Make You Feel My Love

“Mother! Have you seen my pumps?” Jade asked, her eyes looking at the mess she had created inside her closet, as she had all but stuffed her articles into her old closet.

“Which one? You've gotten almost hundreds of new shoes since last time you lived here, sweetheart,” Mrs Perez pointed out, giggling softly at her daughter.

“My Guess Decollete’s! I saw them yesterday, but they’ve somehow vanished!” the young woman explained,

“I think you left them in your Louis Vuitton bag, love,” Will called from behind her, as he had already bothered to find them for her.

“This is one the reasons why I love you,” Jade smirked, feeling his hands that circled around her waist, as she tilted her head and connected their lips into a brief kiss.

“I hope you don’t love Will because he knows where your shoes are,” her mother commented from beside her.

“I assume that’s just one of the reasons why she loves me,” Will sniggered, planting another kiss against her shoulder.

“Of course it is,” Jade insisted, meanwhile she stepped into her black pumps.

“So, you’re gonna attend the last bridesmaid fitting today?” her mother asked.

Jade nodded slowly, as she was busy refreshing her bright lip-gloss. “And plan the bachelorette party,” she added.

“Ah, of course!” Esther announced. “Well, tell them that I said hi,” she said. “And Will, dear? What are you up to?”

“I thought about visiting our new house and see how everything's coming down. Some people have to do that," he said jokingly, as Jade frowned at him.

“You know why I couldn’t come!” she argued.

“Sweet, I’m joking,” Callum assured her.

The two of them had bought the house a while ago, but only Will had had the time to actually fly down to Huntington and check upon it after they bought it.

“I must leave now,” Jade announced, grabbing her Ted Baker purse. “I’ll text you before I come home,” she told Will, pecking his lips gently, before she hugged her mother and went to meet Michelle who had offered to give her a lift.

“I just can’t believe that you’re back!” Michelle exclaimed, her hands gripping the wheel, as Jade leaned back and pulled on her Chanel sunglasses, soaking up the sunlight.

“It feels really weird to be back! Especially now with Will,” Jade admitted.

“I can imagine! Will seems like such a great guy! It’s so good to see you with him,” Michelle said, a sincere smile curling along her lips.

“He is indeed! I’m so in love with him, Michy. It seriously feels like I just fell in love with him, I’m so not over the honeymoon-phase!” she giggled, not believing that someone could make her feel like that.

“Girl, tell me about it! That’s exactly how I feel about Brian!” Michelle confessed. “And I know this might be a sensitive topic-”

Jade cut her off before she continued down the road.

“Look, we broke up so many years ago. There’s no bad blood between the two of us, and I honestly couldn’t be happier for you, babe. Brian’s a great guy, and you’re an amazing woman!” Jade told her.

“You don’t have to feel like you can’t express your happiness with him when I’m around. We had a thing when we were naïve teenagers. Now we’re adults and we’re just friends and happy in our relationships,”

“I love you so much, hun!” Michelle announced happily.

“I’ve never really felt something as strong as what I feel towards Brian. He’s always been around ever since I was a kid, and damned, he’s changed a lot!”

“When and how did you guys come clean?” Jade asked, as Michelle had yet not told her how the romance had occurred.

“Well, Short Shit and Jimmy met Lacey and Lea right before Avenged went on tour, leaving Brian as the only single member of the band. Jimmy and Johnny spent all their time off speaking with the girls, it was crazy! Can you imagine? Jimmy wanting to talk to a girl instead of getting shitfaced?" Michelle let out.

"Anyway, so we started texting. Then texting turned into phone calls, which again turned into Skype-calls. It really just continued down the road, and then when he came home we started hanging out, and the rest of it sort of just happened naturally,” Michelle explained.

“Who says romance is dead,” Jade sniggered from the passenger seat.

“But girl! What about you? Where did you capture that hot piece?” Michelle wiggled her eyebrows.

“Gosh, it sounds almost gross when you say it like that!” Jade shook her head.

“I wanna know everything!” Michelle beamed.

“We met during summer two years ago, because I was going to England on an internship that was arranged by Yale. Usually it’s very difficult to get transferred from one Ivy League to another, but everything went perfectly well, so I moved to Cambridge, where Will happened to study. He studied law, so it’s not like we had a lot in common when we met,”

“He’s a lawyer, seriously?” Michelle looked somewhat taken aback.

“Yeah. Everyone in his family went to law school. We met at a party, exchanged numbers and started hanging out,” Jade shrugged.

