Sixteen

Sixteen

14 days until the wedding

My blue romper is making a reappearance since the sun is shining, but the light breeze has me pairing it with a light grey cardigan. My mom and I have been planning Aubrey's bridal shower for weeks, and although I'm happy with the way it turned out, I'm more relieved to finally be getting it over with.

We booked three tables in the corner of Aubrey's favorite diner. The first table is for family and the bridal party. The second table is for Aubrey's friends, which includes some work friends, and the third table is for whoever else decides to show up. I honestly didn't pay much attention to the guest list. That was my mom's job. I, on the other hand, dubbed myself as the decorator. Even though I'm not super crafty, decorating is the best part.

The diner is already cozy. The walls are purposely a cream color and the tables are rustic and wooden. I only "Aubrey-ed" it up a little by adding some lavender tablecloths and stuffing some glass jars with fairy lights and fake flowers. I'm happy with the way it all turned out, but I can't say I'm in the mood to play maid of honor today. I haven't been in the mood for a while now. That's why I let Brenna take care of the balloons and allowed Sasha to make up some of those silly games that people only play at bridal, or baby showers.

Once a few balloons are tied around a chair for Aubrey, and the rest of the bunches are scattered throughout our little corner, Sasha and Brenna go to pick up my sister, who thinks they're just going out to lunch, while my mom and I wait for guests to trickle in. My mom sends greetings while I send small smiles, but when people stop acknowledging my presence I make my way over to my seat and begin to play with the floral paper napkin in front of me.

"Guess who?"

Before I can even register the question, my face is covered by two coconut lotion smelling hands. Only after my body recovers from the jolt I made in surprise do my hands finally try to peel away the fingers darkening my vision.

"Mikayla!" I sing-song her name in the same way she sing-songed the question.

"How'd you know?" she demands, and I laugh at the slight pout in her voice as she coils her arms around my shoulders and gives me a proper squeeze in a greeting before she plops down in the chair beside me. "How are you?" She smiles as she rests her elbow on the table and her head in her hand. Her brown eyes flicker down to my attire, and she instantly flicks her other hand out to feel my sweater. "You look cute."

"Thank you." She has me smiling again, and as my eyes dart around what she's wearing I can't help but reciprocate the gesture. "So do you."

"Thank you." She mockingly flips her hand over her shoulder before quickly adjusting the sleeve of the off-the-shoulder top she's wearing that moved with the effort. It was only a mock hair flip since her hair is thrown up in a ponytail.

"So, are you here to stay?" I ask as my fingers once again find the napkin I was initially playing with.

"I wish." Mikayla juts out her lower lip and blows a stray piece of hair out of her face. "But I could only get off from work for the weekend. My mom also wishes she could be here, but you're stuck with me." Mikayla sticks her tongue out when we lock eyes, but I quickly shove her arm and make her laugh away that expression.

"You're fine." I wave her off, but then shove her arm again when she makes a grab for the napkin in my hand.

We sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes as other guests trickle in. Mikayla's occupied by her phone while I'm occupied by the napkins. I attempt to fold the napkins around me in the triangle formation that all the waiters know how to do at all the fancy restaurants, but just when I think I finally have the hang of it, Mikayla's gasp makes my hand jolt away all my hard work.

"Oh, my goodness, someone brought a baby. Let's go say hi to the baby." When her plea is only met with my hesitation, Mikayla grips my wrist. "Come' on, look at those chubby cheeks. We have to!" She doesn't let those final words sink in, but rather tightens her grip on my arm and proceeds to drag my stumbling form behind her over to the innocent baby sitting in the stroller.

****

"Okay, now that we all have our drinks, I say we play another game as we wait for our food." Sasha addresses all the tables as she stands beside Aubrey's decorated chair. "This game I actually didn't steal from Pinterest." Sasha pauses to hear the few chuckles she earned with her statement before continuing. "This game is called, "Who Knows Aubrey Better," and basically, I'm going to read off a list of questions, and Miss. Josephine James"—she gestures to my grandma who is sitting at the opposite end of my table— "will be keeping score, since her and I are the only one's who have the answers."

"That's why you interrogated me the other day!" Aubrey's surprise only makes the mischievous smile on my grandma's face grow.

"What do we get if we win?" One of Aubrey's work friends asks.

Sasha throws them a sheepish smile. "Peace, love, and happiness?" Everyone laughs at the notion before Sasha clears her throat. "Okay, first one is easy. What is Aubrey's favorite color?"

"Red!" Mikayla shouts as she now sits across the table from me, and when I throw her a funny look she sends me a nervous one back before laughing at herself.

"Green!" Another person shouts, but Aubrey silently shakes her head, still adorning a small smile on her face.

"Well, the wedding colors are shades of purple, so I say it's purple." Brenna throws her hand out the same way she throws out the statement.

A few other people nod and sigh in agreement with Brenna's logic, but Aubrey is quick to shake her head again.

"No, actually, Ben and I agreed on purple together because It's pretty and something we both like, but it's not my favorite."

