Bridesmaid Lotto, Page 7

  The report ended with Jake Hall at some club in downtown New York.

  “Jake! Jake!” the reporter yelled, finally getting his attention. “Could you please comment on reports that say you and Rebecca Singleton are dating?”

  I gasped. “What?”

  Jake looked genuinely confused. “I don’t know who your sources are, but at the moment, I am not dating anyone.”

  “And, what do you make of this Bridesmaid war?” she asked.

  I had been hoping he wouldn’t even find out about the whole mess.

  Wrong.

  Jake let out a little chuckle and simply said, “I’m sure it’s all been blown out of proportion.” He waved at the camera and graciously walked away.

  “Oh man, he is so hot. You are a lucky, lucky girl,” Calla said. I detected a hint of sincere disappointment in her voice.

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Yeah, right. Because I’m going to have Jake Hall fall madly in love with me.”

  “It could happen,” she said.

  “Mmm. Hmmm. I’m sure it will.”

  “Oh don’t be such a pessimist. How many other girls are out there with the opportunity you have?” She was starting to sound a little upset. “Exactly three. That’s a one in four chance of Jake falling for you.”

  “Um. Since when does love work that way?” I asked.

  “Haven’t you ever seen any of those bachelor shows on TV?” she asked, getting more and more impatient.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, don’t they always fall in love with at least one of their co starts?”

  “Yeah, but that could all be an act. It’s not like any of them ever stay together or anything.”

  “You don’t know that!” she said.

  The phone rang.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Hello. I’m looking for Josephine please.”

  “Speaking.”

  “Oh, hi Josie. It’s Emma VanHorn.”

  “Oh, hi Emma. How are you?” I said, caught off guard.

  Calla’s eyes grew wide. This whole Bridesmaid Lotto thing had her totally star struck. I think she was borderline obsessed.

  “I’m fine, thank you,” Emma said sweetly. “The reason for my call is to let you know that I loved your idea for the Bachelorette party.”

  “Oh really? That’s good. I’m glad I could help out. I think it will be really fun.”

  “I’ve been really impressed with the way you’ve handled yourself through all this,” Emma said. “I realize that that the press is kind of all over you guys.”

  “Oh, it’s fine. Makes life interesting,” I said.

  “Well, you’ve done very well,” Emma said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Your prize.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about a prize Emma,” I said. “Just being involved with your wedding is quite an honor.”

  Calla nodded vigorously, apparently approving of my blatant sucking up.

  “Well, you might change your mind when you hear what the prize is,” Emma continues.

  “Oh?” I said, pretending not to be overly curious.

  “Well, I just found out this morning that he’s agreed to do it.”

  He?

  “Jake has agreed to go on a date with the winner.”

  My jaw dropped. No. I couldn’t go on a date with Jake Hall. Me and Jake Hall alone together? Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

  “Oh, that’s sweet of him,” I finally said, calm as could be, even though I was internally freaking out.

  “And Josie, the best part is that he absolutely insisted that I tell him who had won before he agreed to anything. I don’t think he would have been willing had it been, well, let’s just say he’s not too impressed with one of the girls so far.”

  Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

  “So are you interested?” she asked.

  “Um. Yes. Of course,” I said. “Sounds like fun.”

  But suddenly my stomach was doing flip flops and I knew I would be scared to death for every moment of every day leading up to the date.

  “Wonderful,” Emma said, sounding genuinely excited. “Jake will be happy. I’ll give him your email address so he can send you the details of the date.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll talk to you soon, Josie,” she said and hung up.

  Calla was searching my face for clues about what might have just happened. I was unable to communicate other than hanging my mouth open and nearly hyperventilating.

  “What!” she yelled.

  I shook my head. Did that really just happen?

  “Josie! What?”

  “Um. I’m going on a date with Jake Hall,” I said.

  Calla squealed. “Oh my God, I knew it! He is going to fall for you!”

  “Calla!” I grabbed her by the shoulders. “How in the hell am I supposed to go on a date with Jake Hall?”

  “Josie, don’t freak out,” Calla said, even though she didn’t look at all calm either. “It’s going to be fine. Try to remember, it’s just a date.”

  I turned away and sat down slowly on the couch. My mind was racing. “Holy crap. I’m going on a date with Jake Hall.”

  If I can just stay calm, maybe I can get through it, I thought logically. But I knew that logic would probably abandon me as soon as I caught on glimpse of him.

  “I’m going on a date with Jake Hall.”

  Calla was nodding.

  “Oh my God,” I said, my voice getting louder. “I am going on a date with Jake Hal1!” I jumped up, screaming by this time and grabbed Calla’s hands.

  We both started jumping up and down, squealing like five year olds.

  A few minutes later, we began to calm down a little, though we were both still talking a mile a minute.

  The apartment buzzer sounded.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s Mattie.”

  “Hey,” I said and buzzed him in.

  A few seconds later he flung open the door. “Did you see me? I was on ‘Entertainment News.’ Oh my gosh. That whole report was awesome! It totally dissed Rebecca Singleton and made you look fantastic! And me too, of course.”

  “Thank you so much Mattie. You are such a good friend.”

