Shamura’s Wedding Bells?

Another Invidia short by AMI MEITSU

The clock said eight, but something was definitely wrong…Shamura was gone. Invidia was tapping her fingers on the edge of her tub during her bath, which she had set herself, even though it was Shamura’s job!

‘I know I told her she was allowed to go out tonight, but she promised she’d be back by seven thirty for bath time! She’s a half-hour late!’ She thought, then she sighed, she knew Shamura had more important things then her to worry about, but she still found it quite disrespectful of her to make a promise and not keep it, just as she found it disrespectful of anyone to do that, even Zordar! She put her head on her arms as Shamura rushed in.

“I am so sorry I’m late, Mistress! But I guess you have the ability to set your bath though…” She said out of breath.

“I didn’t want to wait, and why are you late?” Invidia looked up, Shamura wore a dark purple dress with spaghetti straps that showed her off well, it looked beautiful and she’d never seen her like that before, it was nice…

“Oh well…” Shamura took off her shoes and sat down. “I have some news.”

“You’re gonna let me borrow that dress?” Invidia asked hopefully.

“No. It’s too big for you anyway, it would just fall off.”

“Then what?”

Shamura hesitated for a minute before showing Invidia her hand. “I’m engaged! He proposed during dinner! It was just so romantic!”

“It sounds nice.”

“It was, we’re getting married in a couple months and I can’t wait! I feel like I’m floating…”

Invidia just smiled, she looked so happy, even if she was a little nuts at the moment. ‘Can it really be that great? I mean marriage never seemed like a big deal to me…but she seems so happy about it…So happy that it even made her late…’ “Wait a minute!” Invidia sat up straight from her position.

“Hm?” Shamura looked at her.

“Oh, nothing, I’m just thinking.” Invidia lied, then she sighed and tried to act happy for Shamura, but that night, when she was in bed, her bad thoughts came back. ‘It made her late…what if this means she wants to spend more time with him then me?! And after she gets married she’ll be too busy to work for me and I'll never get to see her again! What am I gonna do?’ She blinked tears out of her eyes and hugged her blanket, Shamura was her best friend, she just couldn’t leave! ‘And the only way to prevent it,’ Invidia concluded. ‘Is to make sure this wedding doesn’t happen!’ She got up and threw her blankets to the side as she made her way into her sitting room, grabbed a notebook off the desk and began to write…

Early the next morning Zordar found Invidia asleep in her sitting room when he went to get her up for breakfast and then a meeting. He smiled at her and went over, she looked so sweet and peaceful. ‘She must have been up late; I wonder what she was working on…’ Zordar thought as he put the fallen notebook back on the table, then, he gently picked Invidia up and carried her to her bedroom.

“Father?” Invidia asked as he carried her.

“Hm?” Zordar looked down, he was surprised to see her wake, as, he had tried to be careful with her.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m putting you back in bed, Invidia; I found you asleep in your sitting room. Were you up late again?”

“I was working on something…but don’t we have a meeting this morning?” Invidia yawned.

“Don’t worry about it, your getting sleep is more important.” Zordar said as he gently put her down in bed. Invidia tried to pull up her blanket but her stopped her and put her back down. “Stop it, just relax…” Zordar pulled her blankets up on her and Invidia laid down in an attempt to go back to her dream…a dream where all of her plans had come together, but this time she had a different dream, a nightmare actually.

In front of her was Shamura, but she was with a man and there were three children around them.

“What is this?” Invidia asked.

“Sorry, Mistress, I came to tell you that I quit, I’m just too busy to be with you! Bye!” Shamura turned and disappeared into a light.

“No! You can’t go! Can’t we still keep in touch?! I thought we were friends! Shamura!” Tears formed in Invidia’s eyes at the fact that she’d never see her again…Her best friend…gone…

“Ah!” Invidia opened her eyes to find that she was still lying down in her own bed, and that Shamura still hadn’t arrived yet, as, it was only six thirty. ‘Is this dream a warning?’ She thought. ‘It is! This is trying to tell me something and only makes it more urgent! I have to stop this wedding at all costs!’ She then laid back down and began to think, ‘what’s the best way to ruin wedding plans in a short amount of time?’

When she woke up later, around 9 o’clock, she had plans in her mind, and they seemed so perfect, she just hoped they’d work out. As she thought Zordar came in the room with a tray in hand.

“What’s this?” Invidia asked.

“Breakfast, you do need to eat.” He put the try across her lap and Invidia looked at it, it was perfect. Nothing was on it that she didn’t like, and her Father even remembered the blueberry syrup for her pancakes.

“Father it’s perfect! I love you!”

