Bad Bridesmaid Read online

‘We all see how the two of you are together, and I see what’s coming.’

  ‘You can see the future, can you?’ I snap. I don’t mean to, and I instantly regret it, but I don’t like where this is going.

  ‘I have eyes,’ she snaps back. ‘I see the two of you getting closer and closer – he doesn’t do that lightly.’

  ‘Look, I know he might not have the best track record with the ladies when it comes to sticking to the same one, but he’s treating me like a friend, nothing more.’

  ‘Is that what he told you?’ she laughs. ‘Mia, Leo isn’t like that. He’s terrified of getting too close to anyone so he keeps them at arm’s length. I hardly ever see him with a girl at all, he doesn’t want them to go through what I went through with his dad. I am his mother, I know him better than anyone, so trust me when I tell you that he is falling for you. So, what are you going to do about it?’

  For a moment I just sit there, stunned. I hold eye contact with Maria in the mirror. She’s just looking out for her son, but I had no idea Leo felt that way about me. He’s a ridiculously handsome man, why wouldn’t I believe he’s some big player who loves and leaves every girl he meets? Don’t get me wrong, I really like Leo, more than I’ve liked anyone for a long time, but the idea of being anything more than friends never entered my mind. Not just because I’m not a relationship kind of girl, but because in a matter of days I’ll be going back to my life in LA and I doubt I’ll ever see him again. I do care about him a lot though, and I don’t want to hurt him.

  ‘OK, point taken,’ I tell her. Maria pleads at me with her eyes, she must be after a more reassuring answer. ‘I’ll make sure he knows the score, I’ll put a bit of distance between us.’

  ‘You’ll let him down gently?’ she asks.

  ‘I will,’ I reply. Well, what else can I say? I feel like I’ve been ambushed by sweet, little Maria. She’s in the middle of doing my hair, so there’s no escaping her.

  We both remain silent until my hair is finished – Maria doesn’t even ask me to head into the bathroom to rinse my hair, she simply nods and expects me to follow her, which I do. I just want everything to be normal again.

  She finishes blow-drying my hair just as Leo gets back, and she has certainly done a good job – it looks exactly as it did before.

  ‘How are my two favourite girls?’ he asks cheerily, but in light of recent conversations I can’t even muster up a smile.

  ‘Look at that, good as new,’ he says before grabbing his mum and kissing her cheek. ‘Thanks, Mum. Mia, I told you my mum would set you straight.’

  ‘She certainly has,’ I reply, exchanging a knowing glance with the woman who just warned me off her son. Now the only issue is how to tell him.

  ***

  Maria didn’t stick around for long after she tidied up. Leo hopped straight in the shower, so before his mum left she reminded me one last time to stay away from her son.

  I’m sat on the bed, hugging my legs, waiting for Leo to finish up in the bathroom.

  On the one hand, I don’t see why I should have to stay away from him. We both know the score, we both know this is just a silly holiday thing – we’re just keeping each other sane. Although his mum seems to think he has more on his mind than that. Still, if it is just a silly holiday thing then it won’t be difficult to cut it off, will it? So why am I feeling so hesitant? We have grown close – maybe too close. Sharing secrets, spending all our time together, sleeping snuggled up and fully clothed… shit, I can see why people think we’re more than friends. We’re not though, are we? These feelings I’m having, it’s just a friendship thing. I try to consider how I feel about my friends back in the States, but I don’t have that many close friends. Well, I don’t really get on with girls, and as for the guys… any time I have built up a close bond with someone, sex has got in the way and I’ve panicked and put a bit of distance between us. I can’t explain it, but relationships are just not for me. Even if they were, I can’t afford to get close to Leo.

  I think about what to say. We’re not a couple, so it’s not like I can break up with him. What does his mum expect me to do? Tell him I don’t want to play with him any more? Tell him that his mum forbids it? We’re not kids, we’re adults.

  ‘Hello blondie,’ Leo says cheerily, walking out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel around his waist. This would probably be a lot easier if he had a top on.

  ‘Hello. Can we have a quick chat?’

