Hello lovelies! It hasn't been that long since I updated but I could have gotten this out a lot sooner. Two weeks ago one of my classmates died in a car crash so the past couple weeks have been kind of hectic. I also had finals week, so that was fun but enough excuses. Chapter 22 Everyone!
Recap: "You have a good day Ms. Garner," the guard smiled opening the gate. I don't think this day is going to be anywhere close to good. As I walked to the front doors I became more and more anxious and began to dread the day even more. Finn was getting married today, and it wasn't to me. I stopped at the front door and caught my breath. Now it's time to face the day.
I pushed open the doors and slipped inside just to be greeted by a familiar voice shouting "Jo!"
Chapter 22:
I spun around to see Finn running up to me. "Good morning Your Highness," I said bowing my head slightly.
"Are you okay?" he asked looking at me.
"I'm fine," I replied bluntly.
"Why didn't you come back here last night?" he asked.
"I was tired and I didn't want to," I replied.
"Where did you stay?" he questioned.
"Really, who are you? My dad?" I asked rolling my eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to go get ready for your god damn wedding," I snapped angrily. I pushed past him and hurried up to my room, fuming.
My mother stepped out of her room and saw me as I passed by her door. "Josephine!" she cried out grabbing me into a hug.
"Good morning mother," I said hugging her back.
"What happened last night? You didn't tell me that much," she asked pulling out of the hug and touching my face to check if I was hurt.
"One of the stove tops was still on and Tony accidentally left a towel on it and it caught fire and eventually so did the rest of the café. The whole thing was burned down. Tony's fine. I talked to the insurance company and I have to fill out a thing on line so they can come down and assess the damage and see if they'll pay for it," I relayed to my mom.
"Oh honey I'm glad Tony's okay," my mom sighed.
"How was the rehearsal dinner?" I asked reluctantly.
"It was nice. Everyone was wondering where you and Finn were until Finn ran in and let us know what happened. We talked about it for a bit, everyone was quite sorry and worried about you," my mom informed me.
"Oh," I nodded. "I'm going to go shower again. I still smell like smoke," I said beginning to walk away.
"You go do that. Remember the wedding is at five but you need to be ready by four. So go hurry and get ready, you have about three hours," my mom said nudging me along. I nodded and continued on my way to my room hopefully avoiding anyone who knows. I got to my room and slipped in my room and leaned against the door with my eyes closed.
"Hey you," a voice said from in front of me. I jumped and opened my eyes.
"Damn it Peter you scared me," I said clutching my chest and breathing heavily.
"Sorry," he chuckled. "How are you doing? I heard what happened," he said getting off my bed where he'd be sitting and coming over to me.
"I don't even know. I broke down last night and then this morning I was just kind of numb. This has just not been my week," I sighed frustrated. Peter smiled sadly y me before pulling me into a tight hug. I clung to his shirt and breathed in his shirt.
"You smell like smoke," Peter whispered to me after a couple seconds. There was a beat of silence before both of us began laughing.
"I know," I sighed after I caught my breath. "I'm going to go jump in the shower for a bit," I said pulling away and smiling lightly at him.
"Okay," Peter nodded before ducking down and pecking me on the lips quickly. "I'll be here when you get out," he murmured to me.
"Okay," I nodded happily. I went into the bathroom and turned on the water before slipping out of my clothes and hopping in. As I washed my hair I thought about this week. Today was going to be the longest of the days. I had to watch my childhood lover get married to someone who wasn't me and I had to sit and cheer and throw the rice grains and all that jazz all with a forced smile on my lips.
"Jo?" Peter's voice carried in.
"Yeah?" I asked pulling myself out of my thoughts.
"James is at your door with his wife," Peter told me.
"I'll be out in just a minute," I told him. I washed the conditioner out of my hair and shut off the water. I wrapped myself up in a towel and stepped out of the bathroom.
"How are you?" James asked hugging me. "Ew you're wet," he groaned releasing me.
"Thanks," I said narrowing my eyes at him. "I'm fine. A little shaken up and worried about my friend but I'm okay," I said nodding.
"And about the wedding?" James asked watching my reaction.
"There's an open bar right?" I asked lightly.
"Yeah," Kira chuckled.
"Well then I'm hoping you're going to watch out for me and make sure I don't do anything stupid and then hope I forget the day ever happened," I replied shrugging.
"Okay," James sighed. "Get ready, we'll be back in like an hour to get you guys," he said looking at me and Peter.
