MIA

The ride to the reception was quiet. Jeff and Mia were having a strange dynamics happening between them, tense, yet solemn, full of spite. Somewhere between anger and nostalgia. She wanted him away, yet she wanted him near. She wanted to fight, but she also wanted to forget about it and pretend it never happened. A week has gone by and their status hasn't changed.

Jeff was just silently in denial and giving her a silent treatment.

And Mia was deciding on which approach was better. To actively beg for his forgiveness or tell him to stop being a fucking drama queen and talk to her. The latter was winning.

Her inner Christa was slowly taking over and she was ready to drink heavily and behave like a spoiled brat. Again.

The reception was held in the beautiful house on the outskirts of town. The house was completely made of stone, the moss climbing over the walls, adding a romantic touch to it. The lawn was partially tiled with just enough space for a dancing area, chair, tables and the outer bar, dressed in white wood.

Fortunately for Lucy, the day was warm and clear, without any chance of rain.

People were scattered all over the place, all fancily dressed, some familiar and some strangers to Mia. As soon as they entered the stony gates, Lucy ran in her heels out of the crowd.

Her wedding dress was red and silken. The sleeves were long and wavy, inextinguishable from the wide flowy hem. The cleavage and shoulders were entirely exposed and Mia wondered how that dress stayed in place. Her hair loosely fell over her shoulders. Other girls wanted to look like princesses on their wedding day, but Lucy looked like a goddess.

"Mia!" The panic in her eyes was obvious. "The photographer hasn't shown up. And my mother is freaking out. Beware!" She turned to Jeff. "Hi, Jeff."

"When did you book him?" Mia asked.

"Yesterday. I didn't even want a damn photographer, everyone can take decent pictures on their phones, but my mother insists. So, please," Lucy put her palms together, "please, tell you can take the photos with your camera."

Mia remembered the camera on her hip, she took it impulsively. Lucy's mother, Esther peaked out of the crowd and rushed towards them.

"Oh, shit, here she goes!" Lucy basically hid behind Mia.

"The photographer is not answering! I heard in his voice that he is a spoiled, bratty douche!" The strength of this woman took them down like a tsunami, as she marched in her colourful, flowery dress, that reached all the way to the floor. Her dark skin brought every colour to life. For a woman a shy from sixty, she was mesmerizing.

"Jesus Christ, mum! Maybe something happened to him, don't be mean." Lucy tried, but Esther only gave her a death glare.

"There is no excuse for being an unprofessional scumbag! I don't care what happened, he has to call and cancel and not just not show up like a miserable piece of shit." Esther waved around with her hands, trying to emphasize all of her words.

The rest of them were a little bit scared.

"Mum, Mia has a camera, she'll take the pictures." Lucy put her hand on her mother' shoulder and Esther locked her eyes with Mia's, making her flinch.

"I will give you one thousand dollars if you take the pictures of the most important day in my daughter's life." Esther said sternly, emphasizing each word.

"It's really not the most important day in my life." Lucy shook her head. Mia stared at two women, not sure what to do.

"But, Mia's not a professional photographer." Jeff smirked.

"Shut up, Jeff." Mia cut him off. "When do you need me?"

"Right now!" Esther shouted.

"Before the dinner is served. We have to seat everyone so we can figure out the order of taking pictures. But don't you worry about that, go mingle!" Lucy took Mia by her shoulders and pushed her to the crowd.

Mia was grateful she chose to wear lower heels, because walking through the grass seemed downright impossible. She had no idea how Lucy did it.

"I like your dress, by the way." Lucy whispered, making Mia look down to the shorter-than-usual hem of her black dress. It hugged her curves, but Mia hoped it wasn't too much. One sleeve was long and the shoulder was covered, which evened out the fact the other shoulder was completely naked.

"I like yours more." Mia smiled.

Jeff was left somewhere behind, as the girls approached a standing table.

"Hello, husband!" Lucy ran for the table surrounded by Christa and Noel, a gorgeous Mexican with a wide smile on his lips. He was in a white shirt and jeans, probably the luckiest man in the whole universe because his wife didn't make him wear something foolish.

"Hello, wife." His voice was deep and he took Lucy in his arms, while Mia and Christa both sighed.

"They're going to have beautiful babies." Christa whispered and grabbed two glasses of gin tonic from the waiter's platter. Mia eyed Christa's revealing, dirty white dress. Her blond hair was in a high, tight ponytail which made her seem even more naked.

"You're not supposed to wear white to another woman's wedding." Mia said.

"It's not white, shut up!" Christa murmured, sipped her gin tonic and eyed Noel's behind as him and Lucy proceeded to welcome some other guests.

"Is Sam here?" Mia asked.

"She had to drop Milo off somewhere, Mike and her will be here shortly." Christa seemed to be paying more attention to the available men in the crowd. And the others not so available. This earned her a couple of death glares, which she ignored.

"It amazes me how honest you are in what you want." Mia murmured. She turned around to check if Jeff was anywhere to be found, but he was off talking to some people. Him and Lucy worked in the same field, so he probably knew some people.

"It's easy, because I want everything." Christa shrugged her shoulders. "I'm selfish like that. You should learn from me."

