Roman a Clef by Jessica Thompson (ereader android .TXT) 📖

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My mind fades back to the church.
Jerry Yates, Jesse’s father and the minister, is speaking to Patrick and Ashley about the ceremony tomorrow. I feel bad because Lacy just mumbled something to me about Jerry being her future father-in-law and I nodded and smiled like I understood when I heard nothing.
I forget that things become a little groggy fading back from day dreaming. The Wedding Coordinator is now instructing Nathan and Lacy to walk toward each other and then proceed down the steps. Nathan Dunn and I follow suit along with the rest of the bridal party.
Karen Thompson stands and announces to everyone that the rehearsal dinner will take place right down the block and that everyone can either walk or drive.
The rehearsal dinner is held in a restored, post-antebellum home with large white columns wrapped around the entire home. Inside the three-story home, the first floor is covered in hardwood floors and the upstairs, including the stairs, are covered in wall to wall lush red carpet. The walls are painted white to retain as much of the historical looks as possible. It is like walking around in a red velvet cake. The house is covered with Victorian décor and furnishings; there are splashes of gold everywhere. Absolutely breathtaking! The wedding party is eating on the back patio under the open night sky. There are wrought-iron tables scattered about the backyard. There isn’t assigned seating, so guests sit according to their comfort-zone. The mothers of the bride and groom sit together with their spouses. Old friends sit together, kids sit with kids and we sit with Sean and Rain and baby Israel.

It is customary at the rehearsal dinner for the bride and groom to distribute their gifts to the bridal party. The men receive engraved mugs and the women receive necklaces. Ashley and Patrick walk over to me and Nathan to present us with our gifts. The couple place two gift bags in front of us on the table. Nathan opens his right away. I stare at my bag as if trying to find meaning within the tissue paper.
I look up at the bride curiously. “Ashley, did you want me to open this now?”
Ashley nonchalantly replies, “If you want to.”
I tear open the bag and inside it is a red lace necklace with a silver and black charm.
“This is lovely, thank you. Do you want me to wear this tomorrow?”
My question is followed by another nonchalant, “If you want to.”
Seeking a way to divert from the increasingly loud silence crickets, I nudge Nathan and make him an offer he can’t refuse. “Okay, Nathan, wanna take a tour of the house?”
Nathan looks over at me and can tell from the signals that I am giving him that I need space from the bride.
“Sure.”

As we walk up the stairs we notice that Jesse, Lacy, David and Kelly are taking self guided tours as well. As we are all taking in the grandeur, I find a tucked-away bathroom and I have a thought, but first I have to find Nathan. Nathan is talking to Jesse about the similarity of this house with the houses in Savannah.
I slyly signal Nathan with my waving hands. “Nathan, come over here for a second.” My sly gestures peek his curiosity and he walks toward me as if trying not to be seen. “What?”
“You see that bathroom?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you seen the inside? It is ginormous!”
“I know, it’s crazy”, Nathan laughs and begins to walk back towards Jesse to finish his conversation when my comment stops him in the middle of his next step.
“You want to have sex?”
Nathan makes a complete 180-degree turn and steps closer to me in order for him to whisper. “Right now, in the bathroom?”
I smile and say, “Yeah.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Nathan’s face is showing signs of concern while moving me closer and closer into the bathroom. “What if someone catches us?”
“Let’s ask Jesse to watch the door. You know he will, you know he believes in the sanctity of fooling around as much as we do.”

Nathan walks over to Jesse and whispers in his ear. The more Nathan talks the bigger Jesse’s grin gets. By the time Nathan stops whispering, Jesse’s smile is as big as the Grinch who stole Christmas. Jesse nods his head in agreement then walks toward the bathroom. Before Nathan and I cross the bathroom threshold we explain to Jesse that this will be a quickie so that he won’t have to guard long.

7 minutes later Nathan and I exit the restroom happier people than we were when we went in. I tell myself this will be a rehearsal dinner I shall never forget and for a very good reason.
As people are starting to leave, Kelly walks down the porch steps and trips on the middle step forcing her to fall the rest of the way down. Friends in close proximity to the accident help her back up. While Kelly is checking to see if she has sustained any injuries Sarah walks by and in passing says “Next time try not to drink so much.” This statement shakes Kelly to her core. Kelly somberly walks off into the parking lot towards a large group of friends. By the time Kelly reaches the lot she is in full blown tears. Chrissie, Aubrey’s mother notices first then Rain.
Chrissie approaches Kelly and wraps her arms around her. “Honey, what wrong?”
Rain and Chrissie listen as Kelly recounts the story. Lacy walks up to hear the end of it and asks Rain to retell for her understanding. A surge of anger is bursting through Rain and Chrissie, which in a way is groundbreaking. Chrissie’s disposition is so soft and meek in nature and she is the most understanding woman I have ever met. Her sweet character is a blessing and a curse; she has this annoying habit of seeing the good in everyone. Chrissie is the eldest and has been friends with Nathan and Patrick since they were two.

