Submission

Chapter 40

Lorelei's cheeks were sore from smiling and her high heels were pinching her toes. She was relieved to walk into the venue. Molly and Anthony decided not to have a head table with the wedding party, but instead had a head table with their parents. They were serving drinks at the bar at the back of the venue and Lorelei was searching for Jesse.

She saw him talking to a man she did not recognize. He was tall like Jesse, but had blond hair and was blue-eyed compared to Jesse's dark features. He had a beer in his hand and was casually talking to the other man. She struggled not to run when she saw him. He turned when she put her hand on his arm. Jesse wrapped his arm around Lorelei and pulled her into his body.

"Hey," he said. "Have you met Tyler? He's Katrina's boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you," Lorelei said.

She did not know Katrina had a boyfriend. She had never mentioned him once during their weekend in Montreal.

"Do you want water?" Jesse asked.

Lorelei struggled not to roll her eyes. She wasn't shocked that Jesse was offering her water instead of getting something else to drink. He always acted as if alcohol would poison her.

"I'm good," Lorelei said.

She looked behind her at the venue. She had spent many nights with Molly trying to decide on centerpieces, tablecloths, and chairs. She thought it was beautiful and hoped that Molly would be happy with it.

They sat down at their table at the front. Katrina, Jenna, and Katelyn sat down at the same table with their dates. Jesse kept his hand on Lorelei's knee under the table. Her eyes darted over to the table beside them. Bryan was leaning back in his chair watching Jesse, who was unaware of the tension.

The DJ announced that Molly and Anthony were going to enter. Everyone stood up and cheered. Molly and Anthony entered hand-in-hand and with wide smiles. They walked out onto the dancefloor as the music transitioned into a soft song. They swayed in each other's arms as they had their first dance.

Jesse put his hand on the back of Lorelei's chair and watched her face. She was mesmerized by the newlywed couple. She had spent many hours researching the perfect wedding song, and she was in awe of seeing Molly's vision come to life.

There was a collection of applause as the song ended. Anthony pulled Molly in close and kissed her. Molly's mother came onto the dancefloor with a microphone and a piece of paper. Anthony took the microphone and Molly held out the paper. Music started to play in the background and the couple rapped a welcome speech. Lorelei buried her head in her hands as she watched. Molly never told her about this.

"I can't believe Molly just did that," Katelyn said. "Did she tell you about that, Lorelei?"

"She never said a word about it," Lorelei said.

"You could never catch me doing that," Katrina said.

Tyler put his arm around her shoulders.

"Come on, babe," he said. "I think you make the perfect female Eminem at our wedding."

Katrina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

They all made small talk as they ate their dinner. Jesse kept his hand on Lorelei's leg whenever they were not eating. He slid his hand up her thigh. Lorelei's heart was pounding when she looked over at Bryan to see that he was still watching them. She wondered if he knew where Jesse's hand was right now.

Lorelei thought she was going to throw up her dinner at the end of the meal. She had pushed to the back of her mind the reality that she had to give a speech. She had public presentations. She would often freeze when presenting in school and Molly would take over.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her dress as she watched Bryan get up to make his speech. Jesse could see how her face had grown pale as she watched Bryan effortless give his speech. The people were laughing and Lorelei wished that she was funny.

"You're going to do great," Jesse whispered into her ear.

"Why did I agree to be the maid-of-honour?" she asked.

"Because you're Molly's best friend," he said. "Just think about how much you love Molly and you will be fine."

There was a round of applause as Bryan finished his speech. Lorelei swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat. Her knees wobbled as she walked toward Bryan. She took the microphone from his hand. Their fingers brushed against each other.

Lorelei did not want to bring her speech typed out with her and she was glad she made that decision. She could feel herself tremble when the entire wedding was looking at her. She knew she would have not been able to hold a piece of paper steady; however, her nerves caused her mind to go blank when she thought of her speech.

"Welcome, everyone," she said. She felt like that was a safe start.

She looked over at Jesse to see him staring at her. Her heart always fluttered when she would see him smiling. She let out a deep breath and thought about what he had said. She would just talk about how much she loved Molly.

"Molly better appreciate this because she knows it's torture for me to be speaking in front of a crowd," Lorelei said.

There was a bit of laughter and Lorelei got a boost of confidence.

"I have known Molly since we were three years old," she said. "We had countless school projects together where I would choke presenting and Molly would take over. We always got an A because if Molly is always great at talking."

There was more laughter. She looked back over at Jesse. He nodded his head to encourage her to keep going.

"Molly was never good at keeping secrets," Lorelei said with a giggle. "When we were eight I developed my first crush on a boy, I told Molly, and then the boy was requesting to have his locker moved. I don't think he liked me back."

Molly was blushing and sinking into her seat. Anthony was laughing, and Lorelei knew that Molly had shared his secrets with her.

"Even though I wouldn't trust Molly with nuclear codes, I would trust her with my life," Lorelei said. "We played nurses as kids all of the time because we wanted to heal the world. During nursing school, there were many sleepless nights filled with tears. There were countless times that I wanted to give up and quit, but you convince me not to. You never wanted to quit though. You are so stubborn that you are determined to get through anything. That's one of the man things I love about you."

The red had left Molly's cheeks. Now her eyes were glassy with tears.

"I see you with patients every shift," Lorelei said. "You treat every person you come across with compassion and empathy. You always have an open mind and don't care what others think. You went into your relationship with Anthony the same way. You told me about the boy you met in the library while you were waiting for me to come study. In your natural stubborn nature, you did not leave that boy alone until you got his phone number."

The tension had eased from Lorelei's shoulders. She looked at Molly wiping away her tears and Lorelei forgot about the crowd behind her.

"I see the love between the two of you and it melts my heart," Lorelei said. "Anthony, you better take care of her because that's not just my friend but she is my sister."

Lorelei jumped when she heard all of the applauses. Molly scrambled to get up from her seat and rushed over to Lorelei. She hugged her so hard that Lorelei thought they would topple over. The applause turned into cheering.

"I love you," Molly said.

"I love you too, Molly," Lorelei said.