“I know, I love you too Princess,” He kissed her head just as Shamura came in and sat on the bed.

“Aw, Daddy got you breakfast in bed…” She teased.

Invidia ignored her and began to eat as Zordar left them alone. When he was gone Shamura spoke.

“Mistress,” She started.

“Hm?”

“Well, last night Stephen and I decided that we wanted to have the wedding in about five months, and I decided that I want you to be a bridesmaid. If you want to, that is.”

“Bridesmaid?”

“Yes, please? I already have my friends and I need one more.”

“Sure, I’ll do it…” Invidia said. ‘Maybe this way I can hang around her and learn about her plans…’ She thought, then she laughed to herself and smiled one of those sneaky smiles she often had while planning certain things, things that started a week later, when Shamura took Invidia and her friends to look at dresses, where, Invidia found that they were just idiots who liked pink. Well, that’s what she saw.

“Cute, huh?” One of them, Tama, held up a long, light pink bridesmaid dress. Invidia made a face, while the rest of them looked quite happy.

“I hate it.” Invidia said.

“No one asked you!” Tama snapped.

“You asked all of us!” Invidia snapped back. “I’m included in this, too!”

“You’re just an extra!” Another girl, Cristina, snapped.

“No I’m not! I count just as much as you three do! And I’m not a frilly loving idiot!”

They all glared at her as Shamura came over, she had a white dress in hand, as, she was going for a more traditional Earth wedding. “Okay what’s going on here?” She asked.

“They’re all stupid!” Invidia said. “I don’t care if this is traditional…I hate all this pink! And my opinion counts too, right?”

“Yes, it does, but that doesn’t mean you guys start fights with each other! Work it out!”

“Fine…” They all grumbled as Shamura left.

As soon as she was out of sight Invidia pulled her pointer out of her jacket sleeve and glared at the girls. “Listen!” She snapped. “I am your Princess and I don’t care what Shamura says! I can do worse to you then she can! And I refuse to wear pink! I want blue, got it?! And not light blue, dark blue!”

The girls gulped as Invidia walked off to find a dress. She searched for about an hour or so before she found a really nice navy blue version of the pink spaghetti-strap dress Tama had. She liked it so much that she felt so bad about going to ruin Shamura’s wedding, but, she stopped and reminded herself it was necessary if Shamura was to stay with her. She threw away all her bad thoughts and concentrated on planning the rest of the afternoon, particularly when Shamura’s caterer came to the palace with cake samples, as, Invidia gave permission for them to use the kitchen.

“So the five samples you asked for are in the kitchen, and the rest of the stuff is in the book I have…” The caterer said.

Shamura nodded. “Right, and you got the prices right?”

As they talked Invidia was in the kitchen, trying to dispose of the cake samples. She had already eaten the chocolate one, and was working on throwing the others away, when the chefs weren’t looking of course, as, they might’ve told Shamura.

‘Okay, chocolate gone…and pretty damn good, lemon, thrown away, carrot cake, thrown away…’ She kept thinking as she disposed of the last one, grabbed the book off the counter and ran back up to her suite. She felt guilty but she knew she had to break up the wedding. ‘I have to do this if I want Shamura to keep working for me! I want her to stay in touch, no matter what it takes!’ She thought as she came into her closet and threw the book in a drawer of old albums, it blended in well and Shamura never went in the drawer anyway. She sighed, Invidia knew it was wrong but her selfish thoughts took over and she went into her sitting room to write up more plans.

By the end of the first month Shamura had eliminated two churches from her list, about five different restaurants and clubs for receptions and even fired two wedding planners, she was convinced that the wedding wasn’t going to happen and Invidia was a little glad…her plan was working.

“Mistress, what am I going to do?” Shamura asked one night while she was busy giving Invidia a massage during her bath.

“I don’t know, and by the way you’re hurting me! You know my neck is sensitive!”

“Sorry.” Shamura took her hands off of Invidia’s shoulders.

“Why don’t you just give up?” Invidia suggested.

“I can’t! I have to do this! I want to get married!”

“How many more plans are you going to go through, though?”

“As many as I can until it’s perfect!”

‘Dammit! This just ruins it!’ Invidia said to herself. ‘I have to try harder!’ She sighed and turned to Shamura. “Then tell me what you plan to do.”

Shamura told her and Invidia took mental notes so she could work on it later. And throughout the following month she did whatever she could to cancel necessary arrangements and sometimes just change them…But Shamura always changed them back, she wasn’t giving up…and that just made Invidia want to do it more. By the end she figured the only thing left to do, the one thing that would take forever to change would be to ruin her wedding dress. Though, the day she planned to do it, was the same day she was fitted for her own dress.

