Rich and Pretty(37)

“I feel a little better, actually.” Sarah sits up. She yawns. “Are you glad we’re here?”

“I’m glad,” Lauren says. She is.

“I knew it.” Sarah, triumphant. “You had your doubts. You were reluctant. But you came, and I was right, and it’s amazing.”

“I never said I didn’t want to come,” Lauren says. “But yes, it’s amazing here.”

“I can see what’s on your face, you don’t have to say it.” Sarah laughs.

“It’s just that.” Lauren sits up now, too. “I was just worried about money. And work. And stuff. I don’t know. I’m not a bachelorette party kind of girl. But it’s not about me. You’re getting married. This is your party!”

“It wouldn’t have been a party without you here, so I’m glad you came.”

Lauren’s quiet. She never knows what to say when people say nice things to her. There’s never any response that seems to make sense. “So. Meredith.”

“I know.” Sarah shakes her head. “She doesn’t mean to be like that, she just . . . is.”

Meredith had steered the conversation, at the beach, and then over dinner, back to the long, complex saga of her breakup with her boyfriend, Ilan. Her face had grown dark but also more animated, as she gestured wildly with her hands, the pitch of her voice rising as she detailed some slight, the fervor of her words betraying that her feelings for him linger.

“They broke up, like, a year ago, am I right? I mean, she was explaining something, I was barely listening, and then it was, like—wait, we’re talking about ancient history.”

“I know.” Sarah shakes her head sadly, then bursts out laughing. “It’s ridiculous, I’m sorry, oh God, I’m a terrible person.”

“I mean. Months.” Lauren is laughing now, too. “And she’s still, like—talking about the intricacies of some e-mail he sent her in response to some e-mail she sent him in response to, oh my God, I was, like, please shut up.”

Sarah shushes her, starts laughing more loudly, almost choking.

“The whole time she’s talking about this, and just going over and over every detail, and I said, and I know I’m such an *, I said, ‘Gosh, Meredith, it’s hard to believe he could do this to you,’ and she says ‘I know!’ She’s so deep in herself she can’t even detect sarcasm.”

“That’s nothing.” Sarah composes herself, suddenly serious. “You know, I wouldn’t even know Dan if not for Meredith. Remember, her brother, blah blah blah.”

“Right.” Lauren nods.

“So, like two months ago, we’re talking, about the wedding, about me and Dan and how she and her brother are the ones who introduced us in the first place, and she goes off on this tangent about how her brother loves Dan so much and how he’d always kind of wanted her and Dan to end up together.”

“No.”

“It gets better! And how like, in an alternate universe, it should have been her and Dan who ended up together, like even that night, the night we first met, how he was so nice and she felt such an instant connection to him but then of course I did, too, and she saw that and didn’t want to interfere.”

“Please tell me you’re making this up. How can you be friends with this person?” Lauren is aghast.

Sarah shakes her head. “She means well. I know, it’s ridiculous, but she’s just like—she’s obsessed with being single. It’s her thing right now.”

“No man in his right mind would be able to go on a date with her. Maybe we should chip in and get her a hooker while we’re down here. I hear that’s a thing.”

“God, we’d be doing her a favor.”

“Fuck, that is such an insane thing to say. And she’s your friend. Your good friend.” Why were they so mean to their friends?

“I know.” Sarah nods.

“And it’s like—obviously, Dan and you belong together. You’re crazy about each other. I mean, I can’t see Dan dealing with her, not even in her bizarre alternate reality.”

“You think so? You know that.” She pauses. “Yeah. He’s good, Dan.”

“I know that,” Lauren says simply.

“Sometimes I’m not sure.” Sarah pauses. “I mean, I know you’re not crazy about Dan.”

“When did I ever say that?” Lauren takes the bottle of water from Sarah.

“Come on, Lauren.”

“What come on?”

“I’m not stupid. It’s okay.”

Lauren doesn’t say anything.

“I’m just excited that it’s finally happening, we’re getting married, and my friends are going to be there, even if they’re secretly wishing they were the ones in the ridiculous white dress with everyone looking at them.”

“Do you want me to be in charge of Meredith? I’ll get her trashed, make sure she doesn’t say a word to you the whole night.”

“She’s harmless,” Sarah says. “She’s so deep in the pit of her own despair she has no idea what else is going on.”

“You won’t know what’s going on either. Isn’t that what people are always saying? Like their wedding is just a blur of kissing relatives and posing for pictures and eating terrible cake? That’s what I always hear it’ll feel like.”