Screw You, Soulmate

chapter seven

"I didn't choose you.
I just took one look at you
and then—
there was no turning back."

Once I had put all of Emmeline's luggage in my room, I rejoined my family in the living room. Now Emmeline and Jaxon sat together on one love seat chair, with her kind of sitting on his lap. Jaxon held her in his arms and her head was resting against his. Dean was on the couch in between my parents, leaning back onto the soft cushion. I sat on the other love seat chair, leaning foreword and placing my elbows and my knees.

"So, Emmeline, why are you here a day early?" Jaxon asked, squeezing his arms once around Emmeline.

A day early? Was I really so focused with Finn that I forgot Emmeline was coming over tomorrow? Oh my goodness, I was.

"My flight time was switched just a week ago. I decided that this might be a nice little surprise." Her voice lifted on the last word and she raised an eyebrow. Jaxon quickly nodded once, letting her know that she had the right word.

Emmeline's first language was French, and she was pretty proficient in English as well, but sometimes she didn't know certain words or her French accent would catch on some words. However, her English wasn't as terrible as Jaxon's French. She's been teaching him for a couple of months, and he's been teaching her more English. Jaxon is a lost cause when it comes to French though, it's painful for any ear to listen to when he tries to speak French.

Mom smiled, happy to see her future daughter-in-law. "Well that is an amazing surprise. It's always lovely to have you here, Emmeline."

"Thank you, Alexis. Always a pleasure to be here, and in America as well!" Emmeline beamed, radiating with happiness despite her probable jet lag.

Dean moved the conversation along by asking, "How was France, Emmeline? How's the family?"

She smiled and leaned back into Jaxon a bit more. "It was wonderful as usual. I'm definitely going to miss it. My family says hello, of course. They've been doing fine. And by the way, my close family are coming two days before the wedding, I believe." Her accent had me mesmerized, and I blinked stupidly before coming out of my reverie and processing the information.

The wedding was to take place in about two weeks. All of Emmeline's family lived in Lyon, France, except for her parents and her uncle Louis and his family. They live somewhere in New York though, and that's still pretty far away.

But the story goes that she was visiting her extended family in France a couple years ago, and that's when her and Jaxon switched. They talked a long time over email and text messages before Jaxon finally went to NYU for business management, and the rest of their love story takes off from there.

Conversation had been floating lightly around me until Emmeline asked a question directed at me. "So, Luna. Would you be willing to go get your bridesmaid dress tomorrow with me?"

"Of course! I cannot wait to see what design you picked out, I know it's going to be fantastic," I replied.

Emmeline winked at me. "I think you'll love it."

As soon as my family heard about Jaxon's engagement, we all went nuts to say the least. We all celebrated for a good long time that night, and somewhere in the midst of it, Jaxon and Emmeline had asked me to be a bridesmaid. I remembered getting teared up and repeatedly saying yes. The next day, Emmeline had asked me again, just to be sure. And of course I confirmed that I would love to be a bridesmaid. Emmeline was like a sister to me, and would be in a matter of time, of course I would want to be up there with her on her big day.