about a boy,
who was lost,
and thought he was found,
until he meets a girl,
the same girl,
who makes him wonder
if there's more to life
than just getting by.
-
[a Jem-centered novella/sequel to The Girl Who Saw Through Jem]
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Chapter Six
The Wedding
Ellis
"Oh God," I sighed. There were just...way too many women in my family.
I only had three cousins, two of them were female, and both my grandfathers had passed away but my grandmother from my father's side was still living, however, and this- combined with the presence of Paige, Aunty Mabel, Yasmin and Teresa, as well as all the bridesmaids, meant the stuffy apartment overlooking Orchard Road was crowded with anxious women three hours before a major wedding.
Basically, it was chaos.
"Paige, you look fine," I assured Paige, who was on her third mental breakdown that day, and she did: Paige was absolutely breathtaking in her Carolina Herrera wedding gown, spinning around in a tulle and chiffon mermaid gown. Pearl droplets winked at me delicately on her ears and her long blonde hair was curled into an updo. A vintage Harry Winston necklace decorated her decolletage with emeralds and diamonds, much to the envy of everyone around them.
"My makeup is all wrong!" She whinged, looking at the mirror and trying to diffuse the coral blush with a makeup brush.
"You look beautiful, Paige," Paige's mother, Caroline, assured her. I knew what type of person Caroline Ostroff the minute I was introduced to her during Paige's second Thanksgivings with my family. A blue blood noble member of a Philadelphia's Main Line family, Caroline came from a generation of women that were all the same: blonde, textbook rich, country club native and played polo. Even her fashion style was so typical of her caricature- she was a tiny woman with her ash-blond hair cut bluntly to her chin, wearing a red Chanel suit and a fox fur stole with her freshly groomed bichon frise named Pearl sitting on her lap.
How's the bride doing? Jared texted her. I smiled, looking at my phone. Jared had been nothing but an absolute joy during this whole wedding madness. He was everything I had hoped for and my family- Paige's included- loved him. Of course, how couldn't they?
Jared was the guy I dreamt about marrying since I was five. He was a Daybrook, coming from a family of Ivy League Legacies. A Dalton alumni, Jared was the all-American noble blue-blood my overly-critical and extremely judgemental Asian family was begging for me to lock down. He was something Aunt Mabel would've called "coming from the right type of family". He looked perfect too- the straight-arched Roman nose, the wink in his springtime eyes and the tanned body from sailing on the Riviera in May and the Hamptons in August.
I'm about to lose my mind. I texted back, smiling to myself. I glanced up and caught my reflection in the mirror. I've gained back some of the weight I lost over that terrible freshman winter and my hair has grown past my shoulders, falling just slightly over. I was wearing one of the pearl gray bias-cut silk dresses Paige picked out for her bridesmaids, with a collage of blue hydrangeas decorating my collar and wrist.
