Free Last-Minute Love (Year of the Chick series) by Romi Moondi

“And do you know what that means?” His eyes became larger. “That means when the wedding comes...they’re gonna lock you in the furnace room.” He furrowed his eyebrows and meowed.
    I felt bad for the little guy , but I had problems of my own. Almost as if on cue, the biggest problem of all thudded down the stairs, and when I saw her I almost screamed. It wasn’t a monster though, just the usual Neema in a green mud facial mask.
    I tightened my ponytail and gestured to the mess. “What am I supposed to do with all of this?”
    She clasped her hands together and smiled. “Here’s what I’m envisioning. You hang the tulle from every archway between the entrance and the kitchen.” She counted with her fingers. “So that’s four. And you should probably do two loops for each one.” She moved past me and grabbed a few flowers. “And then you’ll put the big flower in the middle, add some leaves, and a few lilies. That’s how each bunch should look.”
    “Am I supposed to glue them together?”
    “No, use a wire.” She paused for a second to think. “So you’ll need twelve of those…”
    I grabbed the bunch of flowers. “This is pretty heavy, how am I supposed to make it hang without dragging down the tulle?” I stared at the roll of tulle with contempt, the useless white netting that it was.
    She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno. Use those hook thing s with the sticky on the back. Or use a staple gun…”
    “Uhh, I don’t think Dad wants us stapling things to the wall, dumbass.”
    “Well I don’t know!” she yelled. “Figure it out!”
    I tried to remain calm. “Okay…is that it?”
    “Actually one more thing. With all the extra roses we have, rip off all the petals individually, and drop them in the hanging tulle. Won’t that look pretty?” She smiled sweetly, as the mud mask strained and cracked at different places.
    I wasn’t s miling back, as I considered the insanity of her plan. “Rip off every petal…one by one? Why didn’t you just buy a bag of fake petals? The guy at the store said they sold them!”
    S he rolled her eyes. “Because I didn’t think of the idea ‘til now, obviously. So how long will all this take? Because I need you to help with the parting gifts we’re gonna leave at every chair.” She looked off into the distance. “That could take a while too; we need like four hundred and fifty...”
    I clenched my teeth harder than I’d ever clenched them since I first grew my pearly whites ( or off-whites, let’s be serious ). “Okay...fine. Just get out of my face so I can do it.” She stood there staring. “I said...GET OUT!”
    Her eyes widened. “Fine, fine. Just make sure you don’t screw it up.”
    She thudded back up the stairs as I contemplated ways to murder her. Then with a sigh, I began my biggest slave-work task…
     
    ***
     
    With three days left until the big day, the pre-wedding functions were set to begin in twenty-four hours, along with an influx of relatives. I’d thought my biggest slave-work task would be the decorating (which looked amazing, by the way), but boy was I wrong.
    A few minutes ago, my sister had come to the basement and handed me a box that was almost my height. Inside this box was a beautiful pre-lit archway, one that you’d dig into the ground, and crown with an arrangement of flowers. The only tricky parts were A: how the archway came unassembled in a million different pieces, B: how the lights were not attached, and C: how the beautiful arrangement of flowers would be manually arranged...by me.
    I was appropriately wearing my gym cl othes, since this one would be a sweat-fest.
    Here we go.
    I cut open the box and let all the pieces fall out.
    There were zillions, complete with tiny little screws to drive me crazy. My brother’s bedroom was just down the hallway, and I noticed the faintest bit of light. His door was also slightly ajar. Hmm...
    “H elp me put this together,” I said, as I started to search for the