Girl That You Love

She knew that she shouldn’t be upset. She knew to expect sudden trips and thought she would be okay with having to handle some of the wedding planning by herself. However, the news of Patrick having to leave after just getting back hit harder for her than she expected. She tried to explain it away with the fact that she was just upset over what the two men had said to her about her journalistic integrity and the fact that Patrick was somehow the reason that she was promoted. Yet, there was something deep inside the corner of her heart that knew that she really was upset about him leaving so soon because she just… was.

Marie was more than willing to accompany her to visit some of the venues that she wanted to use for their engagement party in November, but a part of Emma wished that Patrick was there too.

“Oh, trust me, he would have been no help anyway,” Marie told her as they hopped out of the taxi and into the one of the venues that they were exploring, the Electric Room on 16th street.

Emma wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck, shivering slightly from the cool wind that was blowing. Marie linked her arm through Emma’s and pulled her close. “Man, I was not ready for fall, it just sneaked up on me. I’m starting to wonder why we decided to stay in New York when I could be living thirty minutes away from a beach in LA,” Emma commented, smiling appreciatively at Marie.

“Because you want to be closer to me,” Marie replied, giggling.

They walked up to two pairs of double mahogany doors with symmetrical holes running up and down the doors in perfect rows. “So modern,” Emma remarked and knocked on the doors.

The manager, a short man with black slick backed hair and a stylish Versace suit opened the door. “Emma Mann!” he exclaimed, moving in to give her a quick kiss hello on her cheek. “Or should I say the future Mrs. Patrick Stump?” he winked at her and she blushed.

“Hello Dario, how are you?” she said, stepping into the venue with Marie.

“Fabulous, now that you are here!” He looked at Marie and took her hand. “You must be Marie.”

Marie glanced at Emma surprised. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“Joe’s talked about you before,” Dario explained.

Marie just smiled and rolled her eyes. “Yes, it would make sense that he’s been here.”

“So, where is Patrick?” Dario asked them.

“He had to head back to LA for Ellen,” Emma explained, and Dario nodded in understanding.

“Of course, busy man. That’s okay, we all know who makes the final decisions in the relationship don’t we?” He winked again at her and Emma just chuckled. “Okay, let’s go take a look at the space and I’ll give you some of my ideas for how you can do the party.”

They started walking through the main entryway where the coat room and bathrooms were and then into the main lounge area. Emma loved the rocker Victorian feel to the room with its old fashioned green velvet three cushioned couches, an ornate fireplace that were juxtaposed with modern art on the walls and candles on every table and in the chandeliers.

“So how many are you thinking will be attending the party?” Dario asked her.

“Well, we sent out about three hundred invitations,” Emma replied, “But we’re thinking about 200 to 250 will show up?”

“And I’m assuming we will need to provide extra security for the event, possibly a roped off queue because there will be some celebrities there,” he added.

“Yeah,” she replied, although the idea of having people like Tommy Lee and Elton John show up to her engagement party was still a little unreal to her. She remembered when Patrick had called her up while he was on tour to let her know that Elton was going to be there.

“Emma, you will never believe who just called me,” Patrick had said into the phone.

“Um, the Queen of England?” she said as a joke.

“Well, that’s actually not far off,” he replied, taken aback.

“Wait, what?”

“I got a call from Elton John. He was asking me about the wedding and stuff and said he wanted to do something nice for us.”

“Elton John said that,” she said blankly.

“Yeah, and well since he is going to be in New York City around the same time as our engagement party, he asked if he could perform a song to us, as like a wedding present.” She could hear the boyish excitement in Patrick’s voice. She knew how much it meant to him that one of the singers that he loved cared enough about them to offer that kind of gift.

“Babe, that is amazing. I think it would be wonderful,” Emma gushed.

Emma looked around the room. “Dario, if we do it here, we will need to clear a space for a piano.”

Dario raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were just going to have a DJ?”

“Yeah, well, that was until Elton John asked to sing us a song,” she replied lightly.

Dario grinned. “Well, anything for Sir Elton John. I think, we can move a couple of couches over there and place a small piano there.” He pointed to the far corner of the room near the bar.

“That would work,” Emma replied. Dario then started going over the possible catering options - Emma and Patrick just wanted to do hors d’oeuvres and drinks – and the décor for the event.

Emma looked at Marie. “What do you think?”

“It’s the best one in my opinion. I mean, you and Patrick aren’t like fancy ball gown people and neither are most of your friends. This is a place we can party at you know?”

Emma looked at Dario, who was giving them both a hopeful look. “Well, Dario, I think we will go with yours.”

Dario smiled and shook her hand. “Emma, this is great news.” He took them into his office so that they could draw up some contracts.

