Chapter Text
The day before the wedding
"I hope it looks exactly as you pictured it"
"It's... perfect" Waverly looked around the grande restaurant decorated with beautiful white flowers and lights. That's exactly just as she dreamed. Vintage place elegantly decorated with gold and pink accents here and there, meticulously selected dishes and soft music playing in the background. She - dancing in an incredibly white dress with her husband to be. It should be perfect. James finally proposed to her a few months ago. They had lived together for a year in the apartment which they had arranged for themselves. James had a good job in business and he cared. It was as simple as that.
Her sister, Wynonna, had a different opinion, she said: "I didn't like him and I will not like him, but this is your life baby girl, not mine". She scoffed a little at the memory, she loved Wynonna even if she had disappeared from her life for 5 years. Wynonna had just left when Waverly started high school. She left after their parent's car accident. She left even if she was the closest person in her life. After all, she was gone anyway.
But she came back. It all the mattered. They were sisters and Waverly has never been able to hold a grudge against her. Long hours of talking, apologizing and crying brought them closer together as if there had never been a break. Her train of different thoughts was interrupted by the sudden voice
"I'm sorry... Hi" Chrissy was late but squealed running towards the brunette. Chrissy, her best friend from childhood. They trusted each other and practically were like sisters. They had drowned closer to each other in the absence of her sister.
"Finally" Waverly sighed hugging her friend tightly. They met to evaluate how the wedding preparations were going. Her fiance had to stay at work. Again. He spent a lot of time in the office. He loved his job and always stressed its importance. She asked Chrissy to meet her there, especially since Chrisy was a photographer at her wedding. What's new was her new boyfriend Pete who accompanied her there. She met him once before and didn't want to judge anyone especially when Chrissy was over the moon with him at her side.
"yeah we couldn't get out of bed" Chrissy wiggled her eyebrows and pointed at her boyfriend who stood in the entre with nose in his phone
"Force majeure, love in bloom" Brunette giggled and added
"So tomorrow double wedding"
"I don't have a dress... but we considering it" Chrissy dreamily looked at Pete who approached them still busied with his phone
"What's there to consider?
Hey Pete..." She asked cheekily and flicked her fingers in front of him to gain his attention
"Uh sorry huh?" He raised his sight
"well... you go first, we'll follow" Chrissy eyed him smiling
"Sounds cool... Can I borrow your car?" He asked nonchalantly
"Sure honey... I'll take a bus or something" Chrissy agreed little uncomfortable avoiding locking eyes with a brunette who nodded and eyed the interaction cautiously
"Thanks... Ciao" He grabbed the keys and waved them
"Bye" Waverly answered with a tight smile
Girls locked eyes in silence and when Waverly was about to comment something, Chrissy said enthusiastically
"It's beautiful here" circling finger around
"Chrissy... what's with Pete? Are you sure..." Waverly knew her friend and the new boyfriend seemed a little off... he wasn't interested in her, more in her things... it was Waverly's opinion but maybe she was wrong
"Can we not please? not today ... it's tomorrow...your big day... let's focus on that ... not everybody has their knight in shining armour" She pushed playfully brunette shoulder
Waverly rolled her eyes but cut the subject sensing Chrissy was not ready for the talk. She didn't want to push when she saw that Chrissy didn't want to bother her before the wedding
"I can't wait... my wedding" Waverly smiled instead and dreamily sighted
//
Later the same day
Chrissy was running down the street smile on her face. All in all, her best friend was getting married and she was a maid of honour. WAIT. She stopped in her tracks when she saw... Pete in lock lips with some woman in HER car... She couldn't believe it.
*What kind of bullshit is this*
She stood there maybe 5 seconds or 5 minutes but she didn't want to act under the influence of emotions. She pulled her phone and picked the number
"Good morning, my name Nadley ... my car was stolen... Is it possible to stop the engine remotely?" She asked irritated
"Goodmorning Miss Nadley, yes, of course, the engine will be deactivated in 1 minute. The police department was alarmed of course. They should localize it in 30 minutes"
*Thank god for technologies! Now try to go wherever you want idiot*
"Ouch" She rubbed her arm, some woman run into her dropping something
"I am terribly sorry...I didn't notice you in a hurry. There is only an hour left and I wanted a signature." The woman picked up the book quickly mumbling and waved it shyly in front of her
"Tips for cheating?" Chrissy asked in disbelieve, catching the title of the book
*Is this some kind of joke?*
"It's a great book... by Nicole Haught... Oh, shoot...I'm really sorry I gotta go... Bye" The woman apologised and entered the gate of the building
Chrissy thought that if there wasn't any future with this relationship anyway, she would do it with humour and give her ex-boyfriend a book with exceptionally strong dedication. She won't be making scenes in the middle of town and taking him out of the car. Still classy. She could have seen that he was busy for a while, maybe she would get the signature and find him there. After all, he wouldn't go anywhere.
