Amber
I took one last glance at my phone before the ceremony really kicked into gear. I wasn’t one of those tools who constantly leaned into photographer’s shots or tried to act like I was some sort of camera aficionado, so my phone could happily be tucked into my purse. I hadn’t even been intending on taking it out at all, but my old alarm had been buzzing insistently to take my birth control.
Which, obviously, I didn’t need anymore because I was both painfully single and scheduled to get an implant in a couple of weeks. I was looking forward to not having to live and die by my alarm, but after taking a pill at the same time every day for four years, it felt strange to delete the stupid notification, so I hadn’t done that yet.
Wait, what kind of person mused about their birth control when they were at a friend’s wedding? Only a real weirdo or someone who was real desperate, and I was neither, so I quickly returned my attention to the actual ceremony.
Just in time too, because the doors to the back of the large, beautiful conservatory opened and a little flower girl stepped in.
She was almost too cute, all blond curls and chocolate eyes. She had the chubby, chubby cheeks of a little cherub and was haphazardly throwing multicolored rose petals this way and that. Of course, I cooed and aww’ed with everyone else until she reached the end where I recognized Annika’s sister crouching with open arms.
Beth and I weren’t anything like enemies, but we’d never gotten along either. Only two years older than Annika -who I had been best friends with since the fifth grade- I got the feeling that she had always considered me as the loud-mouthed companion to her little sis.
Maybe that was why I wasn’t in the wedding party like my ultimate best friend, Michelle was. Well… no, I knew that wasn’t true. Between the bridal shower, the bachelorette party, the fittings, and everything else, I just hadn’t had the time to commit. It was hard, running my own company, and if I wasn’t on the ball then I was getting run over by it.
Yeah, it sucked sometimes being a woman who ran a stunt performer company with only one other partner, but in a lot of ways it was what I had always dreamed of.
Ever since I was little, I had been a mix of everything. I was rough and tumble and into sports, but I also loved heels and make up and dressing to the nines. When I got older, I got into martial arts, but also was in drama club. I loved being feminine, but I also absolutely loved kicking ass. So, considering my job often got me gigs that satisfied all of my multifaceted sides, I couldn’t ask for anything better.
…except, you know, better insurance and steadier workflow and more work/life separation, but there was a thing such as being too greedy.
The music changed and reminded me to focus on the scene at hand. The beautiful scene at hand. One of my good friends was getting married and I was going to sit there and pay attention. I hadn’t taken a whole two days off work and I wasn’t going to spend them thinking about work.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken a vacation that wasn’t prompted by an injury, and normally it grated against my nerves. But now I found myself excited and enjoying all the lavish ceremony all around me.
Mickey went down the aisle first as one of the groomsmen. He really had filled out his lanky frame since we had been kids. In fact, he was quite the muscleman now. I was faintly aware that he had a very successful career as an MMA fighter, but I had been so wrapped up in my own company that I hadn’t managed to catch all the details of it.
But maybe that was because I still partially saw him as the tall and lanky ten-month-older brother of my best friend, Michelle.
While Annika’s older sister had never really liked me, Mickey was the exact opposite. It was clear from very early on that he had been enamored with me, which was pretty weird considering how churlish and moon-faced I had been around my middle school and high school era. He had trailed after us like a lost puppy dog and while I never took offense, I wasn’t really interested.
And not because there was anything wrong with him, just mostly because boys were stupid, and I was busy. Also, I’d been quite the chubby high schooler and of course I had a whole lot of internalized self-hatred from that.
Thankfully I was mostly over that.
Mostly.
It was hard, being a fit stunt woman who was still chunky. Despite all I worked out, and fought, and ran, my body still held onto a layer of fat over everything. When I had first really gotten into martial arts, I’d been so confused. But then my sensei told me that not all strong bodies looked the same and as long as I did my best to be healthy, that I was exactly where I needed to be.