“I still don’t know why we’re forced to wear her color…” Christina said as she looked at herself.

“I think it looks good.” The last girl, Amu, said.

“On us yes, but her…” Tama glanced at Invidia as she looked back at them, still in her gown. She refused to change with them watching.

“Come on Mistress; please just put it on…”

Invidia shook her head. “I can’t…” She murmured.

“We don’t have much time, just put it on!” Shamura snapped, she normally wasn’t mean but she was getting impatient.

“Fine…” Invidia said, then she gulped and nervously took off her gown, then, she slipped the dress on. The satiny material felt nice on her skin and she thought that it showed her off fairly well.

“Hmm…” Shamura said as she circled Invidia. “It’s a little longer than I remembered…”

“It’ll be fine.” Invidia said.

“Well, that’s one thing that’ll go right…” Shamura sighed as she sat down on the floor next to Invidia. “Everything else is just horrible…it was supposed to be a dream but it’s nothing but a damned nightmare! I don’t even know what happened!” She looked down as she finally began to cry.

Invidia just watched her, she felt worse than ever. She never meant to make Shamura cry! And she hated seeing her friend so sad… “It’s me.” She said finally.

“Huh?”

“It’s me! I’ve been doing it all!” Invidia had tears in her eyes too. “I didn’t want you to get married! I was afraid that if you did you’d be too busy to work for me and…then you’d leave and you wouldn’t even keep in touch! I didn’t want lose one of my only friends!” She cried.

“Invidia…” Shamura got up, Invidia had expected her to yell, but she didn’t, she hugged her. “That’s not going to happen, and even if I couldn’t work for you anymore I’d still be your friend, you can’t break off a friendship just like that.”

Invidia nodded as Shamura let go and faced her.

“But, just because you’re my friend doesn’t mean you’re getting off! You’re in trouble!”

“Huh?”

“You almost ruined my wedding! You’re going to make it up to me!”

“But you can’t reinstate canceled plans…” Invidia told her.

“I know, but you’re paying for some of it, got it?” Shamura said.

“Got it.”

“Now, I have to ask…about the catering…”

“That was me.”

“The cake samples?”

“I ate the chocolate one and threw away the rest, then I took the book and threw it in with my old photo albums.”

“Mistress! You almost made me fire one of the best caterers around! You’re apologizing! And you’re going to give that book back and pay for the food.”

“Right…” Invidia nodded again.

“But don’t think that it means I don’t love you…” Shamura hugged her again. “Now turn, we have to make sure this fits fully before the wedding rehearsal, and we’ll have a fitting right before then too, okay?”

Invidia nodded and turned so Shamura could look her over, and smiled, she was forgiven. Now all she had to do was help put the plans back together, which she did over the following month. While helping she found that Shamura’s fiancée, Stephen, was just as understanding as her, he didn’t really blame her for ruining the wedding either, he said that he’d be worried too if he was her. And…by the end of the month things were fixed and they were ready for their first wedding rehearsal…

“How do I look?” Shamura turned for Invidia, who was getting changed alone with her in her ‘dressing room.’ Of course she wasn’t wearing her wedding dress, but she was wearing very nice, spaghetti strap white dress, Stephen had seen it before though.

“You look pretty.” Invidia said. “Why don’t you go show off to your friends?” She suggested as a way to get Shamura out of the room so she could change in private.

“Wait…about your escort you never told me if Stephen’s cousin was fine or…”

“Can my father be my escort? I just…I think I’d be more comfortable with some I know walking me down the aisle. I’d rather not be led by a strange man.”

“All right, I’ll tell him later, but for now can you deal with his cousin?”

Invidia nodded and Shamura left her alone to get dressed. She checked to make sure she was truly gone and locked the door; she leaned against it and sighed before picking up her dress and quickly putting it on for Shamura to see. She knew her friends would probably be annoyed because she was late and got ‘special treatment’ by getting to dress in private with Shamura instead of with them, but Shamura offered, as, she knew how Invidia was about privacy. After slipping on her dress and her black flats, she left to find Shamura. She wore her normal black flats because she didn't plan to wear her high-heels until the actual day since they were supposed to run through a couple of rehearsals and she didn’t want to strain her feet. The dress itself was only supposed to be worn for one rehearsal, for the girls to get used to it, and then set aside.

“Shamura?” Invidia asked as she walked through the hall and came to the girl’s dressing room. She almost went in but she stopped at the mention of her name.

“I don’t know how she’s a Princess, she doesn’t act like it.” Amu said.

“And why’d you choose her anyway, Shamura?” Tama asked.

“She’s my friend, that’s why.” Shamura stated.

