FicWad

“So, Pen,” Christa looked up at her friend on the pedestal as she was being measured for her bridesmaid dress. “What do you think?”

Pen turned towards the mirror, examining the knee-length green dress. It was strapless, which Pen didn’t usually like since she was bigger in the bust area and strapless things didn’t stay up very well. “Well…” she said, yanking the dress up because it kept sagging. “It’s…too big.”

“Too big we can work with. It can be taken in where it needs to be. But does it fit the biggest part of you?”

“I…guess…” Pen didn’t much like wearing fancy dresses. She didn’t mind a casual dress every now and then, but she associated party dresses with being uncomfortable and stiff. Like the one she was wearing.

“Fabulous! Rosie,” Christa turned her attention to the seamstress, telling her where the dress needed to be taken in and that she had to have it in two weeks. The seamstress nodded and took the dress back from Pen, who had tried it on over her jeans.

“Glad that’s over,” Pen murmured, not loud enough for Christa to hear.

“So, Pen,” Christa said as the two walked out of the bridal shop. “The rest of the bridesmaids and I are going out to lunch for a girls’ day, please say you’ll come!”

Pen tried to smile. In actuality, she had no desire whatsoever to meet any of Christa’s friends, especially if they were anything like Christa. Not that there was anything wrong with Christa (besides her perpetual cheeriness), but Pen wasn’t sure she’d be able to take more than one of her at a time. However, Christa was letting Pen be in her wedding, and she had been nothing but nice to Pen. Pen bit her lip. Dammit. “Yeah, sure. I’d love to,” she tried to smile. Christa squealed with excitement, making Pen jump.

“Ooh, yay!” Christa jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Pen looked around to see if anyone was watching, blushing slightly. “I can’t wait for you to meet my friends and my sister! They’re gonna love you! You’re gonna love them! Oh, I can’t wait!” She grabbed Pen by the wrist and sprinted down the street to a small restaurant. Pen was relieved when they stopped and she was no longer being dragged down the sidewalk, attracting the wondering looks of many passerby.

They entered the dark café and were greeted by three squeals nearly identical to Christa’s. They had just seen each other the night before, right? “Christa! Oh my gosh, I’m so excited for you! We all are!” a woman who looked a lot of like Christa (whom Pen assumed to be her sister) said. The other two squealed in agreement. Pen was pretty sure that she was grimacing, but she couldn’t help it. She had a feeling that this would be a long day.

“You guys! You guys, this is Pen, she’s my fourth bridesmaid and Bob’s girlfriend. You guys remember Bob right? He’s going to be Ray’s best man!” The three women ooh-ed and ahh-ed over this, and Pen felt that she was mere seconds away from tearing out the door.

“Hi,” she said quietly, raising a hand without enthusiasm.

The three banshees surged forward and embraced Pen in hugs, kissing her cheeks, asking her how she was doing, etc. She informed them that she was fine, the drive had been fine, and that Bob was fine. After settling in and ordering their food, the four women turned and examined Pen, making her feel uncomfortable. She cleared her throat.

“So, Pen,” one of the women (Pen hadn’t caught any names) began, tossing her bleach-blonde, no-way-is-that-color-natural hair. “We hear that you and Bob have been dating for almost two years now!” Pen nodded, looking around awkwardly. “Do you hear wedding bells sometime in the near future?”

Pen choked on her water and set the glass down with a thump. She coughed a few times. “Umm…”

“C’mon, Bob. Stand up straight!” Ray demanded as the tailor took the best man’s measurements.

“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbled. “Hey, guys,” he said suddenly, looking at his friends.

“--no point in calling it that--”

“--good name for an album--”

“--yeah, if you suck--”

“Guys!” Bob said, slightly louder this time. “I think I’m going to ask Penelope to marry me.”

All movement froze, conversations came to a halt, and Bob’s friends stared at him. Then they erupted into motion.

