wide, taking the garter from her and mumbling my thanks as I wrap the garter around my waist. I fasten it on securely, letting the little clips at the end that clip onto my stockings hang free as I take the first flimsy piece of material from Scout and sit down on the edge of the bed. They both watch me intently as I slide first, my left leg into a stocking, followed by the right, then stand and fasten the clips to the top of them.

“Ronnie’s gonna shit when he finally takes your dress off of you,” Scout grins, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively over at me.

“Why do you say that?” I ask, walking over to the full length mirror attached to the back of the bathroom door to survey myself.

My hair rests in curlers on top of my head and my face looks pale from it’s lack of makeup; and when I look at myself like this, I don’t see how anyone could find me the least bit attractive, let alone ‘shit’, as she so kindly put it. She steps up behind me, her hands on her hips as she shimmies her shoulders, causing her breasts to bounce in such a way that, if Andy were in this room right now, she would already be getting fucked to kingdom come. Thank god he’s not.

“Because you look like you just stepped out of a lingerie catalogue.”

“Thanks,” I giggle, a soft blush painting my cheeks as I shake my head and reach up, carefully beginning to let my hair down out of the curlers.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Saskia exclaims, running over to me and ushering me over into a chair in front of the mirror. I sigh and sit down, crossing my legs and letting her take over completely. Hey, it’s nice being pampered like this. I’m not arguing.

I reach forward, picking up my cell phone from where it rests on the counter and quickly taking it off of it’s charger before unlocking it to check for new texts. A wide smile spreads across my lips when I see that I have a new one from Ronnie.

I tilt my head up slightly when Scout comes over and squeezes her way in between the mirror and I to do my makeup, but keep my eyes trained on the screen.

To: Juliet
From: Ronnie
I miss you so much, baby. I can’t wait to see you this afternoon. <3

I feel myself melt from the inside out and it takes all of my self control to not ‘aww’ out loud. I quickly type out a reply saying how much I miss him as well and I can’t wait to see him either, then relock my phone and set it back down on top of the counter.

Neither of the girls in the room with me say a word as they both word diligently and carefully on making me look prettier than I ever have before, and I’m thankful for that. As the time for the ceremony to start grows closer and closer, I only begin to get more and more nervous.

Forty five minutes later, and Scout is carefully zipping up the back of my dress as I look myself over in the mirror one final time. She steps back and Saskia steps up beside her, all three of us now surveying my appearance.

“You look gorgeous,” Saskia murmurs, reaching out and rubbing her hand up and down my arm.

I smile shakily and mumble a thank you as I sit back down into my chair, being careful to not crush the back of my dress. Sighing nervously, I carefully lift my dress up as Scout comes over with the blue garter and slides it up my leg to rest on the thigh of my right leg while Saskia takes a picture of us, wide smiles on both of our faces.

“Alright, you ready?” Scout asks as she helps me stand and readjust my dress. I nod, turning off my phone and shoving all of my things into my one suitcase that I kept here for the night. “Then let’s go check out and get to that church.”

---

“Go around to the back,” I instruct the limo driver, per Kit’s instructions. The parking lot of the church is cram packed already, and it’s still a half an hour until the ceremony starts. The driver nods, doing as I say, and as we pull up under the overhang at the back entrance, Kit comes running out, looking more than a little bit frazzled.

I frown and sink my teeth into my bottom lip. I know that look; it’s the look she gets whenever something isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. The look she gets when something is wrong.

“What the fuck is going on?” I whisper, more to myself than to the other girls in the back of the vehicle with me. The car slows to a stop and I quickly push the door open, climbing out with the assistance of Kit as I ask, “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”

“Now, don’t freak out over this, Juliet,” she states, walking quickly with me inside of the air conditioned church. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Just tell me what’s going on, Kit,” I demand, a pleading tone to my voice.

She sighs heavily, leading me back into the Bride’s room and closing the door, before turning to me and finally saying, “Ronnie and Nasty were supposed to be here forty five minutes ago, and no one can get a hold of them.”