Living on a Prayer

by P-Berry

Chapter 2

Several minutes later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of my best friend's car, leaning my head against the window. The patch he had provided me with had stopped the bleeding on my cheek quickly, but, given the fact that it was in the middle of my forehead, looked far from stylish.

I did feel refreshed, however, having taken a quick shower at home, swallowed an aspirin and put on some new clothes before we had left. My wedding suit, which -for whatever crazy reason- I had decided to put on the night before was, according to Autumn Leaf, unwearable, so I had stuck with a simple casual outfit and ditched my suit onto the backseat, promising Autum Leaf to take care of it later - somehow.

How I was supposed to marry in blue jeans and a black hoodie was beyond me, however.

Not that I cared too much in this moment, really. My hangover did a great job at keeping my mind busy just by forcing me to focus in order not to vomit. And what little mental capacity was left was quickly filled with flashback images of what I had dreamt earlier...

A shudder ran through my spine and I shook my head, looking up at the scenery passing by outside, then -in a sudden fit of motion sickness- lowering my eyes again where my look fell onto my hand - and on the ring on it.

"I ... I need to see her." I muttered, struggling to hold on to that thought and not lose it in the chaos that was my mind. "Hey, Autum." I said, looking up to my friend sitting next to me, "Seriously, I ... I need to see Roseluck." Remembering my phone, before I had dropped it, I added, "She's called me a dozen times this morning. I think she wants to talk to me."

"I can imagine." Autum Leaf replied with a thin smile, "I met her when I was on my way to you earlier. She said there was something really, really important she needed to tell you, but you, being the -and I quote- drunk, mindless dork that you were, wouldn't listen to her." He explained, unable to hold back a grin, "Didn't she reach you?"

"She tried!" I exclaimed; this unexpected revelation didn't really help me to calm down, "But I didn't hear my phone, and by the time I wanted to call her back, I dropped my phone and broke it." I explained him my predicament, "So now I can't reach her."

Autum Leaf eyed me with a glance that betrayed a touch of pity for a moment, but then shrugged. "Well, tough break. Guess you'll just have to wait till you see her in church later."

"But I can't wait this long!" I said desperately, "Can't I just call her with your phone? She's called me eight times, so it must be important to her!"

"Sure you can." Autum replied casusally, not looking away from the road ahead of us. "Go right ahead."

I looked at him in silence for a moment, confused that he made no move. "Well..." I finally spoke up, "Won't you give it to me?"

"Oh?" he said, turning to face me, "But I already did! Yesterday night, in fact." As I just looked at him in silent confusion, he elaborated, "At around two in the morning, you wanted to call your 'Rosie Baby', and your battery was dead, so I gave you my phone." he explained, sounding perilously sober, "Since you haven't given it back since then, I was assuming that you still have it. Isn't that so?" he asked with a stern glance.

My eyes remained on him for another moment, processing what he had just said, then I sighed, dropping my head. "You gotta be kidding me." I muttered, rubbing my tired eyes.

"Afraid not." He said, shaking his head. "I'm not gonna hate you for losing it, since it was pretty old and I wanted to get a new one anyway. Besides, we've all fucked things up while we were drunk, but I'm afraid I can't help you with a phone right now."

"Damnit." I cussed, running my hand over my face, "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, I suggest you just wait a little longer." Autum Leaf said soberly, "Remember, you do have an appointment with her later on." he said with a wink.

"But what if that's exactly it?" I asked him with wide eyes, "What if ... what if whatever she needs to tell me is ... somehow related to that?" Remembering what had happened in my dream, I hesitantly added, "What if she wants to blow the whole thing off?"

"Pfft, don't be stupid." he said with a flick of his hand, "Sure, she was a little miffed that you were still half-comatose this morning, but she sure as heck seemed just as sure about this as you."

I remained silent, closing my eyes and leaning my head against the window again, my mind conjuring up images of all the ways this could go wrong.

However, my mind and face both lightened up as another idea came to my head. "Wait!" I said, "You said she's with her friends right now, didn't you? Take me to them!"

"Sorry, but no can do." Autumn replied dryly, shaking his head.

"But why!?" I asked, nearing the end of my patience.

"Hey, she's your bride to be." he said teasingly, "You should know better than me why you can't see her right now - it's your wedding day, remember?"

"What are you-" I was about to ask, but then cut myself off, dropping my head into my hand, "Oh crap."

"Uh-huh." my friend replied curtly, then, looking at me, added, "Hey, it's not my fault she's so old-fashioned and won't let you see her before the ceremony."