  Mattie could see that I was flushed.

  “What’s going on? You’re all red.”

  “I guess you could say I’m a little excited,” I said.

  “Really, why?”

  “Because I’m going on a date with Jake Hall,” I screamed. Calla and I started jumping up and down and squealing again.

  “What? When?”

  “I don’t know when,” I said. “But Emma VanHorn just phoned and told me that a date with Jake Hall was my prize for winning the Bachelorette party contest.”

  “Oh my God, you won! And you’re going on a date with Jake Hall?” He started jumping up and down in sync with us. “We have so much work to do.”

  I stopped jumping. “What do you mean work?” I asked.

  The other two stopped jumping too.

  “Well, you’ll need an outfit. Do you know what you’re doing on your date yet?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, then we’ll need to start with some options. And I thought we’d be able to wait until it got closer to the wedding, but we’ll have to bump up the spa treatments. Oh, and definitely a bikini wax.”

  “What? I won’t need a bikini wax for the first date!”

  “Honey, this is Jake Hall. He’s going to have some expectations,” Mattie said. “I mean, I’d do him on the first date for sure.”

  “Well of course you would,” I said. “But I will not be having any kind of sex with Jake Hall on the first date.”

  Did those words really just come out of my mouth?

  “You’re going on a first date with Jake Hall,” Calla said. “Maybe you’d better spring for the works at the spa, you know, just so you’ll feel more confident.”

  Confidence was sometimes something I was lacking. Esp
ecially on dates. Especially on dates with famous movie stars.

  “Okay, the works at the spa.”

  “It’s not going to be cheap though,” Mattie warned.

  I nodded. “I’ll just have to dip into my travel money again.”

  “Yeah,” Calla said. “It’ll be fine. You won’t need your travel money anyway now that your Mom is paying for it.”

  I nodded. “Although that whole thinking I was a bitch to Rebecca Singleton thing pissed her off pretty good.”

  Calla shrugged. “But you’re in there and you’re doing what you’re supposed to. Plus, wasn’t the whole point of putting you in the lotto in the first place for you to land Jake Hall? Well here you are, going out on a date with him. I hardly think she could disapprove.”

  “Good point. I wonder if I should call her and let her know.”

  Calla shook her head. “Why don’t you let her read about it in the papers? Then she’ll be able to show off to all her friends.”

  “Oh crap. It’s going to be in the papers,” I said.

  “Of course it is gorgeous,” Mattie said. “And that’s why we have to make you even more gorgeous. We should get started right away.”

  “But I don’t even know what we’re doing yet Mattie.”

  “Right. Damn. Go check your email,” he instructed.

  I sat down in front of the computer. “Emma just called me a few minutes ago. I’m sure Jake hasn’t even talked to Emma to get my email address yet.”

  I powered up and logged on to my email.

  There it was.

  [email protected]

  “That can’t be his real email address, can it?” I said. “He must have thousands of fans emailing him all the time if he uses his real name.”

  Calla shrugged. “Maybe it’s so obvious that people don’t even bother trying it.”

  “Open it already, open it!” Mattie said, bouncing he was so excited.

  “Do you have to go to the bathroom?” I asked him.

  He let out a big sigh. “Come on, just open it.”

  I wasn’t really all that comfortable opening my private email with Calla and Mattie looming over my shoulders, but I did it anyway. They seemed almost as invested in this whole thing as I was. And I definitely owed them for their undying support through it.

  I clicked on the link.

  Hi Josie,

  I was really glad to hear that you had won the Bachelorette party prize. A couple of those other girls make me a little nervous.

  Anyway, here are the details for our date. Is it weird that I’m calling it a date if it’s a contest? Just so you know, I was trying to work up the courage to ask you out anyway and Emma came up with this idea to sort of let me off the hook. There I said it. Now I’m embarrassed, but I thought you should know.

  So I’ll pick you up around 8 tomorrow if that works for you. I can’t tell you where we’re going. It’s a surprise. And since you’re a girl and all, and I know you will probably freak out about what to wear I will let you know that you can dress casual.

  Looking forward to tomorrow.

  Jake

  “Oh. My. God!” I said. “He is looking forward to the date! It’s not just a pity thing.”

  “You are so gonna marry him,” Calla said.

  “Calla! Don’t freak me out more than I already am!”

  “Sorry.”

  “I cannot believe he’s not telling you what you’re doing for the date,” Mattie said. “Casual? Casual? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Business casual? Jogging suit casual? Club hopping casual? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?” His voice was getting higher and higher by the second.

  “Mattie! Mattie, calm down,” I said. “We’ll figure this out. You’re a professional. Everything is going to be okay.”

  He took a few deep breaths. “You’re right. We’ll just have to work with contingency plans. Accessorize to the max and carry extras in your bag.”

  I could tell that the fashion wheels were spinning in his head at lightning speed. Thank goodness I didn’t have to worry about my attire. Mattie was certainly doing enough worrying about that for all of us.

  All I had to worry about was making sure McMaster the Disaster didn’t show up to ruin my evening. Speaking of, it was definitely time for another entry. I could almost feel my head swelling already.

