Three weeks before the wedding...
I keep thinking about what happened in the past few days. Everyone around me is so excited, it makes me more and more frustrated. But I keep reminding myself it's for the sake of my parents. Nathan's mom and sister have been really supportive of me. Nathan, on the other hand does not even look at me. But that is absolutely fine by me because I can't take the hate in his eyes for me. I turn towards the beautiful morning, sipping the coffee in my cup, wiping the tears off my eyes.
"It's going to be okay." I wisper to myself. Venessa told me he broke up with Alyssa as soon as everything got final. I feel so bad. So, so bad. I am the reason Nathan broke up with Alyssa. I am the reason why all this is happening.
I get out of the shower and get dressed into a short dress. In 15 minutes or so, Venessa will come to pick me. We are supposed to pick out the dress today. I call Amy as well, who is in town for a couple of days. I told her the truth first chance I got. She was speechless and suggested I should run away which makes me want to do it really.
"April!" my mom hollered, "Venessa and Amy are here."
We drive to the dress store. After trial of 15-20 extraordinarily beautiful dresses, we all agree upon the last dress that I wear. Then, Venessa planned to take us to another store to pick out a dress for rehearsal dinner. Arghh!! Can't we just get it over with!! Amy looks at me, reading my mind.
"Umm, can we do the rehersal dress tomorrow?" Amy suggests. Venessa looks at her then me. She stops the car in the side of the road and turns back to me.
"I know this is all absurd. What I suggest is that we just get it over with as soon as possible because the dinner is in a couple of weeks, don't you think?"
"You are right." I say. We go to another shop and buy the first dress we find reasonably good. It was Amy's choice so I trust it completely.
We drop Amy at her house and I thought we would go to my house next but she turns towards Nathan's house.
"Uh- why are we driving to your house?" I ask Venessa.
"Oh, because my mum wants to show you somethings. Regarding the venue and all."
"Venessa, how's Nathan doing?"
"Honestly, not okay at all. He stays in his room most of the time. Even if his friends try to cheer him, he is angry most of the time. He is not talking to Robin. At first he didn't talk to mom as well, but my mom is his weakness so he couldn't stay mad at her for long. But I don't think, things between him and Robin will be okay soon."
I look down and try to distract myself. This is all too much for me.
"Hey, don't worry!" Venessa says, "He is stupid, not understanding that you are as disturbed as he is. He'll come around alright. Don't you worry, okay?" I nod my head slightly.
We reach Nathan's house and enter inside. Anna greets us. She is always so chirpy and happy it feels good to meet her. A smile automatically appears on the face seeing her.
"April, why don't you go call Nathan. We will discuss everything together."
"Me?"
"Yes, sweetheart. Go." she smiles. Hesitantly I climb the stairs to Nathan's room. Maybe he will kill me as soon as he sees me. For a situation like this, that would be better. I stand in front of his door and knock.
"Who is it?" He asked from inside. For some reason, my mouth went dry and I couldn't speak.
"Who is it?" He repeated. I could hear footsteps approaching the door and my heart raced thousand miles a minute. The door opens and I shut my eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Nathan spits out.
"Uh - Y-your..." I stutter.
"I asked why are you here?" Nathan asked again, anger raising in his voice slightly. I take a deep breath and try to pull myself together but all I could think was that I don't want to marry this man.
"Your mom is calling you." I finally managed to say.
"I'll be there in a minute." he looks beyond me and walks back. I sigh and move downstairs.
When Nathan comes down, we discuss the venue, guest list and blah blah blah.
The day of rehearsal dinner...
April's POV
Looking at myself in the mirror I couldn't believe I was about to get married. The dress was beautiful. I don't look beautiful in it because I don't feel beautiful in it. I meet Nathan in my living room, waiting for me. Without saying a word he goes outside and I follow him. The driver drives us to the place where the occasion is held. Venessa meets us outside the hall.
