My Family Gave My Wedding to Their Favorite GirlChapter 2

The ride home takes twenty minutes.

By the time I get there, half the internet has already seen me with cake on my face and my torn dress hanging off my shoulders.

My phone keeps vibrating.

Coworkers.

Clients.

People I haven’t spoken to in years.

One message makes me stop.

Claire, they’re turning screenshots of you into memes. Please tell me you’re getting those videos taken down.

I open the first repost.

Then the second.

Then a compilation someone has already edited together.

My brother dumping water over my head.

Mom cutting my hair.

Sophie tearing my dress.

Adrian pushing me backward.

The comments are worse outside Vanessa’s livestream.

Some people laugh.

Others call it cruel.

A few ask why no one stepped in.

For the first time tonight, I feel something other than humiliation.

Anger.

I forward every link to an attorney I’ve worked with before and ask her to preserve everything.

Then I open Vanessa’s profile.

I almost never check her account.

Vanessa posts constantly. Restaurant openings. Brand trips. Resorts. New clothes. Photos from places she says she “randomly discovered.”

I scroll.

A photo from a mountain lodge.

Adrian’s watch appears at the edge of the table.

Another post from a waterfront hotel.

Ethan is reflected in the glass behind her.

Then a rooftop bar.

Mom’s favorite handbag sits beside Vanessa’s chair.

I keep scrolling until I reach a pinned vlog.

The date stops me.

My birthday.

Last year.

I remember that night too clearly.

Mom had called around six.

She sounded breathless.

She told me she and Ethan had been in a car accident on the way home from a business trip.

Adrian was already with them, she said.

They were being treated at a private medical center a few hours away.

I left immediately.

On the way to my car, a drunk man followed me through the parking garage. I got away, but not before falling hard enough to split my palm open.

I wrapped it myself and kept going.

I drove for hours.

When I finally reached the medical center, security told me my name wasn’t on the approved visitor list.

I called Mom.

Then Ethan.

Then Adrian.

Over and over until my phone was almost dead.

No one answered.

Adrian appeared the next morning looking exhausted.

He hugged me and told me everyone had fallen asleep after a long night.

I believed him.

Now I watch Vanessa’s birthday vlog.

There is no hospital.

No accident.

No emergency.

They are all in a luxury resort suite.

Mom is laughing while Vanessa opens gifts.

Ethan brings out a cake.

Adrian stands behind Vanessa with one hand resting on her chair.

The timestamp shows they were filming while I was sitting outside that medical center in the cold.

I shut the video off.

For once, I don’t cry.

I’m too tired.

When I reach my apartment, I go straight to my bedroom to pack.

I stop in the doorway.

My suitcase is already on the floor.

So are my shoes.

My jewelry boxes.

My work folders.

Everything that used to be inside my room has been pushed into the hall.

Inside, Vanessa’s clothes hang in my closet.

Her skincare products cover my vanity.

Her luggage sits open beside my bed.

A week ago, Mom told me Vanessa needed somewhere closer to work.

I assumed she would use the guest room.

Apparently everyone else knew better.

I crouch to pick up one of my sketchbooks.

The front door opens behind me.

“Claire?”

Adrian.

He crosses the apartment quickly and pulls me into his arms.

“Thank God you’re here.”

I don’t hug him back.

He doesn’t seem to notice.

“You disappeared. Do you know how worried I was?”

I take out my phone.

Two missed calls.

No message.

Not one text asking if I’m okay.

I hold up the screen.

Adrian’s expression shifts.

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

He sighs.

“You know what Vanessa is like. If nobody goes along with her ideas, she gets upset. Then your mom worries about her, and you end up fighting with your family again.”

“So humiliating me was easier.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you did.”

His mouth tightens.

He tries a softer tone.

“I know tonight went too far.”

“You brought allergy medicine.”

“That was just in case.”

“In case what?”

He doesn’t answer.

Instead, he reaches for a gift box sitting on the table.

“We wanted to make it up to you.”

He opens it.

Inside is a bright red wig.

Underneath it is a black outfit with barely enough fabric to qualify as clothing.

I stare at him.

Adrian gives me an uncertain smile.

“Your hair got messed up. I thought you might want options.”

“And this?”

He touches the outfit.

“Vanessa said you take yourself too seriously.”

Of course she did.

“She thinks trying something different might help.”

“Help what?”

“You know.” He hesitates. “Us.”

My stomach turns.

Adrian keeps talking.

“We’ve been together for years, Claire. Sometimes you’re so reserved. So controlled. Maybe it would be good to loosen up for once.”

I look at the red wig again.

At the outfit.

At Adrian’s face.

Then I understand why he is suddenly being so patient.

Why he came back instead of staying with Vanessa.

Why the clothes are already waiting here.

I walk toward the bedroom door.

“Claire?”

I pull it open.

Vanessa stands in the hallway with a camera raised.

Ethan is behind her.

Mom too.

Sophie is adjusting a tripod beside them.

For half a second, nobody moves.

Then Vanessa lowers the camera.

Her smile slips.

“Well.”

She laughs awkwardly.

“Guess you ruined the surprise.”

【Word Count: 1,056】