  Dear Disaster Diary,

  All through high school, I had a crush on this one guy. That’s it. One guy. All my eggs in one basket, so to speak. A quiet, shy guy with whom I had a mild eye locking flirtation with, but had hardly ever spoken to.

  I also had this friend who thought it was hilariously funny to sneak up behind me and poke her fingers into my sides to watch me flinch. Did I mention I am very jumpy? So one day she did her usual sneak up behind me, and well you know, scare me to death.

  Horrifyingly, as she poked me, a tiny fart squeaked out making that sound like a balloon when you pull the end taught and let the air squeal out slowly. And guess who was standing there?

  So much for those four years of making eye contact.

  ~ 8 ~

  “Do we have to shop tonight? I’m tired,” I said, trying to drag my butt down the street and keep up with Mattie.

  “Jake hasn’t left us much time to prepare. You’ve got a whole day of spa treatments tomorrow. Then you’re going to have to rush back here so I can color and cut you.”

  “I still can’t believe he isn’t telling you what you’re doing,” Mattie said, in a huff.

  “I think it’s kind of sweet. You know, being all mysterious. It’s a pretty good move. I have to admit, I haven’t stopped thinking about what we’re going to be doing for even a second.”

  “Oh please. It’s a date with Jake Hall, as if you would have stopped thinking about it anyway,” Mattie said.

  “You’ve got a point,” I said.

  “Here we go,” Mattie said and pulled me into a store. “This place should have everything we need.”

  Frankly the store didn’t look like much, just an out of the way little shop. Inside was dark and reminded me of what the inside of an old fishing boat must look like. But the walls were lined with gleaming objects; costume jewelry, hats, purses, sunglasses. Just about every kind of accessory you would ever need or want.

  Mattie grabbed a big basket from the front of the store and went to work.

  “Just go sit back there,” he said, pointing to a wall of mirrors that lined the back of the store.

  “Okay, you’re the boss,” I said and winked at him.

  But he was too busy throwing item after item into his basket to notice that I was trying to be cute, so I just went and sat on a big comfy chair.

  “Can I get you anything while you wait?” a saleslady asked.

  “Um. Sure. Do you have coffee?”

  “We have Columbian, Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino, or Café Crema.”

  “Wow. Really?” I said, amazed that this little hole in the wall was so accommodating. “I’ll have a latte please.”

  “Coming right up,” she said with a smile and snuck back behind the curtain that she’d appeared from.

  She quickly returned with my coffee, which was surprisingly good. I sipped and flipped through the latest fashion magazines sitting on the coffee table. It didn’t take long for Mattie to arrive with his basket of goodies.

  “Okay darling. Are you ready for a whirlwind accessory adventure?”

  “I guess so,” I said, not really sure that I was.

  He began to pull and prod me, piling me with this hat, then that hat. He flung necklaces over my head and rammed sunglasses on me so hard I winced.

  “It’s the price of beauty,” he kept reminding me.

  “Jeez Mattie, I’m a person, not a mannequin.”

  “Oh shush,” he said. “It’s going to be totally worth it.”

  He put the things he liked back into the basket, and the rest he tossed onto one of the chairs. I thought it was kind of rude of him, especially considering t
he great customer service we were getting, but who was I to correct him on anything shopping related.

  “Okay, we’re definitely going with a hat. I’m thinking low ponytail and a hat will fool people into thinking you’re hip and chic.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Perhaps no necklace, just an understated scarf and plenty of bangles to jazz you up a little. Cool belt. Sunglasses would be too much. And the purse.”

  “Oh, that’s cute,” I said looking at the little purse he’d picked out. It was a knock off of a sneaker, with striped rubber around the bottom and laces up the front.

  “I know, right?” he said, obviously quite pleased with himself.

  He threw an evening wear style necklace and earring set and a sparkly scarf that he held up to my waist, into the basket.

  “These will be in case of emergency only. You’ll keep them in your purse and if you’re feeling under dressed, you can just throw them on. You really be ready for whatever he has up his sleeve.”

  “Okay, we still have to find clothes, so hurry up and go pay for these,” he said, shoving the basket into my hands.

  “Okay, okay,” I said.

  Apparently Mattie wasn’t too concerned that I hadn’t finished my coffee. He pulled it out of my hand and set it on the table.

  “Shopping! More shopping,” he said pushing me toward the cash register.

  I hurried up to the till and paid for my purchases, cringing again as I hit the savings button on the debit machine.

  We headed back up the street in the same direction that we had been going.

  “Okay, in here,” he said and dragged me in.

  “A lingerie shop?” I said. I already told you that I will not be sleeping with him on the first date.

  “Oh ye of little faith. It’s not for sex,” he said. “It’s for the actual outfit. We need a bustier.”

  “Oh.”

  Mattie rushed around the store quickly scoping.

  “Here we go,” he said pulling a lipstick red satin bustier off the rack. “Go. Try on.”

  “Oh, we’re in such a rush, we’re not even speaking in full sentences anymore?” I teased.

  He continued shooing me towards the change rooms.

  I was a little nervous, but was finally able to come out of the change room to show him.