One Hundred Sleepless Nights

“I’m on my way there, okay. Stop yelling at me!” I whined to the phone. Frenchi has been up my ass this whole morning, making sure I got to her house on time for the first meeting with the wedding planner. The meeting was supposed to start at 10, it’s only 9 and Frenchi is already freaking out like a complete maniac.

“I don’t care! Just get here before my pregnant self kicks you in the ass” She yelled and hung up the phone. I sighed and rolled my eyes, I am never ever getting pregnant, I muttered in my head.

I slipped on my Nike running shoes, grabbed my purse and keys and bolted out the door. I skipped down the stairs and onto the parking lot, hopping to my BMW, cursing in the process as I bumped my head onto the doorframe. I drove fast to Frenchi and Mike’s place, trying to save my head from Frenchi’s pregnant rage.

“French?” I called out as I walked inside their house.

“Oh thank God you’re here, she’s been freaking out like crazy, can you please calm her down?” Mike ran down from the stairs. Grabbing me by the arm, Mike led me to the dining room to see Frenchi.

“Where the hell have you been? Your house isn’t that far, you know?” She put both her arms on her waist and cocked her body to the side.

“I got here as soon as I can, my car is a slow bastard” I rolled my eyes and threw my purse onto the couch nearby.

“Why are you not freaking out? We’re about to have our first meeting for the wedding, THIS could determine how my wedding would turn out!” She yelled and threw both her hands in the air.

“Babe, calm down. A, it’s our wedding and B, I don’t care how the wedding will turn out. Marrying you and the baby will be the best thing that’s ever going to happen to me” Mike stepped forward and took both Frenchi’s hand, squeezing them in the hope of calming her down.

But boy, was he wrong.

“Of course you don’t care, Mike. You’re a guy, all you care is getting laid and getting ME knocked up. This is exactly why I need a Maid of Honor, cause you don’t care!”

“FRANCESCA MALDONADO!” I shouted and Frenchi went quiet, “you have got to calm the fuck down! This is only the first meeting and you’re already freaking out like a lunatic. If you keep this up, Mike won’t even be here for you to marry! So calm down! Everything is going to be fine!” I felt a rush of adrenalin running through my veins as I finished shouting at Frenchi.

She looked at me and Mike, then let out a sigh. “I’m sorry” She looked down to her feet. “Sorry for yelling and rushing you here” She said to me and then she looked up to Mike. “Sorry for yelling at you and accusing you of not caring, I’m sorry and I love you” She leaned her head to Mike’s chest.

“It’s okay, I love you too” Mike replied and kissed Frenchi on the forehead.

When the wedding planner arrived, we sat on the dining table with the wedding planner sitting opposite of us.

“So, before we begin, can you just tell me the big picture? Like, what do you want your wedding to be, in general” Colette, the wedding planner said as she opened her notebook to take notes.

“Well, the important part is that I want to have an outdoor wedding. I don’t want some fancy ballroom wedding with ice sculptures and gross caterings. I want outdoorsy and rustic wedding” Frenchi explained.

“Ah okay, outdoors. What about the date? When do you want to have this wedding?”

“Next month. I want to have this wedding as soon as possible, since I’m already knocked up. And before you tell me it would be better for me to have the wedding after giving birth to the baby, the answer is no. I want to be married to Mike when we have the kid”

Colette’s eyes went wide. “N-next month?”

“Yes. Is that possible?” Frenchi raised her eyebrows.

“I’ll see what I can do. Now, I had brought a couple of venue references for you too choose from, there are a couple of venues for outdoor weddings in there” She pushed forward a black folder with clippings of wedding venues.

Mike and Frenchi flipped through the pages as Colette explained the stuff that needs to be done.

“Since we are doing this in super speed, we need to set deadlines for literally everything. We cannot afford to relax and take our time, this is going to be hectic and it’s not going to be pretty”

“Oh I can’t wait” I muttered and rolled my eyes, which earned myself a glare from Frenchi.

