Riley stepped forward and placed herself next to Connor. The wedding planner told her to take a couple of steps back so that she wouldn't be blocking the groom. I looked at how confused and out of place Riley looked. She's always been a little awkward and someone who keeps telling her that anything you do is blocking the groom makes her nervous.
The rehearsals were important, we all knew it, but they were also exhausting. I was told to change places four times, only to be told to go back to where I'd been in the beginning. The chairs seemed to be too crowded, the flowers didn't match the walls and Sheila's mom was, apparently, walking 'too fast' down the aisle. I could tell that both Connor and Sheila were regretting their choice of having a big wedding already, but things were already paid for, so it was what it was.
At one point we were asked to take a seat so that the groom and the bride could stand in the altar, exactly how 'needed' to be. The bride to the left, the groom to the right.
Riley and I sat next to each other. We both kept our eyes on the happy couple while we spoke.
"Anything?" I asked, leaning in a little to make sure I didn't have to raise my voice to much.
"No. I looked everywhere, but you definitely didn't drop it."
"What if I did and someone already found it?"
"Well, I asked at the front desk and no one has returned a ring. Although, I would imagine people wouldn't be particularly keen on returning a $1.800 white gold ring."
"Oh, God. I can't believe I'm the crazy cousin."
Riley turned to me "The what?"
"You know, the crazy cousin. In every wedding there's a crazy cousin that's a wild card and is bound to do something stupid at the wedding. I just kind of wished my something stupid wouldn't be ruining the wedding."
"Hey, come on," she said, and held my hand. "You haven't ruined the wedding."
"Riley, I'm pretty sure I threw Connor's ring into the lake."
"You don't know that for sure."
"Then where is it?!"
"Look, that doesn't matter right now. Right now me need to focus on figuring out what we can do to fix it."
"Which is?"
"I talked to Connor for a while just before the rehearsal, he doesn't know why but he told me where he bought the rings. It's this nice little shop downtown."
"Really?"
"Yes, but they don't open on Sundays so we have to leave right now if we want to get there before they closed."
"You're telling me that I get to skip this for an actual good reason?" She smiled. I squeezed her hand. "Absolutely. Let's go!"
We got up and were ready to sneak away until the wedding planner asked were we were going. "Uh," I started "We just have to..."
"It's private, actually."
"But you're the bride's maid and the best woman," the woman replied.
"It's okay, I think we got it. Don't worry about us."
"And the rehearsal dinner?" she asked.
The wedding planner was gonna continue but Sheila interrupted. "No, no! Let them leave. It's probably a good reason."
Judging by the tone in Sheila's voice, I was convinced she thought Riley and I were going to, well, you know. We thought it was the best reason we could come up with if we were to keep the missing ring to ourselves, so we didn't confirm nor deny it. We ran away before the wedding planner could come up with anything else annoying to say. That woman was too much into perfection for my taste, but hey! She was what Connor and Sheila asked for so who am I to judge.
Riley and I got into my truck and drove. It was a little past 5PM. According to Google Maps, the jewelry closes at 7PM on Saturdays. Riley pressed the start button and placed the car on gear, then she stepped on the accelerator. Although, stepping might be an exaggeration. Driving at 60 miles an hour meant we could get there in two hours, but we didn't have two hours. We have about an hour and a half. And Riley never drives above the speed limit.
"Come on, Ry, step on it!"
"I am stepping on it."
"We need to go a little faster, we won't get there in time!"
"Yes, we will, but we won't get there at all if we don't drive safely. Life is precious."
"Huh, that coming from someone with clinical depression? I'm so proud of you, you really have come a long way. Now move, I'm driving this bitch!"
Riley parked and we changed seats. I drove a little bit faster, not that much. You know, closer to 90. 95 maybe. Riley held on to her seat with her left hand and the door window with her right hand. She held on for dear life, as if she didn't know I'm a better driver than her. Always have been, but Riley is more conscientious than I. She follows the rules, is better with structures and organized task. I'm better at improving and driving cars.
