One Hundred Sleepless Nights

1.5 MONTHS LATER


“Oh my God, oh my God, Frenchi is going to kill me, fuck!” I run around in my kitchen, with a spatula covered in cream cheese icing and an apron covered in red food coloring.

“What’s going on? I thought everything was fine?” Jaime spoke on the speakerphone.

“So did I, but the cream cheese won’t set and now the icing is running and absorbed into the cake. Frenchi is going to kill me for messing up her wedding cake”

“Hey calm down, you still have a few more hours to do it Cass” Jaime chuckled on the other end.

“Exactly! Only a few more hours! Do you know how much time I need to get a freaking wedding cake done?! Ugh, I fucking hate Frenchi for making me do this” I whined as I continued to run around in the kitchen.

The wedding is three days away and tomorrow morning all of us are supposed to drive to Ventura and get settled for the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. I was supposed to get the cake done and give it to the caterer for them to haul it to Ventura along with the other stuff, but since I fail to accomplish making the cake on the first try, I’m going to have to pull an all-nighter to finish this cake.

“I don’t think I’m getting any sleep tonight, I have to finish up this thing or Frenchi will serve my head on a silver platter” I muttered quietly but loud enough for Jaime to hear on the phone.

“Do you want some company? I could stay with you there”

I stopped mixing the cake batter and sighed. “Nah, it’s okay. I’ll be fine, Hime”

“Nope, I’m coming over in half an hour. I’ll bring food” Jaime spoke and before I could protest, he hung up the phone and the line went dead. I sighed and went back to baking another pan of red velvet cake.

Exactly half an hour after the phone call, Jaime knocked on the door bearing food. “Thank God you’re still alive,” said Jaime with an exaggerated sigh as he walked into my apartment.

“Drama queen. What do you have there?” I chucked my chin at the paper bag he carried as I walked back into the kitchen.

“I made my famous carne asada tacos and I brought in some churros” He grinned and set the paper bag on the kitchen counter. “Jesus woman, what happened in here?” He shook his head the moment he saw the mess I made in the whole kitchen area.

“Don’t even talk about it, let’s just eat. I’m going to put this batter in the oven, can you grab a plate?” I pointed to the cabinet over the sink. He nodded and tiptoed towards the cabinet, trying not to get flour on his shoes.

I put the pans on the oven and walked to the living room where Jaime had set plates for his tacos. I grabbed two bottles of beers from the fridge and sat on the couch next to him.

“So how’ve you been doing?” Jaime asked after taking a mouthful.

“I’ve been better” I shrugged, taking small bites of the tacos.

“Are you okay?”

“No, but I will be” I gave him a weak smile. “I think I just need time to let myself heal”

“I’m sorry you had to go through all this. I feel really bad, mainly ‘cause Tony is my friend, I just feel somehow responsible” He shook his head.

“Hey, don’t blame yourself. At least he was being honest with himself and made a decision. If we were meant to be, we would be together” I gave him a reassuring smile and he just smiled back in response.

“It’s going to suck though, right? Seeing him all the time?” Jaime piped up after taking his second taco.

“Not really” I paused. I wasn’t going tell Jaime about London until after the wedding. When I called Sophia a month ago and accepted the offer, the company wanted to ship me the following week, but I told her about the wedding and she agreed to give me 2 months. So, literally after the wedding I only have 2-3 weeks to pack up and move to London. I told Avela after Frenchi and I got home, she was sad that I was going to leave but at the same time she was ecstatic for this job opportunity.

But I just felt so bad if I keep this from Jaime because he has helped me so much through this whole thing and the guilt was starting to eat me from the inside.

“Wow, you’re one tough cookie” He chuckled and take another bite of his taco. I sighed and put mine down.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like the taco?” Jaime asked, concerned.

“No, no. I… uh… I have a big news to share, though I don’t really know how you’re going to take this” I pursed my lips, trying to figure out a way to say that I’ll be moving to another continent within the month.

“Oh God, don’t tell me you’re pregnant?” He put down his taco and set his plate onto the table.