They headed back into a cab and made their way over to the Rolling Stone offices because Emma needed to grab some files off her work computer for the story she was working on at home. She wasn’t planning on working on the story until the following week, but with Patrick gone, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to get some edits in. During their ride over there, she decided to call Patrick to update him on the engagement venue.

When he answered, he seemed out of breath. “Hey babe,” he breathed into the phone.

“Oh, you guys are at rehearsal, aren’t you?” she said, glancing at her watch.

“Nope, Andy drug me out of the house to go to the gym,” he replied.

Emma giggled. “You poor thing. How traumatic for you.”

“Oh how you laugh at my pain. I knew there was a reason I didn’t do this cross fit stuff with him. It’s hard, holy smokes.”

“When is rehearsal?”

“A couple of hours from now. We were just finishing up and about to head back to my place to shower and stuff.”

“Gotcha, well, I was just calling to let you know that I booked us a venue for the engagement party,” she said.

“Awesome! What did you decide to go with?”

“The Electric Room,” she replied. “Dario just understands what we want, you know?”

“Yeah, definitely. That’s great, I’m glad that part is done.”

“Yep, now we just have to find a venue for the wedding, reception hire a photographer, meet with the wedding planner and get your tux and my dress… among other things.” She tried not to sound aggravated by all of it because she didn’t want to upset Patrick when he was about to go to rehearsal.

“I know, and I promise we will hit the ground running when I get back Thursday afternoon,” she could hear the guilt in his voice and it made her feel terrible.

“Definitely,” she replied. “Hey, excited about the show?”

“Oh yeah, wait till you see our performance, we have some special guests,” he hinted.

“What? Who?”

“This local children’s choir. They are going to do all the shouting parts and stuff in “Alone Together”.”

“All you had to say was ‘Alone Together’ and I totally lost the rest of that,” she joked. “That’s really cute though. Who’s idea was that?”

“Ellen’s actually. Not a bad idea right?”

“As long as you four don’t negatively influence them into loving punk rock, then no, it’s a great idea.”

“Oh, they’ll all be wearing black skinny jeans and growing their hair out like Joe after they sing with us,” he laughed.

“That’s actually adorable,” she said, giggling at the idea of a bunch of little Joe’s in black skinny jeans.
The cab stopped out front of the magazine’s offices. “Whoops, babe, I gotta go. Just made it to the office.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later tonight then.”

“Great, I love you!” she said, trying to keep her voice upbeat.

“I love you too Emma,” he replied. She heard shouting in the background. “Oh and Andy says hi, bye and that he loves you too.”

She laughed. “Right, tell him the same.”

Once she hung up, she and Marie headed up into the Rolling Stone offices.

“What are you doing here?” Joel said, looking up from his desk as she stopped at hers. “Aren’t you off for the next week?”

Emma barely glanced up at her computer as she looked at her files. A month ago, she and Joel had finally gotten back on speaking terms and since then their friendship had slowly started to mold back to where it was sans his undying love for her. She was relieved and glad when he introduced her to his new girlfriend, a writer who started her own political blog there in New York City. As soon as she saw the two of them together, she knew that Joel was moving past his feelings for her. Which, she was happy about because Joel was one of her only really good friends in New York City.

“Wanted to grab some files off my computer to work on at home,” she said quietly. Then she looked at him sharply. “Do not alert Christian to my presence, he will flip when he sees me here.”

Joel grinned. “Okay, and if I don’t tell Christian, what do I get in turn?”

“I’ll buy your lattes for the next week,” she said anxiously.

“Deal, this whole dating thing has put a damper in my budget anyway.” When she heard that, she reminded herself to not mention to him how much her and Patrick’s house was going to cost. She had to admit if she had dated Joel, things would have been a little easier for her. They wouldn’t be buying a house with a three comma price tag and Elton John would not be at their engagement party, except probably blaring out of speakers from an iPod. But, Patrick was the love of her life, and she knew that she couldn’t give that up for anything. Nor did she want to.

He stood up and leaned over her cubicle. “Hey, did you know that the UN chemical weapons inspectors who are going into Syria are using like blowtorches and crap to get rid of the weapons?”

Emma looked up at him, surprised. “Seriously? Sounds a bit medieval.”

Joel smiled. “Oh yeah, I’m getting the skinny from a friend of mine over at the Post. He’s getting me some leads to follow.”

“Sounds like an awesome story.”

“EMMA!” she flinched and looked up to see Christian barreling toward them.

“Is that your boss?” Marie asked her, looking worried.

“Um, yeah,” Emma gave her a sullen look.

“What the hell are you doing here? I said that I didn’t want to see you in the office for the rest of the week! Do you not understand the concept of time off?” Christian stopped right in front of her and tapped his Cavalli Venetian loafers against the floor hard.

