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carladuquette · 10 months

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happy speak now tv day! a couple of years ago i wrote a little something based on speak now (the song) and it turned into a whole taylor x elite series. next chapter - no body no crime - coming when i my wrists/arms will let me type without pain again.

ANYWAY, Speak Now - Carla/Samuel

Carla pulled at the hem of her dress, then took another sip from the small champagne bottle Lu had pressed into her hand as soon as she had gotten into Carla's car.

"I'm really not sure this is a good idea," she said one more time. "Maybe we should go home."

"Carla." Lu took her hand and waited until Carla looked at her. "We've talked about this. We're going. You need this. It'll give you… closure or something? Anyway, you can't let that little hairdresser tell you what to do. And we look way too hot to turn back now, ok? Trust me, it'll be fine."

Carla smiled briefly. Whenever Lu said that, there was at least a 50 percent chance whatever they were up to would end in disaster. Hopefully today would be different.

She braced herself and took a deep breath in the back of the car. It wasn't like she was heading to her own execution. Weddings were a happy occasion. A couple expressing their undying love for each love. Two families united as one. A never-ending flow of alcohol from the open bar. Only that she and Lu would never get to the part with the alcohol. They wouldn't go to the reception because neither of them had actually been invited to the wedding they were about to attend.

Well. Technically…

It seems that I was uninvited by your lovely bride-to-be

Samuel had been dating Maria when Carla had returned from London and she'd been determined to be happy for him. They had gone on a few double dates, always with a different guy by Carla's side (and a girl once, Carla had learned some things about herself in college), but eventually they'd stopped.

Samuel had canceled a dinner first, then Carla had feigned a headache and bowed out of a movie she and Sergio (or was it Raul?) were supposed to go see with Samuel and Maria. When Carla had texted Samuel a few days later with the suggestion for another date, he'd said it was a bad time, that he was studying for the final exams for his Bachelor's and Maria was busy at work.

The mean part of Carla had wanted to reply asking what exactly Maria was so busy with at the salon, but she'd just texted him a "Sure, let me know when you come up for air." He never had.

Carla hadn't minded. In fact, she'd been grateful. Going out with him and Maria had been more painful than she had been willing to admit to herself.

They'd seen each other one more time after that, at Guzman's birthday. Maria hadn't been there - "She's visiting her mom on Lanzarote," Samuel had explained - and it had been the best night Carla had had since returning to Madrid. She and Samuel had been inseparable all night. They had talked for hours. His jokes had still been stupid, his dance moves had still made him look like he was having a seizure and Carla still hadn't cared one bit. The way he'd looked at her… No one had looked at her like that in years. Carla had felt like she was right back in high school.

It had happened when Guzman had finally kicked the last guests out at 3:30 am. They had awkwardly hugged goodbye in front of Guzman's apartment building. And then they had kissed.

For the first time Carla had felt like she was actually home again. Then she'd opened her eyes and had seen the guilt written all over Samuel's face.

"I'm sorry," she had rushed to say.

"Carla…"

"No no, don't worry about it. We're both drunk, this didn't mean anything." As if it could ever not mean anything with him. "You're fine. Go home. We'll just forget this ever happened."

A few months later she'd been out for drinks with Guzman, Ander and Lu. Guzman hadn't been able to look her in the eye all night, until Lu had kicked her ex's leg under the table and exasperatedly said "Will you just tell her already?"

Samuel, as it turned out, had apparently done exactly as she had suggested, forgotten all about their kiss and proposed to his girlfriend. By the end of that night, Lu had had to hold Carla's hair back as she threw up in the bar's bathroom.

The invite had been in the mail a few weeks later. "A July wedding, it'll be way too hot," Carla had thought idly as her legs had given out. She had fully planned to attend, with a plus one, of course. But before she'd been able to send her RSVP back, Maria had shown up at her office on a Thursday. It had been raining and Carla had just gotten dropped back off at the winery after a business lunch with a buyer from Italy when she'd seen Maria in the lobby. (She still remembered every single detail of that day down to the color of her shoes - bordeaux - and the overly sweet smell of Maria's vanilla-scented perfume.) Samuel's fiancée had made it very clear that she did not want Carla to show her face at the wedding.

