Natural Disaster

“I guess I probably should have told you that he is Josh’s best man,” The tension in the room couldn’t have even been cut with the sharpest knife in the world. She was fuming. Counting to ten and taking a long and deep breath was the only thing she could do to help the rising anger she felt in the deep pit of her stomach. [i[One, two, three… Breathe. “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, I guess it is.” Four, five, six… Don’t forget to breathe.

“You didn’t think it would be a big deal?” She spat. You forgot to breathe, dummy. Allison picked at the edge of her nails and sighed, it was a never-ending battle with her sister, especially over this.

“You’re right,” Allison conceded, uncrossing her legs and fixing the skirt of her dress in the powder room of the wedding venue. “I knew it was a big deal, which was why I didn’t bring it up ever. You wouldn’t have came near here if you knew he had been invited.” She crinkled her nose and tried to remind herself of all the calming techniques she had learnt throughout the years.

“That’s low, Allison, even for you.” Her twin shrugged her shoulders, still picking at her freshly painted manicure and looked her sister dead in the eye.

“Tell me it isn’t true then. Prove it.” She wrinkled her eyebrows in defeat, but she wasn’t going to give up.

“Why should I?” It was her typical response to anything she didn’t want to do. Allison rolled her eyes and mumbled something under her breath about how she couldn’t understand how she wasn’t the older twin—at least she was the most mature one.

“Because you’re ruining my rehearsal dinner by moping in the bathroom because you saw him. You’re also going to see him tomorrow, and every day for the next week, hence the wedding party.” Allison and Josh were going all out for their wedding. After a large and lavish party at Casa Loma, the couple were springing for their immediate families and wedding party group to spend a week at the world famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City. She rolled her eyes just in the same fashion that her sister had just moments before. But you could have told me he was going to be here.

“I don’t care about him. Really, Allison.” She nodded her head for further reassurance, but Allison wasn’t convinced. Tersely she flattened her lips and tried to muster up a small smile. It was weak. “But I’ll get over it, because you’re my sister and I love you a Josh, and nothing he does can upset me.” Allison shook her head. It was one thing to make an attempt to get along with an ex; she knew her sister wasn’t going to do just that.

~~~~~

The full moon shone brightly down on the lake as frogs chirped each other loudly in the background. The thick humidity clung to her skin as she dipped her toes into the cool water off the dock. Running a hand through her dark brown hair, she sighed. This is the life. The rehearsal dinner had gone better than expected as she was forced only to make eye contact with him once. There was the tense awkwardness between them, but it seemed to all dissipate as soon as the food was passed around, the Italian’s began yelling at each other, and the bar became open.

“Figured I’d find you down here,” A voice mentioned behind her. His voice was scratchy and rasped as if he had just woken up from a nap. She didn’t bother to turn around and look to see who it was, she just knew. “We didn’t get to talk during the dinner.” In the back of her throat she bit back a laugh. What did we really need to talk about? It wasn’t rocket science.

“There isn’t anything to talk about.” Her voice was calm as the sea and as smooth as butter, her stomach however, was a different story. He sighed and ran his hands through his recently trimmed hair. Two weeks ago the affect would have been much stronger, but since he had promised his best friend he would make himself look applicable for his wedding it wasn’t working as well as he had hoped.

“Can I sit down?” She turned around this time to face him. His face lit up from the reflection off of the water. This had been the first time she had seen him since everything had happened. He looked older, more mature. His eyes sagged at the edges as if he hadn’t slept in weeks, and his ever-luminescent smile was no longer shining through anything. They had both changed so much in a span of two years.

Scooting over on the dock she made room in between the two poles. He sat down next to her and starred out into the great abyss. The local lake near their house was nothing comparable to something like Lake Ontario, but it did the trick. Fishing was awesome in the summer, tubing was out of the world, and in the winter the lake would freeze over just enough for the neighborhood kids to bring out their skates and sticks. This was a familiar home to both of them growing up.

“How are you doing?” The question was simple enough but it again ignited that sitting anger in her stomach. She continued looking out towards nothing, picking at the skin around her nails until they began to bleed.

“Skip the small talk, what do you want?” He was taken back by her abruptness and off-putting tone.

“What do you mean, ‘what do you want?’” He spat back in the same tone. She looked over at him with her peripheral vision. He was giving her that same stone stare he would give her every time they would fight. It was a look of unimpressed and slightly annoyed.

“I mean, why did you come out here?” She paused and pulled her legs to sit criss cross apple sauced. He wondered for a moment the same exact thing before responding to her slightly vague question.

“I came to see how you were doing.” It wasn’t a lie, or a play, or a fugue. He had come out to see how she was doing (after being surprised that she had even shown up for the dinner at all) and planned on leaving it at that. He wanted to catch up with her, especially after all that had gone down. She rolled her eyes but in the dark he couldn’t have been able to tell.

“So what’d they tell you?” She asked as he pulled his own legs up out of the water and wrapped his arms around his knees. In the summer nights they used to come out here and catch the fireflies that would land on the dock. After bottling them up in a jar, they would lie on the dock and count the stars—making wishes on any shooting stars they saw. They were always the same. He shook his head as she tried not to vomit over the situation.

“They didn’t tell me anything.” The laugh that she had been biting back for quite sometime finally made its appearance. “What were they supposed to tell me?” She shrugged and gave him an intrigued stare. He was intrigued as to what they were supposed to tell him now, or lack thereof.

“Right,” She laughed again as he became growingly suspicious. Did she have a new boyfriend? Fiancée? Husband? Baby? He checked her left hand out as best as he could in the dark without being obvious. Nope. No ring. Her stomach was flat as a board. Negative for baby, at least he assumed.

“Why don’t you tell me then?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head as the sleek waterfall of dark brown curls moved with her head. He should have known that she wasn’t going to give in that easy. “Well tell you what,” He began as she turned her head towards him. This was about to get rich. “I’ll start guessing, and you let me know if I get hot or cold, eh?” Before he even finished his potential game idea, she pushed herself up off of the dock and shook her head once again.

“You really want to know how I’m doing, James?” She finally asked after they had a brief stare down. He nodded and pulled himself up into a better sitting position. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.

“Ask around, first. See what you hear, and then come find me… That is if you still want to know how I’m doing.” Her flip-flops began to clap down the old dock. James sat stunned for a moment before hoping up and trying to catch up with her.

“Molly, wait!” He called after her, but she was already off the dock, up the hill, and on her way home.