Chapter 156: Bridezilla

Being a maid of honor did not jive with the lifestyle of a busy final-year PhD student. Any 'free-time' Keeley would have had ended up being devoted to helping Jennica prepare for her wedding.

She was constantly bombarded with texts asking for opinions between two slightly different shades of the same color, which flower seemed the most romantic, and questions about things like whether or not it would be a good idea to have the bridesmaids wear nude nail polish or bright polish that matched their dresses.

Keeley was at her wit's end. If she had been given free reign planning her own wedding, she would like to think she wouldn't be anywhere near this bad.

Why had her relatively laidback friend become such a bridezilla? Was Lydia giving her maid of honor anywhere near this much grief? Thankfully she wouldn't know since she was on the opposite side of the country.

Jennica's wedding colors—after much deliberation that nearly had Keeley tearing her hair out—ended up following the theme 'tropical jewel tones' from a wedding website she liked. Red, orange, and hot pink.

It would certainly be bright and colorful, just like the bride's personality but the bridesmaid dresses would likely be awful. Not everyone could pull off hot pink. Keeley certainly couldn't with her ultra-pale skin tone. She tended to prefer pastels.

Over and over she reminded herself that Jennica was only getting married once and that it was okay if she was going a little (more like a lot) overboard with the planning and wedding stress. Unfortunately, being a receptacle of that stress was taking years off of Keeley's life.

A large part of the problem was her mother, who insisted on being involved every step of the way but didn't agree with any of her daughter's decisions. Keeley had been forced to play the middleman far too many times already and it had only been a month since the planning began.

It didn't help that midterms were upon her and she still had to fly out to California in a few short weeks. She didn't even want to think about how much makeup work she would have to do. The very thought made her want to weep bitterly and shake her fist at the sky.

Her phone dinged. 'Keeley! I need you to come cake testing with me! When are you free?'

She sighed and pushed away the stack of reference materials she was using to write a paper. Technically, she was never free.

This paper was due in three days but she also had a PowerPoint presentation to prepare, two shorter papers, all of her midterms to study for, and needed to spend a minimum of four hours each day in the lab.

'I can spare a few hours on Sunday' she responded reluctantly. It would cut into the time she was supposed to visit her dad but he would forgive her. Probably.

'Great! You're the best' Jennica added on a minimum of seven heart emoticons at the end. The wedding stress must really be getting to her; she never used that many.

Keeley slumped forward so her head hit the desk. All of this wedding planning may actually be the death of her.

On the off chance she ever did get married again (and it was a very, very off chance), she would know exactly what to do and get it done all by herself in like a week without bothering to be fancy in the slightest.

Maybe she would even elope to Las Vegas. That sounded a lot better than planning anything. She would just make sure to invite her dad so he wouldn't be deprived of walking his only daughter down the aisle since he didn't remember the first time.

Why was she even thinking about getting married again? There wasn't a man alive who could tempt her back into that sort of bondage.

Keeley hadn't seen Aaron since the engagement party but unfortunately she had been thinking about him a lot. All of this wedding planning kept bringing back memories of how they ended up married in the first place. He wasn't even that romantic about it.

At the beginning of their junior year of college they were hanging out in the Boston Public Garden, one of their favorite places, while Keeley was feeding the ducks. He stood back and watched instead of participating, like he did on most of their outings together.

"Can you believe we're halfway through college already? It seems like we started just a couple of months ago," she remarked as she chucked another scrap of bread over the edge of the bridge.

She didn't notice the soft expression on his face as he watched her enthusiastically tear up more bread to see how far she could throw it.

"We'll be back in New York before we know it."

"I certainly hope so. I get awfully homesick out here. I miss my dad." Keeley paused; a bit hesitant knowing this was a sensitive topic for him. "Do you ever miss your family?"

Aaron shook his head. "Why would I? You're right here in Boston with me."

She smiled, feeling warm all over. That was about as verbally affectionate as Aaron got. She hurled another piece of bread into the water.

historical

"Well yeah, but I'm not family. It's different."

"You will be eventually," he said with a nonchalant shrug.

All of the bread slipped right through Keeley's fingers. A few pieces fell between the cracks in the slats of the wooden bridge where the hungry ducks swarmed them. Did he just say what she thought he said?

"Is that so?" she asked faintly.

He glanced at her and noticed her state of disbelief, frowning. "I thought it was a given. We're always together. Do you..not want to marry me?"

"No!" Of course she wanted to marry him! She had thought about it before but never expected him to bring it up so randomly. "We've just never talked about this before. I didn't know where you stood."

His frown snapped back into his usual neutral expression. "Oh, I see. It would make the most sense for us to wait until we get back to New York after college. We can get engaged when graduation gets closer."

Aaron had just dropped the biggest bomb he possibly could have on her and he was being so casual about it! She wasn't sure how to reply to that level of nonchalance so she simply said "that works" and resumed feeding the ducks in a daze.