Always the Bridesmaid...

"...so, yeah, I think August."

"What do you think about August?" Grace had caught only the end of the sentence as she joined her friends at the table.

"Shane's and Julie's wedding. I think it's going to be in August. The Save the Dates aren't out yet, but her sister said August."

Grace looked puzzled, "What? I thought they broke up?"

Angela shook her head, "Nope, where did you hear that? They got engaged last week."

"Hunh," Grace shrugged her shoulders,"It must be someone else then and I just got it crossed in my head."

Lori broke in, "Do you think she will ask any of us to be bridesmaids? I cannot afford to be a bridesmaid for anyone this year. So neither of you get engaged okay?"

And with that the discussion turned to the cost of dresses and parties and gifts and the "honor" of being a bridesmaid, not that any of them would turn down a friend, but still, it was so expensive.

"The worst is the destination wedding. Three years ago girls from college got married in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Bermuda! And it's not like you can choose based on where you'd rather go. Once you say yes to Vegas you are locked in to the others, right?"

"No, I think if it's too far away you can regretfully turn down the offer."

"Maybe you can," Angela told Lori, "But the rest of us can't."

"Why not?" Lori was puzzled, "If it's too expensive, it's too expensive. People understand."

"People understand when you do it, when the rest of us do it we lose a friend. Right, Grace?"

Grace nodded, "It's true. For whatever reason people are fine with whatever you do, the rest of us get judged if we don't go."

Lori was completely baffled, "That's bullshit. You can't expect people to pay for a trip just because you decided that your hometown wasn't worthy of your wedding. Have you seriously had a friend get mad about you not going?"

"Oh yeah. Remember Aurora, the girl I worked with at Abercrombie?" asked Grace.

"Who could forget Aurora." Angela smirked.

"She was fine. Well I thought she was fine, but yeah, she stopped talking to me when I didn't go to Los Angeles for her wedding. And I wasn't even in the wedding. I was just invited. And we hadn't even worked together for years."

"That's insane. People are so weird about weddings. Promise me if either of you decide to do a fancy destination wedding you won't get mad if I don't come."

Angela laughed, "Nobody ever gets mad at you for not coming, though, so you are off the hook!"

"Okay, not that I agree with that, but how about if we just all agree nobody gets married this year at all? I am seriously broke and cannot be in another wedding even if it were in my own backyard!"

Angela nodded, "Well I think that's easy to promise for me at least. I haven't been on a date in ages. Grace, how about you? Did your Saturday night look promising?"

Grace turned her head sharply, "What?"

"Your Saturday night date. You said you had plans last Saturday, I assumed it was a date?"

She relaxed, "Oh yeah, that, nope, no worries there for marriage plans."

"Then we are good. No bridesmaids duties from any of us this year." Lori held her hand out to shake, "Of course now that we promise this one of us will meet our perfect match on the walk home."

Grace's phone vibrated a text notification.

Angela said, "Or that's Grace's Saturday night date begging for another chance!"

They all laughed while Grace checked her phone then dropped it in to her purse.

She didn't pull it back out until she got home.

"U up?"

She stared at the screen for a long time before responding.

"Just got home. Was out with the girls talking about August plans."

She watched the dots moving on her screen for a long time. Imagining him typing and then deleting his message over and over.

"So about that..."

Her stomach clenched and she was sure she was going to throw up. About that...

No, her Saturday night date wasn't going to go anywhere. There was a reason she hadn't told anyone who she was going out with last week. She couldn't even count the number of times he'd shown up on her doorstep swearing that this time it was over with him and Julie and she was really the one he wanted. She fell for it every time and every time she ended up like this, sick and lonely and feeling like a fool.

Engaged? He got engaged to Julie and then came to her bed for, for what? To make sure? Just because he could? Because he knew she wouldn't say no? She wouldn't even ask too many questions because she didn't really want to know the truth. No more. It was too much. She couldn't afford to be the bridesmaid anymore.

She picked up her phone again and hit a few keystrokes.
Delete Contact Information "Shane"?

......