“But didn’t you move back to America last year?” her friend asked.

“Yes, I did. Literally three days before I was gonna leave he surprised me by telling me that he had contacted Yale and begged them to transfer him over there, which they gladly did,” the brunette explained.

“What the hell? He moved to the U.S because of you? Girl, he better pop the question soon!”

“Michy, please don’t sound like my mother! I’ve told him that I like to take things slowly and that I would definitely not want to get married now,” Jade confessed to her best friend.

“What’s stopping you?”

“I don’t know. I just wanna feel young a little longer,” she giggled.

“Are you calling my sister old?” Michelle cocked her eyebrows.

“What? Of course not! It’s just that marriage is such a big deal, and I’d like to settle down in Huntington again and work for a long time before I put a ring on my finger,” Jade said, meanwhile she unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her purse.

“I can understand that though. You’ve been traveling a lot since you first went off to college, and it would probably be nice to just relax a little,” Michelle agreed, grabbing her purse as well as keys.

“Exactly! Will is very understandable though. He really is the greatest man I have in my life after my father passed away,” Jade mumbled.

Michelle soon went to wrap her arm around Jade’s shoulders. Her friend had been really secretive about her father’s death, considering it happened at the same time as Matt and Val’s wedding. Jade had gone back to Huntington in order to attend his funeral and to spend time with her family.

“I bet your father would’ve loved Will,” Michelle told her friend.

“I think about that all the time,” Jade confessed.

***

“They did not look like this when we first tried the samples!” Gena sighed, rubbing her manicured fingers against her temple and feeling her chest move heavily.

“Okay, so they’re not supposed to be in champagne?” Leana asked, as she had been the one to try the bridesmaid dress.

“That sounds wise,” Michelle agreed, meanwhile she looked over at Jade, who was sipping her ice-coffee with her leg tugged over the other.

“You went for the mermaid one, right?” Val asked Gena, trying to calm down the already stressed bride.

“Yeah. A Pnina Tornai dress with a sweetheart neckline,” Gena said, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she thought about the dress she had bought.

“Okay, here’s my idea. I suggest that we ask the lady about the colour of the dress and tell her that they told us that the bridesmaid dresses wouldn’t be in this colour. Maybe we can show her a picture of your wedding dress and take it from there?” Val suggested.

“I’ll ask,” Michelle offered, as she dumped her purse next to Jade’s foot and walked over to one of the ladies that worked in the store.

“And I’ll just change,” Leana informed the others, before she disappeared into the fitting room again.

“God, I’ll never get the dresses in time,” Gena whined. She plumped down on the couch and brought her face into her hands.

“Oh, sweetheart, of course you will! I know exactly how traumatic it is to plan your own wedding, but I can assure you that we’ll make it in time!” Val told her friend, bringing her arm around her back.

“Michy mentioned that you were thinking about having a beach wedding. What happened with that?” Jade asked, removing her sunglasses, as she looked over at Gena.

“Well, Zack wanted a beach wedding because he wanted it to be all Huntington-style,” Gena explained, rolling her eyes at the idea. “But then I found the perfect wedding dress when Val, Lea, Michelle, Lacey and I were at Kleinfeld, and I made him change his mind about that,” the blonde finished, a smile twisting her lips.

“You go girl! I can imagine it would be hard to find a suitable dress for a beach wedding anyway?” Jade cocked her eyebrows.

“Oh, yes! And I’ve dreamed about owning a Pnina Tornai dress since I was a teenager! Zack’s vision about a beach wedding was not gonna take my dream away from me!”

“What are you wearing for the wedding, Jade?” Leana asked, as she had returned from the dressing room, dressed in a denim skirt and a grey tank top.

“Well, I’m still choosing between two dresses. I’m either going for a purple bow dress or a red satin dress,” Jade said, as she realized that she really had to hunt them down in order to find them in her mess.

“Sounds great! You have like the prettiest clothes I’ve ever seen!” Leana expressed, making Jade almost blush.

“Oh, stop it you! I’ve spent too much time in college,” Jade chuckled, as she knew that attending an Ivy League school had changed her style a lot.

“Okay, good news, Gena!” Michelle said, as she had returned. “This dress exist in white and it'll look stunning with your wedding dress!"

Gena sighed, as she almost looked as though she was about to faint. “Thank God!” she expressed, her hand resting on her chest. “Good God,”

“They’ll get them tomorrow, so I suggest that we go back to your house and start planning the bachelorette party!” Val suggested.

