Vi’s shoulders are stiff while she waits to do the “first look” photos with the woman she has told herself over and over again that she wants to marry. The rest of the wedding party is still inside while the photographer takes photos of her soon-to-be-bride and her small handful of pastel-clad bridesmaids, but Vi needs a few moments of silence so she can force down the feelings of resistant panic and send herself forward into a life characterized by safety and stability that she has never had before.
Loud, heavy footsteps clunk behind her, then stop only a foot or two away
Vi frowns to herself as the hair on the back of her neck stands up. “We gotta wait, the photographer isn’t—“
“We don’t have much time for that.”
Gasping, Vi spins around with her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped. Her sister is standing so close that she can see the faint dots of her freckles as they peek through her smudged makeup. The veil she has propped on top of her head is ripped and tattered, and the stained, off-white wedding gown she has on still has the tag from the thrift store stapled along the neckline, but even paired with her favorite pair of worn out, paint stained boots, she looks perfect.
Feeling her jaw clench as she takes a step back, Vi shoves her hands in her pockets, then closes her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I told myself I wouldn’t crash, I swear.” Jinx steps close enough to adjust the lapels of Vi’s jacket. “I really did get the message when I didn’t get an invite or an announcement or anything.”
“So why did you come?” Vi looks down at her sister and feels her heart beat quicken as their gazes meet.
“Well, the thing is, I got to thinking,” Jinx mutters as she rubs her hands up and down Vi’s chest. “And really, you would want me at your wedding. Even with our sexy, sordid past, you’d want your little sister there.” She reaches up, then cups Vi’s jaw. “It would be how you extended your olive branch, it would be your way of trying to push for us to be sisters again.”
“But I didn’t invite you,” Vi reminds her.
“But you didn’t invite me,” Jinx nods. Grinning, she tilts her head and bites her lip. “But then I started wondering why that is, and I came to two conclusions.” She lifts her pointer finger. “Option one is that you hate me and that you’re gonna tell me to go fuck myself. Sad, unfortunate, but I’ll go home cry and find some loser to screw, and I’ll be back up and on my feet in, what? Two, three years?” Clicking her tongue, she rolls her eyes. “Not ideal, but doable.” She lifts her middle finger. “Option two is that you didn’t invite me because you knew that if I showed up, you’d run away from whatever the hell all of this is with me.”
Instantly feeling like she has been flayed open and generously salted, Vi swallows her shock as she drops her eyes to the ground in shame. “Where would we go?” She asks as her voice wavers. “What would we do?”
“We’d do a little of this,” Jinx spreads the two fingers she has raised, then licks between them with a smirk before she drops her hand. “Come on,” she whispers as she rocks up onto her toes and pulls off Vi’s meticulously-knotted bow tie. “I locked everyone in the bridal suite, but that’s not gonna last forever.” She kisses the front of Vi’s throat, leaving behind a dark plum print of her lips behind. “Let’s go home and fuck on the couch and eat takeout naked.”
“I’ve got a car around the back,” her sister whispers. “Just over that pretty brick wall with the ivy. All we have to do is jump over, and we’re free.” She pulls on Vi’s lapels. “You won’t be happy with her.”
Vi reaches down and plucks the bright blue tag off of her sister’s dress before she crushes their mouths together. Flinching as she hears faint shouting coming from the huge mansion serving as her would-be wedding venue, she grabs her sister’s hand and laughs as the younger woman lets out a whoop of joy while they effortlessly climb the wall and land on the other side in front of Jinx’s bright blue sports car.
“Vi! Vi where are you? Something weird’s going on!” Her fiancée’s voice drifts over the wall, and Vi pauses only a moment as she looks back.
Jinx runs around the front of the car and throws herself into the driver’s seat before she hurriedly sticks the key in the ignition. “Hey!” She whisper-shouts as she rolls down the passenger window. “Come on!”
Her face hurting as she smiles, Vi hurriedly gets into the car and laughs wildly as her sister speeds away before all the doors have even closed. The scenic countryside blurs past them as Jinx breaks nearly every traffic law that Vi can think of, but Vi simply throws the boutonnière that was supposed to match her fiancée’s bouquet out of the window as they pull out onto the interstate and make their getaway.
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