บท 10: Accommodating
After some coaxing, Brittany agreed to let her mom take some pictures of her in the dress and then sent it to me. With her on speaker, I went to my messages to take a look.
I stared at it in silence for a minute. But apparently, that minute was too long, because she started to wail again. "It's ugly! It's so ugly! I'm going to be ugly on my wedding day!"
"Valerie? I think she needs your reassurance right about now." Her mom told me, trying to whisper, but of course Brittany could still hear her.
"Mom! There's no saving this! It's ugly!" More crying.
I sighed, looking at my cheeseburger. My happiness. So close, yet so far. I gulped. Most of the time, people tell you that you should never tell a bride she's ugly. But not today. And not with that dress. This calls for some serious honesty, but with solutions.
"Brittany? Brittany, I need you to calm down so you can listen to me, okay?" I spoke to her softly.
I could hear her sniffles as she moved closer to the phone. "Val, be honest with me..."
"I'm always honest." I told her. "Let me just ask you this...if the dress is ugly, why not just return it? This isn't what you ordered at all."
"But, but, but what will I wear for my wedding..?" She stuttered.
"We'll find something new." I said confidently. Anything would look better than that rag.
"But my wedding is in fourth months! Where will I find a dress and get the alterations done in time??" I could hear the water works starting up again.
"Deep breaths." I told her. I heard her follow my command. "There are plenty of places that can help with alterations that aren't so busy. We can look for a new dress either in Seattle with you or you can come down and we'll visit some places in LA. There's also plenty of boutiques near the beaches. You and your mom can come down and spend a relaxing weekend enjoying the sunshine and beaches."
"Can Rachel come too?" She sniffled. Rachel was her maid of honor so it wasn't weird of her to ask.
"Yea, maybe coordinate with her and see if your other bridesmaids can come? Or, like I said before, I can come to you." Really don't know which would be better so I'll leave it up to her.
"I'll text everyone in the group chat." She seemed to have calmed down. "It would be fun to get away for a weekend though. Work has been stressing me out and planning a wedding from afar isn't easy. Dean isn't helping either. He just keeps saying, 'whatever you want to do is fine by me'."
I laughed at her imitation of her fiancé. It was spot on. Dean wasn't the type to take control or have much of an opinion of anything. Brittany wanted a destination wedding in Hawaii? That's okay by him. If she wants strawberries, which he is allergic to, in the wedding cake? He just won't eat the cake; it's that simple. She wants his groomsmen to wear pink bow ties? He'll make it happen.
"It's not funny, Val." Even though she said that, she laughed a little too, before sighing. "I just need help. He gives me no input on flowers, centerpieces, or even wedding favors. It would just be nice to get some kind of approval from him."
"Dean will love whatever you put together." I told her. "He would marry you in a swamp if you want. That just goes to show that he loves you for you. If you want more input from him, tell him up front."
"I'm going to. I just can't do this by myself anymore." She sighed. "Thanks, Val. I'm just really on edge and don't know what I'm going to wear now."
"You'll find something." I told her. "There are so many options and so many stores. You're not even the pickiest bride I know so it's going to work out. Just text the group and see if they can come for moral support and for some California sunshine."
"I will! You'll see it soon enough." She sighed. "Okay, I'll let you go, but keep your phone on you."
"I'm not going anywhere." I assured her.
She said her goodbyes and hung up.
Finally. I grabbed my burger and started to eat again. This wasn't the first time a bride came to me about an ugly 'something' and I doubt it'll be the last. As I ate, my phone started to vibrate from the incoming texts. It was just Brittany messaging the group her horror story of a dress and was trying to plan another trip to find a new one.
One particular sentence made me choke. I coughed and forced myself to swallow the food in my mouth.
Brittany: Valerie said we can stay with her for a weekend in SoCal so it wouldn't be too expensive if you guys are worried about money.
Wait. What. When did I say they could stay with me?? I groaned to myself as her friends started to reply, with a few of them suggesting dates that worked for them. I saw an Easter weekend text, but quickly replied that I would be out of town for that weekend. Another girl said she couldn't because her family was very religious. Thank goodness.
It only took an hour for the group to decide that they should come the weekend before Easter. Brittany needed to get a dress as soon as possible because time was running out. This was definitely a bump in the road.
After I finished eating I moved back to my room and took down my wall calendar. I flipped it to next month and wrote down some upcoming plans. Brittany, her mom, and her three other bridesmaids were coming down the weekend before Easter. And then Easter weekend I'll be leaving for Vegas.
The more my calendar filled up, the more nervous I got. My free time was dwindling. I thought Brittany's wedding would be the easiest because she's excellent at planning and it was a destination wedding meaning less work for me. Though the ticket to Hawaii wasn't cheap.
Now I've got to convince my family to let a few guests to stay over for a weekend. I'm sure it'll go over well...not. I sighed to myself again.
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