She followed the woman and found herself in a green courtyard. The first thing she noticed was a huge queue, which luckily moved quickly. Funny that a book with such a title can have such a take. While standing in line, she talked to several women who praised all the author's works, praising the values and the writer's dedication to relationships. Chrissy thought that people like that don't exist anymore, Pete wasn't the first guy to cheat on her. After a few moments, she found herself in front of the writer. She was a beautiful classy woman after her 30ties. Red hair was definitely her trademark. The author took the book and simply asked
"For?"
"A morron, imbecile and mean backstabber... I wish him an eternity of impotence caused by severe syphilis" The irritated blonde replied
"Wait the moment, that's your feeling talking" The author looked up, frowning and chuckled lightly
"They are not talking! They are screaming. Write this down, please" Blonde insisted with hands in her pockets
"May your ass be in pain forever and make you shit all over yourself" She raised her voice a little receiving some laughs from behind
"You can add: enjoy reading...Chriss" adding resigning and waving her hand
"This is precisely why I'm loyal to my wife" Redhead admitted handing over a signed book with a tight smile
"It's because you love your wife?" Chrissy asked
"The Most in the word" She simply said with smile receiving some awws from women behind
Blonde nodded and left the building finding same shit ticked who was watching something under the hood
"Chill out, it'll be fine" He reassured the foreign woman, the same from before
"No, it won't... I blocked it, you traitor" Chrissy interrupted with a raised voice
"What?" He asked nervously, rubbing his hands
"The police is coming... make up some bullshit, you are good at that" Chrissy replied easily disgusted with him
"The police, why?" He dumbly asked again
Chrissy only pushed him a book to his chest and added before leaving
"Here, a keepsake"
//
Wedding day
Waverly got out of the long shower. She wrapped herself in a big white towel and rubbed the hazy mirror.
*Today is the day... today you will be married and became Waverly Hardy* She smiled into the mirror and started drying her hair
*bip bip*
She sneaked at her phone seeing Wynonna's alert
[Nonna] Ya sure? I have a getaway car in preparation
[Waves] very funny
[Nonna] Just wink if necessary
[Waves] Noted
[Nonna] Ok. Wanted to see if u alright... See you there, fingers crossed or something
[Waves] Love u, Nonna <3
[Nonna] Love u 2 baby sis
Waverly smiled at the text... leaving the bathroom, she saw that her fiance was in a hurry. He was talking on his phone with someone. Wanting or no, she overheard:
"Yeah, I'll be right there" Brunette frowned a little
"You're not going to believe it, I have to go to work" He announced buttoning his shirt quickly
"Today?" she asked surprised and a little irritated
"Yes, yup, Immediately" adding
"The system's down and nobody can take care of it" he explained
"Nobody else in the whole world?" She asked from the sofa rolling her eyes. It was their day for Christ's sake. Wedding day and he decided to go to work?
"Baby, it's just around the corner... I'll be back before you've ever noticed I've gone" He reassured her wrapping his arms around her from behind
"Great I'm marrying a workaholic" She muttered under her breath
"Oh, and who was the one designing a new website until dawn?" He challenged her with a cheeky tone grabbing his phone from other room
"Champ?" He approached her once more
"Yeah?"
"Will you be ready on time?" She asked little worried
"I don't have to be as beautiful and sexy as you..." He kissed wetly her cheek
"Come back soon, okay?" She smiled although she didn't feel like smiling
"I will"
//
It was 3 pm, the wedding was about to begin at 4 pm. Waverly was perfectly ready, curly hair, light makeup, irresistible white wedding dress. One hour to go. James wasn't at home yet and nothing unusual that Waverly started to get worried.
*what on Earth is more important?*
Even though James didn't like to be disturbed and promised he would be on time. She decided to call him and after long waiting, he answered but she was met with silence
"Hello?" she tried
"Where are you? Hello?" again
"Honey, come on let's go" She heard from the distance girly tone...
