Three

Three

106 days until the wedding

The morning sun leaks in from the sliding glass door and I shift around in my seat as it warms my left arm. My phone remains poised in one hand as I scoop up cereal with the other, all the while praying that brown artificially colored milk doesn't land on my neon pink work polo.

Social media has never really been my thing, but scrolling through relatable Instagram posts, that are most likely from Tumblr, has become a summer morning ritual I can never seem to erase.

Fluffy pink slippers catch my attention in my peripheral vision as they languidly shuffle into the kitchen, but I pay no mind to them as my eyes continue their dance around small black words. Once the milk from my spoon gets a little too close to dripping on my khaki shorts I finally go to exit out of the meaningless distraction, but movement has me glancing back over to a cheetah print robe. A fleeting glance quickly becomes a double take as my spoon goes clattering back into my bowl.

"Grandma?" My questions isn't as urgent as I wanted it to be, but luckily the dramatics of my spoon managed to catch both my parents attention as we watch my grandma as she seizes in her chair with her left hand clutched to her chest, and her eyes beginning to roll back.

"Josephine!" my mom gasps just as my dad's chair scrapes against the floor as he yells, "mom!"

"Oh good." The seizing immediately stops with a wave of my grandma's hand as she adjusts the sides of her robe. "Glad to know you'd look up from those electronic boxes long enough to notice if I was dying."

"Really, ma?" My dad disapprovingly shakes his head as he carries his empty coffee mug over to the sink.

My grandma ignores the clear distain written on my parent's faces and sends me a wink when she meets my gaze to match her already satisfied smile.

The smile is then replaced by a jolt when a ding resonates from her robe pocket and she quickly slides out her own smart phone. Her gasp keeps my parents attention for a few more seconds before the smile reappears.

"Blake Sheldon just retweeted me."

"The country singer?" My mom's eyes widen as she gets up to see it for herself with her coffee mug clutched to her chest.

My grandma quickly shoos her away. "No, silly, the one from that hula dancing class I took in Miami."

"Hypocrite," my dad mumbles behind me, no doubt returning his attention back down to his own phone.

"But anyway," Grandma Josephine continues oblivious to his comment. "Where's the bride to be?"

"In her apartment." I laugh.

"Where she's been living for the past three years," my mom continues.

"With Ben," I finish.

My dad grunts as if begrudgingly giving his confirmation on the subject.

"Oh no, no, no, that won't do."

My mom and I share a wary look before returning our attention back over to my grandma's pursed lips.

"Shouldn't she be moving back home?"

My mom doesn't even try to hold back her laugh as she walks over to my dad and my dad even chuckles as my mom disposes her now empty cup in the sink behind him.

"What do you want me to say? She's twenty-five and has been more than capable of living on her own."

"No, I mean, because of the wedding."

Once again, it seems we are all throwing my grandma our bafflement, but she waves it off.

"I'm just saying it may be easier with all the planning and it's technically a sin. I mean, how do you know there not 'doing it' all—"

"La la la this is when I leave the room," my dad says with his fingers in his ears, and I nod in agreement as I stand up.

"Same here, I should be heading to work now anyway." I place my empty bowl of cereal in the sink, give each of my family members a kiss, and then head out the door.

****

"I can't believe you're actually doing this," I say before heaving Aubrey's suitcase up and on her bed, or should I say, her old bed that is up against the wall and across the room from mine.

"Me either," she breathes after placing a box on the floor at the front of her bed along with the others that are now resting in the corner.

"Well, I guess it feels kind of weird, but it will be fun—like old times." I shrug as my gaze lands on the photos still remaining on the corkboard on the wall above her bed, magazine clip outs and quotes she hasn't changed in years.

"Yeah, but I'm really just moving this stuff in for show. Once grandma goes to bed I'm going to head back over to the apartment and just come back in the mornings."

"Oh." My lips form the word while my sister sits down on the end of her bed and begins tapping away on her phone, leaving me in the silence I'm all too familiar with. "Well, we should at least have one movie night," I finally say even though I'm probably talking to myself.

"Definitely," she agrees as she continues to tap away on her phone.

I flop down on my bed and roll over until my eyes meet the blank white ceiling.

"Oh my god."

I turn my head at the sudden declaration, but Aubrey just jumps up and rips out the support from behind my pillow.

"Hey!" I yell, but when I realize exactly what she grabbed I immediately reach up and snatch the sock monkey out of her hands.

"I can't believe you still have that thing."

"Stop or he'll hear you." I pout and use the sock monkey's arms to cover his own ears.

"Oh come' on, Avery, what twenty-two year old still has a stuffed animal?"

"Lots of people actually, I read it in a magazine once. Statistics show that the comfort they provide is very healthy."

"But—" She rips the stuffed monkey back and holds it dangling it in the air by one arm. "It's disgusting."

"The girl that wrote the article claimed to keep only the head of her teddy bear."

"Whatever." My sister tosses it back at my head before retreating out of the room.

I continue to clutch the monkey to my chest as my gaze roams around the items she decided to drop off.  I don't even know why she bothered. Clothing, books, and a candle set I'm pretty sure is for my mother are not going to convince our grandmother that she's staying here for the next two months. And nothing for nothing, she's been at the house more these last few weeks than she has in the last few years, so why change now?

I shake my head at the thought, and go to retire my attention back over to the ceiling, refusing to continue to help bring up her junk that's turning what's been my room into a storage compartment, but green and blue polka-dots catch my attention. Curiosity has me standing back up, and as I get closer and closer to the object peeking out between the covers of the box my mouth drops.

"That little hypocrite."  I slowly pull the small blanket out and dangle it in the air. I can't have a stuffed animal, but she gets to keep her baby blanket.

"What the—where did you get that?"

A box is dropped in front of me before the blanket is ripped from my hand, but instead of being faced with Aubrey's menacing brown eyes, I find myself staring into Ben's worried hazel ones.

"It was in the box." I state the obvious, but that only deepens the frown on his face.

"Sh*t." He glances around as if making sure nobody's coming before stuffing the small blanket into his khaki pant pocket.

"Ben is that—" A sputter of a laugh cuts off my question, but Ben just nervously bites his lip.

"Please don't tell Aubrey. She told me to get rid of this months ago."

I shake my head in amusement. "You're not even married yet and you're already keeping secrets."

"What secrets?" Aubrey asks as she walks into the room, and dumps one last box on the floor.

Ben and I share a look before he points his finger at me. "You're sister still has a sock monkey."

I gasp while Aubrey just belts out a laugh.

"We already knew that."

My face contorts in annoyance, but Aubrey just flashes me with a smile.

"I love you, Avery James. Now come' on my grandma has a few questions for you." My sister grips Ben's wrists and begins tugging him out of the room.

As they reach the doorway Ben turns back around and mouths a "thank you."

I smile in return silently hoping he realizes that there is still a giant bulge on the side of his left hip and it can't even remotely be mistaken for something else.