Here and Now

The couples arrived fairly early and not many of the wedding guests had arrived yet.  This gave them ample opportunity to choose seating on opposite sides of the room.

Adele immediately excused herself in order to visit the powder room.  Darius' date expressed an interest in going along with Adele, and Adele stifled an eye roll and said "Right this way."

On the way back from the powder room, guests had begun to arrive and gather in the entryway.  Adele recognized a few of them and stopped to speak with them, completely forgetting her manners.  Finally, she made the proper introductions, and ended by saying "..and this is... Darius' date."  Afterwards, Darius' date pulled Adele to the side and said "Sooooo, you really can't be bothered to learn my name?"  This time Adele did not stifle her eye roll as she responded "No, I really can not be bothered."  Darius' date stood there in stunned silence and the ladies glared at each other for a moment before re-entering the sanctuary and making their way to their seats on opposite sides of the room.

 

As Adele sat there next to her date Palmer, she re-played the events of the day in her head.  Palmer seemed really impressed and pointed out certain decorations to Adele and saying how nice everything looked.  Adele just wanted Palmer to shut up.  How could he have just sat there and said nothing when Darius called her pretentious?  She felt that she had been disrespected, and that her date did not stand up for her.  She felt that when she was in a relationship with Darius, he would've never sat idly by and let another man disrespect her.  Was Palmer just too weak to stand up to Darius?  Did he just not care?

Adele:  Why didn't you say anything when Darius called me pretentious?

Palmer:  What?

Adele:  In the limo, on the way here, remember?  Darius called me pretentious, and you just sat there.

Palmer: Well what was I supposed to say?

Adele:  I don't know!  SOMETHING!  You know what, never mind.  Forget that I said anything.

Palmer sat there quietly instead of giving Adele the real answer.  The truth is, Palmer barely knew Adele, and he knew that Darius knew her much better.  So if Darius felt that way, who was he to say otherwise?  Truthfully, he thought that Darius was probably right, and that maybe that's the reason that Adele went on and on about his suit, of all things.  He thought for a moment about giving Adele the honest answer to her question, but decided against it.  He just wanted to get through the rest of the day without any more drama.

Music was playing and the ceremony had begun, and Adele was jolted into the present and began to notice her surroundings for really the first time since being inside the church.  Everything was so beautiful!  The flowers, the tuxedos, the dresses.  There was Rod up there, looking so handsome.  He and Danielle love each other so very much, and it is evident in the smallest details of this ceremony.  And then the bride entered, looking stunningly beautiful.  But what struck Adele the most was the look on Rod's face when he saw his bride.  This is true love, she thought.  She was truly happy for them, but she could not help but to think about herself and how she would never have a day like this with Darius as she had once hoped.

As Adele watched Danielle go down the aisle, her vision suddenly became blurry.  Oh no, she thought - tears!  She quickly grabbed her handkerchief and dabbed furiously at her eyes.  She could not allow these tears to ruin her make-up.  She would not be immortalized in wedding photos with smeared mascara!  She looked up and waved her hands in front of her eyes to try to dry the tears before they actually escaped.  She managed to contain her emotions, but it was difficult.  She thought about Darius and how things had been so good for so long.  What went wrong?  Did he really feel that she was pretentious?  Probably, she thought, because she really meant it when she told him that he was full of himself.  They both had their faults, but so what.  Surely Rod and Danielle have their faults, and yet they've managed to work through them and come together to form this beautiful family.  Adele wondered if Darius was thinking about her at all and she glanced across the room at him, only to see that he was staring directly at her.  He quickly looked away when their gaze met.