  ‘This doesn’t sound good,’ he laughs as he sits down next to me, but as he notices the serious look on my face his smile vanishes. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Belle says I can have my room back, so I just thought I’d let you know you’re getting your bed back.’

  ‘You don’t have to, you know. I’ve kind of gotten used to having you around, the bed will seem empty without you.’

  What might have seemed like a cheeky, flirty remark yesterday, seems very sweet today. As I think about the way Leo is with me, something hits me: he is falling for me. The way he defends me, helps me out, strokes my cheek when we look into each other’s eyes and the way he plays with my hair as we chat… no one has ever treated me that way before.

  ‘You’ll get over it,’ I joke. ‘After the next few days are over, you’ll probably never see me again.’

  ‘And you’re OK with that?’ he asks seriously.

  I have to be OK with it.

  ‘Course.’ I smile, grabbing the bag I filled with my things while he was in the shower. ‘See you around.’

  And with that, I disappear. As I walk towards my bedroom, my heart feels kind of heavy. I’m doing the right thing though. I don’t want a boyfriend and if that’s where he thinks this is going then it’s only right I nip it in the bud. It’s called being cruel to be kind, isn’t it? So why don’t I feel at all kind right now?

  Chapter 33

  After a fairly uneventful evening and a night in my own bed – alone – I woke up feeling restless at six a.m. I laid there for an hour, just thinking about things – mostly how I can’t wait to go home – before getting up and dressed. I’m going to pop downstairs, grab a coffee and then sit in my room and work all day. I promised my boss that I would work while I was away and so far I haven’t written one word, things just keep getting in my way. It’s the rehearsal dinner tonight, and I imagine tomorrow will be busy, so today is my last chance to get something done.

  As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I notice my cousin Hannah heading out the front door.

  ‘Hey cuz, where are you headed?’ I ask.

  ‘I’m just popping to the shops for some stuff,’ she tells me, but there’s something shifty about her. I know I said that I was going to leave that lot to sort out their own shit, but I just can’t.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ I tell her. ‘I fancy some exercise.’

  ‘It’s not even that far to the shops,’ she tells me, but I won’t be put off.

  ‘I need to pick up some stuff too,’ I insist. ‘I’ll grab my bag.’

  My cousin is unable to hide her annoyance.

  ‘So,’ I start as we walk down the street, ‘how are you?’

  ‘I’m cool. You?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m good,’ I tell her, suspecting that neither of us is telling the truth. ‘Fancy grabbing a coffee after this?’

  ‘That would be cool,’ she replies with a smile. Her phone beeps for the billionth time, which isn’t unusual for a fifteen-year-old girl, but she looks worried as she reads it. I’m going to have to find some way of getting her to open up – I’d get her drunk but my auntie would probably have something to say about my interrogation techniques.

  We stroll around a few shops, neither of us picking anything up, before I spy a nice looking coffee bar across the street.

  ‘Shall we go there?’ I ask.

  ‘Sure, I just need to pop in here.’ My cousin nods towards the pharmacy behind us. I don’t say anything, prompting her to continue. ‘Time of the month,’ she tells me.

  ‘Oh, not
while you’re on holiday,’ I sympathise. ‘Shall I come in with you?’

  ‘It’s cool, you go order the drinks.’

  ‘Sure. Latte?’

  ‘Please,’ she replies, disappearing in the shop behind us.

  Poor girl, she must not like talking about it. My mum has never wanted to talk about things like that with me. It’s a good job they gave us “the talk” at school or I probably would’ve been terrified when it finally kicked in. My auntie must be that way too, which doesn’t surprise me. My money would be on that or the extreme opposite, having a chart up in the kitchen for the girls to track their cycles with little star stickers.

  I do as instructed and it isn’t long before Hannah joins me.

  ‘So, do you have a boyfriend?’ I ask. Full-on prying is the only way I’m going to get anywhere, but my cousin looks hesitant. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t tell your mum.’

  ‘Sort of,’ she replies.

  ‘Sort of,’ I repeat. ‘I hear that.’

  ‘Is Leo your sort of boyfriend?’ she asks. ‘He is well fit, I would.’

  ‘Would you really?’ I laugh. I like Hannah, she’s a Mia in the making. Perhaps when I go home and she gets a bit older she can take over my role as the family’s least favourite.

