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Quinn stormed out of the building, trying her hardest to fight off a bout of angry tears. Everything was going horribly, and not for the reasons she’d feared. She’d been afraid that Logan would turn into a bridezilla (or groomzilla, she supposed) and start making the wedding experience unpleasant. But he hadn’t been doing that at all. It turned out the person she had needed to worry about was the last person she’d expected to make problems: Zoey.
“Quinn, wait!”
Quinn clenched her jaw and turned around to face her so-called maid of honor, who had run after her. She did not want to talk to her right now. Not after everything that had happened.
“What do you want, Zoey?” she asked coldly.
“I just want to talk.”
“About what? About that big scene you just made in there in front of the rest of the girls?”
“I can explain—”
“I don’t think I want to hear it,” Quinn interrupted. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you and your crap right now. You’ve already spent enough time turning my wedding into your own personal drama film.”
“My own personal drama film?” Zoey repeated, confused.
“You’ve been treating this week like you’re the star of some movie. You walked in thinking you were the most important person here, but you seem to have forgotten that this wedding is not about you.”
“Of course I know this isn’t about me.”
“Do you?” Quinn challenged. “Because it hasn’t looked like that to me. You’ve been self-centered and trying to take all the attention and focus all week long.”
“I have not!” Zoey protested.
“Yes you have, stop lying, you’ve been lying to me all week! You’ve done nothing but talk about you and brag about your perfect life, which turns out was all fake! And I feel like you haven’t been paying any attention to me at all, which is hurtful. You’re off in your own little world, and you seem a lot more concerned about your stupid show or whatever objectives you have for your own personal gain.” She pointed to the building behind them. “And then in there, when we learned that your ‘boyfriend’ is fake and that you hired him as part of some convoluted plot to win Chase back or make Chase jealous or something that didn't make any kind of sense? Is my wedding a joke to you? Just someplace where you can play around without any responsibilities or regard for anyone else or anything that’s supposed to be happening? Did it not occur to you that this is a very real, very important moment in my life?” She shook her head in exasperation. “That was the last straw for me, Zoey, I couldn’t take it anymore. I just didn’t think a person could care so little about their close friend’s wedding.”
“Quinn, that’s ridiculous. Obviously I care about your wedding.”
“Forgive me, but that statement feels a little hard to believe when all you’ve done is create problems and stress me the hell out. I’m already worn thin, and you’re not helping. This wedding is supposed to be the greatest day of my life and I don’t know what your problem is and why you’re making it so difficult. I can’t help but feel like…” She bit the inside of her lip and then asked the question that had been on her mind all week. “Do you not want me to be happy or something?”
The question seemed to stun Zoey. “What?”
“I know you don’t really like Logan, and you didn’t approve of our relationship when we were first dating, but I’d thought it had been enough time that you’d accept it and be happy for us. But I guess not.”
“What are you talking about? I am happy for you! Quinn, I am so happy for you guys, and I want you to be happy.”
“Then why are you acting like this?”
“Like what?”
She hadn’t realized that Zoey was this dense. It infuriated her that she couldn’t see past her own personal bubble. “Like you are trying to sabotage my wedding!”
“Sabotage?!”
“Maybe sabotage isn’t the right word. That would imply you cared enough to want to ruin it intentionally. You haven’t thought about anyone but yourself since you’ve been here. So maybe you’re not trying to sabotage my wedding, but you’re acting like a terrible maid of honor, and a terrible friend.”
“How have I been a terrible maid of honor?”
“How haven’t you been a terrible maid of honor?” Quinn snapped back at her incredulously, rattling off just a few of her many transgressions. “You forget to get the rings and lie to Logan about it, you’re constantly late to stuff, and when you are there you act like you don’t care or that you’d rather be somewhere else, you make that farce of a speech at the rehearsal dinner, and you throw a bachelorette party that you clearly did not put any effort into. Oh, not to mention you almost hit me and my fiancé with a car. The maid of honor’s job is to help the bride be less stressed, and you are doing the opposite of that. I feel more on edge and overwhelmed than ever. At every turn you seem to be making things worse.”
Zoey didn’t seem to have a defense for this. Maybe she was finally starting to see how badly she’d been fucking everything up. She floundered for a moment, struggling to come up with words. “Quinn, I…” she trailed off weakly.
“Zoey, let me ask you something,” Quinn said, taking a step closer. “Do you care about me at all? Does our friendship mean anything to you?”
“Of course I care!” Zoey exclaimed, like she was offended Quinn would ever suggest such a thing.
“Really? That’s funny, because it feels like you don’t. I don’t feel like you’re thinking about me, or trying to help me or make this a good experience for me at all. And I can’t think of any other reason you’d be so selfish and careless on the biggest day of my life other than that you hate me and don’t want me to marry Logan.”
“I don’t hate you! I’m just…”
“You’re just what?”
Zoey took a deep breath, like she was preparing to admit something sensitive and significant. “I’m jealous, okay?”
She scoffed. “What, jealous of the fact that your former loser nerdy friend is getting married before you?”
“I—”
Quinn couldn’t help but start lashing out. “Miss Popular, Miss In Charge, the one everyone went to for their problems. I brushed it off because you’re my friend, but there was a part of me that always thought you thought you were better than everyone else. And it seems I’m being proved right.” She let out a bitter laugh. “I bet you thought you were the one who’d get married first, who’d have the big beautiful wedding where everyone comes to celebrate and adore you. And it kills you that you’re not. I bet it especially makes you mad that the one getting married first is me, someone so low on the social food chain in high school. Weirdo spaz freak Quinn Pensky getting married before the mighty Zoey Brooks? Oh, the horror! You want to feel superior over me, don’t you? You can’t stand me having the attention over you, so you’re inserting yourself into my wedding and stealing my thunder for yourself, just so that you can feel like you’re better than me!” she bellowed, breathing hard as she finished her tirade.