I sneak in and see your friends And her snotty little family all dressed in pastel

They had actually sneaked into the church where her high school boyfriend was about to get married like it was Teatro Barcelo and she and Lu were 15. Carla took a moment to appreciate the absurdity of her life before she looked around. People were still arriving, so there was enough of a hustle and bustle that the two of them didn't attract attention standing off to the side next to a large shelf holding fliers about the church's membership drive, its Thursday night soup kitchen and the Alcoholics Anonymous group that hosted its meetings in the building's basement. The snob in Carla was appalled that no one had bothered to remove the shelf, or at least the fliers, before the wedding. Stop judging, she reminded herself. You shouldn't even be here.

Lu had no such qualms. "That has to be Maria's mother up there, right?" She scoffed. "Who wears mint green to a wedding? Honestly, that whole outfit is a disaster. I am itching just looking at the fabric from here. What is that, polyester?"

Carla nodded absentmindedly, looking for faces she'd recognize. Her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Nano already standing up front next to the altar, looking uncomfortable in an ill-fitting suit. "Look." She tugged on Lu's arm. "Samu must be so happy to have his brother here. I bet Nano is his best man."

"Yeah, he is." Lu chuckled. "Guzman was pretty hurt he didn't get the job. Oh my God, is that-"

Both of their mouths were hanging open as they watched a tall brunette walk past them at a distance, quietly cursing and pulling at the ruffles covering her torso. "Wow," was all Carla managed. She couldn't drag her eyes away from Rebeka in a pink tulle atrocity that she realized had to be a bridesmaid dress.

"She and Samuel must still be really good friends for her to be wearing that." Lu was laughing so hard she had to lean on the shelf and Carla shushed her. When she had calmed down she turned to Carla.

"So, I hang back here while you go find Samuel? I can text Guzman about where the room is that the guys-

"Are you insane?" Carla took a step closer to Lu so their faces were almost touching. "I am not going to talk to him! That is not why we came here!"

She was about to elaborate when a familiar voice made her freeze. "Nano!" Pilar shouted as she entered the church, cellphone in hand. "Did you tell the DJ it was next weekend?!"

Carla roughly grabbed Lu's elbow and dragged her along as she hurried behind the shelf and ducked.

Lu stared at her. "What the-"

"Sssshhh!" Carla covered Lu's mouth with her hand. Only when Pilar was far enough away they couldn't hear her shouting anymore did she remove it. "She can't see us, she'd immediately tell Samu I'm here."

The gentleness in Lu's eyes was a rare sight. "Carla, what are you doing?" she asked softly.

"Samu and I just missed our moment." Carla shrugged. She knew her hard work to look nonchalant was in vain, but that didn't mean she'd give up. "He's getting married, there's nothing I can do about it."

"Bullshit! Have you not seen a single romcom ever? Damn it, you are so clearly still in lo-"

"Shut up!" Carla could feel her face heat up. "You wanted us to come here, you dragged me to this even though I told you in no uncertain terms I did not want to go and I still very much don't want to be here! But you don't care because you thought this could be some fun little anecdote for you to tell down the road, right? 'How I crashed a working-class wedding.'"

"That's not true and I hope you know that," Lu said quietly.

Seeing hurt flash across her best friend's face and knowing she had caused it still came with the exact same mix of surprise and regret it did in high school. "I'm sorry," Carla said immediately. "No, of course I do. It's all of this, being here... It has me on edge. But you're right, it'll be good for closure. Let's just find seats in the back and get through it, ok?"

Lu smiled half-heartedly and hugged her. "If that's what you really want."

