It was too bad the industry’s opinion was that anyone over a size four was obese. It made getting a job hard sometimes, but with the increase in plus size actresses, I was getting to spend more time on camera instead of the behind the scenes trainer or choreographer.
I shook my head. Wasn’t I supposed to not be thinking about business? I was doing a terrible job. Looking back to the wedding party, I saw Mickey had taken his place in the lineup and Michelle was coming up the aisle with the best man.
Wow. She looked so beautiful.
While I was muscled and what people called ‘thick’, she was tall, graceful and willowy. We were on opposite ends of the spectrum in every way, and it was like we’d been brought together to balance each other out. Although we weren’t nearly as close as we had been when we were kids -you know, being an adult and all that- we still loved each other very much and I could always trust her to be honest with me.
She caught my gaze and gave me a little wink. I returned it and we shared a smile before the music started and the bride came in.
Naturally I was up on my feet, my hands going to my heart. Annika looked so beautiful.
Annika had always been a relatively pretty woman, but there was something otherworldly to her as she walked down the aisle. Her hair was done up, her dress hugged her body just right while still being elegant, and I swore that she was literally glowing as she looked at her husband standing there at the end of her little stroll.
Wow.
It would be nice to have someone who made me smile like that. Or at least I liked to think it would. But I’d never met a man who ever sparked that kind of sheer joy across her face and I wondered if maybe I just wasn’t wired that way.
Either way, it wasn’t like my own work wasn’t fulfilling, and I refused to darken Annika’s wedding with jealousy, so I just let my happiness for her pour outwards. She’d always been a nice and funny girl. I was glad that she had found some happiness.
The ceremony was beautiful, of course, with fitting songs and hand-written vows. I allowed myself to take all of it in. After all, one never knew when there might be a mid-wedding fight my stunt studio would be hired to do the blocking for. I watched as some people dabbed at their eyes, moved by the couple’s love, and I watched as others subtly checked their phones, clearly waiting for the reception so they could stuff their faces with no doubt expensive food.
It was all beautiful and lovely but by the end of it, I found all my good feelings starting to wane. Yes, I was still happy for Annika and… what was his name? Trevor? Tom? Travis?
…Maybe this was why I wasn’t asked to be in the bridal shower.
I chuckled to myself before clearing my throat. Right, this was supposed to be a romantic moment. The wedding was ramping up towards its big crescendo which meant the waterworks were really going to kick into gear on some people.
The music swelled, the preacher’s tone grew grander, and then the happy couple were locking lips together. But as they kissed, I couldn’t help but think that Annika and what’s his name had just paid a whole lot of money to make their lives so much more complicated.
But still, I hoped that it was worth it.
Mickey
I adjusted my bowtie for what was probably the sixth time since the toasts had finished, but what could I say, I was nervous, and it felt like the damn thing was choking me. One would think that after two years of fighting professionally and making a name for myself taking down brawlers and beasts alike that nothing would get my goat, but goodness, there was nothing that could intimidate me and make me sweat like seeing Amber in the getup she had chosen to wear to the wedding.
Dear Lord, it should have been a crime for her to look so good, and yet there she was, sitting at a table and nursing some bubbly while she eyed the food like a shark. I’d seen the girl go to town many times on a spread and I didn’t know how it was possible for that to be so attractive, but it was.
I’d heard the saying that absence made the heart grow fonder, so I was pretty sure that was the only explanation for why my heart was thundering in my chest like a locomotive. Sure, I’d had a crush on the girl since I started noticing girls, but I’d never been so stricken, and tongue tied by her mere presence.