"Sounds good," I nodded. Kira kissed my cheek lightly and then the two left the room. "Now you need to leave so I can get ready," I said turning to Peter.
"Yes ma'am," he mock saluted. After the door closed behind him I began drying off and changing into a robe. I blow dried my hair and then curled it into loose curls before beginning my makeup.
An hour later I slipped into my blush pink, knee length dress, the waist down was silky fabric and slightly flowy and the top was a v-neck lace top with straps. I clasped a gold necklace with two pearls entwined in it on my neck and put on the matching earrings. I slipped my feet into some gold strappy heels and looked in the mirror. I smoothed the skirt of my dress and sighed lightly.
"Knock knock," Peter said opening the door slightly.
"Come on in, I'm decent," I told him turning around and waiting.
"You're more than decent," Peter said freezing when he saw it. "Josephine Garner, you look absolutely beautiful," he breathed out.
I smiled and blushed bright red while looking down at my high heels. "Thank you Peter."
"Are you ready?" he asked coming over to me.
"No, but let's just pretend I am," I said trying to laugh lightly.
"You guys ready? James asked barging in with Kira holding her forehead.
"James, you can't just walk in on people like that," Kira sighed looking at her husband and my old friend.
"Oh he does that all the time. He used to just waltz into my house and up to my room when we were little," I chuckled looking at James. "He's walked in on a couple of... interesting situations," I said laughing even harder as James blushed and looked ashamed.
"Oh? Like what?" Kira asked looking from me to James.
"Well there was this one time-" I began before James slapped his hand over my mouth.
"Hush child, don't say anything else," James said glaring at me. I laughed behind his hand and moved my head.
"I'll tell you later," I promised Kira.
"Let's get going. Peter and I need to go check on Finn while you and Kira find seats," James said looking at me. I nodded and we all left my bedroom and began heading down the stairs. James and Peter split off and went to Finn's room while Kira led me to the church hall for the wedding.
"James told me what happened," Kira told me as we walked.
"I figured he would. You're his wife and it's not like it's a secret. It was just a forgotten promise," I shrugged.
"I think you two would have been cute for each other. I would love to have you as my sister in law," Kira smiled at me.
"I would too. After tomorrow I'm going back to reality, were ball gowns aren't an everyday thing and I have to deal with my insurance company over my burned down café," I sighed "But I would love to keep in touch with you and James. I know you're both busy with being king and queen and all that jazz but I would love to be a part of your life. I'm losing my best friend today, I can't lose touch with James again," I told her. She smiled and grabbed my hand.
"I would love that," she told me sincerely. "We're here," she said seeing the church doors. We slipped in with everyone else and were about to sit wen the King and Queen walked in and gestured for us to go sit with them... Up front... so we could see everything. Kira looked at me apologetically before leading us over to them.
"Isn't this exciting?" the queen asked as we sat.
"Very," I said looking down ringing my hands. There was a silence that fell over the room as people sat down. I lifted my head and saw the side door to the church open. In walked Finn, Peter, James, and three other men filed in. "Don't they usually walk down the aisle with the bridesmaids?" I asked Kira.
"There weren't as many bridesmaids so they just decided to do it this way," Kira informed me.
"Okay," I nodded. I looked at the men all lined up wearing suits, all of them wore light blue ties and black jackets and pants. As I was examining Finn he looked over and caught my eye. He looked at me and gave me a small wave. I stared at him before looking away. He knew what this was doing to me and he's just waving.
Suddenly the music began and the doors to the church opened. In walked the bridesmaids all dressed in light blue strapless dresses carrying bouquets of blue and white flowers. The bridesmaids walked to the alter and the music stopped. The first notes of 'Here Comes the Bride' began and everyone stood for the bride.
I watched as Ella stepped through the doors of the church on her father's arm wearing a beautiful white gown. I felt the tears burn in my eyes, but not because of her beauty, although she did look gorgeous. I was going to cry because this was the day my heart gets officially shattered. This was the day I lost the love of my life forever.
So what do you think? Please leave comments I love to hear from all of you and know who's reading my stories because you all seem to be enjoying it or you would have stopped.
This story is at 2.7K reads right now and you have no idea how happy that makes me!
I'm actually having a competition with my mom right now, one of her pictures has 2.9K views and I want to beat her and hopefully get to 3K!
Thank you for all of your support! Please Comment, Vote, and Keep reading so I can get those views up!
What would you like to see happen? I need ideas! What has James seen of Josephines?
Until next time!
-Mia
PS this is the link to Jo's outfit for the wedding
Click the option external link to see it!