Chapter Text
Keeley isn’t sure of anything anymore.
Actually, she is pretty sure she died from alcohol poisoning last night but here she is, standing at the bar of a wedding reception she’s attended five fucking times now.
Or maybe it’s six. She’s losing count already and there’s nothing she can carry over to each new day to document even a perceived passage of time. She fell asleep gripping a note in her sweaty palm the second time it happened, only to wake up grasping air. Two times later, she scrawled a note on the hotel mirror in her favorite pink lipstick, a test of fate as the color had been discontinued last month, but she awoke to find both the mirror and her lipstick untouched.
Maybe she did die.
Maybe that explains this endless purgatory she’s found herself inexplicably sentenced to. There’s no logical explanation for reliving this random Saturday in September over and over again. It’s not even a wedding she’d be likely to remember, if she’s being honest. She’s been trying to get her foot in the door with several modeling agencies and the bride is an acquaintance who has been helping her get some jobs. This wedding was merely a networking gig at best.
“What’ll be, love?” The bartender gives her the same alluring smile he’s given her several times now. He’s a bit too short and earnest to be her type, but whatever hell she’s living right now doesn’t seem to have any consequences so maybe she’ll consider it if she runs out of other desirable options down the line.
“I’ll have a coke,” she answers, because even though her body doesn’t have any lingering effects from drinking herself to oblivion, her mind still recoils at the thought of an alcoholic beverage. Whatever she does tonight, it will be with a clear head.
Usually, she would have brought a date to an event this large, but she’s not currently seeing anyone. She'd thought about asking Jamie Tartt, her most recent on-again off-again fling, and she wonders what would have happened if she had brought him, if he'd have been flung into living this endless day right along side her. The thought of having someone to navigate this unusual scenario with should be comforting, but the thought of Jamie Tartt as her only companion and confidant makes her a bit nauseous.
Keeley looks out at the crowd. They're becoming familiar to her with each passing reiteration, like storybook characters. She knows that right now, the groom will lean in and whisper something that will make the bride unexpectedly laugh. A toddler will break free from the dance floor and run across the reception hall, barely missing a waitress who will step out of the way just in time to keep her tray precariously balanced on her arm. And if she looks to the table in the far corner, she'll see that gorgeous blonde woman wearing the most ravishing pale blue dress that shows a tantalizing amount of cleavage. The first night, they made eye contact and Keeley's heart involuntarily fluttered. She's been meaning to work up the nerve to go talk to her, especially now since knows she can make endless first impressions. She quite literally has nothing to lose.
But when her eyes sweep over to her table tonight, she's not there.
Keeley frowns, wondering if she's remembered the table wrong. There is quite a lot of activity to keep track of, and to be fair, Keeley's mental state has not been so sharp as she's been desperately trying to make sense of this situation. She steps around the dance floor, her eyes frantically searching for the woman, but she can't find her anywhere. How odd. This situation has completely upturned her world, but at least there's been consistency to grasp on to. She tries to remember if she saw the woman anywhere else throughout the past evenings, but she can't recall, all of her muddled memories blurring together.
What does it mean, that the woman isn't where she's meant to be? On the first day, Keeley tried to talk to at least a dozen people she encountered about this outrageous fever dream she's found herself stuck in but was always met with politely confused expressions. And everyone has been predictably in the same place and followed the same script, unless Keeley has redirected them in some way. Keeley can't think of anything she's done tonight that would change the trajectory of this woman's predetermined path. In fact, today has been the calmest and most level-headed she's been. The shock of the situation has gradually worn off and she's been much more mindful of her surroundings today in case there is anything she's been missing that could clue her into why this might be happening or even if there's something she could do to end it.
Perhaps the woman in the blue dress is the key. A little thrill rushes down Keeley's spine, grapsing onto something, anything that could give her answers. She feels hopeful for the first time all day.
When she's sure the woman isn't in the reception hall, she hurries down the corridor to the loo to check there, but it's empty. Does her absence mean that there's others in this loop who are aware, like she is, and she just has to find them? What if the woman never returns? Will others begin to disappear as well? Keeley has considered that whatever glitch caused this has created some sort of an unstable reality.
Keeley doesn't know what answers she hopes to find, but she knows that finding this woman is now essential.