"It's blue," my mom finally says.

"You're close." Sasha confirms as she rocks back on her feet.

"It's navy blue," I whisper as I twirl my straw around the inside of my cup.

"Navy blue!" The shout has me flinching a little and I glance back over at Mikayla, but she only casually drops the hands she cupped around her mouth.

"That's correct!" Sasha smiles, but before any clapping, or cheering can ensue, Mikayla quickly darts her finger out in my direction.

"She said it," my cousin says just to ensure everyone gets the notion.

"Point to Avery." Sasha sends a smile and a nod my way before my eyes find Aubrey's.

My sister stares back at me for an extra second, and the corners of her lips quiver in an attempt at a smile before Sasha's clearing her throat again.

"Next question, what was Aubrey's major, or"—Sasha pauses as she takes an extra second to inspect the paper in her hand— "majors in college?"

"Oh." My sister holds her finger up. "This is a tricky question because I changed it a lot, but I suppose if you know me then you know the struggle." She ends her statement on a laugh and gains a few laughs in return.

"Well, I know you started out in teaching," my mom says, "then you bounced around in that for awhile before switching to...psychology, was it?"

"Yeah, it was definitely psychology, but then..." Brenna trails off as she adds to my mom's train of thoughts.

"But then you ended up in business," my mom continues, "before finally specializing in marketing."

"Way to go, Mrs. James." Sasha commends my mom, who laughs at the unnecessary praise.

"Who do you think she called every time she switched?" My mom laughs, and everyone lets out a hearty chuckle until the baby in the stroller begins to cry.

Everyone quiets back down and begins having a few side conversations while the mom of the upset child hurriedly tries to console it.

"Hey, Avery."

I turn my head only to be met with a spitball. I slowly peel my eyes back open after my unfiltered flinch and send Mikayla a glare.

"Was that necessary?"

"No, but it was fun." My cousin sends me a cheeky smile and a shrug, so I reach for the discarded wrapper to my own straw.

We have our own miniature spitball fight for a few seconds, but when I continue to fail at landing them in desired places on her face, I opt for just throwing pieces into her hair. We're both quickly out of paper and left silently laughing at our own stupidity before Sasha clears her throat again.

"Okay, let's move on to the next question. Even though Aubrey ended up in marketing, what did she want to be when she grew up?"

"A princess." Brenna laughs at her own answer.

"An astronaut!" Mikayla yells.

"A veterinarian!"

"A doctor!"

Another white piece of straw scraps gets thrown at me in my peripheral vision, and I turn quick enough to pull it out of the ends of my hair. I go to throw it back just as Mikayla reaches to grab more from my mom's straw a few seats over.

"A lawyer!"

"An actress!"

Mikayla and I are back to our snickering and throwing.

"I don't think they are going to get this." Sasha leans down in attempt to whisper to my sister.

"Social work," I say as I throw one last white piece of straw wrapper and I fist pump when it lands in the ends of my cousin's ponytail. I turn back around, but my smile immediately drops when I see that I've gained almost everyone's eyes.

"Oh yeah, that's right." My mom nods, and luckily everyone's eyes shift over to her. "You wanted to help children that were in the system."

Sasha looks down at my sister as if she's crazy. "Then how the hell did you end up in marketing?"

"It's a long story." My sister finally laughs, but when no one joins in, she throws her hands out. "You know how it is. Sometimes you have to go where the money goes."

Now she gets the laughter, but when she notices I'm not laughing she quickly ducks her head. A waiter blocks my sister's chair from view, and everyone sits up a little straighter at the sight of their food.

"Ooh, yes!" Sasha cheers as she leers over one waiters tray before she falls back down on her heels. "Okay, one more question, before I'll let everyone eat in peace. Let's see..." She scans her eyes over the paper before dropping it down to her side. "Okay, this one's a little deep, but what is Aubrey's biggest fear?"

"Spiders!" Someone yells.

"Oh gosh." Aubrey shivers. "There was one under my desk a few weeks ago. It was so gross."

"Heights!" Brenna yells.

"Sharks!" Someone else tries.

"Death!" Mikayla dramatically hisses, and I almost get a face full of the pasta I ordered as I double over in laughter.

"The dark!"

"Clowns!"

"Getting old!" My mom says before her and my grandma are shoving each other and laughing.

My own laughter dies down as I stare down at my food. Mikayla's straw obnoxiously sucks up the last of her iced tea, and I reach my finger up, and drag my finger along the condensation resting along the outside of my own cup.

"Being unhappy," I finally say.

Just like that, my sister's eyes snap up to meet mine.

"That's correct!"

That's something we have in common.

"Avery, you are on fire, girl." Sasha sends me a smile, but I only shrug as my gaze falls to the napkin I placed on my lap.

"Well, she is the maid of honor." Mikayla throws her arm in my direction once more.

"That's why," Aubrey immediately chimes in. Everyone's eyes dart back over to her at the sound of her voice, but her gaze remains solely on me. "That's why she's the maid of honor."