The Wedding

 Don’t go to the wedding

The note simply said as Winnie Tuck stared at it in disbelief. In five hours, she was supposed to be the maid of honor for her sister, and best friend, Wren. Wren was marrying Winnie’s childhood crush and other best friend, Wesley Pike. The three had known each other for over twenty years and in their younger years had the troublesome trio of Lister St. When they grew into teenagers, Winnie fell in love with Wes, but he only had eyes for Wren. Winnie and Wren were fraternal twins, but couldn’t be more different in looks. Winnie was a bean pole with long stringy brown hair and unremarkable brown eyes, but Wren was a little more curvy with honey blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Add in Wren’s natural confidence and style and Winnie definitely felt like the ugly stepsister to Wren’s Cinderella. Wes had never known Winnie’s crush and he never would as long as she could control it. Even Wren was none the wiser though Winnie was pretty sure she suspected at one point. 

Winnie’s phone was blowing up with texts from Wren as she was heading to the church.

“I’m on my way,” she shouted into the phone as Wren called her. 

Wren hung up and Winnie knew her sister was having a Bridezilla day so she was trying to be patient, but it was failing. The message on the note was on her mind and not going was starting to sound appealing. Why would someone write that though? And why did the handwriting seem oddly familiar? It almost looked like hers, but the writing was more shaky. She couldn’t get it off her mind even as she pulled into the parking lot. 

She walked into the dressing room to put on her sage green dress which actually was pretty despite having a lot of tulle and rhinestones. A piece of paper was on the floor and it caught her attention. She picked it up and saw the same writing as before with a new message:

I knew you’d ignore the previous note. Turn back before you see Wes.       

 She scoffed and threw the note into the trash as she finally started to get ready. 

“Finally!” Wren shouted through clenched teeth as she came into the dressing room. 

“Can you get out, please?” Winnie whisper-shouted back. 

“You don’t have to hide, I’ve seen it all before and it’s not like you have anything to see anyway,” Wren replied simply as she checked her reflection in the mirror.   

Winnie glared at her and just wanted to slap Wren. If she had the balls, she’d go and tell Wes that she had a thing for him.  

But she’d never do that, not even with Wren acting like this. Of course, they always had a jokey way with each other, but since being engaged, Wren had reverted back to her high school self. Winnie gulped as she remembered Wren telling everyone that Winnie still wet herself when she had a nightmare or that Winnie had a Justin Bieber poster in her room that she kissed every night before bed. When Winnie said anything, Wren would just say she was joking and Winnie needed to stop being such a baby. She was clenching her fist just thinking about it when the caterer that Wes had hired came into the dressing room, offering the bride and maid of honor a complimentary glass of champagne. They both took and Winnie downed hers in a couple of gulps then asked for another. The caterer simply smiled and looked to the bride for confirmation. Wren nodded back and turned back to her own reflection as she finally saw Winnie in her dress.    

“That looks decent at least, but god, Winnie, you can’t do anything with your hair?” Wren’s indignant tone irked Winnie as she concentrated on her second glass of champagne.  She reached into Winnie’s handbag and grabbed her hairbrush, pushing Winnie onto the sole chair in the room. Wren was aggressive in brushing Winnie’s hair but managed a rather nice loose chignon that even Winnie had to admit tied her dress and look together. 

“Thank you,” Winnie said as she put her hairbrush back into the handbag and then took another sip of her drink. 

Wren nodded and headed out of the room, but not before telling Winnie to check up on Wes.

Wes had always been such a handsome boy with fair everything, but against a black tuxedo, he looked every bit like a professional model. Especially with the huge grin on his face at seeing Winnie. Winnie wobbled a little at the sight of him and the three glasses of champagne (she had snuck another, she needed it to see him). Now seeing him, Winnie wished she would’ve snuck a bottle. 

“This is for both of them,” she whispered to herself.

“You ok?” he asked.

“I should be a-a-asking y-you that,” she slurred her words which caused a minor giggle fit. 

“Well, you’re drunk,” he was amused and grabbed her shoulders to steady her. 

As soon as he touched her, she felt her crush turn into want. She grabbed him with more force than she meant to and kissed him. It was soft at first, but soon turned passionate and lustful. 

She started to take off her dress and he stopped her.

“Pre-wedding jitters,” he laughed and set her down into the chair. 

“I love you,” Winnie had sobered a bit with the kiss and there was no longer a slur in her voice, just the desire and want she had hidden for so many years.

“I love Wren,” he told her with no hesitation. 

She sobbed and grabbed her stomach as her mother and father entered the room. 

“Winnie, what’s wrong?” her mother asked in a gentle voice. Her mother was the exact wrong person to see right now as she was the older version of Wren.

“Nothing,” Winnie ran out of the church and didn’t see the car speeding down the street. It hit her and she bounced off the car onto the sidewalk. She was lucky she was not killed, but she was rushed to the hospital.

An older woman in a wheelchair sighed as she saw the car hit her younger self. Winnie would have to do better next time. She couldn’t give the specifics to her young self as she couldn’t risk changing all of history. Her sister would not marry Wes after the accident as Wes kept Winnie’s secret. He just told her that he wasn’t ready. Wren, already heartbroken from her sister’s accident on her wedding day, blamed Winnie and nothing was the same again. Winnie tried to contact Wes, but he told her to leave him alone. Two of Winnie’s relationships crumbled that day within seconds and adding in the years of being in a wheelchair, she was a little bitter. She tried to keep an even temper as Wes ran out of the church to Winnie. He was just as beautiful as she remembered, and her heart broke all over again. He died in Winnie’s current time, just a few days before she decided to warn her young self. 

She took out a piece of paper and wrote:

Don’t go to the wedding for him.

She placed it once again in the mailbox as young Winnie walked out of the house, still in pajamas on the morning of the wedding. 

Here goes nothing, she thought, as she wheeled down the street.