Chapter Text
“Come on, Frosh,” LaF said with a sigh. “You look amazing. Stop fidgeting so much.”
Laura brushed her hands down her dress one more time, and stole one last glance at herself in the mirror before she finally turned away from her reflection.
“I just want everything to be perfect.”
LaFontaine rolled their eyes and walked closer to her. “The moment you decided you wanted Perry to plan your wedding was the moment you made sure everything was going to be perfect. You know how she gets with details. Not to mention the two of you were up all night going over all of the plans for the eight hundredth time.”
“We just had some concerns about the seating chart,” Laura trailed off, looking over her shoulder to the mirror behind her once more.
In truth, the planning had been done weeks ago. Laura had a mild panic attack the night before, and the only way Perry could get her to breathe was to pull out the seating chart. She mentioned something about moving Danny to a different table, and it was all downhill from there.
“We were supposed to be having your bachelorette party, remember? One last night of freedom before you're a married woman.” LaF nudged Laura's arm with their elbow.
“I don't see why I had to have another party. I thought that's what the trip to Vegas was two weeks ago.”
“That was just the practice round,” LaF said, dismissing Laura's comment with a wave of their hand.
“And the trip to Orlando two weeks before that was...”
“Carmilla was there. That didn't count at all. It was more of a family vacation for all of us.”
“I seem to recall you, Danny, and Ell saying something about that being the practice round for the real parties we were going to have,” Laura argued.
“That was just to convince the two of you to go out to some of the bars at the resort. With how often you two were saying that you just wanted to stay in your hotel room and watch Netflix, we didn't think there was any other way to get you out of your room.”
“Well if last night was the real thing, then we definitely didn't do it right. Maybe that-maybe that means we should postpone for a few more weeks. Have another party or something. Maybe it's a sign that I'm not ready to get-” LaFontaine's hand covered Laura's mouth effectively cutting off her word vomit.
“Stop freaking yourself out. If anyone belongs together, it's you and Carmilla. You two love each other so much, it's sickening. And that's saying something seeing as Perr and I are the grossest couple I know.”
Laura took a deep breath through her nose, and nodded her head to assure LaF that she had calmed down. LaF hesitantly pulled their hand away, wanting to make sure that Laura wasn't going to go on another rant.
“You're right, I know. I love her. She loves me. Absolutely nothing is going to go wrong today.”
–
“Mircalla, darling,” Mattie said in a bored voice, “if I have to watch you adjust your tie one more time, I'm going to scream.”
Carmilla's fingers stopped in the movement of pulling the tie around her neck tighter. She looked at her sister's reflection in the mirror that stood in front of her. Mattie met her gaze with a playful look in her eyes. Her fingers clenched at the knot at her throat one more time before she dropped her hands to her sides.
“Fine, fine.” She sighed and turned away from the mirror. “Where the hell is Ell? Isn't she supposed to be here by now?”
“I'm sure she's on her way,” Mattie said with a shrug of her shoulders. “It can't be easy to get that giant girlfriend of hers up and moving. It must take her ages to get dressed.”
Carmilla chuckled softly. “Mattie, you said you were going to be nice.”
“Oh, don't you worry,” Mattie said quickly. “I'll play nicely today. I'm just a little more than irritated with the two of them after last night.”
“Danny was supposed to be going out with Laura, Perry, and LaFontaine. They had-something came up, and I guess they didn't go out.” She had questioned Laura all night about why her group wasn't going out as well, but she didn't get much of an answer in response.
“So of course that meant she needed to be attached to Ell's hip all night long,” Mattie said with a roll of her eyes.
“Ell asked me if it was okay before she invited Danny to come out with us. I still had a good time.”
“And the two of them are lucky that you did. Otherwise I would have-”
“Cut out their livers and sold them on the black market?” Will's voice sounded from the open door. He walked in with a wide grin on his face.
Carmilla instantly felt some of the pressure ease off of her shoulders, and she crossed the room quickly to pull her brother into her arms. “I was worried about you after last night. You didn't let me know you made it home okay.”
He pulled back and kissed her on the cheek. “ I ended up going home with that blonde from the last bar we went to. I didn't have my charger so my phone died.”
“Then I guess we can thank the gods that you managed to wake up and make it here on time, William.” Mattie glared at her younger brother from across the room.