“Quinn, that is not it! That is not it at all!”
“Then what, Zoey? What is it?” she demanded angrily.
“I thought me and Chase were gonna be you and Logan!” Zoey blurted out. “I thought we were going to be the ‘it’ couple, the one that lasted. But instead, in senior year you were the inseparable couple that everyone admired, and you were the ones who made it work and are now getting married. I really thought I would be married by now, and I’m jealous that you get to have that and I don’t. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m happy you found love, and I want you to have it. I just also want the same for me, too, and it all seems unfair.”
Quinn paused to take all that in. If Zoey truly thought being the “it” couple was important, then she had her priorities mixed up. Quinn and Logan couldn’t have given less of a damn what people thought about them senior year. All that mattered was each other. But, as was always the case, this wasn’t really about Quinn, or even Quinn and Logan. It was about Zoey and what Zoey didn’t have. And not only did she want love of her own, she wanted the “golden” relationship that set the standard, as if that was something that mattered. Which just made Zoey look kind of pathetic.
Quinn stood up straight and took a sharp breath, looking directly at Zoey.
“Look, Zoey. I’m sorry your life didn’t turn out the way you thought it would. And I’m sorry things didn’t work out with you and Chase. I really am. But just because you’re unhappy with your life doesn’t mean you need to take it out on me.”
“I’m not taking it out on you.”
“Yes, you are! You’re making it all about you! And normally I could suck it up and deal, but this is my wedding! I only get one of these! I only want one of these!” she cried, her voice cracking and the tears burning at the back of her eyes. She pressed a hand to her chest. “I love Logan, and I have for a very long time. This wedding is already stressful enough, and I don’t need you adding to it with your emotional baggage!”
“I really didn’t mean to, honest. I just—”
“You just didn’t even think about it. Because you’re only concerned about yourself and can’t see how your actions affect others.” Quinn sighed. In Zoey’s head, it was all about Zoey, and nobody else’s problems mattered. And for whatever reason, this didn’t surprise Quinn at all. It made her long for the company of a friend who actually cared. “God, I wish Lola was here.”
“Lola? Why?”
“Because she was supposed to be my maid of honor!”
Zoey looked hurt. Good. Let her be. It was what she deserved after how she’d acted all week.
Quinn put her hands on her hips and stared at Zoey to drive the point home. “Yeah, it was supposed to be Lola. The only reason you are my maid of honor is because Lola is halfway across the world shooting her movie and her work schedule is strict and wouldn’t give her the time off to be here. You were not my first choice.”
She knew her words were just further twisting the knife, and maybe it made her a bad person, but it was incredibly satisfying. She was deriving a sadistic sort of pleasure at seeing the wounded expression on Zoey’s face.
“I wasn’t your first choice?” Zoey asked, crestfallen.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Well, mainly because I’m closer with her than I am with you. That was the original reason I wanted it to be her. But after the events of this week, you’ve given me plenty more reasons why it should never have been you.”
“Would Lola really have been that much better of a maid of honor than me?”
“At this point, anyone would have been a better maid of honor than you! But especially Lola,” Quinn said. “Lola may like to make fun of Logan, and she certainly gave me a hard time about dating him at the start, but she came around when she saw how happy I was. I know she cares. And I know that if she were here, she would’ve put her heart and soul into the maid of honor thing. Because even though she can be a little shallow sometimes, she’s got a big heart and she cares about people and would’ve wanted to make this the best wedding ever.”
“And you’re saying I don’t care?”
“If you do, you certainly don’t act like it,” Quinn spat. “Lola sobbed her eyes out when she realized she wasn’t going to be able to come to the wedding. Meanwhile it was like pulling teeth just to get you to be here, and then you do this. I feel like I put in a lot of effort just for it to bite me in the butt. If Lola were here, a lot of this mess wouldn’t be happening. And if you were still causing problems, I feel like she would put you in your place so that I wouldn’t have to. And then my biggest worry would be whether or not Logan’s parents were going to get into some kind of fight, or if everything was prepared for the reception, or even something as trivial as how my hair looks; not if my maid of honor was going to interfere with my entire wedding.”
Zoey looked stricken. It was like she was absorbing what Quinn was saying and was finally, finally starting to feel some kind of guilt. “Quinn, I…I’m sorry.”
Frankly, Quinn hadn’t expected her to apologize at all. But apologies weren’t going to cut it at this point. She’d done so much damage already.
God, Quinn felt so tight and wound up and upset. All she wanted right now was to go find Logan and just let all the strain and tension from this evening wash away. But they were going to be spending the night apart, so she couldn’t. And the fact that she was going to be alone tonight just made everything feel even worse. Just what any bride wanted the night before her wedding.
She really hoped for better from her maid of honor, and someone she called her friend. But she’d done nothing but disappoint her. And if Zoey wasn’t going to put her shit to the side and grasp how important this was and actually support her as she went to marry the love of her life, then she didn’t want her at her wedding.
Quinn faced Zoey one last time, her expression cold and hard. “The wedding is tomorrow. But if you’re not going to be present or be there for me, then don’t bother showing up.”
And then she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving a speechless Zoey behind her.