BRIDGETTE

“This is really weird,” I uttered around the table. Since Cara had supposedly talked with Quinn and settled things between them, I didn’t have to hide any longer. So there I was, sitting beside Cara. “And unfair,” I added.

“How so?” she asked as she placed the folder on the table. She and Quinn shared a confused look.

“Now that Quinn is in to our little secret, I can do my job without you pretending to be me where as I still have to go to the hospital and do everything you are supposed to do.”

“But Natalie and your other contacts are expecting me,” she retorted.

“Yeah, I forgot about your gold--” I stopped myself when Cara kicked my leg under the table. “I forgot about your golden beauty of a fiancée, Quinn. Where is she anyway?”

When Quinn spoke, his eyes were on me. “She’s on her way.”

I nodded impatiently. I was really tired since I didn’t get enough sleep after our visit to that bookstore. I lay on my bed all night thinking of what I could sacrifice or if I was willing to sacrifice my life as what Cara thought. In the end, I decided to forget about it. We could always find another answer to our problem. And I still needed to think about Dr. Newman. But that would have to wait.

CARA

When Bridgette stood up to go to the powder room, Quinn flashed me a smile. “If I just close my eyes and listen to the two of you, I could easily point out Bridgette.”

“Who couldn’t?” I asked before taking a sip from my cup.

“And she’s right. This is weird.”

I nodded in agreement. “But this is better for me. I don’t really have a lot of know-how in wedding preparations. And I don’t want to use an earphone while talking with you.”

He had an amused look on his face when he asked, “That’s how she talks to you?”

“And I to her when we are in the hospital.”

An awkward silence followed. We didn’t have a lot of things to say to each other that would not actually tackle the past or the present. And Bridgette was taking her precious time. Where the hell was she?

“And I sense that Bridgette doesn’t like Natalie that much,” Quinn finally broke the silence.

I shrugged. “She doesn’t like a lot of people. You should know that.”

“And you?” he asked.

I looked at him squarely. “Me what?”

“You like Natalie?” I was not sure what he meant by that question or the reason why he asked it.

“I don’t think my opinion of her matters,” I answered.

“You always choose a safe answer whenever you think the truth will cause a problem and I am really curious why you think Natalie is not okay.”

I huffed. “I didn’t say that.”

“I know you well enough, Cara. I can decipher your statements.” He did not look angry at all. He was actually wearing a small smile on his lips.

“I don’t know her enough to give you an honest answer. But I hope you do know why you are marrying her.”

He stared at me for a long time then his gaze wavered and he looked away. “It is still hard to look at you and think you are Cara.”

I gave a small laugh. “Imagine how I feel every time I look into a mirror. I even avoid them especially when I’m driving to prevent accidents.”

Quinn laughed at my statement and it was only later that I realized our laughter died down, leaving a faint smile on our lips as we looked at each other. The hurt was gone from my chest. And so was the anger from his eyes.

I had a sudden urge to jump and hug him like I used to ten years ago. I wanted to tell him we shouldn’t have parted ways; that things should have turned out right for us. That we could make it happen.

I was the first to break eye contact. I didn’t want to take any meaning from the different emotions I saw in his eyes. He was getting married, for heaven’s sake! And I was not even in the right body to suggest anything should happen between us other than friendship.

It was Natalie’s voice that broke the heavy silence. She went directly to where Quinn was and kissed him on the mouth. My eyes went to the direction of the powder room. Where the hell was Bridgette?

Natalie and Quinn talked for a while as she settled down beside him. When she finally managed to put down her purse, she looked at me with glimmer in her eyes. “Bridgette…what do you have for me?” she nearly squealed every word and I fought the grimace that was coming up on my face.

I saw Quinn’s amused look as he looked at me. Concentrating on Natalie and her words, I opened the file Bridgette prepared and started talking.

For the next three minutes or so, Natalie had asked, “How much will it cost?” five times. She was looking through pictures of different floral arrangements when Bridgette finally came out of the powder room. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the addition to our small group.

It was the first time I saw how I looked if someone like poop suddenly appears in front of me. And Bridgette was still wearing the face as she walked over. Damn, she walked my body like it was made for a runway. I gave her a warning look and she immediately corrected her features as she neared.

“Hi!”

Natalie was startled to see her standing close.

“This is my friend, Cara,” I explained. “She usually helps me a lot.”

Natalie’s face brightened as she took the hand Bridgette held out to her.

“So,” Bridgette started as she sat down beside me. “You’re the girl,” she said, her tone full of meaning. I kicked her under the table but she continued to stare at Natalie with a smile that said, ‘I know who you are, gold-digger.’

It took almost all of my social skills to ease the tension, with great help from Quinn. Bridgette must have realized that it was her future money at stake here so she managed to pretend that she found Natalie great and her ideas terrific.

“It was a nice meeting,” Quinn said beside me as we waited for Natalie and Bridgette to exit the door of the restaurant.

“Yeah,” I managed with a smile.

“So I guess I’ll see you?” he asked as the two women approached.

I looked at him and gave a faint smile. “You don’t have to be present all the time, you know.”

He scratched his head and smiled. “I guess I’d like to be as active in the preparations as I can.”

Nodding my head, I said, “Then I guess I’ll see you again.”

 “Quinn should know what she’s like, you know,” I said later on as we watched Natalie and Quinn drive away.

“You don’t know her enough to judge her,” I reminded.

“I know people like her. From her hair down to the tips of her stilettos, I know she’s someone who would soon empty Quinn’s pockets.”

I just shook my head. Revealing the scene I witnessed between Natalie and her friend, Tess, would only make matters worse.