  She nods her head.

  ‘So why do you only sort of have a boyfriend?’ I ask.

  ‘Well, I’m not sure if he really likes me or if he just wants me for…’

  ‘Ah, got it. Well, guys can be like that.’ Girls can be too. ‘You’ve just got to see what happens, you’ll soon find out if he’s genuine.’

  ‘So if I sleep with him and he sticks around then he’s cool, but if not he only wanted one thing,’ she thinks out loud.

  ‘You don’t have to sleep with anyone,’ I tell her. ‘Listen to me, only do what you want to do. If you want to wait then tell him that, and if he’s cool he’ll stick around. If he isn’t up for waiting, then you can do better.’

  ‘That makes more sense,’ she giggles. ‘Thanks, Mia. You’re pretty cool.’

  ‘You’re part of a very small and exclusive group that believe that,’ I tell her, and she laughs.

  ‘Did you really sleep with Leo?’ she asks me. I’m not sure if she maybe has a bit of a crush on him, but who could blame her?

  ‘Yes,’ I tell her quietly, probably because I’m not sure I should be telling her at all.

  ‘But you guys don’t want to be together?’

  ‘Well, we can’t be together, it’s too difficult,’ I tell her. ‘We live so far apart.’

  ‘But if you love each other, you make it work,’ she says casually. ‘Like in your movies, the couple always end up together.’

  It hasn’t escaped my notice that my life is starting to resemble one of my movies, although unlike my leading ladies, I’m not about to learn some valuable, life changing lesson towards the end. In my movies the couples always end up together because we make them end up together, because women wouldn’t pay to see film after film about heartbreak and dying alone. No matter what the circumstances in the movies I write, there’s always a way to give the couples a happy ever after. It doesn’t matter how farfetched or unrealistic it may seem, the people who watch these flicks are willing to suspend their disbelief if it means a happy ending. Life isn’t a romcom though, and even I can’t think of a happy ending for this story.

  Chapter 34

  The rehearsal dinner is finally upon us. I’m in Belle’s room, helping her get ready along with my mum, my auntie and Nancy. Belle is sitting in a chair while we all fuss around her, doing whatever she asks. She looks like a pampered queen sitting in her throne while her subjects run around after her.

  ‘I haven’t seen you and Leo spending as much time together today,’ Belle observes. ‘You two OK?’

  ‘We’re fine,’ I reply, aware that everyone is listening.

  I am saved from going into further detail when Heather burst into the room.

  ‘Disaster. Does anyone have a tampon or a pad? I’ve been caught by surprise.’

  It just goes to show that, even though Heather is much older than Hannah, we never quite get the hang of these things.

  No one in the room offers to help her out, so I make a helpful suggestion.

  ‘Maybe try Hannah.’

  ‘You’ll have no luck there,’ my auntie insists. ‘She’s not due on for a couple of weeks yet.’

  What did I tell you, she’d be one of the two extremes. Hannah must have forgotten to mark the family chart last month, tut tut.

  ‘I’ll have to pop to the shops,’ Heather sighs, dashing out of the room as fast as she came in.

  ‘My doctor gave me something so that my period didn’t ruin my wedding day,’ my sister informs us all.

  ‘Really?’ I reply, not actually wanting to know.

  ‘Yeah, it’s like when they send those planes up to clear the sky of clouds before a festival.’

  There’s an obvious joke to be made, but my mother preempts my dirty mind and shoots me a warning glance not to make it. I wasn’t even going to, I’m just happy to be on better terms with my sister. If one good thing has come from this holiday, it’s that.

  ‘So you and Leo,’ my sister persists.

  ‘What? I don’t have to spend every minute with him, do I?’

  ‘It’s preferable to you spending all that time with my husband,’ my auntie interrupts. ‘Those little talks you’re always having, shutting up when I walk into the room.’

  ‘Mia, what do you talk to Steve about?’ my mum asks curiously.

  ‘You mean my uncle?’ I remind them. ‘Nothing – we hardly talk. We make small talk if we’re in the same room, that’s it. Am I not allowed to talk to my uncle now?’

