With both girls finally asleep, the hours flew by until an alarm blared right at five-
thirty the next morning.
It was Shirley's phone!
The obnoxious ringing jolted Claire awake, yet Shirley remained completely dead to the world.
Claire desperately wanted to reach over and smash the snooze button.
Instead, she opted to kick Shirley a couple of times, trying to rouse her from her coma.
She severely overestimated her cousin's morning awareness.
Her kicks didn't wake Shirley up at all; in fact, the girl just grabbed onto Claire's leg like a koala.
Shirley rolled over, hugging Claire's calf as she continued snoring peacefully.
Losing the last of her patience, Claire sat up and pinched Shirley's ear, pulling hard.
Before Shirley could blindly lash out, Claire pinned her wrists down.
That finally did the trick.
She blinked groggily at Claire. "Claire, what the hell are you doing?"
"Shirley, aren't you supposed to be getting up to do your bridesmaid duties?" Shirley froze.
She aggressively rubbed her eyes, reality crashing down on her as she remembered her role for the day.
But it was only five-thirty in the morning; her bed was a warm sanctuary, while the world outside was pitch-black and freezing!
"Is it too late to say I regret agreeing to this?"
Claire pinched her cheek. "Wake up. Yes, it's way too late."
Defeated, Shirley scrambled out of bed, threw on some clothes, stumbled through her morning routine, and hurried over to the bride's room.
The bride wasn't even awake yet.
"Why isn't Jenny up yet?" Shirley asked, utterly bewildered.
"I'm getting up now, but Shirley, you didn't have to be up this early. You could have slept for another two hours."
"You just need to be ready before the ceremony time."
The village had deemed the most auspicious time for the ceremony to be exactly nine-o-nine.
Edison was scheduled to pick Jenny up right at that moment for The Chapel Ceremony.
Shirley could have easily rolled out of bed at eight-thirty and still made it on time.
Then again, she needed time for makeup and probably wanted to grab some breakfast.
So, waking up at eight would have been perfectly fine.
Shirley stared in sheer disbelief. "Wait, you're telling me I only needed to be up by eight?"
"Then who on earth told me to set an alarm for five-thirty?!"
Even the bride got to sleep in until six-thirty, yet she had tortured herself with a five- thirty wake-up call.
Jenny couldn't help but laugh. "You probably just misheard someone."
Amused by Shirley's dramatics, Jenny decided to get up early and start getting ready herself.
Shirley blindly stumbled back to her own room and collapsed right back into bed.
By the time eight o'clock rolled around, she hadn't even bothered setting a new alarm had to be shaken awake by Claire.
When Claire heard about her ridiculous early-morning blunder, she was utterly speechless.
Who had even convinced her that bridesmaids needed to be up at the crack of dawn?
It was pure sabotage!
But Shirley hadn't bothered to clarify the schedule so if she ended up looking like a raccoon today she
had herself to blame.
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Fortunately, Claire was quite skilled with a makeup brush and expertly concealed her dark circles.
Yes, indeed Shirley's entire makeup look was being handled by Claire.
Before starting the glam process, the two of them shared a quick bowl of oatmeal to ensure they wouldn't pass out from hunger before the recèption feast.
Meanwhile, Jenny was getting her makeup done personally by Pandora.
They had originally hired a professional makeup artist.
But the artist had completely flaked on them because of the holidays.
Jenny had been incredibly upset, but Pandora quickly stepped in and offered her own services.
Jenny had initially been skeptical of the older woman's cosmetic skills but the moment she saw the trial
run in the mirror, she instantly fell in love with her reflection. .net
Or, more accurately, she fell in love with Pandora's masterful technique.
It was absolutely stunning, giving her the timeless, radiant elegance of a high-
society heiress.
Even with her distinctly Western features, the look was flawless.
Claire's handiwork on Shirley wasn't half bad either.