Page 35 of Little Gray Dress

“Quiet!” Muffy claps us into silence. “Enough nonsense, let’s get started!!”

“Wait!” Hannah interrupts her quickly, scurrying to her side in the center of the room. “We have one more thing to do.” Evan walks up behind her with two white sashes hanging over his arm. “We haven’t really announced who our Maid of Honor and Best Man are, we wanted it to be a surprise, so…” We all watch her take the sashes from Evan.

“As Evan’s Best Man he chose the guy who he’s been the closest to for so many years, a man who actually helped bring us together so long ago.” She walks up to Jack and puts the sash over his head like he’s just won some sort of beauty pageant, straightening it so the words Best Man lie across his chest.

“Thanks for always being there,” Evan says to him. Finally, I see Jack smile as he walks over to hug my brother.

“And… my Maid of Honor… This was really hard for me, but the last few days really made it clear who it should be. Because of you, this day is even happening and I couldn’t ever be more thankful for that.”

When she’s directly in front of me I feel myself shaking my head. “Hannah, I can’t walk down the aisle with—” I whisper, but she purses her lips and glares with an intensity I can almost feel.

“Emi, I chose you as my Maid of Honor because after today we’ll be sisters forever.” The sash is slung around my neck and straightened to show the glittery pink Maid-Of-Honor squarely across my chest.

“Thanks, Hannah.” I force myself to not be a pain in the ass, and hug her as lovingly as possible.

Muffy claps. “Now that the awards ceremony is over let’s get to rehearsal.”

“Wow… this is quite the wedding already,” Liam says next to me.

“This is bad.” I glance around the room looking for Lily but since she and Josh are only guests and not wedding party, they’ve moved to the seating area and are both scrolling through their phones.

“Why’s it bad?” Liam asks me.

“Because, the Maid of Honor walks down the aisle with the Best Man.”

“I take it the Best Man is the guy who broke your heart?”

“Yes, Jack.” I watch Liam rub his neck for a moment, his face somber and staring into space. When his hand touches mine a spark of electricity moves quickly all the way to my brain.

“Then everything considered, I think my status is now boyfriend status.” And in a moment too quick for me to even process the words he just said, his arm is around my back, he’s pulled me against him and his lips meet mine. I melt… like literally; my knees go weak and I don’t pull away. I can’t, the last time someone kissed me, it was Jack. My head and my heart are in a war and right now my brain is on strike, fizzing like champagne.

“OK, OK… Enough with the love scene.” Muffy’s stern voice causes us both to pull away but Liam's hand doesn’t leave my back. When I glance around the room, all eyes are on us. Hannah’s mouth is hanging open through a huge awkward smile and Jack’s face is much the opposite of hers. “Hannah and Robert to the back of the room, Best Man and Maid of Honor in front of them…”

Hannah skips to me and slips her arm through mine, pulling me from Liam’s touch and towards the back of the room with her.

“Oh my God. So, what is this then?” She tries to be quiet, but I’m sure he just heard her.

“Shhhh… Hannah. I don’t know. He just… kissed me.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“And was it good?” She raises an eyebrow at me.

“What? This isn’t a sleepover where we talk boys. I don’t know what it was. It was, uh…” We stop at the back of the room. The only person there is Robert, who isn’t listening anyway. “It was surprising.”

“I bet! He’s cute, but, are you sure you want this?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just an act, remember?”

“Right…” Her gaze moves to my side, and when I glance round Jack is quietly standing there waiting for us to drop into walking orders. “Right,” she says again, walking away from me towards her father.

“Emi.” Jack voice is unemotional, and he doesn’t look in my direction at all.

“Jack.” I match his tone in return, not really knowing what else to say.

“You look beautiful, as always.” He finally looks down at me with a hesitant shy smile. “Who’s the guy?” He glances at Liam at the front of the line.

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