Behind The Scenes

52. Hero

We are in the taxi, which stops in front of the pharmacy where mom bought gauze when I peeled my knees playing football.
Why did we— ah, yeah, the pill for Jo.
"Just a second," and she quickly gets out of the car.
Meanwhile my sister calls me.
"What are you doing?" she says she as soon as I answer.
"I'm out with Jo, you?"
"I was wondering... maybe after you and your princess have finished your birthday sex..."
I roll my eyes, why does she always have to be so explicit? Well, she took from the best.
"If you come home after midnight and eat a nice cake," she finishes saying.
"Um... I don't know. You know, it depends on how long it takes us with my birthday sex,"I lower my voice, the taxi driver is here with me.
"So are you serious? Well, cool, definitely... "
"I was just kidding Mercy! Then, I can't know what will happen next, it depends," I giggle.
"Okay, bye pervert. I love you," and she hangs up the phone.
"Here I am!" Jo jumps into the car with nothing in hand.
"Where is—"
"Here," and she points to the clutch.
"Oh, okay," I say simply and rest my head on her shoulder, squinting my eyes.
The minutes pass and the car still moves.
"How long does it take? And then..." I realize where we are, "why are we here?"
"You have arrived," announces the taxi driver.
When we get out of the black car with the blacked-out windows, it is chock full of paparazzi at the entrance to one of the London clubs I go to with my friends. They start taking bursts of photos, which is why I sometimes don't like being that well known.
"Hi, Josephine, how are you?" some ask her and try to touch her.
"Don't touch me," she exclaims. She beckons me to follow her.
The paparazzi continue to pester us.
"Don't mess with her," I say to the flashes aimed at us.
When we enter the club it's all dark and Jo holds my hand... I think I understand what it is.
"Surprise!" a crowd of people exclaims.
"Wow..." I manage to say softly.
Jo looks at me and smiles enthusiastically.
"Thank you so much guys. But who is the architect of all this? "
"Jo!" they say in chorus.
I turn to her and put my hands on her hips.
When I do it she looks around for a moment, we are in the midst of all my friends, acquaintances, the cast of After and some of my relatives, but I don't give a damn.
"Did you really do everything?" I ask in a low voice, looking into her eyes.
She nods slowly and then I can't stop myself from kissing her and it looks... it feels like it's our wedding.
Suddenly I find myself imagining her in a white lace dress, the wide skirt, the veil on her hair and on her beautiful face of her. I am on the altar when she enters the church, with her father beside her and her bridesmaids behind her. She smiles as she walks slowly and calmly down the aisle. She blinks her eyelashes several times to chase back the tears that might fall from one moment to the next, I too try not to burst into tears.
Okay, enough.
The party started for good when my sister comes to meet me.
"Hey, darling of my heart," she teases me by kissing me on the cheek.
"You, bad bitch, even asked me to come home and then you knew about this party. You bastard," and I give her a little push.
"Of course," she chuckles.
I send her to fuck and I join the cast.
We chat and remember the funniest moments we had together and when Jo's name pops up I realize she's not here with us...
Where is she?