Chapter Three #2
And yeah, maybe there was a “right guy” out there—something she seriously doubted after her many years of meeting all the wrong ones—but what if she never became “the right girl”?
So many people coupled up just because everyone else was doing it, but Ari thought it was a terrible reason to get married, to subject herself to a life of sharing space with someone who’d think she was too messy, too childish for “playing with blocks” (she still seethed when she thought about that one), too wild, too unserious (okay, that one was actually Dana), and any of the other commentary that’d been levied at her over the years.
They weren’t always delivered as criticism; the guy who said she was too wild for him definitely meant it as a compliment.
But they grated all the same, as if she should be changing herself for some nebulous future she wasn’t sure she wanted in the first place.
Anyway, Liana wasn’t sporting a ring yet. Sure, she had a guy, but she was still there for Ari in every way that mattered. As long as that stayed true, Ari would be fine. And when, someday down the line, it wasn’t? She’d figure it out, the way she always had.
But one thing was set in stone: Arielle Becker had no plans to settle.
“I still think this is super weird,” Liana said as she watched Arielle shimmy into the Spanx she’d be wearing under a cranberry bridesmaid dress for the next eight hours.
“Have you and Lauren even talked since she asked you to be a bridesmaid?” Ari opened her mouth to respond, but Liana cut her off. “Outside of wedding stuff?”
“You already know the answer to that.” Ari sighed as she checked the time on her phone.
She had forty-five minutes to get downtown to the fancy venue where Lauren Weiler and Harvey Katz were getting married in front of six hundred of their nearest and dearest. While Liana was spot-on that a girl she’d barely spoken to since high school should not have asked her to be a bridesmaid, Ari didn’t exactly know how to say no—especially when the thing she’d really wanted to ask was “Why?”
It turned out the “why” was because her fiancé had twelve groomsmen, and Lauren refused to show up with any fewer.
Unfortunately, her sparkling personality didn’t exactly lend itself to maintaining friendships, so she’d had to scrape the bottom of the barrel, starting with her old high school besties.
“Doesn’t it feel weird to have the same role at this girl’s wedding that you had at Bella’s?” Liana asked, watching Arielle toss noisemakers and glittery streamers into a bag. “Like, could they be any more different?”
“Why is this so distressing to you? I’m the one getting all dolled up for a girl who told me my own hair isn’t ‘formal enough’ for her big day and that my cartilage piercings are ‘distracting.’”
“I know, I just…” Liana caught her eye in the mirror, then looked away as another text lit up Arielle’s phone.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Ari muttered, reading the message. “Hodaya wants us all to send pictures of our makeup to make sure we followed Lauren’s instructions.”
“Lauren sent instructions?”
“Only gold eyeshadow allowed.” Arielle closed her lids to showcase her rule-following. She’d debated doing silver, just to cause a ruckus, but the gold had turned out to look great on her, so she’d let it go. “She wants us to look as coordinated as possible.”
“What happened to ‘beggars can’t be choosers’?”
Arielle snorted. “The Weilers do not associate themselves with beggars, I assure you.”
“They sound like a delightful family.”
Ari snapped a quick selfie and sent it on to the maid of honor, who was, unfortunately, a perfect personality match for Lauren. “This is probably the fanciest party I will ever attend in my entire life. At least if I’m a bridesmaid, I don’t have to struggle with finding something to wear.”
Your lipstick is too dark, buzzed Hodaya’s reply text.
Ari rolled her eyes and tossed the gold tube into the clutch she’d borrowed from Dana, a surprising favor probably only done because her boyfriend, Evan, was impressed (and clearly jealous) that Ari would be standing up at the Weiler wedding.
As a senior research analyst still trying to claw his way up the food chain, Evan idolized Lauren’s notorious hedge fund manager father.
It’ll fade by the time I get there, she wrote back.
“My lipstick is now Hodaya’s greatest source of stress today,” Ari informed Liana, slipping her feet into the comfortable flats she’d be wearing in the Uber and tossing her heels into her tote.
“Truly, she should be grateful. Think of how many things can ruin a wedding! And yet I am singlehandedly doing it with two coats of Lady and the Vamp.”
She expected at least a tiny smile from Liana, but her roommate had distress written all over her face. “Lee. What’s going on here? Do you need me to promise I’ll wear the correct makeup shades to your wedding?”
“You joke,” Liana said somberly, “but you’re a great bridesmaid. You’re wearing the gold eyeshadow, you’re bringing the decorations, and while you may not be the most composed under the chuppah—”
“That was one time! Do not go all Judah Klein-judgy on me.”
“Nobody danced harder for Bella than you, and I bet no one’s gonna dance harder for Lauren. Or Aleah. There’s a reason everyone wants you to stand up for them, even though you don’t like doing it.”
Finally, understanding dawned in Arielle’s brain. “Lee. You know that when I’m your bridesmaid, it’s going to mean something extremely different than this, right? Having the same job title at multiple weddings doesn’t mean I view them all the same.”
A flush colored Liana’s cheeks, and Ari knew she’d hit the nail on the head.
“It’s stupid. I know. It’s cool that so many people are asking you to be their bridesmaids.
I just don’t want you to get sick of it or forever associate it with being an annoying, stupid-ass job for girls you don’t actually care about that much. ”
“Hey, I care about Bella! And I care about Aleah; she’s one of the only cousins I actually like.
” She took Liana’s hand in hers, one she’d agreeably, if messily, polished with Essie’s Ballet Slippers per Lauren’s orders.
“But Lord knows, at the rate my sisters are going, they’re as likely to walk down the aisle as I am, so truly, you have no competition in the quest for being ‘The Most Important Wedding at Which I Ever Bridesmaid,’ okay? ”
Liana hmphed in response but rested her head on Ari’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Is this just about that? Or are we having another round of ‘Gideon’s never gonna propose, he doesn’t really want forever with me, I’m gonna die alone’?”
“Can’t it be both?”
Ari laughed and squeezed her best friend around her shoulders.
“Gideon loves you. Disgusting amounts. I know you may not be moving at the same pace regarding marriage, but that absolutely does not mean anything about his feelings for you. Maybe he just knows you and I need to be roommates until our forties, at least.”
Liana laughed and squeezed back before standing up. “Okay, I need to go fixate my brain on something else, and you need to finish up and get out of here. Got your schtick stuff?”
“If by ‘schtick stuff’ you mean the mountains of crap Hodaya saddled me with and then a weird amount of West Hempstead Hebrew Academy gym clothes, then yes, I am fully ready to dance in front of Lauren and Harvey for my ten seconds of glory.”
Liana frowned. “I’m going to have better friends at my eventual wedding, right? Like, people will have fun stuff to dance with, and not just, like, alumni memorabilia?”
“Liana.”
“Yeah?”
“I love your insecure ass, but I’m gonna need you to shut up about your imaginary wedding now.”