“It’s just a minute, I’m already done with what I needed to do,” she said, holding up her hands defensively.

He looked at Marie. “You must be Marie.”

Marie stuck her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Christian, heard a lot about you.”

“Did you hear about how I’m tired of this girl working all of the time? She makes me look bad,” he barked and Marie retreated quickly. “Where is your future hubby? I thought you two would still be in bed making up for lost time.”

“No, no, Christian, please talk about my sex life some more, it’s not like it’s a private thing,” she retorted.

“Go home, Mann,” he said.

“As you wish, master,” she said sarcastically. She glanced at Joel, who was chuckling and she couldn’t help but crack a smile. “See you later, Joel.”

“Later, Em,” he replied.

She grabbed Marie’s hand and dragged her out of the building. “Wow, you’re boss is something else,” Marie commented, as they got back into the cab.

“Oh he’s not so bad,” Emma replied. “He talks a big game, but he’s really a pretty nice guy.”

“Yeah, telling you to actually take your vacation days? That’s highly unusual.”

“Well, when Patrick’s not here, I have no reason to, you know, be home all the time, so I work late a lot and take on extra assignments. He says it’s bad for my health, but I think he hates paying me overtime. Plus, I really do like my job, you know?”

Marie pulled out her makeup compact and examined her makeup in its small mirror. “You and the guys might be the only people who admit to liking their jobs.”

“Well the guys don’t really have a normal 9 to 5 job do they?” Emma remarked, thinking that it was laughable to call what Patrick, Pete, Joe and Andy did a job.

Next stop that the two girls had to make was to meet with Barbara Rose, the lady that was supposed to be Emma and Patrick’s wedding planner. She came highly recommended from Sarah, Brendon’s wife and at this point, Emma knew that she needed someone to help her with getting a wedding organized by the end of January. She kept a small office in the Chelsea area in a beautifully renovated townhouse. The inside had been updated with modern white décor. The front room was designated as a waiting area for all guests and the receptionist was overtly friendly and kept offering Emma and Marie two different kinds of water: one with lemons and limes or one with cucumbers.

Barbara Rose was a woman who understood exactly who was in charge when it came to the wedding and understood that every woman no matter her personal taste had one thing in common: they all wanted the perfect wedding to make all of their friends jealous. Even if they were unwilling to admit it, that was what every woman wanted and she was prepared to give them exactly what they wanted.
“Emma Mann, right?” A tall and slender lady in her mid-fifties came up to them, her wrist jingling from the multitude of gold bracelets clanking together. She kept herself very put together in a soft pink blazer and matching pencil skirt and tied her graying hair into a sleek French twist. Emma felt inadequate standing next to her in her jeans and oversized flannel shirt, her hair out of sorts from the wind that was blowing outside.

“Yes, hello Barbara,” Emma held out her hand and they shook. Even her fingernails were perfectly manicured. Emma quickly retracted her hand and hid it behind her back. “This is my friend and bridesmaid, Marie.”

“Marie, so nice to meet you,” Barbara said turning her pearly white smile onto Marie and shaking her hand. Emma glanced at Marie, who seemed to fit in better with Barbara than she did in her simple black dress with red ¾ inch sleeved blazer over it. Emma, you need to start dressing better for these things, she thought to herself. “So, no groom, I take it?”

“They had a performance back in LA last minute,” Emma explained.

Barbara smiled, knowingly. “Ah, the life of a rock star’s wife. I have had quite a few of you over my lifetime. Don’t worry, at the end of the day, you’re the only person who needs to be happy with the wedding. He just needs to show up.” She laughed and her laughter reminded Emma of the light clinking of forks against champagne glasses. “So, why don’t you both come into my office and we can get started. What I really want to do is get an idea of what you want for this wedding. I hear we have a short time frame?”

“Er, yes, we want to get married on or around the 25th of January,” she explained. “After that, Patrick will be starting rehearsals for the band’s tour that starts at the end of February and there really wouldn’t be any time in February to do it because of that.”

“Yes of course, and I am sure you two are eager to get married. I read all about your beautiful story in People magazine right before you got here.”

Emma glanced at Marie, who gave her a ‘I have no idea what she’s talking about’ stare. “You what?”
Barbara opened up the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out the issue of People magazine. The front cover was littered with pictures from different parts of her and Patrick’s past with the tagline: FROM A FALL OUT BOY TO FALL OUT MAN: THE LOVE STORY OF FRONTMAN PATRICK STUMP AND HIS SOON-TO-BE WIFE EMMA MANN.

Emma grabbed the magazine from Barbara and paged through it until she got to the story.

