This week’s song inspiration is Pinch Me by The Barenaked Ladies – I’d never heard the song before trying to write this blog post, but it’s here if you want to listen to it.
This is some background from an upcoming book. I have no idea if I’ll use it in the actual story, but this is what I came up with for the flash fiction.
Ivy smoothed her hand over the ridiculously full taffeta skirt of her bridesmaid dress. Forcing her gaze to Justin’s, she swallowed past the lump in her throat. “So what am I supposed to tell them?”
He shrugged, looking as weary and defeated as she felt. “I don’t know…the truth?”
The delicate fabric crumpled in her fists, but she quickly released it. Charlotte would flip the fuck out if one of her bridesmaids showed up tear-streaked and wrinkled. “So, you want me to say that you’re skipping out on your friends’ wedding because it’s easier to pack up your shit while I’m gone rather than have to face me again?”
“I said I was sorry.”
“You and me both,” she muttered, stalking into the bedroom and trying not to look at Justin’s suitcases half-filled on the bed.
Stopping in front of the full length mirror, she checked the damage to her skirt. The wrinkles were barely noticeable. Well, Charlotte would notice, being Charlotte and all. But whatever. She’s the one who picked this hideous dress. The color had been listed as café au lait–perfect for an autumn wedding, she’d said. But it was really more of a butterscotch. And with the full skirt and fitted bodice, that was exactly what Ivy and the rest of the girls looked like–giant butterscotch chips.
At some point, she’d have to tell Charlotte and the rest of her friends to cancel their bridesmaids dress orders, but today was not that day. She refused to be the little black raincloud over her friends’ wedding. Stepping closer to the mirror, she checked her makeup. It looked fairly decent. Her eyes were puffy, but considering she’d been up all night crying, that wasn’t a huge shock. She was lucky they weren’t swollen shut.
Her chest ached as she caught sight of the suitcases again in the mirror. This was really it. They were over. She’d like to say she’d seen it coming. That she’d been prepared for this eventuality. But considering she’d just plunked down a five hundred dollar deposit on catering yesterday, that would be a giant lie. Just like their relationship, apparently.
In a way, it would be easier if there was someone else. At least that would be concrete. Instead, all Justin could tell her was that he’d only proposed because that had seemed like the next logical step after graduation. After all, they’d been together since the second semester of their freshman year of college. Marriage had seemed inevitable.
Inevitable.
“You look nice,” he ventured from the doorway.
She met his gaze in the mirror. “Don’t. Just…don’t.”
Pulling off the engagement ring he’d given her last year, she tossed it in the closest suitcase, not really caring where it landed and grabbed the wrap that matched her dress from the back of the chair by the bed.
“You should take a coat,” he said. “It’s colder than it looks outside.”
She pushed past him. “Inside, too.”
Check out the other bloggers’ Pinch Me based stories by clicking on their names.
Jess (Please note: Jess is having trouble with her blog again, so her story might not be up first thing this morning.)