  I rarely get the urge to talk to Uncle Steve about anything, but I take issue with what my auntie is implying.

  ‘Mia, go and ask your dad what time he needs us downstairs, will you,’ my mum asks, diffusing the situation.

  ‘Are you sure you can trust me to talk to your husband?’ I ask sarcastically as I head for the door.

  ‘Don’t be vulgar, Mia,’ my mum scolds me.

  Downstairs the house is buzzing with people, busy getting things ready for the rehearsal dinner.

  I run my hand along the beautifully set table as I pass it, reading the name cards to see who is sitting where. A second after I see my name I notice Leo’s and he’s going to be sitting right next to me. My heart jumps into my mouth. Would anyone notice if I changed the seating plan a little? I mean, it’s only the rehearsal dinner, and I doubt anyone would even notice. I wait until no one is looking and quickly swap Leo’s card with another.

  ‘Mia,’ my dad says in his usual blunt manner.

  ‘Father,’ I reply, echoing his enthusiasm. ‘Mother would like to know what time we’re kicking off.’

  ‘I’ll go and have a word,’ he tells me. He gives me a nod before heading upstairs. A nod is my dad’s take on a hug and he doesn’t give them out lightly.

  Not wanting to get in the way, I head into the living room and plonk myself down on the sofa. I’m wearing a very short red dress that doesn’t seem to want to protect my modesty, no matter how much I try and tug it down, and a very high pair of heels. I’m careful to dangle my feet over the side of the sofa so that the spikes don’t damage the leather.

  ‘Wow,’ I hear my uncle say. ‘You look… wow.’

  ‘Erm, thanks,’ I say awkwardly, sitting up straight and crossing my legs.

  ‘I’m sorry June is giving you a hard time,’ he tells me. ‘She’s just threatened by you.’

  ‘This preoccupation she has with me supposedly climbing my way up the family tree needs to stop, it’s ridiculous.’

  My uncle laughs.

  ‘I did want to talk to you, actually,’ I say, changing the subject.

  ‘Oh really?’ he replies with a wiggle of his eyebrows. He takes a seat next to me and he’s so close I can smell his aftershave.

  ‘It’s about Hannah,’
I start, but once again I don’t get to finish.

  ‘You two, again,’ my auntie moans.

  ‘Oh no, Steve, we’ve been caught,’ I say in my best and most obvious faux surprised voice.

  ‘Well,’ she prompts, expecting some sort of explanation.

  ‘We’re having an affair,’ I joke. ‘It’s been going on for a while. When he tells you that he’s popping out to the shops, he’s actually jetting over to LA for a quickie with me.’

  My uncle raises his eyebrows and widens his eyes at this suggestion.

  ‘Less of your attitude, Mia. I’m getting very tired of it,’ my auntie says through gritted teeth.

  ‘You’re not the only one,’ I reply, standing up as ladylike as possible, although it’s hard when you’re having to keep yanking your dress down. In hindsight, maybe it is a little too short.

  ‘Put your tongue away, Steve,’ I hear her snap at my uncle as I walk away.

  I remind myself that the wedding is imminent. I can go home the day after and then who cares what this lot think of me? I can go back to the lovely sunny weather, writing movies and spending my time with handsome actors who don’t want to learn my name, let alone snuggle me all night.

  Chapter 35

  If the big event goes anything like the rehearsal, then things are going to be just fine. Everyone is well, mobile, present and correct. The dinner isn’t going too badly either. It turns out I swapped Leo’s name card with Mike’s, so we’ve been joking around and having loads of fun. Leo is sitting with Nancy, and despite our new sort-of friendship she’s in full-on flirting mode which isn’t easy to watch – not that I’m letting on.

  ‘You know, the ginger jokes really made me realise just how funny I can be,’ Mike jokes to me.

  ‘Well, I’m back to blonde now,’ I reply.

  ‘It also made me realise that I know far more blonde jokes than I do ginger jokes, so let the laughs continue, Barbie.’

  ‘Oh good,’ I reply sarcastically, but I can’t help but laugh. Say what you want about Mike, but he’s kept me amused from day one.

  ‘What does a blonde say if you blow in her ear?’ he asks.