“That sounds like an excellent idea!” Gena agreed, as she grabbed her purse from the chair.

“Uhm, guys?” Leana muffled, just as a pair of tattooed arms circled around Valary’s waist and pulled her into a tight embrace. Soon Michelle could feel a pair of tattooed Marlboro-knuckles rest against her stomach.

“We were just stopping by,” Matt said, while he left soft kisses in Val’s face.

“Guys! You’re not allowed to be here!” Gena sneered at Brian and Matt.

“Yeah, that’s so rude!” Leana agreed.

“We just wanted to say hi,” Brian whimpered, burying his lips against Michelle’s shoulder blades.

“Babe,” Michelle sighed. “You guys can’t be here,” she told her boyfriend, who soon spun her around in order to look at her.

“Come on,” Brian complained, his palms already grasping her butt. “I just wanted to see you,” he insisted, resting his forehead against hers.

“That’s so sweet, really,” she told him, wrapping her fingers around his wrist and gracing the top of his hand with her finger. “But you know how stressful this wedding is, and we really need to be there for Gena,” she continued.

Brian sighed, as he pressed his lips against her forehead. “I love you, Michelle,” he whispered.

“I love you too, you crazy man,” she giggled. “Now you have to leave. I’ll see you tonight,” she smiled.

“Okay,” Brian obviously sounded disappointed, as he kissed her lips tenderly, hoping that by working his magic he could change her mind.

“Elwin, don’t,” she said, as she knew him all too well.

“Jesus,” he frowned when she mentioned her middle-name.

“You too, Matt. You guys can’t be here and you know that,” Val told her husband, who kept pressing her against her chest.

“You ladies look really good! You’re gonna be amazing bridesmaids!” he told the others. “And you Jade, even though you’re not a bridesmaid,” he added.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Jade chuckled.

“Go! Now!” Gena demanded, as she had lost her patient with the guys.

“Now,” Leana announced, when the guys had decided to finally leave. “Martinis at Gena’s?” the brunette suggested, to which all the girls nodded.

“That sounds like a brilliant idea!” Michelle announced, before all of the women grabbed their stuff and left the store.

***

“Aren’t you the only one who haven’t attended a bachelorette party before, J?” Michelle asked, sipping her Aperol, and watching as Jade cradled her glass of gin.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” the brunette responded, before she embraced the edge of the glass and took a swig from her liquor.

“It’ll be so much fun!” Gena promised. “I still can’t remember shit from Val’s party,” the blonde said.

“Honey, none of us can,” Leana insured her friend. “Lacey said something about dancing on the tables in the bar, but I really can’t recall doing so,”

“Where’s Lacey anyway? I’ve heard so much about her, yet I haven’t met her,” Jade admitted.

“Shit! That’s true! Lacey’s visiting her parents in Nebraska! She’ll be back on Monday!” Val said, having forgotten that Jade had recently returned to Huntington.

“Jade, now that you’re done with your medical education,” Gena began. “Have you applied for jobs?”

“Oh, I have and I’ve gotten offers as well! The most interesting offer was working in the emergency room at Huntington Beach Hospital," she revealed, watching as all the girls looked a little taken aback.

“That’s an interesting offer?” Leana cocked her eyebrows.

“That sounds scary as hell,” Gena admitted.

“I mean, there’s always gonna be difficult working at a hospital, but I think I'm gonna like it there," Jade told the others.

“If you can maintain your cool, then go for it! I mean, it’s a really important job, and I bet you’re gonna nail that shit,” Michelle said, as Jade smiled sweetly at her.

“Thanks, honey. I hope so. I’m really nervous, but it’ll work out,” she shrugged.

“Now, over to the party!” Leana beamed. “Are we going for Honey and Milk?”

“Already booked,” Gena smirked at the brunette. “We’re gonna go full tequila all night!” she demanded.

“We can have a couple of drinks at my place!” Michelle suggested.

“Are you and Brian settled in the house now?” Val asked, knowing that her twin had been beyond stressed about moving in with Brian.

“We are!” she announced. “You girls will be our first guests!”

“Where are the guys going?” Gena asked, lacing her fingers around her glass.

“Jimmy didn’t want to tell me,” Leana said. “Not even after I put on a great show for him,”

“How rude,” Michelle shook her head.

“Well, as long as they stay away from my bachelorette party,” Gena said. “I don’t want them to ruin the night,”

“Honey, they won’t,” Val promised her blonde friend.