The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa

Chapter Three
Solange
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Did I say that out loud?
My body is on fire, and the weight of the moment is pressing so heavily
against my chest it’s as if someone’s cinching me into a corset and being
purposefully cruel about it. Is this really happening? Am I doing this? Jesus,
all of these guests are looking at me. Why, why, why didn’t you just keep your
mouth shut, Solange?
Because this wedding is the “before,” and I know exactly how the “after”
plays out. My mother had no clue my father was in love with another woman
when he married her. The price she paid for that betrayal was steep: Neither
her marriage nor her dreams survived it. Dean deserves better. Hell, Ella
deserves better too, a fact she’d recognize if she weren’t determined to get
married no matter the costs.
What the hell is wrong with people? If you can’t fully commit to a
relationship, don’t fucking do it. Simple as that. Yet Ella’s willing to get
hitched to Dean even though her heart belongs to someone who’s obviously
still a presence in her life.
“Ella, please think this through,” I say once I finally muster the courage to
speak again. “You know this isn’t what you want.”
The bride’s eyes flood with tears, my cousin’s skillful wedding-day
makeup application ruined in seconds, then she turns to Dean. “Oh God,
she’s right. I . . . I can’t marry you. I’m so sorry.”
Ella lifts the hem of her dress and stumbles back up the aisle, her mother
scrambling after her. Tyler throws up his hands as if to signal he wants no