A Fallen Princess

Sophie hated the dress—an ugly shade of lavender taffeta with a giant bow, and expensive too. She hated the other bridesmaids, who all knew each other before this wedding and never included her in the plans until the last minute. But most of all, she hated the bride.

In her estimation, Allie was shallow, mean, and treated everyone like they were idiots. Sophie wouldn’t spend one second with her if she didn’t have to. But unfortunately, her brother had fallen in love with her, and now Sophie had to stand there and pretend to support the marriage. And also give up her Friday night to eat fancy seafood at the rehearsal dinner.

She hated seafood, too.

“Now don’t faint, okay?” Allie said to her, spearing a piece of salmon on her fork.
Sophie gritted her teeth. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“No, seriously, though. Greg says you have a history of fainting. I don’t want that to happen tomorrow, understand me? It’ll ruin the wedding. Everyone will talk about that instead of my dress or the music or the flowers or—”

“Allie. Whatever he told you, he’s exaggerating.” He wasn’t really, but Sophie didn’t want to tell Allie that. It wasn’t like she ever fainted on purpose. And since she couldn’t do anything about it, she didn’t feel like listening to Allie’s whole spiel again.

It turned out that Allie was going to give it to her anyway. “Don’t lock your knees up there on the altar. And make sure you eat a good breakfast. And drink plenty of water. But not so much you have to leave the ceremony to go to the bathroom.”

Sophie bobbled her head, suppressing the urge to strangle Allie. Unfortunately, Greg would get mad if she did that. What a shame.

“And get a good night’s sleep. I don’t think Vanessa can do much to help bags under your eyes, and she’s already going to be spending so much time on your makeup anyway—”

Sophie sighed. “Yeah, sure. Look, I’ll be at your house at nine tomorrow, okay?”

The next morning, Sophie—well-rested, full, and carrying a bottle of water—arrived at Allie’s house. She didn’t protest as Allie’s sister Vanessa caked her face with makeup, and she kept her patience as Allie, predictably, questioned if she’d eaten and slept. Then she helped Allie into her monster of a dress—layers and layers of tulle. Sophie couldn’t even begin to imagine how hot a dress like that must be in the July heat.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat something?” Allie’s mother asked.

Allie shook her head. “My stomach’s too jumpy. I’d just throw it up.”

Sophie didn’t say anything about the hypocrisy. She wasn’t stupid enough to get Allie mad at her today.

When they arrived at the church, they were already running late. The wedding party had to march in almost immediately. Sophie picked up her bouquet—lilies and primroses, delicate but with a powerful smell. Sophie hooked arms with her brother’s best friend and waited until they got the nod, then walked forward , the organ reverberating throughout the church but not quite covering up the whir of the fans.

“You eat today?” he muttered without moving his lips.

Sophie wondered if she could stomp on his foot without being obvious. No, it was a short dress, it wouldn’t work.

“Yes,” she said. “Now shut up.”

They continued down the aisle and separated. Sophie went and stood by Erica, the third bridesmaid. She met her brother’s eyes and flashed him a smile and a thumbs-up sign. He smiled back.

Vanessa and another groomsman came down the aisle, and then the entire church twisted in their seats to face the back to watch Allie and her father walk past them.

Even from all the way across the church, Sophie could see that Allie looked pale, her face matching her dress, and that she was gripping her dad’s arm a little harder than normal. She wobbled on her heels.

When they got to the front of the church, Allie’s dad turned to her and gave her a concerned look. Allie shook her head and whispered something to him. He nodded, kissed her forehead, and let go of her to give Greg a handshake.
Without her dad to hold her up, Allie’s eyes widened and she sucked in a breath as her knees buckled. She collapsed in a dead faint.

And even though Sophie knew she should feel bad for Allie, she snickered.