Crystal was fuming. She paced back and forth beneath the impressive ivy archway, the white stone path behind her leading to the church where her best friend Emily was soon to be married. She faintly heard the choir commence singing, and threw her bouquet to the ground in anger. "How am I supposed to get home now?" she cried out loud, to no one in particular. Crystal, as the bride's best friend and maid of honour, had arrived in a limo with the official wedding party. "There's no way Emily's going to give me a ride home," she sighed bitterly.
Hearing carefree whistling from behind her, she turned apprehensively. A young man was walking cheerfully towards her down the driveway with a wheelbarrow. She considered her options for a moment, before taking a deep decisive breath. "Desperate times, Crystal," she thought to herself. She walked towards the gardener carefully, making sure she didn't trip on the cobbled stone in her expensive heels. She knew she wouldn't have to ask twice to get a ride home with this man. She was used to getting her way, and was an expert at using her looks to her advantage. "Let's just hope his car's not too dirty," she thought to herself.
"Hi," she called out to him sweetly when he was just a few meters away. "I was wondering whether you could help me, I need a --"
The man suddenly stopped and cocked his head to the side like a puppy. He dropped his wheelbarrow and slowly started chuckling. Crystal glanced down at her outfit hastily, wondering what could possibly be funny. The man shook his head in disbelief, wheeling the wheelbarrow the remaining distance between them before straightening up.
"Crystal Green asking me for help. Never thought I'd see the day."
Crystal was shocked. She considered him for a few seconds, and suddenly it hit her.
"Jared Parker! ....Of course it just had to be you," she added angrily.
"Geez Cris, I know it's been a long time, but I didn't think you'd be this happy to see me," he chuckled, clearly amused by the situation. "What can I help you with?"
"You know what, forget it! The last thing I need right now is three hours in a car with you."
"Wow that does sound horrid" he said in mock sympathy. "I guess you'll just have to wait for your limo Princess. If you can manage it."
"I'm not going back in the limo, obviously," she seethed, narrowing her eyes at him dangerously.
"What, not classy enough for you?"
Crystal spun around angrily. "Actually Jared, Emily - you remember Emily, my best friend?" She continued heatedly, not waiting for an answer. "Well she kicked me out of her wedding! And it's all because of her disgusting, man-whore of a fiancé. No wait... husband!" she cried, visibly upset.
Jared took an instinctive step back and proceeded cautiously. "Umm, what did he do?"
She looked at him defensively, trying to decide whether or not to tell him.
Finally she swallowed, raised her chin slightly, and adamantly said, "well, he hit on me."
"He, WHAT?" Jared replied, his mouth edging into an uncontrollable smirk. "Crystal hasn't changed at all" he thought to himself incredulously.
"He hit on me!" She repeated. Not noticing his amusement, she was glad now to have someone to listen to her.
"Are...are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!"
"Maybe he... was just being friendly?" Jared offered with a shrug. "The guy must've been pretty nervous after all."
"Wait, are you seriously sympathising with him?" Crystal was outraged. "Christ Jared, you haven't changed at all! I think I know when a guy's flirting with me...After all you gave me plenty of practise when we were growing up, remember?... Not that it ever worked for you," she added coldly.
"Yeah, right, well what actually happened then?" Jared asked.
Crystal sighed in exasperation and started walking briskly away towards the road.
"Well if you must know, he was acting all weird, saying all this stuff about how he wasn't sure Emily was 'The One' and how he still thought about other women. I was totally shocked, you know? I mean Emily's my best friend. I was trying to reassure him it was just pre-wedding jitters, but he kept going on about the 'other women' thing." Jared's wheelbarrow was bumping dangerously over the rough stones as he hurried to keep up with her. "Eventually I asked him who on earth he could possibly be thinking about, when he had such a perfect fiancé. And then he just did it. He just came at me! Next thing I know he's got me pressed up against a church wall, slobbering all over my face like some kind of starved Labrador!" She was walking faster and faster, gesturing wildly with her arms. Eventually she came to a stop, once again under the ivy archway, and turned to face him.