“No! Oh gosh no, I’m not pregnant!” I rolled my eyes. “I got a job promotion” I chuckled.

Jaime’s eyes went wide and he shot me his signature grin. “That’s awesome! I’m so proud of you Cass” He leaned forward to give me a hug.

“Why were you so nervous about telling me about a job promotion?” He chuckled with a confused look, then suddenly his mouth gaped open and sighed. “You’re moving aren’t you?”

I bit my lip and avoided his gaze. “Cassie?” He asked again, this time tilting my chin up.

I sighed and began telling him about London, from the day Sophia offered me the job until the day I took the offer. I also told him about how this is a great opportunity and all that stuff, because for some reason, I felt really bad leaving Jaime and the rest of the guys.

After telling him the whole story, including the part about how I needed to get over Tony, Jaime stayed quiet and just stared right to my face.

“London huh?” He chuckled and looked down to his shoes.

I mumbled an ‘mhm’ in return.

“Well, I think we’re going to have to plan a UK tour then” He smiled and reached forward to give me a hug. “I’m so proud of you Cass and I’m really, really happy for you”

I was tearing up when he said those words, but for once in a really long time… I was genuinely happy and the tears I shed were happy tears.



I rubbed my eyes to take away the sleepiness, but all the rubbing I did only seemed to make my eyes water more and thus, making me feel sleepier. It’s 7 AM and I hadn’t slept at all since last night. The wedding cake is now sitting perfectly at the caterer’s HQ and chilled in their refrigerator. I was all showered and ready, and now I’m just waiting for Mike and Frenchi to come and pick me up.

Jaime went home shortly after I told him about London and I was left alone in my apartment trying to finish a two tiered red velvet wedding cake. It wasn’t easy, especially with lack of sleep, but I managed to finish it by 6 AM. I was about to doze off on the couch when I heard knocking on the door.

I groaned and basically dragged my legs to the door, opening it without even looking at the peephole.

“You look fantastic!” Mike chimed as soon as I opened the door.

“Fuck you,” I snarled, “wait here, I’m gonna get my stuff” I mumbled and walked to my bedroom to where my duffel bag that I packed earlier was sitting. I turned off the lights, AC, and the electricity, then walked out with the duffel bag on my right hand and my maid of honor dress on my left.

“Here, let me help. Do you have everything?” Mike asked as he took my duffel bag from my hand.

I nodded and we both walked out from my apartment, closing the door behind us. Frenchi was sitting on the front passenger seat with the windows rolled down, she was grinning from ear to ear and waving at us excitedly.

“Hurry up bitches! I’m gettin’ married!” She exclaimed loudly, earning a chuckle from both of us.

Mike stowed my duffel bag and my dress safely on the boot of the car before jumping in the driver’s seat. “Everybody ready?” Asked Mike as he buckled his seatbelt on. Frenchi and I both nodded in unison and we soon made our way to Ventura with the rest of the gang was only half an hour behind us, travelling together in Vic’s Suburban SUV. Since it was early in the morning, there was little to no traffic do the trip can be easily done in about 3 and a half hours.

Once we got to Tierra Rejada Ranch, Frenchi couldn’t contain her excitement anymore so she began jumping in her seat and squealing all the way from the gate to the cabin.

“I’m going to get all of us checked in, Mike can you bring the bags inside?” Mike nodded in response and we both walked into the receptionist’s desk to get everybody checked in.

Shortly after the rooms were all ready, the rest of the gang arrived, adding more excitement in Frenchi’s part.

“Okay, we got the rooms ready. The guys will be staying in the groom’s suite and the girls will be staying in the bride’s suite. Don’t forget, tonight is the rehearsal dinner and both of our families are coming in, so behave boys” Frenchi explained and gave Mike the key to their room.

“Oh, and at noon we’ll be having the wedding rehearsal. Just to make sure none of us messes up on our day” Frenchi smiled annoyingly and everybody mumbled their ‘yeses’ and ‘alrights’.