“As the maid of honor, you are going to be very very busy helping the bride. Especially with her being pregnant, she is definitely going to need more help than usual” Explained Colette, I just nodded in response.

“First we have to take care of the invitations, because those things could take forever to be mailed back and tomorrow you guys will go and choose the wedding invitations” Colette pointed to Frenchi and I.

“Also, we need to take care of the catering. Since there’s not a lot of time, we may need to start brainstorming menus by tomorrow” Colette rambled again while continuing to write in her notebook. “Oh! Cake! We also need to take care of the cake!” She clapped her hand suddenly, which caused Mike and I to jump lightly.

“Oh don’t worry, I have all that figured out. Since we both love red velvet cake, I want the wedding cake to be a simple two-tiered red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting” Frenchi grinned and Mike soon followed. “And there’s only one person who can make the best red velvet cake”

I wasn’t looking at Frenchi but at that point I knew she was referring to me and looking at me as she speaks.

“Me?”

“Yes you, you bake like a freaking God and I want everybody to taste your goodies”

“That sounds… wrong on so many levels” Mike chuckled.

“Shut up. Will you do it Cass?” Frenchi looked at me with a hopeful stare.

“Fine, fine. I’ll do it” I huffed knowing I wouldn’t stand a chance arguing with Frenchi.

“Good! Now that we got that taken care of, where is the best man?” Colette turned her attention to Mike, who was looking lost as always.

“Uh, Vic should be here any second, he’s out doing something” Mike answered hesitantly.

“Call him! He promised to be here,” Frenchi pouted.

Mike took his phone from his back pocket and just as he was about to dial Vic’s number, the front door flung open and entered Vic who looked scared as soon he saw Frenchi’s death stare.

“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot. I slept in” Vic rubbed the back of his head.

“I can’t even… Whatever. Just sit down, Victor” Frenchi bossed Vic into sitting next to me.

“For you guys,” Colette pointed at Vic and Mike, “you guys need to start looking for Tuxes and Vic, you need to start planning Mike’s bachelor party” She winked.

“Aha! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Mike shouted and him and Vic high-fived each other over my head.

“NO STRIPPERS! I swear if you bring in strippers, you can kiss this wedding goodbye” Frenchi threatened Mike with her finger pointed straight to his face.

This got Vic and I to chuckle. We both know how sensitive Frenchi is about strippers because once, she caught one with her tongue down Mike’s throat and, I kid you not, she literally kick the shit out of that stripper.

“I promise baby, no strippers” Mike kissed Frenchi’s hand.

As we were about to begin discussing the budget limit, the front door opens again but this time, entered the last person I want to see on the face of this earth. Frenchi quickly turned her attention to me who was starting to have trouble breathing, trying not to burst into tears in the middle of the meeting. He looked surprised to see me because he stopped dead in his tracks the moment his eyes met mine.

“Excuse me, I’m gonna get something to drink” I mumbled loud enough for Frenchi to hear. I went straight to the kitchen without waiting for Frenchi’s answer.

I took deep breaths and breathed out through my mouth as I tried to calm myself down. I brought my hands up to my face and groaned, why does this keep happening to me? I thought.

“You okay?”

I cursed to myself when I heard that voice.

“I’m fine, just overwhelmed with this maid of honor duties” I shot him a fake smile that soon disappeared when he took a few steps closer towards me.

“Cassie, I-“

“Don’t. Don’t say anything, I don’t want to hear it, and frankly I don’t care. Don’t make things more complicated than it already is, okay?” I shot him another weak smile. He took another step closer and grabbed my hands.

“Just let me explain, please” Tony pleaded. “I was going to… I left Jessie, I swear! But somehow, I don’t know what she did but she made me feel guilty about the whole thing and I just couldn’t”

“It’s okay, you know what, I’m glad you… uh… you got back together with Jessie” I slipped my hands out from Tony’s grip.

He stared at me confusedly. “Why?”

“Cause you’ve made up your mind, I don’t have to spend my days waiting for you anymore”