Only for the Summer

ENGFA

"I'm not paying her for anything. She's one of my best friends and my girlfriend." It feels weird to say the last word aloud.

"Oh yeah, I'll believe that when I see it," she snorts.

I get up from the couch and look at the rack of dresses. I slide my hand along each one, feeling a variety of glitter, tulle, and lace. I've never really thought about getting married before today. I know I want to, but thinking about the how, when, and even who of it hasn't crossed my mind. I probably won't care too much about the details as long as whoever I marry is happy.

Chanda tries on a dress that each of us chooses for her. Her sisters know her taste better than I do, but it's still fun to play dress-up with her. Two of them make it into the maybe pile, but the rest are put back on the rack. Who knew finding a wedding dress is so intricate?

"What about this?" Chanda comes out wearing an off-the-shoulder lace dress. It clings to her chest, stopping at the waist and dropping to the ground with lace and tulle. It's the perfect balance of everything. We can tell by the smile on her face that she loves it.

"This is the one!" her sisters exclaim. We all nod in agreement. She looks amazing.

"Why don't you guys look at the bridesmaid dresses? They said they can make any style in the sage we've chosen." Chanda smiles. I'm sure the weight is lifted off her shoulders now that the dress is chosen.

"Come help me find something to wear," Charlotte smiles, pulling me toward the other side of the store. "I'm sorry, I couldn't bear to see her glaring at you. I don't know what her problem is," Char whispers once we're far enough away.

"She doesn't believe we're a real couple," I reply with a shrug.

"Well, screw that. Clearly, I need to up my game," she says with determination.

"I can handle myself, you know." I chuckle. It's hard to hide how cute I find her overprotectiveness.

"Yeah, well, I can help out my girlfriend sometimes too." She winks. Wait, is that her way of asking me out? Is she hoping we can be something more? No, she must just be pretending for my sake.

"Oh yeah, fake girlfriend." I fake a laugh for good measure. Char makes a face but before I can ask, Snack walks over.

"What do you think you'll be wearing? Have you found anything yet?" Snack interrupts us, and the conversation switches back to dress shopping. I smile and nod at all the right times, but I'm not really here. I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on with my best friend.

Charlotte and Snack keep looking for dresses while I grab another sip of champagne. Chanda is back in normal clothes, sipping some next to Patcha. I'm about to turn around and retreat, but it's too late.

"Engfa! You know Patcha, right? Sun says you all were in high school together." Chanda smiles, waving me over to her. Patcha glares and plasters on a fake smile as she clutches her champagne glass.

"Oh yeah, we did..." I say hesitantly.

"We didn't really know each other. Engfa was always running off somewhere." Patcha smirks.

"Well, you should get to know her now! Engfa is so sweet, and she's the one who convinced us to keep the wedding in Seaside this summer," Chanda explains although I'm kind of regretting that now.

"Isn't that sweet?" Her mouth curls at the last word. What the hell is her problem?

"Chanda? Could you come to look at this?" Anna calls out.

"Coming!" She hops over to where Anna is holding up a dress, leaving Patcha and me alone.

I don't speak, thinking of a way to casually get as far from her as possible. Charlotte is too busy to save me this time. She looks effortlessly beautiful from across the store as she stops to look at dresses.

"Look, I'll play nice, but I'm not walking down the aisle with you. That's too much even for me," Patcha spats.

"That's not really up to us." I glare. She's the last person I want to be in the room with, but I won't ruin my brother's wedding. The best man and maid of honor always walk down the aisle together.

"Trust me, it isn't happening." Patcha flips her hair over her shoulder.

"Okay." I just shake my head. I'm not in the mood to play these games with her.

"It's funny. I saw your girlfriend this morning."

"What? Where?" Charlotte had gone to the pet store, but she didn't anything about seeing Patcha.

"In Win's truck, seems like they were pretty cozy." She smirks.

"You're lying," I spat.

"See for yourself." She takes out her phone and shows me a photo of Charlotte sitting passenger of Win's pickup truck. I frown. How had she not told me? Why were they even together?

"You really should save yourself the embarrassment and stop lying to everyone. Because she's clearly not yours." Patcha rolls her eyes and struts off, leaving me fuming. What the hell was going on?