Small Cottage

"Amanda? I'm not going to invite her anyways. She was my friend for, what, one year, and then we were like worst enemies. No way. I'll invite Kelsi, she was always nice. Rachel, of course, she'll be a bridesmaid. Selia, I need her to be a bridesmaid. Hm.. I feel like I'm forgetting someone. Oh well, I'll compose a full guest list." Serenity smiled. "Oh, to answer your question-- YES! I would shut my sister out on my wedding. Get an escort."

"What if she was my escort?"

"No. The escort has to be approved by me."

"Oh, just drop it, you bitch!" she wanted to say. Instead, Olivia shrugged, lower lip protruding slightly. "Guess I'm not going. Sorry."

"Fine. I'll have my day without you." Serenity mumbled.





"You can go! Ugh. I hate you."

Olivia gave a triumphant smirk. "Yes, I can."

"But I won't let you be a bridesmaid without a dance partner. Not a girl, for goodness' sake. It won't look right for the dancing. What kind of bride lets her bridesmaids attend the wedding without a date.." Serenity kept mumbling. "Oh. For a bachelorette party- I'm not going to support any stripping institutions. So, we could stay in. Play Monopoly or something."

"I don't dance, so that's solved. And, since when do you have morals? I hate Monopoly."

"When I graduated law school. I'm not going to go to a strip club. The people working there are probably dirt poor and working for less than minimum wage and they're probably miserable. So we're going to stay in."

"We can't at least go bowling or something?"

"That's boring."

"Subjective, I guess."

"I know what we could do! We could go shopping."

Olivia shrugged. "Could."

"That would be great, wouldn't it?"

"I'm broke. But yeah, it'd be fun to just go look and all that."

[fff]

"Is El taking a snooze or something?"

"Oh, probably. He sleeps quite a lot lately. I hope he's not sick. What if he's sick!? What if he has AIDS and he dies on our wedding day and then I get AIDS because I slept with him and HOLY SHIT HE HAS AIDS!"

"He has AIDS!?"

"Well, let's go ask!" Serenity marched into the bedroom- there was only one, now that they were engaged. "Hey, honey! Do you have AIDS?"

Elroy WAS, in fact, taking an afternoon nap. Yes, on Christmas. And he didn't stir.

"ELROY!" Serenity screamed, in her most high-pitched i'mgoingtodie scream.

That woke him, sure enough. "CALL THE COPS!!" he shouted.

Serenity laughed. "Good morning! Olivia's here. We have a very pressing question. Do you have AIDS?"

"NO! No, I don't have -- Oh, Happy Christmas, Liv."

"Same to you." Olivia stood leaning on the doorframe with her arms folded across her chest.