Chapter 30
T he guests were milling around the garden, looking stunned.
Some were trying to comfort Adam, some were on their phones, presumably letting other people know what had happened, and the rest were just wandering aimlessly.
The bourgmestre was walking around, looking unsure about what to do next.
It did not stop him from thoroughly enjoying the buffet.
Julie herself had no idea what to do. Should they cancel the rest of the wedding?
Was Yasmine going to come back? This is what people working in events were calling ‘a complete shitshow’.
Julie had never seen anything like this.
She thought people being left at the altar only happened on TV.
If only they’d show the aftermath of the wedding organisation in the soap operas instead of the happy ending where the two lovers elope and end up together, then maybe she’d have the slightest idea about what to do with herself.
Yasmine was gone with this man that she’d introduced to Julie yesterday as a long time friend.
What was their deal? Julie glanced over at Adam, but it was clear that he was just as blind-sided as the rest of them.
His face was white as a sheet and he looked shell-shocked as his brother and best man tried to help him into a chair.
Leila appeared by Julie’s side.“We should probably call it off… It’s been an hour and Yas just texted me to not worry but that she won’t come back. ”
“Really? That’s it? That’s how the wedding ends?
” Julie’s heart sank as the reality of the situation finally hit home.
She had poured months of her own time helping Yasmine to make everything at this wedding absolutely perfect.
She was very worried for her best friend but couldn’t help feeling gutted that it was all for nothing.
“Sorry, Julie. I spoke with the other bridesmaids and we agreed that we’ll take care of the logistics from now on.” Leila shrugged. “You know, you worked enough already, it’ll be unfair that the management of this debacle falls upon you as well.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Julie nodded. “We definitely cannot get any refunds at this point. I’ll just forward you the vendors’ phone numbers so they can know it’s cancelled.”
“What’s going on here?” Adam had shaken off his worried family members and marched up to the two women. “What’s next for the festivities?” He looked dishevelled, holding a glass of champagne that he took a huge gulp from, then wiped his mouth.
“Oh Adam. I’m so sorry.” Leila patted his arm. “We should maybe all head home.”
“No! Come on, Yas is probably gonna come back, right?” He pushed her hand away and took another swig. “It’s just… It’s just wedding stress.”
Julie felt incredibly bad for Adam. She’d never really gotten along with him, but nobody deserved to go through what he must be feeling now. There was no way to break it to him easily that he’d been stood up at the altar.
“Adam…” She had no idea what else to add. “Sorry, Adam.”
“It’s not possible. She wanted to marry me. It makes no sense.” Adam’s eyes filled with tears. “She said yes.” His face tensed up.
“It’s up to you, Adam,” Leila kindly started. “If you want to wait and keep this going, we can do that. Though I think it would be good to update the guests about the situation and see what they want to do.”
Adam slowly nodded.
Leila was right. Julie’d gotten so into this wedding that she forgot that Adam was the one who should be taking the decisions now.
If only he’d decided to get involved in the wedding before Yasmine had run away, maybe none of this would’ve happened.
Julie tried to bury that thought. It was unkind.
Adam was already suffering today and she couldn’t fully blame him for Yasmine’s escape.
Adam’s best man and his brother joined him again.
Julie saw Yasmine’s parents approaching from the corner of her eye and decided to take her leave.
It was getting too heavy over there and the shock of seeing Adam, usually so upbeat and charming, being so sad and pathetic, was enough to make her want to run home.
All of this had almost made her forget her little tryst with Zoe last night, but the idea of Zoe running away with Julie on her wedding day, leaving Tom so desperate, had now entered Julie’s mind and was refusing to leave.
Zoe would grab her hand, just like she did earlier, and whisk her away from the wedding.
They would drive for miles and miles without looking back, ending up in a small hotel in the British countryside where they would register under a fake name.
And then what?
Julie knew that there was no future there.
They couldn’t build an entire life based on lies and secrets.
And maybe Zoe did only have wedding stress.
Wasn’t that a whole thing that people wanted to just have one last fling before tying the knot?
But still, the idea of getting the girl in the most dramatic way possible…
All of this felt so good in her mind. Maybe she could just give into the idea and have a whirlwind romance with Zoe.
A romance which would crash and burn, but did she really have that much to lose?
Julie couldn’t see how they could still stay friends after what happened last night, after all.
She could never forget the sight of Zoe writhing underneath her body.
As if her thoughts had caused her to materialise, Zoe was standing at the end of the garden.
She looked sad, just like everyone else.
Julie hesitated. It felt so strange to think that just this morning, Zoe had been in her bed.
Then she’d held her hand during Adam’s vows.
At least, it was nice now to know that something was clearly going between them, that it wasn’t just a figment of Julie’s imagination.
“This is kinda crazy, isn’t it?” Julie gave her a grim smile as she approached.
Zoe blinked at her. “This is completely bonkers.” She put a hand on her hip. “What do we do now?”
“No idea. Leila and I think we should just all go home, but Adam wants to keep partying.”
“I guess you might as well make the most of it.” Zoe sighed.