We parked outside the jewelry at roughly 6:50PM, just in time. We got down and ran into the store. The man inside seemed to be on his fifties. He stared at us as if two crazy people had just walked into his store and he was trying to figure out if he was in danger or not. "Hello. How can I help you?"
"Hey!" Riley said. "A few weeks ago you sold my brother and his fiancee their wedding bands.
"I sell a lot of wedding bands, darling. You need to be more specific."
Riley pulled out the case and opened it. Inside there was a delicate wedding band made in white gold, with a small blue diamond at the top.
"Oh, yes," The man said, "I do remember this one. The couple seemed so happy. Please, don't tell me they're not getting married and need to return the rings?"
"Worse, we've lost the groom's ring. We need to see if you have one exactly like his so that we can make it up to him without him finding out."
"Oh, no darling, that can't be done. This rings are custom made. You see the inside of the ring?" The man asked taking the ring from Riley. He turned the ring and allowed us to see that the inside of the ring was a different color, almost red. "They are pink gold inside and are marked. This one is the bride's. It has the groom's name, see?" We got closer and read 'Connor' on the inside.
"Fuck. We're screwed," Riley said.
"No, we aren't. I am," I corrected. "You're just doing what any good friend would do and helping me." I turned to Riley and that seemed to bother her for some reason. She wouldn't meet my eye after I said that.
"Is there any ring you have that looks kind of like that?" she asked.
"Not really," the man said leaning over the glass cabinet looking for a ring. "But this one is also very nice. It's a size ten."
The man pulled out a beautiful white gold ring, not much to it, but that was exactly what made it elegant. It was soft, and shinny, and quite honestly, I thought it was even better than the others, but that's me. I just like simple things.
"I love it!" I said. "It's beautiful.
"It really is, but size ten is too big. My brother is very thin, so he's like a size 8, kinda closer to me." Riley added showing her hand.
The man grabbed another box from behind the counter and showed it to us. When he opened it, there is was, the exact same ring, we'd liked, on size 8... but so was it's counterpart. They were sitting in the case side by side. A beautiful woman's wedding ring, made out of white gold, white diamonds all over the top and a single red purple-ish gem to top it off. "There's a problem, though. This particular ring doesn't come alone. You have to buy it with the partner."
"God damn it," Riley turned to me and asked. "So, what do you think?"
"How much is it?" I asked.
"That's the other thing."
"Oh, come on!"
"You see the gem? This reddish purple gem is Red Beryl. It is even more rare than diamonds and, well..."
"Very, very expensive. So we wouldn't be paying for the groom's ring, we'd be paying for the bride's ring."
"More or less, yes."
"How much?" Riley asked.
"$6.000"
"Y-y-y-you what!" I yelled. "But we're not even gonna need the bride's ring."
"I know, but ma'am, I don't make the rules. I just sell the jewelry."
I sighed. "Whatever, just give it to me. I'll just pawn it later."
I grabbed my pursed and he swiped my credit card. That was a $6.000 mistake I did not plan on making ever again.
We got in the car in complete silence. Riley drove back this time. I really hoped Connor wouldn't be so angry at me. I mean, these rings were officially more expensive than the ones they bought, but that means nothing if you don't like the rings.
"God, I really messed up. What is wrong with me?" I murmured.
"There's nothing wrong with you, it was an honest mistake. And not many people would've wound up buying two more rings to make up for it." she said in a neutral voice that I know too well.
"You're angry with me. Why?"
"I'm not angry. And actually you didn't do anything wrong."
"But you are distant."
"I'm not doing it on purpose."
"What's wrong?"
"It's stupid."
"Not to you it isn't, you wouldn't be like this if it were."
She sighed "I feel like a spoiled child complaining about this. It bothered me that you referred to me as a friend."
"Why does it make you feel like a child?"
"I don't know, because I got my own feelings hurt. We're not together anymore, I guess I didn't really think about what that made us. And I might not be ready to go from 'the wife' to 'just a friend', that's all "
"But you're not just a friend. Although, I don't know what that makes us. I could've gone to Scott with this, he would've totally helped me...but I went to you. That wasn't by accident. I guess, this was as good an excuse as any to spend time with you."