"Yeah? And what?" Mia smiled and spun the gin tonic in her hands.

"Uh, let's see. You spent the last few weeks ravished by guilt, because you kissed another guy. Honestly, babe, for the amount of guilt you felt, you should've ridden that dick hard." Christa emphasized the word 'hard,' earning a couple of distraught glances from elderly women.

"I should've slept with one of them, at least. Instead, I got no dick and all the stress." Mia downed the gin tonic and waved towards the waiter.

"Oh, girl, don't tell me you weren't even sleeping with Jeff?" Christa's facial expression was one of utter disbelief and plain disappointment. Mia was tempted to hit the table with her head.

"I haven't slept with Jeff in like two month."

"Oh, you poor thing. Listen to wise Christa, now." Christa handed the second gin tonic to Mia and saluted, catching her glance. "If you're not screwing whenever you can, and I mean it, whenever you can, you gotta walk right out, honey. You just up and leave."

"So, that's the only thing you base the future of your relationships on?" Mia laughed out loud.

"Don't try to be smart with me, you know I'm right. Whoever he is, he's gonna get older, fatter and he's not gonna be as successful as he thinks. If he's not fucking you right, you're gonna regret it." Christa's eyes were stern and Mia had to laugh.

"I should've slept with Xander." Mia murmured, finally feeling the Christa side taking over completely.

"Yes!" Christa shouted, ushering Mia to drink her gin and tonic. "You're gonna be condemned either way. Jeff's gonna be mad either way, and honestly, who the fuck cares? He's gonna forgive you, anyway."

"Okay, Christa, I think that's far enough." Mia shushed her friend.

"No. Take it to another level. Think about it, in the eyes of anyone who's gonna find out, you're a woman that cheated on her man. Selfish, greedy and impossible to satisfy. And I bet you didn't enjoy any of it for one second." Christa seemed angry, which was amazing considering this had nothing to do with her.

But Mia knew what the anger was for. It didn't matter what she did or why she did it, she was going to be branded a slut anyway. The bitch that cheated.

"I know what they call me." Christa smiled. "All the pure, innocent, chaste women that care so much about what's going on between my legs. But guess what, one day, we're all gonna be eighty and none of us will be fucking anything. At least I had some fun, while all of them worried about what other people think." The gin tonic disappeared from the glass.

"It doesn't really matter what they think. I mean, it's just some people with some opinions. You wouldn't take advice from them, so why would you listen to what they think?" Mia wanted to comfort her friend, but Christa wasn't even slightly touched by other people's opinion.

"You and I should hang out more. We're the only ones single now." Christa said.

"I'm not single, Christa."

"Well, you're gonna be." Christa eyes her suspiciously. "I mean, you're gonna leave Jeff, right?"

"Shh, he's here somewhere." Mia shushed her. The water put the third glass of gin tonic n front of Mia, without anyone even asking him.

"Just leave him for the benefit of your own health. Trust me, you'll be much happier without the weight of Jeff dragging you down all the time." Christa smiled.

"You're turning me evil, Christa." Mia noticed.

"Well, it was about time. I enjoy Evil Mia much more." Christa saluted. Mia leaned onto the table and sipped the drink, feeling the buzz starting somewhere in her brain.

"I really should start enjoying my mistakes more." Mia murmured, allowing herself to check out some of the single guys at the wedding.

"Oh, definitely. Here's the solution. You. Me. March. Milano!" Christa turned her whole body to Mia and smiled wickedly.

"What? Why Milano?" Mia asked, surprised by how much she liked that idea.

"I'm pretending that influencing is a real job, so I have to be there for some modelling thing. It's a paid trip, two weeks. We get to enjoy the shows, maybe get some free clothes and get to know some rich people. What do you say?" Christa grabbed Mia's forearm and held her tightly.

"How come you're able to invite me?" Mia asked suspiciously.

"Well," Christa smiled innocently, "maybe the plus one invitation is reserved for hot women that look good in photographs."

"Gosh, Christa!" Mia laughed out loud. "You seriously want me to come influence with you to Milano?"

"Not influence influence, just... be there. Have some fun, drink some expensive booze, look good in pictures." Christa pouted her lips as she stared at Mia.

"I don't know, Christa... March is far away." Mia made a grimace, but the smile broke through. For some reason, she really wanted to go.

"Exactly! Which means this gets to be the first thing on your to-do list for March." Christa smiled widely and jumped a little.

"You really want me to go? I mean, what about your other friends?" Mia asked, even though Christa was already grinning like an idiot and squeaking. She gestured for the waiter and ordered the fourth gin tonic.

"What the hell! Let's do it." Mia nodded and Christa literally jumped up and clapped with her hands. This energy consumed Mia and soon she realised she was also smiling like a fool. Maybe this was exactly what she needed.

"Mia!" Lucy hopped over to their table. "We need you for the photos."

"Yeah, alright." Mia grabbed her camera just to make sure it was still there. Nervousness washed over her as she realised she was about to take pictures for actual money. Sure, it was at her best friend's wedding and the one paying was her mother, but still.

"So, it's a deal?" Christa asked, still dangerously excited.

"Yes, it's a deal." Mia confirmed, feeling her cheeks lift against her will.