Once we got settled in our room, I immediately crashed onto one of the beds and fell asleep instantly. I woke up an hour later with Frenchi shaking my body violently, almost knocking my face in the process.

“Get ready hurry, we’re going to do the rehearsal now,” Frenchi said loudly on my ear. I rolled my eyes at her so hard; I literally thought I was going to go blind. I went into the bathroom and changed my clothes into something comfortable but presentable at the same time, so I opted for my pastel pink floral dress and paired it with my tan wedges.

The wedding rehearsal went smoothly at first; everybody was serious and focused on getting it right, even the boys listened to the Colette, the wedding planner, carefully but after half an hour, they started to get cranky and did everything halfheartedly. Frenchi went from nice to bitchy in literally 0.1 second, which was effective because everybody behaved as soon as they saw Frenchi bitching and screaming at Jaime and Tony for talking while Colette was explaining.

A few hours afterwards, the families from both Frenchi and Mike’s side were starting to come in for the rehearsal dinner and everything was starting to become hectic. We were all getting ready in the suite; Avela and Rachel were touching up their make up and I was helping Frenchi get her dress on.

“Ugh, I’ve never felt this useless in my entire life” Frenchi muttered, sighing as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

I laughed. “You were pretty useless after your bachelorette party, yknow” Avela and Rachel laughed at my reply.

A week before the wedding, the girls and I took Frenchi out for her bachelorette party. Well, I wouldn’t call it a party but it definitely celebrated her last days of being single and without a child. Since she couldn’t drink, dance or literally do any heavy physical activity, we decided to take her to Disneyland and spent the night at the Disney Resort, in which we hired a stripper, not male stripper, to give Frenchi a lap dance.

The guys had a different approach to the plan; they went to Vegas. Though none of them are willing to tell me, or any of the girls for that matter, what happened in Vegas, all of them swore that there were no strippers involved.

“I’m not going to do anything to my hair, but can you do my make up? Please?” Frenchi pouted.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Sit down” I began to do her make up, a simple and pretty light make up.

Soon there were a knock on the door and Jaime told us that everybody was ready for us downstairs. We all went down and was soon greeted by Mike’s and Frenchi’s close relatives. The dinner went successfully, the menu that Frenchi spent days on choosing was ravishing and the decorations on the little restaurant were just so pretty.

We were halfway through our dessert when Papa Fuentes stood up, tapping his wine glass to gather everybody’s attention.

“Hello everybody, my name is Victor and I am the groom’s father. Let me just start by saying that I’ll be making this brief, I just would like to share a little bit about my little Mikey here.” He paused for a second and smiled at Mike who was holding hands with Frenchi. “Ever since he was a little boy, he has always been the crazy one. Always happy, always hyperactive and always in trouble” Everybody in the room erupted into laughter.

“I never would’ve thought that tomorrow he will be standing in a tux, marrying the perfect girl and starting a family. Mike, I want you to take Frenchi's hand and place your hand over hers. Now, remember this moment and cherish it... because this will be the last time you'll ever have the upper hand” Papa Fuentes smiled and again, the whole room erupted into laughter.

Frenchi and Mike both raised their glasses in respect, and we all went back to our foods and our conversations. I glanced over at Tony’s table; he was seated between Vic and Jaime, chatting happily.

I swear that smile still gets me every time. I sighed and went back to my coconut panna cotta.

“Hey, stop staring at him. It’s not going to do you any good, hun” Rachel nudged my arm and snapped me from my Tony-filled thoughts.

“Wha- I wasn’t” I said defensively.

“Oh come on" She raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever, not that it matters. Tomorrow Jessie will be flying in for the wedding and I'm pretty sure she's going to hog him for the night"

She laughed and shook her head. "There are literally 50 guys here who are fucking good looking, make a move! Or at least wait 'till the booze starts flowing. This is a wedding, you know stuff happens at weddings” She winked at me and went back to her conversation with one of Frenchi’s close cousin.

I thought about what Rachel said, but I know it’s pointless, because the stuff I wanted to happen, I only wanted it to happen with Tony.