“If you were one of the 30,000 Fall Out Boy fans who attended their performance at the Barclay Center in New York City this past month, then you got to witness one of the most public, earnest and heartfelt wedding proposals by a celebrity. It was the kind of proposal that one might only see in movies and it came from Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump to his on-again, off-again girlfriend of over seven years, Emma Mann. Not only has the proposal catapulted Patrick Stump into the center of the public eye, but it has also sparked intrigue among the masses about this fairy tale love story. After doing some research and interviewing those closest to the couple, I have been able to put together a little history for all those who want to know how an ordinary girl became the center of Patrick Stump’s universe.”

She stopped reading and looked up at Marie. “Who did they interview?”

Marie rolled her eyes. “Probably like friends of friends and stuff like that. Or they just used hearsay off of blogs and crap.”

Emma jumped to another paragraph.

“Bobby Garfield, owner of Garfield Guitar Pro, a music store in downtown Chicago remembers the first time Emma and Patrick met, at the local House of Blues back in 2005. “Emma had her eye on Patrick since the first time he stepped out of the van the day the guys came to do their first performance at the House,” Garfield explains. “Patrick was very shy back then, but Emma has never been afraid to take what she wants, and that night, she wanted Patrick.” He recalls witnessing them coming out of the dressing room before the guys went on. “I couldn’t believe it; she came out wearing one of his shirts. The other guys were giving her sh*t about it the rest of the night (most of the other techs were guys), but she is a classy lady, never kisses and tells. However, within four months, she was gone and next time I saw her was on YouTube singing with Patrick. I guess she got what she wanted.””

Emma shut the magazine. “I’m going to kill Bobby,” she muttered. She looked at Marie and then at Barbara, who looked a little shocked by Emma’s agitation. “Okay, for the record, Patrick spilled water on me, that’s why I had to change my shirt. He offered to give me one. He was very polite and didn’t watch me while I changed either.” She glanced at the magazine again. “Oh and I wasn’t GUNNING for Patrick. I had no intentions of falling for him. It just happened.”

Marie rested her hand on Emma’s knee. “We know that, Emma.”

“They are trying to make me out to be some fame whore or something!” Emma exclaimed.

“I’m sure they are not trying to do that,” Barbara said.

“Really?” Emma opened up the magazine again and pointed to a passage. “A good friend from Emma’s high school years, Gina Russo says, “Emma was always one who wanted the spotlight. She was the editor-in-chief of our school newspaper and some local music newspaper. If you ever went to see some band in the area, you can bet that she was there, chatting it up with its members. That was the scene she always wanted to be in. I wasn’t surprised when I found out she was dating some famous singer. I bet she will have her own clothing line or something soon.” What? I never wanted to be in the spotlight! And I wrote our music columns so that was why I was ‘chatting up’ the band members. I was interviewing them! And I don’t want a clothing line. That sounds stupid.”

“Yes, you certainly don’t seem like the type of girl who would do that,” Barbara agreed and Emma looked at her dazed.

Marie took the magazine away from Emma. “It doesn’t matter Emma. Patrick knows who you are and that’s all that matters. You’re marrying him, not the world.”

Emma slinked back into her chair. “It sure is starting to seem that way though,” she muttered.

There was a moment of awkward silence and then Barbara clasped her hands together. “Okay, enough of this sad talk, let’s get back to the business of planning your wedding!”

Emma and Marie left Barbara’s office and headed back to Emma’s apartment to have some dinner and unwind, although Emma was unsure if she was going to be able to relax any time soon. Her mind kept drifting back to the magazine she had stuffed deep down into her purse with all of its lies and assumptions. She wondered if Patrick knew about the article and its contents. Surely, he should have heard about it from his public relations managers. She expressed that same thought to Marie.

“Um, I don’t know. I mean they keep an eye on that stuff, in case any crazy stories pop up, but stuff like that. I mean there was nothing exactly scandalous about the interview,” Marie admitted.

“What are you talking about? They blatantly lied about who I am!”

“Yeah, but they weren’t calling you a crackbaby or slut or something.”

Emma blinked a few times in surprise. “What?” She couldn’t help but laugh at that and Marie did too. “That is crazy.”

“Exactly. That’s the kind of thing that the PR people get involved in. Like Pete’s penis ending up all over the Internet or Patrick posting depressing blogs about being a has-been.”

Emma sighed. “You’re right. I’m just being uptight. I shouldn’t let these people get to me.”

“Oh I didn’t say that,” Marie butt in. “I know I would be pissed if people were spreading lies about me. But, there isn’t much you can do, you know? Retaliate and then you look like a bitch. Better to let that stuff roll off of you.”

Emma took a deep breath. “You’re right. I mean, it’s tabloids and it’s not like the worst stuff they could be saying about me, right?”