They both looked over at Adam. He was chugging champagne out of a bottle now.
“You know…” Zoe started. “The other night during the treasure hunt, Yasmine seemed like she was hinting to me that she was having second thoughts about Adam. I wish we had talked about it more.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I just had the feeling that she had something important to tell me.” Zoe shrugged. “Forget about it. I’m just trying to wrap my head around today. I don’t think it would’ve changed anything.”
“I don’t know, Zoe.” Julie hesitated. “You know, I think it was tough for her because everybody was always telling her how Adam was so great and amazing. I always felt like she couldn’t say no.
” Julie rubbed her forehead. “I’ve never really told her about any of the hang-ups I had about him.
I didn’t want to make her sad. Now thinking back, maybe I should’ve. ”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” She put a hand on Julie’s back before removing it. “You were being a good friend.” Zoe looked down. “I know how it feels, being with a man that everyone admires. It’s tough to know where you stand.”
Julie felt like the air was just punched out of her body. She didn’t really want to talk about Zoe’s relationship issues, not when her entire body could still remember Zoe’s warmth. She stayed silent.
“Oh sorry Julie. It’s not fair to put this on you. I’m an idiot.” Zoe covered her mouth with her hands.
They stayed silent for a minute.
“If you want me to leave you alone, I can just do that.” Zoe said, her voice trembling.
“No, sorry.” Julie inhaled. “So much has been happening this week, I’m just getting whiplash from everything.”
“Yeah for sure.” Zoe smiled, then frowned. “How do you… How do you feel? You know, about yesterday.” She continued before Julie could speak. “I know we said we should avoid the topic to not ruin Yasmine’s wedding, but now it’s kind of a moot point, isn’t it?”
Julie chuckled. She was relieved that they weren’t the reason why this wedding was a disaster. She rubbed the back of her neck. “I feel… weird? For lack of a better word.”
“Same.”
Another silence.
Zoe started. “We should have a good and honest conversation about this. I need to put some order in my head.”
“Agreed. I don’t think today is a good day, because of…” Julie waved her hands at everything. “When are you going back to London?” She felt a lump in her throat as she asked the question.
“I’m leaving in two days. Does tomorrow work for you? I also assume that we’ll all be leaving this place today. It’s too dreadful.”
“Tomorrow’s great. Do you want to grab lunch or something?”
“I was thinking about my hotel room.” Zoe was pensive. “I’d rather not air these things publicly.”
Julie lifted a brow.
“You know. Tabloids. Social media gossip.” Zoe bit her lip. “Sorry, maybe I’m being paranoid but-”
“It’s OK, I understand.” Julie felt another punch in her gut, like she was some sort of shameful secret in Zoe’s picture perfect life.
At the same time, she was excited to be in an intimate space with Zoe again.
Who knows what else could happen? She shouldn’t expect anything, but the thought of it was overwhelming.
“Thanks, Julie.” Zoe looked straight at her. “You’re a good fr-” She stopped. “A good person.”
An awkward silence fell between them again. Julie looked away to see that Adam was now acting very drunk and was yelling something. It was tough to hear what was going on since more and more people were gathering around him.
“I better go back and see what’s next for my catering team.” Zoe said quietly.
Julie nodded as Zoe slipped away. She had no idea what to think.
It felt like she’d ruined her entire friendship with Zoe just because she’d given into what she wanted for once.
Of course, Zoe was responsible too, but if Julie hadn’t initiated things last night, what would’ve happened?
She’d managed to get Zoe’s friendship back after 10 years and lose her forever in less than two weeks.
She could already picture Zoe telling her that all of this was a mistake and that they shouldn’t see each other any more.
At the same time, Julie couldn’t possibly keep it bottled inside and spend her entire life pining after Zoe either.
Adam was acting more and more erratic, demanding bottles of champagne and ordering people to have fun.
When Julie walked back towards the house and past him, Adam started sobbing and his family and friends moved in closer.
She overheard his brother telling him that it was time to go home.
Adam nodded helplessly, finally accepting what was happening.
Camille stood at the entrance to the house, texting frantically. She lifted her head when she saw Julie.
“Is the wedding cancelled? What do we do?”
Julie turned around to look back at Adam, sobbing into his mother’s shoulder, and then back at Camille. “Well, what do you think?”
“What a mess,” Camille sighed. “Have you seen David? The camera guy who was with me?”
“Well, he’s gone with Yasmine,” Julie said, then bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned that?
“Sorry, what?” Camille almost dropped her phone. “Why is he with her?”
Julie shrugged. She didn’t want to put herself into more trouble.
“That bastard.” Camille shook her head. “He did tell me that he knew Yasmine from before but he never gave me any details. Pretty sure they used to sleep together.” She smirked.
This woman really was the rudest person Julie had ever seen. Julie smiled, her teeth gritting inside her mouth and decided to just walk away. The last thing this wedding needed was Julie punching a journalist.
She walked into the house. Zoe was busy talking to one of her chefs. She glanced at Julie when she walked by and quickly looked away. This was definitely the first time in Julie’s life where a wedding got more stressful after the fact.