Phillip pulls me into his chest and hugs me. "That's amazing, Princess, really. I can't believe you wrote it."
"Well, it's kinda amazing what comes out of you when you start to feel again. Somehow, this whole process, from the planning to the stupid counseling, has helped me feel again. I can't thank you enough for putting up with my crap and for helping me get through this. I love you, Phillip. I really do."
"Is there a reason we're not supposed to be together tonight?"
"Well, I think traditionally, it was to protect the bride's virtue. But since I don't really have any virtue left, we don't have to worry about that. It's also supposed to be bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day. You're supposed to wait until you see her walking down the aisle in her dress or whatever."
He gives me sexy grin. "Wasn't it you that said we never listen to anybody?"
"I think that was me." I put my hands on his biceps and give them a little squeeze. "Does that mean I get to wake up in these sexy arms on my wedding day?"
"Most definitely," he says. He gets up, turns off the lights, puts the do not disturb sign on the door, strips down to his boxers, and slides into bed with me. "We'll order room service for breakfast, relax, and I'll sneak out when you go get your hair done. What time is that?"
"My appointment isn't until noon," I say as I happily snuggle up next to him.
Lori bangs on my door at ten-thirty. I'm leaning against Phillip's naked chest while he feeds me bites of pancakes.
I get up, peek my head out the door, and whisper to Lori. "Didn't you see the do not disturb sign? That's kinda like hanging a sock on the door. I have a boy in my bed."
She pushes through the door. "Jade, don't joke about something like that," she says, like I was hooking up with some random stranger on my wedding night.
Her eyes get big when she sees Phillip. "Phillip, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here!"
"It's not my fault she wanted one last single girl fling."
I slide back in bed to finish breakfast. "Lori, don't act all shocked. I know you and Danny spent the night together before your wedding."
"No, we didn't."
"You left early. Don't act all innocent."
"Okay, so maybe we spent some time together the night before, but he went to a different room to sleep. I didn't want him to see me the morning of the wedding. It's bad luck, you know."
"I think it's good luck. I also think it's a stupid tradition and why some brides call off their weddings at the last minute."
"You think sleeping with them the night before will guard against cold feet?"
"Definitely. When you're all alone the night before your wedding, you have nothing to do but think. To question yourself. Contemplate all the lifetime commitment stuff you're about to say." I give Phillip's thigh a little squeeze. "It's hard to think about cold feet when you've got a hot guy in bed with you."
"Fine, joke all you want."
"I'm not joking at all. I'm dead serious. I'm glad Phillip spent the night with me."
Phillip kisses my cheek, pops the last piece of bacon in his mouth, and gets out of bed. He's only wearing boxers, so he pulls on his jeans, tosses his shirt over a broad shoulder, and picks up his shoes. "I think I better leave you girls to this."
"You're a chicken, you know that, right?" I tell him.
After watching his sexy backside walk out the door, I turn to Lori and say, "You want some food?"
"Are you really doing okay? Like you seem very calm."
"Does that surprise you? I've always been pretty chill about stuff."
Lori rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head. "You used to be chill about everything until you started dating Phillip. Then you got a little dramatic. So is there anything you need? I feel like we should be doing something."
"I'm gonna finish eating and then take a long bath. The hairstylist doesn't want me to wash my hair, so that's all I have to do."
"You seem too calm. It's kinda scaring me."
"Lori, I wanna marry Phillip more than anything. I'm excited, happy, and incredibly blessed. I found a man that is so amazing in bed, it makes me cry." I grab a tissue and dab at fake tears.
She slaps me on the arm. "Jade! Do you ever take anything seriously?"
"Yes, actually I do. In all seriousness, I'm seriously blessed. Like he's amazing. Last night...."
"Okay, I give up. You're calm. Danny sent me down here early because he was worried you'd be freaking out."
"You don't need to babysit me. I'm not going anywhere. I didn't even have any bad dreams last night." I grab a ceremony program off the nightstand and toss it toward her. "Take a look at this."
She watches it float down to the ground, and as she's leaning down to pick it up, she says, "What's this?"
"The ceremony program."
She looks at the front of it. The black and white brocade print. The purple trim. Our wedding monogram. She turns it over, flips it open, then closes it. "It's pretty."
I smile. "No, you need to read it."
"Why? I know everyone."
"Fine, there's something I need to tell you. If you'd read the program, you'd see that you're not my matron of honor."
She puts her hand to her chest and cries out, "What did I do wrong?"
"No, silly. I mean we're not calling you matron of honor."
"Oh, you scared me, and Jade, I'm so sorry. You didn't have to do that. It was so selfish of me to want to change your wedding."
"Well, I looked up the word matron in the thesaurus for a different word to use. The synonyms were even worse. Words like biddy, dowager, dame. So then I decided fuck tradition. I searched the internet and found that other people felt the same way. I found lots of ideas. A nice one was treasured friend, but I thought that sounded like we were fifty-year-olds. There was honor attendant, lady of honor, best woman, chick of honor, goddess of honor, my home girl, and the bride's babe."
She puts a hand up to her mouth to hide her giggles. "Oh, that sounds like we're having an affair!"
"Scandalous, right? What about executive vice president in charge of bridal affairs?"
"That sounds like you're having affairs, and I'm in charge of them!"
"That'd make you my pimpppp!!!" I laugh, but then I get serious. "So, read it."
She opens the program and reads from it. "Lori Diamond, HOTASS BEST FRIEND."
She chuckles. "Very funny. Did you have this program made just for me?"
"No, that's the actual program. Ask Amy."
She looks down and reads more. "The bridesmaids are THE HOTTIES? Danny is the HOTABS BEST FRIEND? And the groomsmen are THE ABBIES? Ohmigawd, Jade, only you could write ass in your wedding program and get away with it!"
"Nobody reads them anyway. I think it's awesome!"
"I think you're crazy!"
I start to tear up for real. "You're my best friend, you know that, right? Danny and I will always be tight, but you really are like a sister to me."
She gets tears in her eyes too and gives me a big hug.
I'm ready. Ready to go meet Phillip. Ready for him to see my dress for the first time. Mrs. Mac and Mrs. Diamond are gushing about how pretty I look.
Mrs. Mac says, "So you haven't followed any traditions, but we're making you do this one. Do you have something old?"
Lori nods her head. "Yes, the satin at the base of her bouquet is from one of her mom's bridesmaid's dresses, and she has lots of new things."