Rain and Chrissie begin plotting a massive beat down. Which Kelly finds unnerving coming from Chrissie, Kelly reassures them that Sarah is not worth the trouble.

I walk over toward the parking lot and I notice Chrissie, Rain and Lacy are huddled around Kelly and she is crying. Kelly torturously recounts the story for me and I am at a lost for words. The only thing I can think to say “is there nothing about this wedding that is joyous! Damnit! We are in too deep you and I and unfortunately we can’t just walk away.”
Kelly nods in agreement.
I give Kelly a big hug and whisper in her ear, “Don’t let her get to you, because if you do you have given her the power to manipulate how you feel. Besides, after tomorrow we luckily never have to see her again.”
Kelly takes a deep breathe and belts, “Thank God!”
David walks over and embraces Kelly tightly. One thing is true the bridesmaids in this wedding are very fortunate to have their boyfriends in this wedding as well to assist during this test of friendship. Nathan and Patrick grew up with Jesse, David, Sean and Sasha. These boys have been through a lot with each other and thus far I can tell that their loyalty to each other is iron-clad.

The cars pile out of the drive way, and head over to our house. Patrick spends his last night as a single man at our house which I think is poetic. Patrick grew up in this house and I think it is only fitting that the house honors him with one last night of bachelor slumber.

The alarm goes off at 7:30am. Everyone is soundly sleeping; I nudge Nathan to let him know that I am going to run to the store to get breakfast for everyone especially since the groomsmen are meeting at our house this morning.
“Nathan, Nathan, Nathan I am going to run to Publix to get bacon, eggs, bread and fruit.”
Nathan partially awake replies “I want to go.”
“One of us has to stay here incase anyone needs anything.”
“Well, let me go.”
“Are you going to go now, because I was leaving now?”
“Yeah, I am getting up now.” Nathan uses all of his strength to push himself up into a sitting position.

We both rise out of bed and I throw on some sweat pants while Nathan dresses in a t-shirt and jeans. Nathan walks toward the bathroom and I walk downstairs. I walk pass the clock on the oven in the kitchen and it reminds me that I am suppose to wake Patrick up at 8am. I look in the refrigerator to see if there is orange juice or cheese.
“Good morning Kelly”
Kelly slowly paces into the kitchen from the den. “Good morning, can I make some coffee”
“Please by all means”
“I am going to need a lot of coffee for today”, Kelly says while glancing into her reflection from the coffee pot.
I clear the counter and set out 10 mugs. “Trust me, we all are. Nathan is going to run to the grocery store and get some breakfast for everyone. I told him bacon, eggs, bread for toast, fruit and I just notice that we don’t have any toast or cheese.”
Kelly immediately perks up at the mention of breakfast “We have to do mimosas!”
“Oh yes, we must. Let me write him a list.”

Nathan walks down the steps towards the kitchen and hears a knock on the door; Nathan answers it. David looks tired and drowsy toting a coffee mug in one hand and his rented tux in the other.
“Good morning”
“Hey David, you want to run with me to the store to get breakfast.”
“Alright, let me just tell Kelly and we can go.”
“Yeah, I need to get the list from Jessica too.”

David finds Kelly and I in the kitchen wrapped up in a world wind of our breakfast buffet. I give Nathan the list and they set out for the store. Kelly heads off toward the bathroom and I walk downstairs to wake Patrick. It takes Nathan and David an hour to come back but only 20 minutes to prepare breakfast and serve mimosas. By 10am we have a full house. Everything is in all full swing.
Kelly is getting updates from Lacy at the hair salon with the bride and other bridesmaids throughout the morning. People are dressing, eating, styling hair and taking showers. I imagine that this is what it must be like in the beginning of Home Alone 1 and 2 when the parents and kids are late for their flight and they are all running around like chickens with their heads cut off. After the guys are ready they decide to wastes some time at the store with the fart machine playing some friendly pranks. After Chrissie finishes Aubrey’s hair Kelly, Aubrey and I leave for the church to make sure were on time. Before we leave we check our garters for our flasks and we head out the door.

There could not be a more beautiful day. The autumn air smells crisp, the trees are covered in orange leaves, the skies are a clear blue