“I do regret doing that thing I did ten years ago, you know,” Bridgette blurted out and I stopped on my tracks. She turned around at me and rolled her eyes. “Don’t expect me to repeat that. Come on!”

Slowly, I walked beside her.

“If I didn’t do that thing then, it would be you and Quinn getting married by now. Or maybe you would have already had. You would have like three kids running around the yard…”

As Bridgette continued on with her fantasies, I couldn’t help but feel that longing again. Yes, she should regret what she did years ago. It was only time that she did! Though she said it in a way that others would find lacking, I took it as an apology. I knew Bridgette well and she never apologized for anything that she did. I knew in the way she looked at me that she was sorry.

If only things turned out right for both of us…

BRIDGETTE

“Who is it?” I asked later as we entered my apartment--my real apartment.

“It’s Bernadette,” Cara answered with a frown as she peered down her phone.

“Who’s Bernadette?”

“The girl who was here? Remember?”

I racked her memory and when I remembered the girl with the glasses, I said, “Ah, yes. That girl. What’s up with her?”

“She’s having wardrobe trouble. She’ll go on a date with this guy who has a crush on your face.”

“Todd?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then invite her over! I need some diversion and make-over is the right activity. That girl needs a lot of it!”

Cara texted the girl and half an hour later, after I went through everything inside my closet, she arrived wearing the most horrifying outfit. High school girls shouldn’t wear sneakers; thick, bulky glasses; bushy hair; and close-to-a-bed-sheet size of a shirt. She reminded me so much of Cara ten years ago before I became her fairy godmother.

I let out an exaggerated sigh as I circled around her. “This is going to be a lot of work that I expected…”

Cara rolled her eyes at me and took Bernadette’s hand as she said, “You’re beautiful. Don’t think that you are not. Just be yourself later, okay?”

“That’s not really why she came here, right, Bernadette?”

Bernadette looked confused as her gaze travelled from Cara to me.

“You’d like to look presentable and worthy being around him, right?”

Bernadette hesitated before she slowly nodded.

“Fine,” Cara gave in. “But don’t overdo it.”

I squealed with excitement as I pulled Bernadette to the place where the magic would happen: my walk-in closet.

By the time we were done, two hours had passed. Cara was slouching in the couch by then, her face--my beautiful face--painting the image of boredom.

But when her eyes went to the pretty girl beside me dressed in a floral dress and a royal-blue cardigan, her jaw dropped. Though Bernadette refused to get rid of the glasses, I gave her a chic look by giving her bushy hair the perfect big curls they needed. Since she was allergic to make-ups, I never got to use any except to paint her lips peachy pink.

“We need to give her a ride,” I told her when she was done throwing praises. “I’d love to see Todd’s reaction.”

The drive to the theme park was not long, but we took a lot of time urging Bernadette out of the car. She clung on to the door handle for dear life.

“I don’t think I can do it.”

“Yes, you can!” Cara cried. “Just look around! Do you imagine the fun things you and Todd can do?”

At that moment, I pictured the same scene that happened ten years ago. Cara had been afraid to go inside the diner where she and Quinn were supposed to have their first date. I had said the same things she was saying to Bernadette right now.

“Come on, Bernadette. If you back out now, you will never get a proper sleep for the rest of your life. You will live your adult life thinking what would have happened if you just went inside those gates and had that date with Todd,” I said moments later when Bernadette was almost ready to jump back inside.

“Bernadette!” A voice called out from behind us. Cara and I were like the red sea when we turned around and went stand at both sides of Bernadette to show her Todd standing just outside the gates of the theme park.

“Go!”

“Can’t you see that look on his face?”

“He’s so loving your looks!”

Cara and I whispered these things at her ear and we were almost surprised to see Bernadette walking away from us without a word.

We watched the two of them talk and disappear inside the theme park.

I took Cara’s hand and tugged.

“What?”

“Let’s follow them.”

“What? Bridgette, that’s a bad idea!”

“Come on!”

She looked like she was not really against the idea so it took her only a second to say, “Okay, fine. But we shouldn’t be found out.”

The first hour was actually boring. We couldn’t hear what the two teens were talking about as they walked around the theme park. I actually found myself yawning as we waited for them to finish their roller coaster ride.

I was slurping my strawberry milkshake and Cara was almost finished her with watermelon one as we watched the two eating inside a small diner. We were sitting on a bench just across the window they were occupying. A group of girls passed by in front of us and I was about to snap at them to step aside when they blocked our view when one of them said, “Is that Todd? Oh-em-gee! Is he with that nerd, Bernadette?”

My eyebrow arched.

“She looks nice,” one girl commented. We couldn’t see their faces because their bums were almost against our faces.

“What? Are you blind? Melissa won’t like this one bit.”

I looked at Cara and she looked back. The girls went scurried away like little cockroaches. A few minutes later, they were back but now they were almost outside the door of the diner. Todd had gone and left Bernadette alone, probably to the men’s room.

“Oh-oh…” I uttered when I saw the look on one of the girl’s face. “I bet that’s Melissa.”

“I think I know what’s coming next,” Cara’s voice was anxious.

I knew that look on Melissa’s face. I had worn it for a long time back in high school and by her posture I knew she was ready for battle. My eyes went to Bernadette sitting by the window, oblivious of the upcoming war.

I found myself standing up and walking to the group of girls who just opened the door to the diner, Cara close behind me.

“Bridgette, I don’t think this is a good--”

“Don’t tell me what’s not a good idea, Cara.” My tone was serious. And as I finally stood behind the group of hyenas, I was ready for battle.

***Sorry for the late update. Next chapter we will deal with some crazy teens, Dr. Newman and more of Quinn! ComVo all you want! :)