Possessions
Chapter 15
By: Makena
"I know what's wrong with her," Benji said, pacing in front of the TV as he began to down a beer - his first of the day. Joel, Paul, Chris and Billy ignored him for the most part, assuming he was already drunk.
"Turn it up," Billy instructed Paul, who had the remote. "I think Homer is going to say something funny." Paul nodded. Benji stopped pacing and frowned.
"Are you guys listening to me?" he asked, although the question was more rhetorical than anything. Billy frowned.
"You made me miss a Homer quote!" he said angrily, though he wasn't really angry at all. Benji narrowed his eyes.
"Listen to me!" he said in a serious tone. Simultaneously the four looked up at him.
"Do you think he's drunk?" Billy questioned in a lowered voice.
"His voice isn't slurred yet," Paul replied. Benji held up his beer bottle.
"This is my first one, okay?" he said. "I'm not drunk."
"Yet," Joel muttered. Benji ignored him and took a swig of the alcohol before continuing.
"I think I know what's wrong with her," Benji replied. "Makena - I think I know what's wrong with her... I think I figured it out."
Billy sighed. "No offense Benji," he began. "But it's really not that complicated."
"What do you think it is, then?" Benji asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"She's depressed - ever since the accident things have just been going really bad for her," Billy explained.
"That's part of it," Benji replied. "But there's something else." He paused. "I heard it."
"You heard it?" Paul echoed. Benji nodded.
"She said something about it - I was pretending to be asleep."
Paul frowned slightly. "Well?" he said. "What is it? What did she say?"
Benji took a sip of his beer before responding in a lowered voice as though Makena could hear. "She's afraid to be alone," he explained. Nobody said anything for a while, thinking about what Benji had just said. Benji took a long swig and tossed the empty beer bottle aside before reaching for a new one.
"So... what can we do?" Billy asked finally. Nobody knew.
------
Makena walked into the bar and took her coat off and draped it across the seat opposite from her. She sat down with a sigh and ran her fingers through her short black hair, waiting for the bartender to serve her.
"Can I get you a drink, miss?" the bartender asked finally. Makena nodded.
"Two," she replied. "One for each hand."
"Ah, and what kind of drink would you like?" the bartender questioned.
Makena forced a smile. "Surprise me."
The bartender nodded left to retrieve her drinks.From the corner of her eye, Makena noticed as some one sat down beside her.
"It's a little early still, isn't it?"
Makena rolled her eyes. "Hi Aaron," she said. The bartender returned with two mugs of beer. Makena nodded and thanked him.
"Water is healthier, you know," Aaron said. "Why don't you try drinking water?"
"Because," Makena said while taking a sip. "Then I would melt."
Aaron laughed a little. "You're not a witch," he said. Makena shrugged.
"Maybe not."
"Come on," Aaron said after he refused a drink from the bar. "Let's go back to my house; Raemie is making some dinner, I'm sure there's plenty if all three of us."
"That's okay," Makena said, taking another long gulp.
"How about you at least ease up on the drinking?"
"How about fuck off?" Makena retorted. Aaron frowned.
"You're hopeless," he grumbled. He hopped off his chair and sulked towards the door.
"No," Makena said, tears filling in her eyes as she glanced down at the bottom of her mug. "I'm alone."
------
The highly organized orchestra played a happy song as Makena walked down the isle in her strapless, purple satin dress. Her arm was wrapped lightly around Ryan's as they walked towards the end of the sanctuary. Her hair, which was still short, had been returned to it's natural blonde when Aaron nearly forced her into the chair at one of the more expensive hair salons in Waldorf.
Makena looked around at the wedding guests and took note of the large amount of people there actually were. Despite the fact that Aaron had said he didn't want a huge wedding, a huge wedding is what they had and some of the local media people had showed up because not only was Wakefield there, Good Charlotte was also in attendance.
Nicole and Shannon sat in one pew together, both pretending to cry.
"Wedding's make me so happy!" Nicole sobbed into a brown paper towel she had snatched from the church bathroom.
"Shut up!" Shannon said in a hushed voice, nudging her so hard that Nicole almost tumbled from the pew and into the isle. "You're such an ass!"
Nicole giggled and Makena smiled a little and her friends. Again, she took to looking around at the guests as Ryan and herself took their place up at the alter, waiting for the rest of the bride's maids and Raemie, the bride herself.
Sitting closer to the alter sat Billy, Paul, Chris, Benji and Joel. Benji had been avoiding her since their drinking game and Makena hadn't a clue as to why, and while she told herself she didn't care, she felt even more alone.
She sighed and glanced back over at Benji. He looked sober and uncomfortably so. It was obvious to all that knew him that he had started drinking again. Makena turned her attention on the back of the sanctuary and saw that the small line of bride's maid's was now very thin and she could see Raemie taking her place at the sanctuary doors. She wore a long, white satin dress that hid the tattoos on her arms. The dress itself was not done up in fancy lace or frills, but looked better with the absence of these things.
In her hands she clutched a bouquet of white lily's, and one arm was wrapped around an older man's arm - her father's, no doubt - as a large, some-what nervous smile formed on her lips. Her hair had been let down and had been placed in soft curls beneath her thin lace veil.
The music stopped quite suddenly and heads turned as a new tune began. Makena's slight trance came to a halt and she stood upright, plastering a smile on her lips as Raemie began to walk proudly down the isle. The congregation rose and marveled about how wonderful the bride looked in her white wedding gown.
Makena stood uncomfortably in her black shoes as Raemie's father released his daughter and sat in the front pew as Raemie joined Aaron at the alter. Makena turned her attention to the couple and the priest as the congregation was seated.
"We are gathered here today..."
Already Benji was lost. Bored and sober, Benji began to wonder why he had decided to come to the wedding in the first place.
'Because Aaron didn't want me to,' he remembered. 'Wow - I'm dumb.' Benji turned his attention to Makena, who watched as the priest performed the ceremony with an expressionless face.
'I'm such a jerk,' he thought to himself sadly. 'God I'm such and idiot!'
"Don't you just love weddings?"
Benji turned to see Nicole and Shannon, giggling and drawing on what appeared to be last Sunday's "bulletin" - the small pamphlet that was passed out to whomever wanted to follow the service.
"How many dirty words do you think we can spell out of "jesus"?" Nicole asked, chewing the end of her pencil.
"None," Shannon replied. "Hey - isn't that, like, sacrilegious?"
"Probably," Nicole said. "Hey look - a typo! Look, it says "ass" instead of "as"!"
"Would you two shut up?" Joel asked in a harsh undertone. He paused and looked them both over for a minute; Nicole was wearing a plaid red skirt and a black t-shirt as well as her usual plastic bracelets and a black choker.
Shannon wore simply a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, her black and blue hair up in two messy buns. Joel laughed a little. "Nice."
Nicole laughed and batted her eyes. "We went all out," she said.
"We love weddings," Shannon explained.
"SHHH!" Paul said, hitting Joel's upper chest area. Joel mouthed an "ow" and turned back around, rubbing the spot Paul and hit him.
"And do you, Aaron, take thee Raemie to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?"
"I do."
"By the power vested in me by the state of Maryland, I pronounce you Man and Wife; you may kiss the bride."Aaron lifted Raemie's veil and kissed her sweetly on the lips and the congregation erupted in happy cheers and applause as the orchestra started once more.
Makena and Benji gagged.