“Girl, note to self: Riding Andrea is not the workout I thought it was.” We must spend a few minutes laughing until she stands, adjusting her dress before she speaks.
“Alright babe, are you ready to try everything on?”
With every mention of the wedding, my heart races. While Alessandro let me plan the wedding of my dreams, everything outside of that is nothing I ever dreamed of. A man who’s kidnapped me, doesn’t love me, and only wants to have me in bed because I’m convenient.
El takes my dress to hang it in the bathroom, instantly knowing what I’m thinking. “I know we’ve had this conversation, and I know this isn’t what you want, but I want to make you feel exactly how you deserve. I will make sure you radiate like the smoking hot lady you are. Go on and get the dress on. If you don’t do it for youself, do it for me. Don’t worry about getting the dress zipped. I’ll help.”
I disappear into the bathroom and unzip the bag containing my dress. The fabric is smooth and light in my hand and the sparkle is more iridescent than I remember. My heart is in my stomach as I try it on. What if it’s too small? What if I look fat in it? What if Mamma and Nonna think I don’t look pretty? I shake away those thoughts as I put the straps on and hold the front, preventing it from falling before El can zip the back.
“Luciiiiiii! Come out, come out, wherever you are!” she teases as I open the door, beckoning me to walk over to her. She zips up the back as I close my eyes, head facing down at the ground, holding my breath, nervous it won’t go all the way up. Everything settles once the dress is zipped and I can tell when it’s on that it fits perfectly.
“Let’s adjust these boobs. You have fabulous boobs. Let’s show them off a bit.” With no shame, El starts digging into the front of the dress, scooping to bring my breasts higher.
“El! A priest is going to be marrying us. I can’t have my boobs out.”
“The Bible says God is a man, right?” El’s question doesn’t require an answer, it’s to make a point. “Men love boobs and we have a right to show them off! Now turn around.”
I let out the breath I’ve been holding when I see myself in the dress. First of all, El was right. Having some cleavage show makes the ensemble perfect. The fitted straps are intentionally off the shoulder without being too long. The top of the dress flatters me, making my waist look small, but the skirt. The skirt is my favorite part. It hides everything I’ve always been worried about. El props her chin on my shoulder, knowing that we’re both thinking the same thing.
“See, you have great tits. We’ll make a few small adjustments, making the dress favolosa for Saturday.” We laugh at her comment, both knowing she’s right, she’s always right. “I can’t believe your wedding is in three days. October 12th willalways be a day you’ll remember, regardless of the emotions surrounding said memories.”
Panic sets in. My wedding is in three days—three days from now is October 12th, and today is October 9th.
“Today is October 9th?”
“Uh yeah? Why? What’s wrong?”
“El, my period’s late.”
“That was quick,” I swear El doesn’t think before she speaks, and her comment makes me panic even more. “Rewind. First of all, how late?”
“Well, it was supposed to start today, but it always starts in the morning. Normally I wake up to my period.”
“Girl, that is not late. If anything it’s delayed, barely. Once my period was a week late and I wanted to murder Andrea. Then I realized I wanted to murder him because I was PMSing.” El grabs me and turns me around yet again reading my expression. “Would it make you feel better if I went and grabbed a test for you?”
“Would you?” Without a word El grabs her purse, leaving me with my thoughts as she goes to the store. I hear her and Marco yell at each other as she leaves.
“Where the fuck are you going?”
“To get a knife to finally castrate you!”
“Oh baby, don’t threaten with a good time.” Baby? El and Marco’s friendship is weird. That is if they are friends. Most of the time they end up acting like mortal enemies.
Thirty minutes later, El comes back with two coffees, sans a shopping bag. Where are the tests?
“You did get the test, right? Where’s the bag from the pharmacy?” If she didn’t get the test where did she go?
“Of course I did. I’m the type of friend to bail you out of jail at 3 a.m. without any questions. Of course, I’ll follow through with getting my girl a pregnancy test.” She sets down the coffeeand grabs both wrapped tests and the directions out of her bra, presenting them to me. “You know Alessandro and his security, if they got the hint that there was a pregnancy test here they’d tell him.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” She’s always right. I take the tests and stare at them as if I’ve never taken one, which I haven’t, but that’s beside the point.
“Do you want me to stay here while you take them? And yes, I would recommend taking both of them. The reason is, that if one is positive and one is negative we can get a third. If both are positive or negative then we know.”
“No. I think I may wait a couple of days. I bet it’s just delayed as you said. I’ll see you Saturday.”
“Okay. In that case, I’m going to leave everything here minus the dress. The last thing we should have to do is drag all this shit up the stairs again. You try to relax and I’ll see you Saturday.” El hugs me tight, reassuring me that everything will be okay and I can always call or text her.
She leaves the room and I shake while holding the tests. I can’t be pregnant. I guess technically I can, but I can’t. No way. I don’t know what would be worse, giving my virginity away before I’m married or getting pregnant before I’m married. I shove them into the bag containing my lingerie for the wedding dress. I’ll worry about the pregnancy tests for another day and wish for my period to come. For something to go my way.