“But she’s as thin as a rail and she doesn’t even fill her dress.”

Invidia looked down at herself; she thought the dress looked nice. ‘What does she mean by ‘she doesn’t even fill her dress’? It clings to me and I have cleavage, don’t I?’ She stopped and leaned by the door some more.

“Hey! Be nice.” Shamura said. “I like her, and she is not that thin…”

“Yes she is!” Cristina snapped. “I can’t believe she calls that figure of hers curvy! And where are her breasts? That gown of hers shows nothing.”

‘Humph, obviously they haven’t really seen me in this dress! Or any of my dinner dresses! I’ve got plenty to show, I just choose not to, idiot!’

“And her hair…” Amu said. “That ugly thing above her head, how can you call that pretty? And Cristina’s right, how can you her figure a figure at all?”

“Well…” Shamura stated.

“I bet the only man who’d want to marry her is her Father!” Tama interrupted.

“Or some old hick!” Amu cut in, and then they all laughed, even Shamura.

By now Invidia had tears in her eyes, she would’ve beaten them all up, but she didn’t want to get in trouble again. And Shamura! How could she just laugh like that? She stepped in. “Is that how you all really feel?” She asked. “Am I really just a figureless rail who’s destined to marry her Father?!”

“No…Mistress, they didn’t…”

“Shut up! I heard you! All of you! And if that’s how you feel then I quit!” Invidia snapped, then she ran off. As much as she hated to admit it, they hurt her badly, and not just by making fun of how she looked, by saying what they did. ‘How could they even imply that?! I love my Father a lot but not like that! Well I’m tired of it! I’m going home!’ Invidia stopped at the end of the hall and stopped to call her Father, Shamura had driven her over but she wasn’t going to wait, she needed to go home now. Luckily, Zordar answered and agreed to bring her home, but only if she’d give him an explanation later. She agreed and Shamura followed what she was doing. As soon as she ran off Shamura followed, after canceling the rehearsal of course.

‘I’m sorry Stephen! Everyone! But I have to do this, and after what they did they’ll be lucky to be ushers at the wedding! And they’re not normally mean like that, why now?’ Shamura thought as she ran out to her car and quickly headed off to the palace, where, she found Zordar in the main lobby twenty minutes later. It was like… he was waiting for her.

“Zordar, where’s Invidia?”

“After what she said I thought you’d come, she’s taking a nap.”

“Why?”

“If she can’t take a bath then she takes naps when she’s upset.”

“Right.” Shamura nodded and headed up to Invidia’s room, where, sure enough, she was curled up in bed fast asleep. “Mistress?” Shamura asked when she went over. “Come on, please talk to me…” She shook her and Invidia looked up. As soon as she saw Shamura she turned the other way with a scowl.

“Leave me alone! Go have fun with your idiots!”

“Mistress, listen I’m sorry about them, but they’re not normally mean. I don’t know why they pick on you but I know it’s wrong.”

“I don’t care about them! It’s you! You were laughing with them! And you’re my best friend!”

‘I’m her…oh Princess I never thought that…’ “I’m sorry, but it wasn’t laughing at you, I was actually laughing at the idea of you actually marrying your Father, You know as well as I do that it’s ridiculous. I never meant it as way to poke fun at you.”

Invidia looked at her. “Really?” She asked.

“Really, I promise. Now please come and be in the wedding, Mistress, I want you there.”

“If I do then do you promise not to laugh at their jokes anymore? Even if you’re not laughing about me.”

“I promise.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you.” Shamura smiled at her, now I expect you at rehearsal tomorrow, all right?”

Invidia nodded and layed back down, but not to sleep, just to relax and think of whether she’d actually attend or not. She thought for while and decided to go, she had made a promise and she had to keep it, so she sighed and decided to suck it up and face it, just as she did at the next three rehearsals and even the wedding day three months later…

“I still don’t know why we bother with her…” Tama said.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room.” Invidia snapped, she was standing with her back to the girls.

“I’ll do what I want, and I don’t know why you bother showing your face or your body in that dress. I mean you hardly fill your dress.”

Invidia turned. “What?”

“Oh my god… you do fill your dress…” Amu said. They were all wrong. The dress clung to her and showed off Invidia’s curves, she even showed a small amount of cleavage in it.

“Right, but other than that, all your other comments were just horrible! You don’t know me so don’t judge me, got it?!” Invidia snapped as she glared at them.

They gulped and backed up…there was definitely an angry feeling in the room.

But that all changed a half hour later when the ring was slipped on Shamura’s finger, bringing it all together. Invidia stood next to her and smiled, everything had turned out perfect after all…It was definitely Shamura’s dream come true…