Now in adulthood, it was easy to figure out who was who. Emma was short with thin legs, big breasts, and sad eyes. Meanwhile, her sister, Anna was the opposite—long legs, big hips, and always wearing a bright, excited expression. While Anna kept her red hair, Emma dyed hers black. Holly joked that Emma made it black to match her soul. And even crazier, Emma still couldn’t get my name right. I’d learned to live with it, glad that I didn’t see her much anyway.
Anna hugged me immediately. “You look so good, Ivy. I swear you have the same figure and face of an eighteen-year-old.”
Emma walked past us without saying hello. “They say black don’t crack.”
Anna gasped. “Emma, that is unnecessary.”
“It’s a saying.” Emma frowned and dropped to the bed as if holding a heavy weight on her shoulders. “It’s not a bad thing to say. Right, Ivory?”
“It’s fine. I see it as a compliment.” I took out the fluffy pom-pom beanies. Four were red beanies with white furs. Mine said Maid of Honor in white letters. The rest said Bridesmaid. Holly’s was the only green beanie with red fur. Bride was written on the front in gold. I showed them the beanies. “Okay. Operation Bachelorette Party is in effect.”
Anna high-fived me. “These are perfect.”
“I did my best.” I handed her a red beanie.
Yawning, Emma took one. “They’re blood red. It’s going to look like I killed someone.”
“No it won’t.” Anna waved her away, went to the mirror, and put it on. “This is so awesome.”
“My head is killing me.” Emma dragged herself to the bathroom. “I hope I didn’t get some flu or disease on the plane. All I need is a cold in this snowy place.”
Oh, God. If I have to deal with her, then I’m going to be extremely drunk tonight.
Emma had always been a drama queen, even when we played as kids. If she fell or got a scratch, she screamed and cried like she needed to go to the Emergency room. Later, as teenagers, when a guy broke up with her, she would wear all black with sunglasses and recite sad poetry until we considered stabbing ourselves in the ears.
Thankfully, Veronica came next holding four plastic bags full of alcohol and cups. Her father was black and her mother Japanese. Holly met Veronica in college. They’d pledged the same sorority together. Veronica majored in art with a focus on sculpture. Holly introduced us one of the times I visited her in college. Since then, we’d gone on a few girls’ trips together.
Every time I saw her, I noticed that she never let her curly hair go beyond three or four inches.
Veronica gave me a huge hug. “Ivy, how was your flight?”
“Not bad at all.” I left her arms. “And yours?”
“My husband and I are now in the Mile-High Club.”
“Oh.” I laughed. “Well, I wasn’t expecting all that.”
Emma shook her head. “TMI.”
“Holly started the idea.” Veronica set the bottles down, went back out the door, and carried in several bags.
Anna rushed over to help her. “What do you mean Holly started the idea?”
“We all rode the same plane.” Veronica shut the door. “I swear Nikolas and Holly were in the bathroom for a good thirty minutes, and all I heard was moaning.”
Anna blushed. “No way.”
I chuckled. “Nasty asses.”
“Girl, yes.” Veronica snapped her fingers. “And you know I wasn’t about to let Holly and Nikolas show Trevor and me out.”
Anna grinned. “You two had fun?”
“Kind of.” Veronica shrugged. “Trevor banged his knees a few times. He’s been limping since we landed, but he explained that it was all worth it.”
I high-fived her. “Alright now.”
Emma scrunched her face in disgust. “But what about all the germs in the bathroom?”
Veronica ignored Emma, while I handed her a beanie.
“This is lovely. And I have arrived with the most important item for the evening.” She pulled the pink dildo crown out.
I counted ten pink spray-painted dildos formed in a circle and held together by thin metal shaped like a crown. All the dildos were well over six inches. Their mushroomed tips were pointed to the sky.
Veronica beamed with pride. “It took me a week to put this together.”
Perhaps, you could have saved that time.
We all stood and stared at the crown in silence. Perhaps Anna and Emma were just as perturbed by it.
“Oh wow. I love these.” Veronica glanced at the other beanies. “This is perfect. Aww, look at the gold letters for Bride. The dildo crown will go great over her beanie.”
“Or. . .” Emma raised one finger. “We could leave the crown in the room.”
Veronica shook her head. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Emma scrunched her face in disgust. “The crown is juvenile.”
“Thank you.” Veronica placed one hand on her hips. “However, I didn’t ask you what it was.”
“Perhaps you should have.” Emma raised her eyebrows. “I would have saved you all that time. Holly will not want to wear it. If she does, it will be out of sympathy.”
Veronica shoved the dildo crown her way. “Perhaps you need one of these dildos for yourself. Just say the word, sweetie. I’ll stick one right up your ass in seconds.”
“All right!” I raised my hands in the air. “Let’s keep all opinions and dildos to ourselves, please. This is about a fun evening for Holly. Let’s remember that.”
The door opened.
I glanced over my shoulder.
Carrying a garment bag, Park entered and spotted the crown. “Oh my. I didn’t know it would be that type of party. I might have worn something else.”
“You’re fine.” I grabbed the bag. “Thanks for bringing the coats. How did they do in your bag?”
“Not a wrinkle or scratch to the alpaca.”
“Awesome.”
Veronica came to me and kept her voice low. “And I don’t care what Miss Thang said, this crown is amazing. Holly will love it.”
Park nodded. “I definitely love it.”
Veronica placed the dildo crown on my bed and rummaged through her other bags. “This will be a good night.”
Whistling, Park gazed at the crown.
“That’s the spirit.” I unzipped the garment bag and pulled out the coats. “Thanks for coming, guys. I have our coats. Can everyone put theirs on now so we’re ready for the bride? Oh, and there are matching gloves in the pockets. We’ll need them for the restaurant.”
Holly had chosen red and green for the wedding colors no matter how I nicely tried to convince her of otherwise. I hated the combination. Regardless, tonight was about my bestie so we would stick with the ungodly green and red.
For the bachelorette party, I designed matching coats. They were dark red on the outside and green within. The style was called the Kate Coat due to the English Princess Kate Middleton wearing it a lot. Holly was a huge fan of all things English royalty and constantly stayed up-to-date with any royal gossip. I gave my seamstress strict instructions. The stylish wrap coat had to have ribbed sleeves and be formed from double-faced superfine alpaca. It also had to be a go-to classic for all the women. Since it all cost a pretty penny, I wanted them to be comfortable with wearing their coats many times later.