Shrugging, he said, "It worked, didn't it?" Then he stood up, taking the invitation from her and walking toward the kitchen. "I'm going to put this on the fridge and then call my mom and add you a plate—this is your last chance to come to your senses," he warned.
"Commit me," she said.
"All right," he said, dialing a phone number and waiting in silence.
Julie leaned back on the couch, contemplating what she had just agreed to…
Hell in a cocktail dress.
"Hey Mom," she heard Aaron say in the kitchen. "Good. Just got the invite for the wedding and I wanted to call and ask if you could add on a plate… I'm bringing someone…"
Although she knew it was silly, Julie felt a little proud to be Aaron's "and guest."
"Her name's Julie, you'll meet her when I get there. Can you just add another chicken piccata for her?"
While Aaron finished up his phone call, Julie sat there debating the wedding and Aaron's family. She just couldn't believe that his sister would invite his evil ex-girlfriend not only to attend the wedding, but to actually be in the wedding. Did she have no consideration for Aaron's feelings? She could kind of understand why Matt would still be invited—he was her brother, after all, and maybe she either favored Matt or didn't want to take sides, but… inviting Shannon seemed a little over the line, cousin or no cousin.
Julie was suddenly glad that she had never brought any of her exes around her family. That would really suck.
Still, despite the circumstances, Julie found herself feeling a little too pleased about being Aaron's date—even if she was just a buffer. She would hate for him to have to go to the wedding alone, to have Shannon and Matt see him there by himself…
It just seemed wrong.
But he wouldn't be there alone, he would have Julie. While Julie knew that she was nowhere near as beautiful as Shannon or Emma—extremely unfair, to her way of thinking—it would still count for something.
Aaron was right about one thing though.
Matt was not going to be pleased when she showed up at a family event with his brother.
---
Matt didn't get back to her until the next day, at which point she did answer her phone because she didn't want him to start calling the apartment.
For some reason, she had this fear that he was going to know she went to the hospital, and that was why he wanted to talk to her.
But he didn't seem to know anything about it.
"What are you doing Thursday?" he asked her.
"Working," she stated.
"Well, what time do you work?" he asked.
"Why?" she returned, not understanding why he needed that information.
"Because I don't have much time to talk right now and I need you to meet up with me at some point this week so we can discuss something. I need to know what time you're free."
"I'm working three to close, but why do I have to meet you somewhere?"
Sighing, he said, "I can't really explain right now, I'm at work and… Emma's dad's here," he muttered. "But it's important, so can you come early? Maybe noon—I can use my lunch break."
Julie didn't like it, she didn't like it at all. The more she was not around Matt and spending time with Aaron, the less time she wanted to be anywhere near Matt—it would only get her in trouble.
"I don't… understand why," she said, hesitating.
"It's regarding your future," he told her. "Can you just trust me on this?"
Without even meaning to, Julie scoffed.