Horrified looks from everyone in the room But I'm only looking at you

The ceremony passed in a haze. Lu covered a laugh with a cough as Rebeka walked down the aisle, other than that the two of them were silent. Carla kept staring at Samuel, trying to decipher whether he looked happy, but they were too far back for her to really read his face. When Maria floated down the aisle like a pageant queen, Carla grabbed Lu's hand without taking her eyes off the bride. She was squeezing so hard that she thought she could hear their bones crack - she'd definitely have to buy Lu a drink or five once this was over. Once this was over… when Samuel would be married. Carla closed her eyes.

After what felt like hours, when the sickeningly adorable story of how Samuel and Maria had met had been told and a friend of Maria's had sung some 90s love song off-key, the pastor cleared his throat and declared: "Should anyone present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Carla." When she didn't react right away, Lu pulled away her hand and pinched her arm hard enough to hurt. "Carla! This is your last chance! If you don't do something now-"

It was a physical reflex. That was the only possible explanation, because Carla certainly didn't want to get up, but there she was, on her feet, hands shaking.

"Uhm." She cleared her throat. The effect would have been comical had she not been this terrified: Every last person in the church turned to look at her. And they clearly weren't happy. Carla took a deep breath and focused on Samuel, who hadn't moved a single muscle and was staring at her slack-jawed.

"I… I don't usually do this sort of thing-" Here she could see Rebeka laugh, the only one in the bridesmaids line-up who didn't look horrified. "But I wanted…" What exactly was it that she wanted? What was the plan here? Carla was ready to just sit down again (or, even better, have the ground open up and swallow her whole), when she felt Lu squeeze her hand. Fuck it.

"I didn't want to miss my moment. Not again. Samu, we've done that enough times. I'm sorry I didn't say this earlier, right when I got back from London or even before that, but I love you. I love you." Carla was having an out-of-body experience, but she was still pretty sure the smile slowly spreading across Samuel's face wasn't a hallucination.

"So… You shouldn't be marrying the wrong girl, I guess is what I'm saying."

A collective gasp traveled through the pews. Maria threw her bouquet to the ground and looked like she was ready to tackle Carla, but Rebeka had taken a step forward and grabbed her by the arm. Carla felt like she was floating, like she had drunk an entire bottle of champagne too quickly. Nothing could touch her. She actually giggled. "I'll be going, but if you're not going to be saying any vows, come find me outside."

She turned around and made her way out of the pew. Lu was right behind her. Once they were outside, the enormity of her actions hit her in the face. "Oh my god." Carla had to sit down on the church's front stoop because the world was spinning. She had apparently forgotten how to breathe right and struggled for tiny gulps of air. "What did I do? What just happened? I never should have come! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my-"

"Hey!" Lu was kneeling in front of her, grabbing her face with both hands. "You were fucking fantastic. That was the bravest thing I have ever seen, really, Carla."

"She's right, you know?"

Carla's heart stopped. She didn't dare turn around, so when Lu got up with a wide grin on her face, Carla just kept staring straight ahead. A pair of tux-clad legs appeared in her field of vision. Carla's mouth opened without any contribution from her brain. "You can't wear sneakers with a tuxedo," she said, her voice hoarse.

Samuel's laugh rang in her ears. When she finally looked up at him, his dark eyes were serious.

"Did you really mean what you said in there?"

For the first time Carla allowed the hope that she had pushed down to unfold. She got up and grabbed Samuel's hands. "I just got up in front of all your friends and family and ruined your wedding. Of course I fucking meant it. Every word."

Before she could ask how he felt, Samuel pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. Carla moaned into the kiss and only broke away when Lu cleared her throat.

"You're welcome, bitch."

Carla practically ran the few short steps towards Lu and all but jumped into her arms. "Thank you," she whispered in her ear. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Her cheeks were wet when she pulled away.

"Any time." Lu wiped away a tear, too. "But can we get going now? I don't want to be here when the angry mob gets out."

They started walking towards their car, but Carla could feel Samuel tug at her hand. "Yeah?" She smiled at him.

"I'm really glad you came."

#speak now #speak now tv #taylor swift #carla x samuel #carmuel #lu x carla friendship #carla roson #samuel garcia #lucrecia montesinos #elite x taylor swift #fanfiction

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