"It wasn't my fault. I had no idea what was happening." Jared noticed her eyes were full of tears, suddenly recognising in her the innocent little girl he'd grown up with.
"What did you do?" he asked solemnly.
"I told Em. I told her she couldn't marry him. She deserves so much better."
"And how'd she take that?" Jared already knew what the answer would be.
Crystal looked away and sighed. "She called me a jealous slut, and told me to get the hell out of her wedding."
Jared considered her for a second, and she stared right back at him, her eyes stubbornly daring him to make a joke, or call her a princess.
He started walking away down the road. "Well c'mon then Princess, my van's this way."
***
Jared glanced across at Crystal in the passenger seat, trying to figure out whether she was really asleep or not. They'd been driving for almost an hour, and had hardly spoken a word to one another. After having spent most of their childhood together, Jared and Crystal had barely seen each other since they were 16 and Crystal's parents sent her off to a prestigious boarding school. Jared's father had been the landscaper for the Green's extensive property, and they had lived in a small neighbouring house. Jared considered the now 27 year old woman next to him. She was still just as beautiful as he remembered her. Her thick wavy chocolate brown hair was longer now, reaching down to the middle of her back. Her big brown eyes and long eye lashes were the same, as were her full pink lips and dainty nose. Her skin was lightly tanned and he noticed her finger nails were painted pink to match her dress and the rose pinned in her hair. As he looked at her he couldn't help but laugh at their current situation.
"I have no idea what you think is so funny," Crystal muttered darkly, her eyes still closed. "I don't find your broken air-con particularly amusing at all."
"So you're awake then." Jared observed, rolling up his window. "It's a nice day, stop complaining." Glancing at her somewhat nervously, he pulled into a wide gravel driveway and turned off the car.
"What, where are we?" Crystal asked, sitting up straight. "This isn't the city!"
"Correct," Jared assented. "That high education of yours paid off I see."
She continued to stare hostilely at him and he sighed. "Look, I've just got a quick job to do for a client. We're halfway home; it's not going to take long. I promise."
"Urghh," she moaned, leaning back in her seat and looking at him wearily. "Can't you do it tomorrow?" She pleaded. He shook his head, but she was just as stubborn as he remembered her. "Pleaseeee Jared," she begged sweetly, "can't you just take me home?" She looked so cute sitting there fanning herself with his Dire Straights CD case that Jared almost relented.
"Fraid not Cris, c'mon, get out of the van, you'll overheat. And it's a really nice garden," he added proudly. Scowling at him, she opened the door and made to climb out.
"Leave your heels in the car, would you?" Jared called exasperatedly.
They walked through the garden, Jared pushing his wheelbarrow full of gardening tools and seedlings that needed planting with Crystal skipping along beside him, clearly happy to be out of her shoes. He smiled at her. As much as Crystal infuriated him, he was glad they were just as comfortable with each other as they'd been when they were kids. Jared knelt down by the flower bed he needed to fix up. He examined the little green shoots coming up through the soil. "Crystal, could you pass me my spade please?" She wrinkled her nose at him, and picked it up as though it was contaminated. He watched her with amusement. "What, scared to get your hands dirty?" he asked, gazing mischievously at her delicate hand grasping the spade handle.
"No!" she declared stubbornly, anxious not to let him get the better of her. "I'll get as dirty as you want me too." She blushed immediately, but Jared just chuckled and continued digging.
"How much longer is this going to take anyway?" she moaned, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"Ah shouldn't be too much lon- " Glancing up from his crouched position on the ground, Jared caught a brief glimpse of Crystals hot pink G-string as her short dress flowed in the wind directly above him. He gulped as Crystal glared down at him. "So, how long exactly?!" she demanded, the sun's glare fortunately masking Jared's dazed expression as he averted his eyes from her long, slender legs.
"Um, another thirty minutes or so," he called out, and internally corrected himself, "Ok, so maybe it's not exactly the same as when we were kids."
