Five Years of Fame [COMPLETE]

19. The Wedding Singer

Spring, Month 4

Olivia was late. But it wasn't her fault. She blamed the airlines for delaying her flight and leaving her stuck at LAX, missing rehearsal and the ceremony. She would be lucky if she made it to the reception.

Olivia could hear the frustration in her band mate's voices when she called to tell them, forcing them to rehearse without her, running through the setlist with them over the phone, pacing back and forth in front of a large glass window that looked out onto the tarmac.

Her mom was right on time. Molly was a school teacher. Had been for years. She knew how to be on time. The car was idling by the curb when Olivia came racing out of the airport, backpack slung over her shoulder, guitar case tight in hand. If she had brought any more luggage with her, Olivia would have left it at the airport to be dealt with later. She was already running late enough.

Olivia didn't notice that her mom had grabbed the wrong dress as she changed in the car. She was too busy trying to pin up her hair in what was a halfhearted attempt at a bun at the same time while her mom sped out of the city heading north. Olivia only had a small handful of nice formal dresses in her bedroom closet at her mom's house and only two of them were purple. Molly had grabbed the wrong purple one.

Ignoring the shorter length of the dress and the tightness in her chest, Olivia slipped on her flats and grabbed her guitar case from the back, unbuckling before Molly could even come to a complete stop. She called out "Good luck!" but Olivia didn't hear it as she was running across the parking lot to the band waiting for her at the back door of the church.

It was raining and she ducked her head to keep the damage to her already poor make-up job minimal. It had been seventy-five degrees when she left LA and Boston was sporting a chill forty-two and a rainstorm, otherwise known as spring in New England. The weather did not help her band's mood.

Conner greeted her with a "You're late!"

"No duh!"

Olivia pushed past Conner and entered the familiar hallways of her church. She didn't bother to look back to see whether or not the three of them had followed her as she pushed through the crowded kitchen, passing by the wedding cake and hurried across the church's transformed cafeteria to climb up on the small stage.

The rest of their equipment was already set up and all Olivia had to do was plug in her guitar and she was ready to go. Conner grabbed his electric guitar and took his spot behind the second microphone, glaring at Olivia while he did so. Jeanette took her spot behind the drums, blowing her straight bangs out of her face out of pure habit. Woody was the only one who greeted Olivia before taking his spot behind the keyboard.

"Glad you made it, Liv. Just in time, too. Conner owes me five bucks. He thought you would bail."

"Well, she almost did," Conner made sure to clarify.

"Nice dress," Jeanette snorted.

Olivia slung her strap around her shoulders, talking to her guitar.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Potentially Problematic reunites!"

All at once, Woody, Olivia, and Conner turned to Jeanette at the same time and answered 'No!' to her horrible band name suggestion.

"I'm just saying, just because you moved out to LA and you're a big shot now and you've got a record deal and whatever doesn't mean you can just skip practice and show up literally seconds beforewe're supposede to play."

"Conner, dude. Chill. It wasn't her fault."

"Thanks, Woody."

Olivia didn't have time to address Conner as the wedding coordinator sped through the swinging doors that led from the sanctuary and gave them sign "They're coming!"