The line was off. She acted instinctively, she got up from the couch, put on sneakers and ran to his workplace. They lived very close to his work one street away. She ran into a large glass building where the concierge eyed her surprised to see a woman in a wedding dress.
"Maam Can I help you?" He asked tentatively but Waverly didn't pay any attention to him. She was looking frantically around the building when something particularly caught her eye. Something in a glass elevator. Blonde skinny woman glued to her fiance who apparently didn't mind. In seconds they were kissing. It was not a peck. It was a passionate kiss with tongue and touching. The elevator was going up and she felt like she was being pulled down
"Maam are you alright?" The concierge asked again with little worried eyes and she finally snapped her sight to him
"Freaking liar ... yeah yeah" She dismissively responded and she turned on her heel and left. She didn't quite believe what she saw seconds ago. She had the same image in front of her eyes, the passionate kiss of her would-be husband. It didn't look like the first time. She didn't even notice that her cheeks were wet with tears until she looked at the reflection in the shop window. She stood there staring at her herself, red eyes and tears.
"Oh no... you will not cry because of him" she wiped her cheeks furiously. He wasn't worth her tears and sadness. He was bullshit and whats worse, Wynnona was right about him.
*Focus!*
She noticed that she still had the iPhone in her hand. She quickly texted several texts sequentially:
[James] You dirty pig, wedding cancelled, I've seen everything
[Nonna] wink wink sis... u had right... Champ cheated me... the wedding is cancelled ...you can take care of it? Please
[Chrissy] He cheated on me, the wedding is cancelled... meet me at the fountain?
On her wedding day, the bride bought whiskey from a store while walking down the street to the park in sneakers. Great
meantime
"How about leaving everything behind and moving to Cuba?" Shae asked nonchalantly while driving a car and listening to some Latina music from Radio
"Cuba?" Redhead asked ridiculously, answering emails on her phone
"Yeah" she noded
"It's a poor county with no internet access" Author eyed her wife
"Oh, then no" Shae locked eyes for a second then agreed with her. The couple drove in silence for a minute listening to some radio tunes when Shae all of sudden turned into the nearest street abruptly from the middle lane. The drivers behind them began to honk aggressively. Deservedly.
"God damn it! Are you tryin to kill me?" Nicole asked bewildered holding on to the seat
"You are such a bore, you have no imagination" Brunette next to her groaned and started to search for something on-screen of the car's radio. She didn't even notice how she lightly steered the car to the curb, on which the woman in her wedding dress was walking. These were millimetres, the car only scratched the woman who jumped into the nearest shag. Shae abruptly stopped the car and Nicole jumped out to check on the woman.
"Hey, miss!" She yelled in panic
"Jesus! Are you all right?" She helped the woman to get up
"Nothing is all right!" She shouted back, reflecting, picking up a half-full bottle of whiskey. She was a mess, smudged makeup, dirty dress and a bottle in hand.
*Could this day be even better* Brunette thought
"Are you hurt?" Redhead eyed the woman in panic mode. They almost hit a woman, who was wearing a wedding dress?...
"No, I think I only tripped" Waverly finally made eye contact with a stranger who was clearly worried about her condition. Fortunately, she had already drunk some booze and did not care what was happening at all.
"Maybe we should take you home?" Nicole offered placing hands on her shoulders in a comforting gesture. Waverly frown a little, oddly kind eyes were searching for some answers
"No, I'll just stay here or I'll go for a walk" Waverly took a large sip of whiskey and already made move but was stopped by a stranger's hands again. Surprisingly, the comfort of those hands did not cross her.
"no. no. no" Redhead said sternly and added
"That's not a good idea...
You don't look so good." She eyed the woman, she was tipsy and definitely not in a condition to walk anywhere. It was strange that she wanted to ask a woman what happened
"That's very rude!...
A freaking aesthete" Brunette felt offended by the comment, shrugged her hands off her and run to the alley of the park
*What on Earth was that* Nicole thought
"That mad girl could have landed me in prison" Shae scoffed from her seat, observing the whole exchange and getting the attention of her wife who was caught of guard
"Your mad driving could have landed you in prison" Nicole snapped back irritated. She almost hit the poor woman and she was worried about herself.
"You could drive more carefully you know" She added already in her seat
"ugh yeah with 5m per hour... I don't know why I married you in the first place... fasten your seatbelts" Shae rolled her eyes