'Bridal jewelry'

'Check'

'Bridal veil'

'Lying on the bed besides jewelry'

'Bridal Garter'

'Ummmmmm, ok they are here, check'

'Family reserved seating signs'

'Placed'

'Aisle chair decor'

'Done'

'Ceremony Aisle Runner'

'Check'

'Unity Candles'

'Check'

'Flower Girl Basket'

'Ready to be handed over to the girl'

'Silk rose petals'

'Check'

'Ring bearer pillow'

'Ready with the rings'

'Wedding Guest book'

'Check'

'Seating chart'

'Gabe is placing it right now'

'Food menu'

'Under the control of Aunt Em'

'Cake'

'It's not here yet, but the baker assured that it will be on time.'

I arranged all the things in place to avoid last moment rush while Dacey checked off all the items in the list. We want every single thing to be perfect. Absolutely perfect. It is going to be the best wedding ever. Every girl's dream wedding.

"Don't you think we are forgetting something important?" Dacey said while looking around the room, searching for the 'forgotten' thing.

"Why would you think so? We have been at it for hours now. Every damn thing is so systematically placed that the director of Action films would have been jealous of us. Not to mention, Director of Romantic films will want to shoot you in the camera while you walk down the aisle in your especially designed oh so expensive and beautiful dress.......... That's it, Dacey, where is your dress?"

She did a full 360° turn at her feet, looking around the room. 

When she didn't see it anywhere in our 'perfect' systematic order, she shrieked with panic evident in her voice,

"Where the hell is my wedding dress?"

The search began. 

Search party including her and I with my Great Pyrenees, Tucker and his trustable nose. 

We looked throughout the room, Dacey's panic increasing with each passing second. We searched the whole house, this time her loud shrieks increasing with each passing second. 

"What am I supposed to do now? I don't want to wear my mother's frilly and centuries-old dress. Who in the world loses their wedding dress? Do you think it's a bad omen? Oh my god, what if my marriage gets delayed? What if, Walter meets an accident on the way?" She started crying and sobbing loudly, her nerves already haywire because of wedding jitters.

I was busy imagining Dacey in her mother's wedding dress that is almost historical, passed down from generation to generation. 

The corset too tight and designed with what seemed like shoelaces and the skirt puffed up like there are a million balloons stuck under it. Dacey would look hideous. The mental image made me cringe. 

Tucker was now barking outside a black color door with 'DANGER' sign drawn on it. 

I tugged Dacey's hand, turning her head forcefully towards the door when she ignored me, too busy to wail; and hushed her to remain silent.

I tiptoed towards the danger zone, dragging my hiccuping best friend along with me.

I rubbed Tucker's back, taking out a packed pie from my pocket, unwrapped it and presented it to Tucker as a reward for his extraordinary and brilliant performance. He grabbed it, instantly running off to God knows where.

We opened the door slowly, making sure that it didn't creak, not wanting to alert the one who was on the other side of the door. 

There he was, the thief. The culprit who stole the bridal dress. Caught red-handed.

Dacey's sharp intake of air let me know that she was stupified too. And very furious.

There he was, Blake, Dacey's younger brother who was in high school, lying on the bed in Dacey's shoulderless wedding dress.

Shouting war cries, Dacey jumped on him,

"You are not supposed to wear that, you Lucifer. Give me my dress back. I want it, right now. Take it off."

She shouted, hitting his chest like a barbaric Tarzan. He threw her off of him on the floor. 

"I happen to like it, big sis. Look at all these stone thingies and intricate designs. It's so pretty and shiny. Why would I want to take it off? Give me an incentive to do so." He muttered while rolling on the bed, now lying on his stomach. 

"You are ruining it, you daft kid. Stop moving." Dacey shouted, clenching her fists.

"Convince me, dear sister." He said in an amused voice, tempting her to initiate a fight with him.

"Fine, you can have the money. Just take off my dress, you shameless fellow."

"Not convincing enough. Please elaborate, sis." He was now looking at her expectedly. 

"Hi Alek, I didn't see you there." He waved and I waved back at him enthusiastically. The little mini-me devil, however, looked at him with eyes filled with betrayal on not including me in his plan. 

Needless to say, we were crime partners. We often blackmailed people into giving us our desired things. But this fiasco, even I didn't know anything about it. So when Dacey directed her glare towards me, narrowing her eyes, I instantly raised my both hands, silently telling her that I had no part in this one.

"Stop staring down poor Alek, big sis. She didn't play any role in this master plan of mine. Let's talk about more important matters." He came to my defense immediately.

"Fine, I will give you my this month's whole salary." Dacey bargained knowing this was what he wanted.

Blake started stripping down immediately and ran out of the room at the first chance he got, clad only in his boxers. Dacey picked up her dress, smoothing it all over. 

Blake was a good kid and loved her sister very dearly. It's just that, he and Dacey had this series of mischievous pranks going on in between them.

We went to Dacey's room and when the last item was ticked off finally, Dacey squealed, "Yayyyyy! I am getting married."

It's her wedding day. She is marrying Walter Sutton, her boyfriend of 4 years. Though being 23 years old same as me, she is young but they love each other way too much to wait. 

Walter is a sweet, innocent and genuine guy with blonde hair, green eyes, and a killer smile. He is struggling a bit in a new project in his company but I am sure they are going to face all the difficulties together, overcoming them simultaneously.

They will have enough kids to form a cricket team, buy a house on the beach, and grow old and wrinkly together while telling how beautiful the other one still looked. 