"But what if we just-"

"Nope." he cut me off, even before I could make my suggestion, "You know her, and you know her friends. Even if we would just stop by and pay them a visit, they wouldn't let you near her. That's one of the requests she made while we planned this whole thing, remember?"

Feeling my shoulders sink, I let my head drop against the window again, feeling what little poise I had left fade away. "Shit..." I muttered with a long sigh.

"Hey, chin up." Autum said, patting my shoulder. "I know how you feel. I've been there too a year ago, remember?" He asked, lifting his hand and showing me the golden ring around his finger.

Of course. Of course he had been there. He was already way ahead of me in this aspect - he had found the love of his life -a girl called Lemon Hearts; a mutual childhood friend of ours- had proposed to her, had married her, and now the two were even expecting a baby.

Yes, he had, by my definiton, made it in almost all aspects of life.

Now if only the same could be said about me. I had a pathetic job as an underpaid grocery clerk, had a fiancée that was way too good for me, and had an upcoming wedding that was on the rocks. Heck, as far as I was concerned, my entire life was on the rocks at this point.

"Yeah..." I muttered absentmindedly, looking at his ringed finger, "Yeah, you're ... you're perfect. Everything about you is perfect."

"That's not what I meant!" Autum said, rolling his eyes, "Look, if you're so desperate about talking to her, how about we find you a payphone? You do remember her number, right?"

I looked at him in silence for a long moment, then gave a muffled, "Mm-hmm."

"Good." He said with a nod. "See? There's one over there!" he pointed a finger past me, towards a single phone hanging on a wall on a house up ahead. "So there's no need to mope, you hear?"

---

"She doesn't answer." I replied curtly as I opened the door and let myself drop onto the passenger seat, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I've tried four times, but she won't pick up." Feeling my arms going limp, I closed the door and let my head sink against the window again. The short walk from the curbside to the payphone and back had cost me more power than I was willing to admit.

"She probably just has her phone shut off." Autum Leaf explained calmly, trying to cheer me up.

Slowly, I lifted my head and turned to face him with the most un-impressed glare I could muster. "Sure." I grumbled, "'cause that's what you would do when you wait for someone to call you back. You turn your phone off." I shook my head, "Let's face it: she wants to blow the whole wedding off. She doesn't love me; she doesn't want to marry me. Hell, she probably hates me, anyway. ... Not like I can blame her."

"Quit talking shit, dude!" Autumn cut me off, sounding legitimately angry now, "I don't know what's gotten into you, but quit saying things like that!"

I sighed, letting my head drop against the headrest and closing my eyes.

"Come on." Autumn started another attempt, giving me an encouraging smile, "I know you're nervous, but trust me, in a year you'll think back to this day as the best day of your whole life."

I let out a grunt. "Yeah, I'll think of this day as the day my bride to be has left me standing in front of the altar and left me for her best friend." I muttered dryly.

"What?" Autumn Leaf asked with a bewildered grin, "How did you get that idea?"

"Long story." I said, not looking up, "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Your call." He said with a shrug, "But now chin up, we'll get you through this, promise."

"Whatever." I mumbled, not bothering to hide my lack of enthusiasm. "Where are we going, anway?"

"What do you think?" his reply came after a second, "Don't remember our plan from yesterday night?"

I let out a sigh, giving him a look that, I hoped, would explain him that I didn't remember a single thing from that night, aside from drinking too much.

"You know how we wanted to slacken off today before the ceromony and take things slow?" He asked, grinning at me.

I nodded numbly.

"Well, you wanted to screw that and instead go to a strip club to 'inspect the goods'." He said with a chuckle, "And since it's your wedding day and you're the boss, that's what we're going to do."

"You can't be serious." I grumbled, letting my head drop against the window pane.

He replied with another chuckle, pulling over and stopping at the side of the road. "Sure am."

"Well screw you then!" I hissed back, "It's my wedding day, I'm feeling like shit and looking even worse. I am not going to spend the last hours of my single life in a strip club!"

"Trust me." He said with a wink, opening the door and getting outside, "I'm sure you'll like it."

I gave another long, exhausted sigh. I didn't want to get out of this car. I really didn't. I wanted to talk to Roseluck; even better, see her, and make sure everything was okay with her. I wanted to talk to her and know what it was she had been so dead-set on telling me. Was she just nervous like me? Or was there something more important she wanted to tell me? Something like ... like...

My thoughts got interrupted as the door next to me got torn open and Autum Leaf leaned inside. "Come on, slowpoke." He urged, grabbing me by my arm and making me get out as well, "I have a surprise for you. I'm sure you'll like it."

"Dear god..."I muttered, closing my eyes as my best friend shoved me forward and into an inconspicious-looking building by the side of the road, "Please, just let me die."