"Lena?" Echo said, knocking gently on the room door.
"Just a second." She heard Lena said.
"Lena, dear. We're going to be late." Echo replied. They'd been waiting for her downstairs for over 15 minutes. The ceremony was supposed to start in an hour.
"Just... give me a second." Lena insisted.
"Hey... is she ready yet?" Romy asked, stomping down the hall. "Vera is starting to freak out."
"I knocked and she just keeps saying...." Echo began but Lena's voice came through the door.
"In a minute!" Lena called.
"Right." Romy said with a sigh. "Okay. You go downstairs, get Vera and Maru to the hotel and I will grab Lena and follow."
"Are you sure?" Echo asked and Romy nodded.
"Yes, now go." Romy said and Echo nodded.
"Yeah, okay." Echo said, turning and walking away.
Romy watched as Echo walked down the hall, waiting for her to disappear around the corner. Then, she opened the door.
"I told you just a minute." Lena said, rushing into the closet, her dress swishing gently behind her.
"Lena, come here." Romy said, walking up to the vanity and pulling out the chair.
"Why you?" Lena said, dragging herself out of the closet, her make up completely a mess and in tears. "I have four sisters, why you?"
"Sit." Romy said gently. "I'm your big sister."
"I have three big sisters." Lena said, moving to sit, nonetheless.
"I'm the real big sister." Romy said, reaching out for a make up wipe. "Let's get you cleaned up."
"Do you even care?" Lena asked.
"I care about you not making a fool of yourself." Romy said as she cleaned her up.
"Is that all you care about? What people think?" Lena said angrily, slapping her hands away. Romy stared at her for a second and then pulled up an ottoman, taking a seat across from Lena.
"Remember when Maru and you were 10 and you two decided to sing in the talent show?" Romy said, continuing to wipe the make up clean.
"Yes..." Lena said.
"What was it you were singing? Opps I did it again." Romy said.
"Baby one more time!" Lena said.
"Right, Britney Spears." Romy said, "Well, anyway, you girls were doing fantastic, by the way, and then suddenly, mid routine... you froze."
"Are you trying to cheer me up?" Lena asked.
"Everyone was trying to console you after as you cried and cried and cried... it really was pathetic." Romy said.
"You should get Vera... she's better at this." Lena said with a frown.
"Everyone except me." Romy said, "But that wasn't really my style."
"It's never been." Lena said.
"Especially when I knew what really upset you about it." Romy said, making Lena's eyes dart to her.
"You did?" Lena asked, the knot in her throat coming back.
"Like I do now." Romy said, her face softening. Lena suddenly broke into sobs and wrapped her arms around Romy's neck. Romy wasn't used to affection but whether or not she liked to admit it, she had a soft spot for her sisters. She brought her hand up and gently patted Lena's head, trying not to mess up her hair.
"Please, please don't tell anyone." Lena said after several minutes.
"Lena, you and I have never seen eye to eye but... I would never, ever do anything to betray you. I didn't say anything then, I won't say anything now." Romy said, "But we have to get you ready."
"I don't want to go." Lena said.
"Of course not, it's cruel... that you have to do this." Romy said, "But you're Lena Reid. Strong, proud and a complete bad ass. You're going to do this with grace and poise and I..."
"You?" Lena asked, allowing Romy to start working on her face.
"I am going to sneak you so much alcohol at this party and we're going to have a fabulous time." Romy said, making Lena smile.
"Have you ever felt this way, Romy?" Lena asked and Romy was still.
"No. I don't room for that." Romy said, "I don't know how to feel that way."
"Thank you." Lena said.
"For what?" Romy asked.
"For being with me." Lena asked.
"That's what big sisters do." Romy replied.
---
"Where the hell are they?" Vera asked, glancing at the clock.
The Canopy hotel was one of the most luxurious, most beautiful hotels in the city. As neither the bride nor the groom was particularly religious, they had settled on just the civil ceremony in the main ball room, then the reception would be held in the garden beyond it. At that very moment, the judge was standing at the end of the ball room, waiting as patiently as possible.
"Relax, they'll be here." Echo said, "Come on, even Karen isn't this wound up."
"Yeah, you know you can't control everything, Vera." Maru added.
"Please don't say things like that." Vera said, smoothing her dress out. "I know it and it stresses me out every day."
Echo sighed, Vera was a control freak. She knew this had to be driving her crazy.
"We shouldn't have left without them. I should have gone up to see what the problem was." Vera said.
"It's fine. Romy said she'd take care of it and she will." Maru said. "Besides, Lena texted me they're on their way."
"Ugh but the traffic is terrible." Vera said, "I can't imagine that they'd get here on time."
"Well, if comes to that, we'll do it without them." Maru said and Vera sighed.
"Disaster." She muttered.
"Oh, that's them!" Echo said, pointing towards the lobby.
"Thank god." Vera muttered as Romy and Lena rushed in.
"Did we make it?" Lena asked.