“Come on, sis,” Will said as he stepped over to her. “There's no way I'd miss my sister's big day.” He opened his arms when he reached her, and Mattie sighed heavily but wrapped her arms around his shoulders nonetheless. She pushed him away from her gently while saying, “Your suit is in the closet. Go take a shower before you get dressed. I can almost feel myself getting drunk just by the way you smell.”
Will lifted his arm above his head and sniffed under his arm. With a grimace on his face, he slouched off to the bathroom.
“I'm not sure how that friend of Laura's got this place at such a good price, but we're lucky that she did.” Mattie stared at the door Will had just disappeared through.
“She's very determined. Laura and I tried to argue with her. We didn't think we needed such a big venue, but all of the dressing rooms and showers are coming in handy.”
“Yes, definitely helpful in this situation with William. I don't know why he insists on living his life this way.” Mattie shook her head and sat down on the loveseat behind her with a sigh.
“He's young,” Carmilla said with a smile on her face. “I was there once. Let him have his fun.”
Mattie scoffed. “Mircalla, your idea of a wild night out when you were his age was working overtime at the hospital.”
“Just because I didn't tell you about all of my adventures doesn't mean I didn't have any,” Carmilla said with a pout.
“She's really got you fooled, Mattie,” Ell said from the door Will had entered in minutes before. “Carmilla was the craziest girl in her nursing class while she was going to school. Didn't she ever tell you about all of the times her teachers almost kicked her out of class because she came in immediately after she had left the bar? Or some random girl's apartment?”
Mattie looked over at Carmilla with her eyebrows raised. “Is that true, dear?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that her accusations are correct.” Carmilla turned her back on Mattie to face Ell. “What took you so long? I was starting to think you were going to miss it.”
“It took Danny and I a little longer than usual to get out of bed this morning. We were uh..up..late due to certain....activities after we got home from the bar last night.”
“Okay, gross.” Carmilla pushed Ell's shoulder. “I don't need to hear about my best friend getting it on with her girlfriend.”
“Because the number of times that you made me discuss, in great detail, the things that Laura did while the two of you were-”
“That's enough, you two.” Mattie stood from her seat. “You think it's bad to hear about your best friend's sex life, try listening to your sisters discuss theirs.”
“Ahw, Mattie,” Ell said as she dramatically clutched her hand over her heart. “Are you calling me your sister?”
Mattie stared at Ell without answering. The room was silent for a minute until Mattie announced that she was going to check in with Perry to make sure that everything was running smoothly.
“That's okay, Matska!” Ell called to her retreating back. “I know you secretly love me!” She turned back to Carmilla with a wide grin on her face. “So. Big day, huh?”
Carmilla shrugged. “I suppose.”
“Oh, don't act so nonchalant, Mircalla.” Ell crossed her arms over her chest. “Mattie has been updating me on your status all morning. Do you know how many messages she sent me that you were adjusting your tie again?”
Carmilla sat down in the same spot Mattie had just left. She ran a shaky hand through her hair, exhaling as she tried to relieve some of the tension that had settled in her shoulders that morning. She felt the cushion next to her dip slightly as Ell sat down beside her.
“You're not having second thoughts, are you? Because if you are, I think that it's my duty as your best friend to tell you what an absolute moron you would be if you fucked this up. That girl loves you so much, and I know that I'm supposed to take your side above everyone else but I will personally kick your ass if you manage to-”
“I've never been so sure of something in my life, Ell, you don't have to worry that I'm getting cold feet.”
“Then what's your deal? You don't seem like your usual calm, cool, and collected self.”
Taking a deep breath, Carmilla said, “I just didn't expect to be this nervous. I thought proposing to her was the hardest thing I was ever going to have to do but...”
“But?” Ell repeated, trying to get Carmilla to finish her thought.
“I don't know how I'm supposed to stay on my feet at the end of that aisle while I watch her walk towards me. How am I going to keep my knees from buckling when I see how beautiful she looks? How am I supposed to calm the beating of my heart when the love of life is walking towards me to become my bride? I just know that as soon as my eyes meet hers, I'm going to pass out. She already takes my breath away each and every morning that I wake up next to her. But in a wedding dress. Ell, I don't know how I'm going to be able to handle it.”
