Slightly Less Badass

~Chapter Thirty Three~

-several months later-
(at the wedding)

Mira's POV
It was pitch black and all I can hear is the crunching as I shove chips into my mouth. I close my eyes and contemplate taking a nap. Unfortunately, someone starts knocking on the door.
"Mira! I know you're in there!" someone yells from the other side of the door. Rina.
"No one's home!" I yell back and munch on some more chips.
"Open the damn closet and get out here!" she yells. I groan and reach up to unlock the door. Rina throws the door open and glares down at me. Her gaze is murderous. She grabs my arm tightly and drags me out of the closet it was hiding in.
"I don't wanna," I moan. I start to reach for another chip but Rina yanks the bag away from me.
"Chips? Hiding in the closet? What's wrong with you? Please tell me you're not getting cold feet."
"No! I'm definitely not getting cold feet! I think I'm just having a panic attack or something," I say.
"Why?" she asks.
I consider that for a moment. "I don't think I've had a panic attack since high school."
She hits me lightly on the arm and says, "I don't care when you last had a panic attack. Why are you having one now?"
"I don't know. I'm overwhelmed. Just give me back my chips please."
Instead of handing them back to me like I asked nicely she throws them into the garbage can. I pout which causes her to roll her eyes. She grabs my arm again and pulls me into a standing position. Then she makes me take a few steps forward then pushes me into a chair.
"We don't have time for chips. I need to finish doing your hair," she says. She then proceeds to yank at my hair. It takes all of my willpower not to yell out in pain. I have a feeling that would only make things worse for me.

After a few minutes of silence and hair yanking, Rina finally says something.
"Why were you hiding in a closet?"
"I-I don't really know. There was just too much going on and everything seems to be happening so fast. I got freaked out. I'm fine now."
Rina looks doubtful but I actually mean it. I was feeling much more calm now. I had been panicking slightly but mainly I was hiding from Rina. She was being even more obnoxious than usual. Her worries caused me to worry even more than I already was and I needed to take a break from it.
When Rina turns around to grab some bobby pins, I quickly get out of my chair. I run across the room, grab my phone, and run back to my seat. Rina glares at me but doesn't say anything. I decide to text Jay.
This is torture. Rina is torturing me. She's bridezilla even though shes not even the bride. I just was some chips. Send help. -Mira.
He replies almost immediately.
The wedding isn't even for another seven hours. What could she possibly be doing? -Jay
Idk. But it's torture -Mira
Wait for the signal -Jay
I didn't really know what that meant, but it made me feel better. I relax back into the chair. Rina turns her attention from my hair to my makeup. I had told her several times that I didn't want a lot of makeup but I have a feeling she won't listen to me. She start jabbing me with random looking things. Every once in awhile she would scold me, saying, "Sit still and stop moving."
I just sat there patiently and hoped Jay would come up with a plan.

Time seemed to drag on forever but finally the signal came. There was loud shouting coming from outside. At first Rina ignored it. After about three minutes, though, she sets down her torture devices and walks towards the door.
"What on earth...." she mutters. She turns back around to glare at me.
"Don't you dare move," she warns. I nod my head and give her a thumbs up. She opens the door and disappears into the hallway. As soon as she's gone, the yelling gets louder.
"Pst. Psssttt."
It seemed to be coming from behind me. I turn around and see Jacob smiling from the window. He had it pushed open as wide as it could go and had his hand held out towards me.
"Your knight in shining armor has arrived," he says. I just stare at him questioningly. He rolls his eyes and says, "Jay sent me to save you. Hurry before she gets back."
That convinces me to get up. I get up and run over to the window. Jacob catches me as I climb through the window. He sets me down just as there's a loud bang followed by two short bangs.
"That's my cue. Gotta go. Follow this trail until you reach the tree."
He doesn't give me a chance to ask any questions. He turns and runs the opposite direction. I shrug and decide to just do as he says. I follow the pathway.

After walking for awhile, I start to think that Jacob was lying or something because there were plenty of trees. How the heck was I supposed to know which one? I consider turning around and going back but then I think of all of the other makeup things that Rina still hadn't used on my yet. This encourages me to walk slightly faster.
Thankfully, I eventually realize what Jacob meant. Just a couple feet in front of me was a giant tree with beautiful white flowers growing on it. At the base of the tree was a hastily put together picnic. Two dark green bath towels were laid out and a small pile of food sat in the middle. I smile happily and sit down. As I start to look through the food, I hear someone running towards me.
I look up to see Jay. He slows and comes to a stop in front of me. He smiles then, without a word, sits down next to me. He offers me a juice box from the pile of stuff.
I take it and say, "I'm pretty sure there's a superstition where a groom isn't supposed to see his bride on the wedding day. Bad luck, ya know."
"Then I'll close my eyes."
He doesn't close his eyes. Instead he stares at me so intently I have to resist squirming. I think he's doing it on purpose. I close my eyes which caused him to laugh.
"So how bad was Rina?" he asks. I open my eyes again and open the juice box.
"Super bad. But yet on her wedding day she decided to take a nap and started getting ready an hour before we had to leave. Hypocrite."
"Sounds horrible. Then I suppose it's a good thing we saved you."
"Is that sarcasm? Are you being sarcastic with me? It was horrible," I grumble. He laughs again. I didn't find it funny.
"Well I hope you enjoy the picnic we managed to put together in ten minutes."
"It's lovely. Where'd you find all of this stuff?"
"I have no idea. Jacob and David found it and I thought it was best not to ask," he replies.
I nod in agreement and say, "That's probably a good idea. So I assume that was you making all that noise in the hallway?"
"Yep. David and I were pretending to fight. Jacob came and pretended to break it up after he helped you escape. It was just enough to distract Rina."
"Smart."
We don't say anything more. We just sit there and enjoy the random collection of food Jacob and David found for us. I know that eventually I need to go back and suffer Rina's rant but at the moment I decide to just enjoy the moment.