“--great, Bob--”

“--wow, about time--”

“--you’ll ruin your life!” Frank shouted to be heard above everyone else.

Bob just looked at Frank for a moment. “I don’t think so.”

“Are you kidding? Look at Toro! He’s throwing his freedom away, don’t follow in his footsteps!”

“Excuse me!” Ray interjected, giving Frank a “Dude-really-what-the-hell” look.

“I think you’re full of it, Frank,” Gerard offered. “If they want to get married, let ‘em. They’re obviously pretty serious about these chicks if they’re willing to throw away the aforementioned freedom for them.”

“Whatever, man. All I know is, I’m never getting married.”

“You are ridiculous,” Bob told his friend, rolling his eyes.

“Actually,” Mikey piped up. “I kind-of agree with Frank. I mean, I dated Pen before you, Bob. She promised to stop doing stuff for me, but she still did it. Who’s to say it won’t happen again?”

“Well,” Bob said, looking at Mikey oddly. Since when was Mikey so pessimistic? “I trust her. And if she does fall back into that stuff, I would help her however I could to get her out of it.”

Mikey shrugged and looked away. He wondered if his real reason for objecting was obvious. “You’re right,” he said quickly. “I mean--you love Pen, she loves you, it makes sense.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, but no one else seemed to notice.

“When are you gonna do it?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking I’d do it at the reception…”

“Well…not really,” Pen told Bottle-Blonde. “I--well…we’ve never really talked about it…”

“Well, don’t bring it up, then!” Buck-Tooth warned. She was the one whom Pen thought to be Christa’s sister. “You might scare him off. Wouldn’t want that.”

Pen shook her head and gulped. Married? Her and Bob? Pen thought about it. She wouldn’t mind being married to him, being a real wife, having kids…”Well--”

“Oh, and don’t even mention anything about weddings, or he’ll think you’re trying to hint at something!”

“And give him space! Men are more likely to propose if they feel like you’re distancing yourself!”

Pen looked around at all the women barking advice at her. None of this seemed logical; Bob would never be scared off by the topic of marriage, would he? Pen pondered the thought. That definitely didn’t seem like Bob…but what if he felt like she was hinting at something? Would he propose just because he felt obligated to? Just to make her happy? Bob was always trying to make Pen happy, but would his heart really be in it this time?

Mikey shook his head. Pen wasn’t the marrying-kind of girl, anyway. She couldn’t just settle down and be tied to someone for the rest of her life. Mikey knew Pen, and he knew she’d probably turn Bob down if he proposed. At least, that’s what he was half-hoping, as much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself.

“What would you do if he asked?” Christa said, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hands.

“Well…” Pen thought about it. What would she say? She did love Bob, of that she was certain. As long as she loved him, why should being married be a big deal? If anything, it would make their relationship even better. Marriage brought couples closer, right? “I’d…I think I’d say yes.”

“I’m tellin’ you, Bryar,” Frank said as they walked out of the tux rental shop. “Think long and hard about this. Why buy the cow when you’re getting the milk for free? You’re already living with Pen and banging her, why do you need to get married?”

“It’s not about cows and milk. It’s about…flowers. Sure, it’s nice to walk through a field of flowers and to smell them, but isn’t it better when you can pick them, take them home, and keep them with you? That way, they’re always there, and you don’t have to keep going back to the meadow to experience them.”

“Yeah, and then they die.”


Argh, I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded before now. I was drawing a blank for this chapter for some reason, even though I knew how I wanted it to be. Jeesh. Anyway, you horrible, pessimistic commenters! Shame on you, I didn't even THINK of making the bar-guy a significant character, and certainly not McKrackhead. Jeesh. Haha, okay. Well, what do you think of this chapter? Should Bobert propose? Is Pen ready? What's up with Mikey? All questions you should be asking yourselves as you click the 'comment' button, the 'subscribe' button, and whilst rating. Yes? Yes. Good. Okay. OverAndOutxx