Liar Liar

The Culmination (Chapter 25)

To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. I was supposed to be on the sixth floor of the Fleur hotel, getting ready in my bridal suite―the key words being supposed to.

In actuality, I was hiding in the corner of  ballroom C behind a large chocolate fountain, trying to fade into obscurity in my incongruous hot pink short-shorts and my 'Resting Grinch Face' Christmas T-shirt. I'd snuck down into the wedding hall while Great Great Grandma Lucy and Susanne went to go talk to the wedding caterer, finally liberating me from the torture of their happy faces.

I just needed a moment to myself, so I could mentally prepare myself for what I was about to do: stand Lucas up at the altar. And I couldn't prepare myself if I was constantly under the watch of Lucas' ridiculously happy Great Great Grandma and weepy mother. I could barely look those two in the eye; they had truly come to love me and care about me. When I thought about how much time and money they had invested in this wedding, I felt sick to my stomach. Although this had been Lucas' plan from the start, I was just as responsible as he was for the devastation our fake breakup would cause. I had been a complete idiot to agree to this stupid plan, but it was too late to turn back now. At least I had avoided dragging Drake and Chelsea into this mess.

My eyes skimmed over the impressive room. The walkway to the elevated stage, where Lucas and I were meant to exchange our vows and wedding rings, had been lined with several five foot, off-white wedding bouquets. I recognized the cream flowers from the florist's shop that I had visited with Lucy. At her request, the florist had also woven tiny, bright blue carnations in each of the massive bouquets to match our blue theme. The giant bouquets were separated by a variety of four-and-a-half feet tall candelabras. Both types of structures were connected with a tastefully draped cream cloth that had a sheer, blue fabric layered above it.

Tears pricked the corner of my eyes as my gaze shifted from the aisle to the stage itself. Susanne had put a lot of work into planning the backdrop of where we would exchange our vows with me. It had turned out exactly as she wanted.

Lucas and I were meant to stand under a mini cream tent which was just large enough to comfortably fit me, Lucas, and the officiant underneath. The tent itself was raised several feet above my head, and three brilliantly shiny chandeliers hung suspended from it's ceiling. The chandelier in the center was just barely lower than the other two and gave off a very romantic vibe. The roof of the tent was not peaked; rather, it was flat, and the front of it was lined with thick rows of cream roses and a multitude of minuscule blue carnations. Each of the four poles of the tent had cream cloth wound elegantly around them, and a massive sphere of cream and blue floral bouquets had been fixed around the middles. The cream cloth had been bunched tightly where the floral bouquets were, but then fell in loose ripples to the floor.

"Excuse me miss," a man with a thick Spanish accent interrupted my thoughts. I stepped backwards as the man clad in black dress pants, a crisp white button up, and a black vest brushed past me. I managed to make out the gold label on his vest as he pulled a large cart toward him: Eduardo.

Eduardo steered the large cart through the sea of round guest tables, carefully maneuvering himself around the blue satin ribbons that had been tied over each of the white seat covers. Once he reached the side of the stage, he opened the large pink box sitting on top of the cart, and a small gasp fell from my lips as I saw what was inside.

It was the wedding cake.

The enormous, four-tiered, deliciously moist, decadently rich wedding cake. The base of the cake and the biggest layer was the flavor I had chosen: a mouthwatering, delectable creamy triple chocolate fudge. The next layer was Lucas' choice. He'd gone for a brilliantly spiced red velvet cake coated in a heavenly layer of cream cheese frosting. The following layer was lemon meringue, Susanne's favorite, followed by the final and smallest layer which was carrot cake.  Lucy had been adamant about serving the crumbly, light cake at our wedding, and I ultimately hadn't had the heart to refuse her.