The Curves in Life

f o u r - kitchen singing

chapter four

"girls are like country roads, the best ones have curves."

***

Sarah pitched up at school, after phoning me over twelve times. She urgently had to tell me something.

On Monday she dropped by for dinner, no sign of Ben whom she was sharing a hotel room with. She could've slept at home, honestly I don't think my parents would mind her staying in her own room. "Nora, Sarah has an announcement to make, and it might be a great opportunity for you." My mom started the conversation, placing the baked macaroni and cheese on a heat resistant board before us.

"Thanks mom, dinner looks great," Sarah smiled at our mom before giving me a sweet smile, which made me mentally frown. She looked like a scrooge trying to be festive. "So, after much thought, I've decided that I'd like to ask you to be my maid of honor."

My mom clapped her hands happily.

My dad watched the women in his life in utter awe.

Sarah smiled as if she were truly happy.

I gawked.

"Well?" Sarah shrugged, waiting for my reply.

"What?" I mumbled unintelligently.

"Maid of honor, Nora, I would love to have my baby sister as my maid honor. So, how about it?"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand..."

Sarah frowned, "What's not to understand?"

"You and I don't get along, Sarah. That's what. Do you remember our childhood before you up and left for college?" Sarah winced at my words, and my mom scowled at me.

"Nora... Look, I haven't been the world's greatest big sister, trust me I know, but, I've grown as a person, Ben helped me realize that family is more important than anything else in this world. I need to make up for the time lost being a good sister. So, be my maid of honor? No one really knows me like you do, no matter how much you want to deny it." She said softly. I could see on her facial expressions that she really was sorry.

So I agreed.

And that is how I ended up in a bridal store called "Happily Ever After" at eleven o' clock in the morning on a school day. My mom had agreed to let me get picked up earlier from school so that we could go dress shopping, choose a color scheme and what not. The wedding was in a month and a half, when I had asked Sarah what the rush was she said, "When you find the one, you just want to start your life together, I really want to start my forever with Ben."

I envied the love she had found. Not the ugly kind of envy just the kind of envy where you go, "Damn, I want that one day too."

I was not really into dress shopping though, maybe my mood had still been too bitter about this whole situation. Around one o'clock, Jess had pleasantly surprised us. Ben might've only been her half-cousin, but he had emphasized to Sarah how important he felt family was, so she'd invited Jess to come along, and also gave her the official bridesmaid title. Along with Jess and I, Hayley, Sarah's best friend since childhood was a bridesmaid along with Jasmine, our cousin.

"I think we should have blue dresses." Sarah suggested as we sat on plush couches, speaking to the manager of the wedding shop.

"We have powder blues, royal blues, navy's, we have indigo-"

While Sarah listened intently, my eyes wandered over to the wedding dresses on display. She was really trying to be a better sibling, I could see the effort. It was no lie that Sarah and I had a lot of conflict as kids. We would fight about just anything, from toys to clothing choices, to choosing the bigger bedroom and I honestly knew it drove my parents insane.