"Oh, you two look lovely!" she says as a formality. Nathan rolls his eyes and starts to go inside but Venessa stops him. They wisper something to one another and Nathan is clearly not happy about something.
"I'm sorry, you two have to enter hand in hand." she looks at me sympathetically.
I could see anger in Nathan's eyes but he blinked it away. He comes back, takes my hand and we enter the hall.
"Please calm down." I wisper to him.
"I am calm." he wraps my hand around his arm rather tenderly. Maybe to show me that he is calm. While doing so he scans my face as if he has caught the fact that I was crying. Everyone looks at us as soon as we enter. Nathan leaves my hand and blends in with the crowd. I see Zack standing in a corner and I am filled with happiness. I quickly pace towards him and hug him.
"Hey there." he hugs me back.
"Where have you been?"
"I have been busy with the universities and all. And guess what?"
"What?"
"I got into Cal tech."
"Oh my God! That's amazing! Congratulations!! Maybe you'll find your Sheldon there." I nudge him. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Zack is gay.
"Okay, so now can I ask you why you are doing this?" he asks in a low voice so that no one can hear us. For a moment the smile on my face disappears but I plaster it back.
"I..."
"No! Don't you dare lie to me with the love bullshit. I know you would never fall for that, otherwise what was wrong with Dylan?"
"Can I just say that I have to do this?" I lean on his shoulder.
"Oh God, I don't understand this big businessmen drama. For God sake's you are a person not an asset."
"I don't want to talk about it." Zack tightens his grip around me and I lean in further. I feel a hand grip me and slightly pull. I look back to see Nathan asking me to come aside to talk to him.
"Nate, this is my friend..." I start to say but he pulls me away.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He grips hand, "Don't you see there are camera's all over the place? You are such an embarrassment! Stop behaving like a slut in front of my friends and family!"
"What?" I almost lose my balance, "He's my friend!" I jerk my hand from his grip, "He is gay!" His eyes flicker wide open. "How dare you talk to me like that? I know how to behave in public more nicely than you! Fuck off!"
I thump back to Zack with wet eyes. I tell him everything from how Nathan I met to how our marriage got arranged. After a while, Nathan comes back to us, politely asking me to come meet his friends.
"Is this really necessary?" Zack asks on my behalf, "Just let her be."
"I'm sorry but it is. Believe me, I hate it as much as you do."
"I don't care what you hate! Leave my friend alone!"
"Zack, don't make a scene here." I nod towards Nathan.
"Come, my friends want to meet you." Nathan says to me politely. He warmly puts an arm around my wasit. I almost get a shock because I'm not used to such politeness from him.
"April, these are my friends, Kyle, Zayn, Lucas and Jason. They are more than friends they are family." he says as he introduces me to him. I smile and shake hands with each of them. Then, I realize Nathan's arm in still around my waist and I am very close against his body. This starts to make me a little uncomfortable.
"Won't you introduce me?" someone said from behind us. Both he and I turn to see who it was.
"Well, well, look who is here!" Nathan says delightfully and let go of my waist. He hugs the man in front of us.
"April, this is my second cousin, Max. Max, this is the bride of the day." he again hold me by my waist.
I greet Max, who scans me from head to toe. His gaze makes me feel so uncomfortable that I feel secure being close to Nathan. I find an unnecessary reason and leave from there. After a while the best man, Lucas, gave his speech which was rather funny. He extracted some of Nathan's habits and old mischiefs.
"...So all in all I would just like to say that Nathan is one of the most wonderful human beings I know and he'll keep you like a princess. Congratulations to the happy couple. I wish you lifetime of happiness. To Nathan and April!" he raised his glass.
Both he and I thank him for his wonderful words.
We have dinner after the speech and then finally we drive back home. Tomorrow is the day when my whole life will change. I hate it more than anything in my life. I quickly get out of the dress and climb under the sheets. Then, I let the tears flow down my cheeks....