Riley looked at me for a second and then stared back at the road. Without realizing, or being able to stop myself, I held her hand. She recoiled immediately, which hadn't been a problem before. I must've looked distraught by that, because she apologized immediately.
"Sorry," she said. "It's just that I touch your hand or you touch mine and it makes me... dream that maybe things will workout. It hurts, because I know you don't wanna be with me."
I sighed. I thought 'Oh, crap. Time's up, isn't it? This is it, we need to talk.'
"Why do you think that? I haven't said anything." I asked.
"Aren't you the one who always said 'If someone doesn't know if they want to be with you, they don't, they just won't tell you.'? And I know this is a big deal, but... it's killing."
"It's the other way around," I replied. "I do. I do wanna be with you." She turned to me again for a longer moment, then she looked at the road again. "That's not the problem. The problem is, I don't know if I want to be with you enough to risk you hurting me again."
"Faye... I know I've messed up but, it was just once."
"No, it wasn't. This is the second time you've done this to me and the first time you swore, you swore you'd never do it again. How am I to believe you now? The first time you did this, you broke my heart, but I couldn't say anything. You were making a huge sacrifice for your brother. I had to be the loving, supportive girlfriend, and no one thought about me for one second, not even me. You were giving your life away without even realizing that you also gave my life away, because you were it, and now you were gone and I had to build a life I didn't want to build. A life without you in it. I was in so much pain and you didn't ask me how I felt, not even once. Not happy with that, you broke up with me... through an email! Asked me to move on, begged me not to wait for you, so I do, and then I'm the bitch who married your best friend. Like I owed you something."
"I never thought you were a bitch for marrying Scott."
"Oh, yes you did. It's just that you never said it because you knew how hypocritical it would sound seeing as you were the one who left me. And that was fine. We moved past it and I worked through all of that by myself, I really thought it was behind me, but then you did it again. And you were so cold, so distant, so... selfish, and it all came rushing back. My daughter had died! I needed my wife and my wife didn't need me, she needed something else." I had to stop for a moment, because I hadn't realized I was crying. I took a deep breath and kept going. "The first time you broke my heart, but this time? This time you broke me, Riley. I thought about hurting myself! I thought you left because I wasn't good enough, like somehow it was my fault. If it weren't for my family and funnily enough yours, I would've never gotten up from my bed, again. That's why it's not so simple. And if I were to even consider getting back together with you, I'm gonna need a lot more than 'I promise I won't do it again'."
I turned to Riley and she was crying, too. I felt bad. Maybe I was too rough. Maybe I had been too direct, or I hadn't filtered my words properly, but she replied. "Thanks. I needed to hear that. I get it. Take as long as you need. I won't complain, I won't pressure you. You deserve to take as long as you need."
I gave her a sad smile. "Thanks."
"Faye... you've always been good enough. It's me who hasn't valued that. None of this is your fault."
We both cried in silence for a while. I don't know when but I fell asleep a few moments later. When I woke up, Riley was opening my door and pulling me out. "Sorry to wake you, but we're here."
"Thanks. Can you walk me to my room?"
"Sure."
As we walked back to my room, I decided to tell her something I had remembered earlier that day. "I remembered why I didn't talk to you yesterday. Why I left in such a rush."
"You did?"
"Yeah, you were wearing your ring. I felt bad about talking to you while not wearing mine for some reason."
We stood by my room while I looked for the keys. "Why would you think that?"
"Don't know. The shot was doing it things already, I guess."
I opened the door and we walked inside. I grabbed my bag and said. "Yeah, so I wanted to come here, because I brought my ring, I just didn't wanna use it, cause I'm immature like that." I said and she laughed. I looked for my wedding band with my hand in the bag until I finally found it. I pulled it out and showed it to her. "I guess I ran into Sheila on my way..." I stopped when I looked at the ring.
"Uh, Faye, that's not.." she started.
"This is Connor's ring," I added.
"Yes, it is! Oh, thank God! Connor can have his ring, and you can get your money back! This is perfe-" she stopped when she noticed I had began crying again. She moved forwards and asked, "Faye, what's wrong, honey?"
"It was our ring. I threw OUR ring in the lake."