Before my Best Friend's Wedding

I was on the telephone. I thought that I was talking to my best friend, Kristin. I said something about intimacy, and suddenly her dad started to laugh. He had been listening the whole time, and I started to feel like Kristin wasn't even on the phone. I hung up ashamed for saying what I had said, and feeling a little angry at her father for keeping from me that Kristin wasn't home.

I decided to walk over to her house. I hadn't been to visit in a long time. When I got there I went straight up the stairs to her room: I wanted to ignore her father. Her bedroom had two beds in it and they were both sloppily made. One of the beds was in the middle of the room. I thought that it seemed strange. Kristin wasn't home. I knew that she was at school making prints.

Her father came up the stairs and I jumped and hid behind one of the beds. He came in the room, and said, "Did you fold that laundry? Oh I see you folded that laundry, but you put my tie in here, and it's all weird. Why did you do that?" I imagined that he thought that I was Kristin. I said, "Sorry. I'm sorry," as I crouched on my knees to keep my body behind the bed, so that only the top of my head was showing. He walked out of the room.

I got up from behind the bed and opened Kristin's closet doors. She had a bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses all hanging in a row. She must have come in the room then.

Kristin and I began to walk through the woods. I was wearing her bride's dress and she had on a bridesmaid dress. I knew that she was getting married, but she let me wear her gown. We were looking for a place for her to get married. She found an open path in the woods, and said, "How about here?" I looked at all of the pine needles on the ground, and I said, "But your older relatives cannot make it back here. Let's go to McGregors' Farm. I bet that the McGregors' would let you have your wedding on the farm. We're all friends. It would be perfect." She smiled, "Yes."

We started to walk down the path for the farm, and on our way to a field. Before we reached the field I saw a man that I knew. He was sitting at a desk at the beginning of the field. He had a calculator, and was doing mathematics on a piece of paper. I was friends with him. I slyly walked by him in the dress, and as I was passing the desk, I tickled his side, stuck my fingers into his wool sweater. He flinched, and turned his side away from my fingers, but he still smiled. Kristin and I began walking into the field. Kristin said, "I don't want to wear that bride's dress. My sister stole it. I don't think that I should wear a stolen dress." I knew that the dress was perfect for her, but I wouldn't say anything. I fingered the lace.

The man at the desk, Barker, came up behind me in a furious manner. "You think you're better than all of the farm help here, girl? You think you're so much better in that dress?" He grabbed the lace from behind and ripped the dress, the lace unraveled onto the ground, unspinning like a spool of thread. Kristin stared bright-eyed. I turned around in the torn dress, pieces of fabric were fluttering at my knees. "Barker. This was a three thousand dollar dress," I started, "someone saved up for eight years to buy this dress, and now you've gone and ruined it. What will I tell her now?" He looked at me ashamed, "I didn't, I didn't know. I was angry with you. I'm, I'm sorry." Kristin and I huffed off.

"I can't believe Barker. I'm so sorry. Something is wrong with him. I thought that he was my friend." Kristin wasn't angry, she looked at the dress as it was ripped to shreads and shrugged her shoulders, "It's karma, it was stolen. I didn't like that it was stolen anyway."

I wondered if Barker could be my date after what he did.