An Unwritten Chapter

Bounce Back

The party was in the evening, but Mia left early to be with Rache for the whole day, help her get all dolled up and make sure she looked like a princess on her special day. Mia wore her adoring white cropped jumpsuit with the one sleeve which was on the left. Her hair was tied up in a low side bun and along earring flowing unto her right shoulder. She didn't have much make up on except for some eyeliner and mascara with a soft lip colour. She carried a small soft pink clutch purse with a rose gold slave bracelet on her right. Rache was over the moon that Mia was with her that day that she totally forgot it was her big day in the first place.

Rache had picked out a light silver flowy A-line and a fitting bodice. The dress cascaded from the waist with shimmering floral lace with mild ivory touch. She completed her look with a simple silver necklace with a pendant that carried two birds on a blooming branch and her hair was let loose with simple side braid along with a small white blossom tiara. It took around three hours to get the fitting done along with her hair and make-up. Even then they had an hour left before Rache had to go down to the hall, and for some reason she didn't want to talk to her husband-to-be. Out of options and revisiting their good old days of just the two of them, they talked about how far they have come. They didn't realise almost half an hour had passed by when their zone was disturbed by Mia's ringtone which she had specifically for Braydon so that she won't miss his calls no matter what.

Braydon had called to say that he was at the venue now and wanted to meet Rache before she comes down. Wondering what that was about Mia asked for Rache's permission and asked him to come upstairs and meet them. He walked in with a smug on his face and hands in his pocket and nodded awkwardly at Rache. 'Well, hello there, Mr Good-looking', Rache teased. Braydon let out a shy 'Hehe' as a response to Rache's comment and they both turned to look at Mia whose cheeks were flushed and couldn't stop smiling. Braydon stood there for a few minutes timidly staring back and forth at his girlfriend and her best friend, until Rache broke the silence impatiently and asked, 'what are you waiting for?' He shook his head back into reality and eyed at Mia, for some weird reason Rache sensed something was up.

'Mia, love do me a favour and could you please check whether the people have started to come and if you could be a lamb to walk around and have a chat?'

Mia stared at her blankly and asked, 'Why me?'

'Well for starters I want it to be you', Rache winked.

'Fine, Braydon wanna come?' she looked at him with eager.

'No, no, I have some things to talk with Braydon. You go ahead I'll send him back down.' Rache said intimidatingly.

'Uhm, alright....' Mia dragged. 'Well just don't bully him and Braydon', she stopped. 'You kinda walked into this voluntarily so I'm not gonna say anything.'

Once Mia was out of the room, there was a moment of silence. Rache snapped and said, 'spill'.

'Well... I... I just want to...' Braydon hesitated.

'What is going on in that little mind of yours? Are you planning on hurting my Mia.' Rache took a threatening step towards him.

Backing out, he slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a little blue box. 'What I'm planning on is...'

Before he finished, Rache leaped and took the box off his hands and opened it. There laid a beautiful ring, 'oh my... Is this about what I think it is? When are you planning on doing it?'

'I haven't decided on the when and where yet. But all I know is that its definitely her.'

'So, you are telling me this why?'

'You are the only person she is close to; you know. She doesn't talk about her family much.'

'Yeah, she's not close with them.'

'I was just wondering; do you think this is a good idea? She would want to do this... with me?'

'Well, I don't know what exactly is on her mind now. But I can say one thing, is that she loves you. If you are confident to make her, feel loved like you do now forever, I think nothing can stop you two.'

'She is the only person who has made me feel safe in these twenty-eight years of my life.'

'You're twenty-eight?' Rache squealed. It was so loud that far away they heard a dog bark out of disturbance.

'Can we get back to the point please?'

'Yeah sorry, it's just the fact that she always wanted to be with someone older and you know... sort of looked like you as well.'

'What?'

'Just poke around this topic with her she'll spill'.

'So, you're saying that I should go for it?'

'Yeah, you can, but make sure she is really... and I mean it when I say this REALLY comfortable around you. Let her unleash the full freak out and then make the move.'

'Freak? That's a nice choice of word...'

'Once you see it, you're golden dude.' Rache cut him and moved away to pick her phone and saw she had two texts from Mia saying there are more than around 50 people now and to get her final touch-ups done.

Telling Braydon about the texts she sent him downstairs, Rache asked Mia to come back upstairs and fix her make-up a little as well. She maintained a good poker face until they went down around Mia and both of them went back downstairs when Rache's mom came and asked her to come down.

The reception was nice and smooth, the registrar was on time and the crowd was lively and chatty. Despite her big day right in front of her, every now and then Rache would look for Mia in the crowd. Once the dinner was done and all the old guests had gone back, it was time for some fun and dance. A DJ pulled up at the venue and they changed the whole place into a disco with bar on the sides.

Couple of guys from some cocktail place called DreamDrinkers were there at the venue mixing all sorts of drinks for the guests. As expected, it was Mia's first time drinking as she had promised her best friend that she will get "hammered" on her big day. After having couple of drinks, the couple joined the dancefloor and vibed to the music. Gradually their dance got more "into it" and at a point Mia and Braydon were just twirling each other and giggling. Rache a couple of feet away from them was having the time of her life, well given the fact it was her day to begin with she should have a time of her life. The adrenaline was pumping way more than usual for Braydon now, he wanted to try something out for the first time. After twirling her twice he pulled her close and whispered 'I love you' in her ears, he did expect a response from her, but he wasn't sure what it was. Mia in response, laughed and patted twice on his chest. Laid on his chest and said, 'that's so cute'. Cute, that was all she came up with as a response. A laugh and a response as cute. What the hell was that supposed to mean, Braydon's expression changed, and he looked for Rache in the crowd. As expected, Rache was looking at them from across the bar. 'It's ok, now it's in the back of her head', she mouthed those words out to him pointing to the back of her head. That relaxed him and made him smile, for the rest of the evening they just slow danced. The pair had reserved a room in the same hotel the reception was in and once everyone was gone and it was just family, they hugged Rache and her fiancé goodbye and decided to turn in.

They both were very tired when they got back to the room, Mia took off her slippers and fell straight into the bed without changing and let out a bog yawn. Taking off his blazer and casually throwing it over the ottoman on the side, Braydon came and sat b the foot of the bed and took Mia's hand. Mia sat up straight and looked at him with droopy eyes. 'You sure you don't wanna wipe that make-up off before you go to sleep? You're wearing white.' 'Yeah fine...' she got up with a big fuss and walked over to the mirror and wiped her make-up off. She came back near the bed and stood in front of Braydon and held his face on her hands, cupping his cheeks. 'I'm so sorry for laughing earlier... I... I don't know what I was thinking.' 'Hey.... look...look, you don't have to say anything unless you want to. Really, I won't push you... never, for anything.' She leaned in and kissed him, it was so relaxing and sweet the old taunting memories went away from her head, made her feel loved and safe. The feeling she had been searching for a long time.