Her Best Friend's Wedding

Chapter 1

The inclement weather made Virginia anxious as she sat alone at the terminal gate, awaiting her flight to her home town. The rain and darkened clouds made her question her choice to travel on such a gloomy day but she knew, her mother was looking forward to seeing her and she couldn't bear to disappoint her.

Virginia quickly drafted a text to her mother, Celia, letting her know that she was at the airport and so far, the flight was still on time despite the conditions outside.

Her mother's response came with a call that she immediately answered. Celia couldn't be bothered to text, it took too much time, she said. She also preferred to hear Virginia's voice to make sure she was actually talking to her daughter and that she was okay.

"The weather is fine here," Were her mother's first words.

"I know. I think the weather here will pass soon."

"Just keep me posted."

Their call ended and Virginia occupied herself with outstanding emails in her phone, most of which she ignored, except for an email thread from her boss that she skimmed, requesting an assignment that was initially due in two weeks, to be completed by the end of the holiday weekend.

On rereading the revised deadline, Virginia called her supervisor, Lauren. "Did you get that email?"

"The email that was sent hours ago? I did."

"It's the holiday, for Christ's sake. Doesn't she realize that? I'm sure she will be enjoying her holiday, while we have to work."

"It wasn't intentional, and if you had read the email in its entirety, cause I'm sure you didn't, you would have seen where she said that the client moved up the date for the meeting. She also apologized and said we would be compensated for it."

Lauren was right, she hadn't read through the email and she also understood the urgency. It wasn't the first time a client wanted to rush things and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. "Well, you know I won't be here but I can work remotely. Thankfully most of my research is completed and I can forward it to you."

"Great. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about you."

"If there's anything else you need me to do, just call."

"I will. Have a safe trip and tell your mother I said hello."

After the call ended, Virginia pulled out her laptop and booted it up, grateful that she was mostly efficient when it came to her job and that she wouldn't have to spend her holiday at the office. She was also thankful for her friendship with Lauren because she was sure it if were anyone else, she would have to kiss her plans goodbye but, in most instances, no one minded when it came to her boss.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Speaking of her boss, there she was, standing over her; carry-on handle in one hand, boarding pass in the other and dressed as casually as Virginia had ever seen her dress. It was a complete contrast to the typical high fashion she wore at work earlier that day.

"No," Virginia finally spoke when she realized she had yet to say a word. Then she stood to address her fully and made a flourished hand gesture towards the empty seat. "It's all yours, Miss Gray."

"Please," She insisted, "call me, Tamara," and took the offered seat. "We're not at the office."

Virginia was aware and yet, she felt completely at edge of having her boss that close to her, in her personal space. In addition to that, she wondered if her boss was aware that she had just emailed her to work the entire holiday weekend.

Virginia lowered herself back in her seat and closed her laptop. If she attempted to do any work, her boss would possibly critique it right there and have her working more than she intended to on her holiday weekend.

As she sat silently by her boss, Virginia looked around the terminal gate, locating and counting the vacant seats that Miss Gray or rather, Tamara could have chosen to sit in. Why did she choose to sit beside her? Familiarity, she assumed. Perhaps, she would have done the same if she saw one of her coworkers that she liked but this was her boss, a woman she never interacted with on a personal level in all her time working at the company. Well, there was that one time at the Christmas party but that encounter didn't go so well.

Virginia noticed when Tamara arrived at the Christmas party but without her usual glow or that radiant smile that graced her face on a daily basis. Virginia wanted to know why she wanted to know what changed but she knew she didn't have the right to ask; they had no form of a relationship.

From Virginia's vantage point, she noticed Tamara beelined to the bar, got herself a drink, and struggled through each Christmas greeting given to her by her drunk subordinates.

Keeping her distance, Virginia carried on her watch and though her boss was quite friendly during gatherings, she never gathered up the courage to speak to her one on one. The fear was mostly driven by the crush she developed on the woman in her three years of working at the company.

How does one develop a crush without interaction? Tell the answer to the flutter in Virginia's chest each time the woman passed her by. It was just a crush, she insisted, just a simple infatuation that would go away with time, and yet, it hadn't.

Virginia waited until she had enough drinks in her system to abate her nerves, then she made her approach but was stopped when she was five feet away.

"Whatever you're about to do, don't," Lauren warned. She was aware of Virginia's crush on their boss and this would be the third time she stopped an inebriated Virginia from making a fool of herself at their Christmas party, something she was always grateful for the next day.

"I was only going to say, 'Happy Holidays' to her." That wasn't the entire truth but those words would have been the first to come out of her mouth.

"You've been drinking," Lauren pointed out, "you may do something or say something stupid and she's obviously not in the right frame of mind."

"Do you know what's wrong?" Virginia finally took her eyes off of Miss Gray and focused them on Lauren. "She doesn't seem like herself tonight."

"No idea but I won't be the one asking."

Virginia thought it over for a moment, should she approach or just walk away like she had done each party before this one. "I have to say something to her." At some point, her boss might notice that she never did, that's if she noticed her at all. "I promise I won't say anything out of the way and I'm still pretty sober."

Lauren gave her a look that was more of a warning but soon released Virginia, allowing her to make her own choice. As Virginia approached, she grew light-headed; she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol she had consumed catching up with her, if it was her boss' proximity or if it was a combination of the two.

Virginia took a deep breath and focused on the words coming out of her mouth. The holiday greeting came out as she intended but with a bit of a nervous stutter then, without prompting, she continued talking to Miss Gray for about five minutes before accidentally spilling her drink all over her after someone bumped into her.

Despite her excessive apologizing, Tamara left the party right after their exchange, and Lauren was quick to come over and utter the dreadful words, 'I told you so'.

Reminding herself of the incident made Virginia want to apologize all over again but she would resist it for however long they remained there.

"Do you think the weather will clear up soon?" Tamara spoke.

"I think so. At least they haven't delayed the flight, so that's a good thing." But as soon as the words left her mouth, the flight agent made an announcement and did just that. "I think I just jinxed us."