You and Me, Forever Young

"Lilly I can't fine my bouquet!"

"Lilly I lost a bobby pin!"

"Lilly my shoe is too small!"

"Lilly we can't find the camera!"

Lilly, Lilly, Lilly... I started hating my name.

You wouldn't have guessed that though by the diplomatic smile on my face (I'd borrowed it from Will's 'sure I'd love to sign your...' smile).

If I hadn’t loved Shelby so much, or owed her for everything she had done for me, I wouldn’t have put up with her over the top wedding, or being the maid of honor i.e. second in command.

Her sisters, the ones that had been such pains in the ass in the beginning suddenly backed off to let me do the work, choosing to critique everything I did instead.

I was past tempted to run to the salvation of Will's arms but, from what I gathered from his text message, he was in the exact same position.

We had no escape.

I solved as many of the crises as I could before I was able to sneak away from the wedding party to breathe.

It was t-minus thirty minutes until the dum dum duh dum and though I didn’t want to dwell on it my mind couldn’t help but worry about Shelby.

She was... distant to say the least.

Everyone had gotten their make-up and hair done, nervously chatting between each other, but Shelby was quiet, though I noticed her nails were dug into the armrest.

I'd say they were pre-wedding jitters but I had witnessed those first hand, and it was definitely not that.

So what was it that had her so shaken up?

I went to go find out.

Once I had separated myself from the other half of the wedding party I went out in search for Shelby.

She had run off for her dressing room a few minutes before and, judging by the swishing of expensive fabric she was still there.

"Shelby honey?" I asked softly sticking my head in the door.

She looked up like a deer in headlights from the phone she was trying to text into.

"What are you doing?" I asked, stepping closer while teetering in my heels on the thick carpet.

"Ryan's not answering his phone!" She exclaimed passionately.

I reached out soothingly toward her.

"Sweetie he doesn’t have his phone on him, he's getting ready for your wedding remember?"

She bit her lip through the lipstick and sighed a shuddery sigh.

"But I really need to talk to him."

I nodded and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back as she returned my embrace.

"Shelby what aren't you telling me?" I asked her, finally voicing the concerns I had pushed to the back of my mind for too long.

She looked up at me through shining eyes.

"I can't do this. I can't do this wedding."

I pulled her back slightly so I could look her intently in the eyes.

"What are you saying?"

Shelby sighed once more and sunk down to the floor in a puddle of white silk and satin.

"I love Ryan, and I do want to marry him... but not like this." She whispered.

I sat down next to her despite our fine dresses.

I waited for her to speak, to continue instead of pressing her emotions farther.

"This isn’t my wedding, it's my sisters wedding, my parents wedding. You were right when you said a while ago this is my day, that it should be for me, but I wasn’t listening. Ugh, why did I wait until the last minute to realize it? I can't do anything about this now." She sighed in defeat, burying her face in her hands.

And then the determination came in.

"Shelby," I said determinedly, a grin slipping on my face. "It's a good think can't isn’t in my vocabulary."