Adele said what her mother drilled into her head word for word, perfecting every rehearsed expression and funny anecdote. For a moment, everyone forgot what had happened a few minutes ago since her words were filled with so much emotion and honesty.
Being a world-renowned, excellent actress, the role of the best friend to the newly-wedded couple was elementary for her to play.
Though the words were fabricated, even Brianna was moved by them. She expected Adele to embarrass herself with the wedding toast, but things haven't quite been going as she envisioned.
"Would everyone please raise their glasses?" With a smile, Adele finished with, "To Daniel and Brianna."
"To Daniel and Brianna!" everyone cheered, raising their glasses.
The evening continued swimmingly, people laughing and talking at the stocked bar or helping themselves at the buffet table.
"I didn't know Adele was hooking up with a prince," an immaculately dressed woman among a gossiping trio of middle-aged women commented.
"Well, she could've at least waited until after the wedding was over," a silver-haired woman interjected. "Her mother looked so embarrassed. I'd definitely have a stroke if my daughter embarrassed me like that in front of the royal family, of all people."
"Who could really blame her?" a busty blonde questioned while putting on rose-pink lipstick. "Have you seen Prince Elliot?" Her long false lashes batted at the young prince talking with Daniel. "The man's a god; I'd be all over him anytime, anywhere too."
Across the room, Adele was seated alone on a small white couch with a plate of shrimp. A short distance away, there were some young women blatantly staring at her, speaking in hushed tones.
Adele looked at them, raising a challenging brow as she asked, "Can I help you, ladies, with something?" The women averted their gazes, shuffling away after being caught staring.
The raven-haired beauty rolled her eyes and flicked a grilled shrimp into her mouth. When she looked away from the women, quickly scurrying away, her blue eyes inadvertently found Elliot's silver ones, already focused on her.
They held each other's gazes from across the room, but their stare-off was interrupted when Brianna appeared in Adele's line of sight.
Adele's blue eyes followed Brianna as she sat beside her with an irritated expression and her arms folded across her chest. However, Adele continued to eat her shrimp, ignoring the bride next to her, who was clearly very upset about something.
Brianna cleared her throat once, twice, and then another time to get Adele's attention. Adele sighed, putting the plate of shrimp to the side before asking, "Okay, what is it?"
"How could you not tell me?" Brianna raged. "I'm your best friend!"
Adele picked at her teeth with the beautifully manicured nail of her index finger before saying, "Okay, first of all, no offense, and I mean this in the nicest way, but you are not my best friend."
"Close friend?"
Adele shook her head, "Not even that."
Brianna frowned as she complained, "I made you my maid of honor."
Adele raised a brow, "So? I don't remember asking you to do that."
Best friends, close friends or not, Brianna knew Adele pretty well. She knew how snappy and easily irritated she could get when she was too sober, but her words still hurt.
Adele was always a lot more fun to be around when she was drunk; she'd usually get herself in all sorts of trouble, making her mother explode from rage or come close to having a stroke.
Amongst their shared friends, Brianna especially enjoyed waking Adele the morning after to show her embarrassing clips of herself going viral on Tik Tok.
Celebrity magazines made a fortune off her being drunk, thanks to Brianna tipping them off on clubs, weddings, and parties Adele would be attending. Strangely enough, they have a magazine edition for Adele's drunk wedding shenanigans alone.
She always drank more at weddings but never told anyone why. It eventually became one of the best-kept secrets of Hollywood.
Adele's friends assumed it was because she was depressed about being a single, thirty-year-old virgin living with her mother. They guessed seeing her friends getting married made her feel even more depressed, but Adele never acted jealous.
She was always aloof when they intentionally bragged about their husbands, boyfriends, fiance, and children in her face. It irritated them that they couldn't figure out Adele's kryptonite.
The multi-billionaire movie star, Adele, didn't disappoint the press, but she ignited the hatred and jealousy that was only lurking in Brianna's heart all this time.
"Fine, we're just friends," Brianna compromised.
Adele hummed, raising a disapproving brow as she responded to Brianna's conclusion of their relationship, "Hardly."
Brianna tightly clenched her fists to calm her raging emotions. "That's fine, but as your...whatever, I deserved to know."
Adele furrowed her brows, "Deserved to know what?"
"Don't play dumb, Adele." Brianna frowned, "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Adele released a low hum as she thought deeply. She shook her head, taking her glass of water from the wooden table in front of her. "Actually, Brianna, I don't." She brought the glass to her lips, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm talking about you and Elliot!" Brianna yelled as she tried to grab the glass of water from Adele's hands just as she was going to drink. The water spilled on Adele's dress, soaking through the thin material to her chest.
Gasps echoed throughout the room.
The soft music and chatter stopped as everyone's eyes fell on a surprised Brianna and an irritated, soaked Adele.