Ell took Carmilla's hand in her own and squeezed. “Mattie, Will, and I will be right there beside you to keep you grounded.”
“Have you seen Laura?”
Ell nodded. “Yeah, I stopped in to say hi when we first arrived. Danny needed get dressed so she practically jumped out of the car before I had even parked it.”
“How's she doing?” Carmilla asked, trying to keep her tone light.
“I'm not going to tell you what her dress looks li-”
“No, no,” Carmilla said quickly. “I wasn't trying to get information like that out of you. I was just simply wondering if maybe she's freaking out as much as I am.”
“Probably even more so,” Ell said honestly. “You know she doesn't hide it very well. She seemed to relax a little when Danny showed up, but I don't think it lasted long. Perry ran in as I was walking out and mentioned something about the caterers not setting the tables up properly in the banquet hall.”
“I'm sure Perry was able to get all of that fixed with no problem,” Carmilla said hoping that her words were true.
The door to the bathroom opened a moment later, and Will stepped out. He was dressed in a black suit, white button up, black vest, and a red tie showing over the top of his shirt. He walked to the closet and pulled his suit jacket off of the hanger.
Pushing his arms into the sleeves, he turned to face the two girls sitting on the couch. “How much longer do we have? I tried to shower as fast as I could.”
Ell pulled her phone out of the pocket of her dress. “We've got about ten minutes before we need to head out.” She stuck her phone back in her pocket and smiled over at Carmilla. “Can I just say that it was a very pleasant surprise earlier when I realized that this dress has pockets?” As if to emphasize her point, she stood up and spun around with her hands shoved in both pockets.
“Yeah, Laura kind of insisted that we find all of you dresses with pockets. She swears that girls love dresses with pockets. Although I don't see the appeal all that much,” she finished almost to herself.
“Dresses with pockets are a rare find, Carm. Your girl has good taste.”
Mattie sauntered back into the room at that moment. “Raggedy Anne is insisting that we head to the ceremony now. She doesn't want to risk you and Laura seeing each other.”
Carmilla stood on wobbly legs. Grabbing her white suit jacket from the hook by the door, she followed her half of the bridal party out the door, and across the grounds of the country club to the gazebo where the ceremony was to be held.
–
“I've just told Matska to take Carmilla down to the gazebo,” Perry said as she walked into Laura's dressing room. “I think we should give them a five minute head start before we head down ourselves.
Laura nodded in agreement and looked around the room at her bridal party that was just recently fully assembled once Danny had finally shown up. LaFontaine was wearing the same suit that Will was wearing, while Danny and Perry were wearing the red dresses that Ell was also wearing. Strapless, that hugged tight at the chest and waist, and fluffed out around the legs, stopping at mid-thigh.
Laura was worried that the red was going to clash terribly with Danny's ginger hair, but the problem was soon resolved when, on a whim, Danny had decided to dye her hair a dark brown.
Strong emotions filled Laura's chest as she looked at her closest friends. “I don't think I've said enough how thankful I am to have the three of you here with me today.”
“Here she goes again,” Laura heard LaFontaine mumble.
“No, I'm serious. I know I've said it so many times, but I really wouldn't want to share this day with anyone else. I love you guys so much.” She felt her eyes well up with tears and made a mental note to thank Perry later for the amazing waterproof mascara she had found a week ago.
“Laura, honey, now is not the time for crying,” Perry said in a motherly voice. “We've got to go in just a few minutes.”
“I know, I know.” Laura took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down. It didn't work.
In what felt like no time at all, Perry was ushering her towards the door, muttering things to herself the entire walk to the main doors.
Laura's heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest right up until she saw her father waiting at the doors for her.
“Dad!” She broke free from Perry's grip on her wrist and jumped into his waiting arms. “I thought you'd come in to see me earlier.” She pulled her head back from her dad's shoulder and looked at him. “Are you crying?”
Sherman Hollis laughed. “No, I just have some bear spray in my eye. No crying coming from me.”
“Sure, Dad.” Laura laughed and squeezed her father tighter.
“Are you ready to do this, sweetie?” Sherman asked as he stepped back from her.
“I feel like I've been waiting my entire life to marry Carmilla. I couldn't be more ready even if I wanted to be.”
Her dad held out his arm for her to take. She put her hand in the bend of his elbow, and they walked out the doors towards the gazebo.