"Just in time."
The girls all turned, finding Karen standing nervously with a smile. Lena's heart dropped into her stomach.
Karen looked beautiful.
With a smiled, Lena went up to her.
"I'm sorry we're late. We had an issue with the dress." Lena said.
"It's okay. I wouldn't mind waiting." Karen said sweetly. Lena looked at her- did she have to be so damn sweet?
"Well, let's do it." Lena said, turning and looking towards everyone. "Let's get her married."
"Alright, let's do it." Vera replied, feeling excited again.
"Is she always... so..." Karen said, watching as Vera starting lining everyone up.
"Yes, always." Lena said, taking her place in line.
Echo took a deep breath. She dreaded these types of things. The minute the double doors opened, she realized that almost everybody who had been invited was in that room. She waited quietly, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of people in the room. Okay, Okay.
Four things. Echo told herself. Just name four things.
Chair
Flowers
Guestbook
Luke
There easy. Echo moved to take her first step but she froze, her eyes darting back to the fifth row on the right. It was Luke and he was looking her way with a smile. Then she felt it, her body relaxed and her lips curled gently.
"Echo..." She heard Vera say behind her. "Echo, go."
Echo nodded and moved forward slowly, the smile on her face wide as she walked. There was something about it, something about having Luke in the room changed everything. Even if she couldn't run to him like she might want to, or talk to him like she would like, just knowing changed everything. As she moved closer and closer to the front, She glanced over at Luke again- his eyes hadn't left her at all.
Luke watched Echo walk down the aisle, aware how much more confident she seemed after seeing him and he felt proud, proud to think he had helped her. She really looked so pretty in the dress, so much that he couldn't stop staring. Then, as she neared him, he saw her glance up and wink at him.
He had to bite his lip not to laugh. She was really something extraordinary.
"I told you it was a good idea to come." Marco said, noticing how Luke suppressed a chuckle.
As the ceremony started, Echo stood watching Luke the entire time and his eyes never left hers.
----
"This is an impressive party, huh?" Marco said with a smile as he and Luke sat with a drink.
"Yeah, it's nice." Luke said, watching Echo in the crowd. She'd spent the better part of the last hour smiling and posing for photos and now, her sisters were toasting.
"She looks pretty cute." Marco said with smile. "I gotta make sure to get a dance in."
"I trust you know better than that." Luke said, watching as George suddenly grabbed Echo by the hand and dragged her onto the dance floor. Echo followed along begrudgingly, finding it hard to say no to the groom. A few minutes later, the five sisters were all dancing with their brother, Ben, making a fool of himself in the process.
"God, it's crazy huh?"
Luke and Marco turned to a few young men who were seated at the table, talking among themselves.
"I know. I wonder what kind of deal Alice and Michael made with the devil?" The other man replied.
"Just look at her. Romy... it's a sin." One of the guys said. "Just wow."
"Who are they?" It was the youngest looking one who asked.
"Seriously?" One of the others said. "The Reid sisters are famous. If you're going to fit in around here, you have to know about the Reid sisters."
"They're sisters?" The young one asked.
"Yeah, that one... Vera... I'm gonna marry her someday." One of the other men said, making them all laugh.
"Dream on." He replied.
"Why?" The young one asked again.
"They're as unattainable as they are beautiful." One of them replied.
Marco and Luke glanced at each other as the men continued to drool over them.
"Gimme a minute alone with Maru, God please!"
"Lena has those amazing dimples..."
"I could spend the rest of my life watching Vera."
"Romy is the only woman who could make that dress look that way."
It went on and on but Luke wasn't really paying attention. He was watching Echo, who had managed to get caught up in the moment and was now dancing playfully with her sisters, who all seemed to be focused on Lena.
Echo looked so amazing, her hair bouncing around her face, her eyes twice their size with the mascara on an those lips... the lips he loved curled into a pretty smile. She was laughing and he enjoyed every second of it.
"What about her?" The young one asked, catching Luke's attention.
"Which one?" One of the other men asked.
"The one with the loose curls." The young one said again.
"Her? Is that Echo?" One of the guys said.
"Oh yeah, it is. I haven't seen her in a while." Another replied with a chuckle. "Damn, she cleans up nice."
"Yeah... wow." Another responded. "But I still have my heart set on Romy."
"I like her." The young one said, "She looks different."
"Sorry kid."
They all turned back at the sound of Luke's voice, noticing him for the first time. They stared for a second, their eyes wide as they took in his appearance, obviously impressed and surprised by him at the same time.
"That one is mine." Luke said, standing and adjusting his tie as he moved away from the table.
Marco watched with a smile. The men all staring wide eyed as Luke moved towards the girls who were now walking off to the side, grabbing glasses of champagne. He turned, his eyes moving back to Echo as Luke grabbed her by the hand, taking her out to the dance floor. He watched the way she glanced over her shoulder, and how she laughed at something ridiculous Luke said.
"Echo."