Yeah, they are that type of adorable. I am so happy for her, she deserves this and so much more. 

"Thank you God! Finally, after tolerating her presence for twenty-three long years, you showed me some mercy. It's about time I get rid of her. " I shouted.

Her dark brown eyes widened dramatically and then narrowed in a matter of nanoseconds, smirking she jumped out of the bed on top of me. Her 5'7 frame dragging my cute miniature 5'5 self on the floor in a horizontal position.

The air escaped from my lungs in a gasp and laughing, I shouted,

"But that's true, our friendship is way over its expiry date. I need a new best friend!"

Suddenly out of nowhere, my great Pyrenees, Tucker saw this as a fair opportunity and jumped on top of Dacey; both their weight combined crushing my entire existence. 

"Jeez Dacey! It's your wedding day. At least, you should have dieted for it, you fatass." I groaned, trying to ruffle her feathers even though I know she is in great shape. She is hot and has perfect curves. Walter is one lucky man to have her as his wife.

"Shut up you moron! You should put your dog on a diet instead. I swear he grows 2 inches daily. What the hell do you feed him?" 

While I was trying to crawl out my way from under them; Dacey was trying her very best to shift Tucker's 8 inches tall large frame even by a few centimeters.

And Tucker was lying on top of us like it was the most comfortable bed in the world, I spotted Gabriel waltzing in the room. 

He stopped at the doorway and gazed at us with eyes full of disbelief at our antics. He looked back outside and then in the room and then back outside contemplating whether to leave us to our fate.

'Help!' I wheezed out looking at him like he was my prince in shining armor, with a warrior's sword in his hand and angel's white wings fluttering on his back descending from heaven to rescue me from the wrath of two psycho living creatures on time.

But I should have known better. He is devil incarnation, that heartless baby-eating monster! 

He just shrugged and made his way to the orange bean bag on the other side of the room. He sat down looking at all of us with amusement filled eyes. I glared at him wishing I had some magical powers.

Oh! The things I would do to him. The little mini-me devil sitting over my shoulder was already thinking of some gruesome torture techniques.

Dangling him of the roof with a rope tied around his ankle while I poured cockroaches and worms all over him and ice in his boxers was her favorite.

Meanwhile, on top of me, Dacey and Tucker switched their positions with Tucker's entire weight on me and Dacey cuddling into him while shouting, "Karma is a bitch."

"Not a bigger one than me." I slipped out from under them and standing up in a swift move while raising my hands in a 'swag sign'. 

I started shaking my booty in victory dance moves leaving Dacey on the floor with my dog who I was planning to donate now because of his utter betrayal. The nerve of his to betray me!

"I am going to miss all of you so much." It was Aunt Emilia, Dacey's Mom standing by the door gazing at us with tears brimming her eyes, looking on the verge of a meltdown. 

"Oh Mom, please don't cry ." Dacey went and hugged her close, her eyes moistening too. Aunt Em buried her head in Dacey's shoulder, her shoulders shaking with silent cries.

"All my little babies are going to leave me. What am I supposed to do?" She whimpered.

She was right. It is our last day together with all of us going separate ways after the wedding.

It was quite hard to believe. My mum and Aunt Em are best friends since high school hence after marrying their high school sweethearts, they purchased houses in the same lane. All of this resulted in me and Dacey being best friends since diapers. We went to kindergarten together. 

Over there in kindergarten, we saw a slightly older kid than us in the same grade being bullied by the whole class for his age and his father who was in prison. 

One moron was shouting at him, how he should get out of there because no one was ever going to befriend him. All the other students standing behind him were laughing and making fun of the poor soul.

He was cornered with his forest green eyes wide and anxious but his upper lip stiffened trying to appear confident. He was trying to hold himself together but being surrounded also made him turn his head around in order to find a way to escape. 

I went there and punched the moronic kid in the left eye as my father had taught me and shouted, "Stay away from him. He is my friend. "

I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of there along with Dacey. His name was Gabriel and he liked Pokemon, that was more than enough for 4 years old us to befriend him.

From that moment onwards, all three of us were best friends. We always had each other's back. For the last 23 years, we were each other's support system, stress-busters, and happy pills.

Over the years, Gabriel faced a lot of traumatic events in his life that would shake the mere foundation of anybody's life. But he always managed to uplift himself. 

From the number the bruises on him because of underground fighting and tattoos covering his whole 6'1 large frame, he appeared very intimidating and menacing. He usually scared everyone away with that intense look in his forest-green eyes. 

He never spoke more than one or two sentences, always remaining in the background, observing others and the situation. 

He had gone through a lot of shit in his life but he was a survivor who had endured and outlived all the adversities in his life. 

But boy, was his mind sharp! He invested his savings from underground fighting in the business world smartly and opened his own Architectural Company four years back. Now, he builds everything from mansions to five-star hotels. 

He is a self-made millionaire who is climbing the ladder of success very swiftly. He had recently opened his first international branch in London and is thoroughly invested in it.

It was a major milestone for him to strengthen his position in the business world and to extend the list of new allies and investors. So, after Dacey's wedding, he is going to London for an indefinite period of time until his business settles well over there.

This is what he had worked so hard for. He always wanted to get away from New York and his past. Now when Dacey and I were shifting, he had no valid reason to stay here any longer.

New York forced him to face the demons from his past, making him remember everything on a frequent basis. He understood that he had to let go of his past finally and be free of its shackles. 

He needed a new start away from all the haunting nightmares and memories.