Love's Fool

Thursday, February 3, 2011
Madeline Stiles sat in The Oakland International Airport staring at her laptop trying desperately to ignore the useless chatter from her sister’s bridesmaids. Christa Stiles had been friends with the four of them since high school and she loved them dearly. Madeline, however, couldn’t stand them! She thought they were some of the most envious, untrustworthy women, none of whom deserved Christa’s devotion-- especially her best friend Reesa. Madeline wanted to reach across her seat and slap the taste out of the woman’s mouth but she promised Christa that for the days leading up to her wedding, there would be no drama. She adored her older sister and would never do anything to ruin the most important time of her life. Even if it meant keeping her mouth shut while Reesa sat next to her complaining and acting as if the weekend was all about her!
  In four hours the women would arrive in Memphis, Tennessee to meet the groom’s family and put the finishing touches on his and Christa’s lavish, eighty-five thousand dollar wedding. She and the love of her life Ellis Marshall had decided it was more sensible and economical to have their special day in his hometown instead of Oakland, California where Christa was born and raised. The Stiles family consisted of Madeline, Christa, and their divorced parents. Ellis had twelve brothers and sisters alone, not to mention all of his cousins, uncles, aunts, and friends who’d have a fit if they didn’t get to witness “Cub” get married. It was something the forty-year old pharmaceutical salesman said he would never do, until the day he accidentally put his groceries into thirty-two-year old Christa’s cart and fell head over heels in love. Ellis knew he would marry the sweet, tender-hearted woman after their first date and he proposed four months later. They’d made plans to get pregnant right after the wedding to start their own little family and build a happy life together.
“Hey,” Reesa said, as she waved her hand in front of Madeline’s face.
Madeline took a deep breath then removed the earphones from her MP4 player. “How can I help you?” she asked, coolly.
“We were all saying how beautiful Christa’s wedding is gonna be. Don’t you agree?” 
She didn’t hide her annoyance at being disturbed for such a ridiculous question. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to confirming our reservations for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night. Some people sit around talking about how beautiful things will be and others of us do the work to make sure they are,” Madeline rolled her eyes then replaced her earphones.
Reesa snorted before looking at the other three women with a “who does this bitch think she is” look on her face. She disliked Madeline and took every opportunity she could to get under the woman’s skin. Ole ugly self, Reesa thought then chuckled slightly to herself. She knew better. Madeline was a lot of things but ugly wasn’t one of them. The thirty-year-old Black woman was a natural beauty with toasted almond skin and chocolate brown, doe eyes. Reesa would never admit it but Madeline’s round cheeks and pouty mouth looked adorable when she smiled, making her whole face light up. And she often thought of the Sir Mix-a-Lot song, “Baby Got Back” when she looked at her. He probably had Madeline in mind when he wrote “L.A. face with an Oakland booty” because it described her perfectly.
One night after a few drinks Christa confessed to Reesa how much she wished she looked like Madeline. It was as if her sister had gotten all of Rodney and Evelyn Stiles’ best features and Christa got all of their flaws. Her eyes and nose were too big and her lips too thin. She spent hours each day applying makeup and doing everything she could to make herself more attractive when all Madeline had to do was wake up and she looked stunning. Christa was 5’3” and had to count every calorie to keep her size eight figure from ballooning back to a size fourteen while Madeline ate everything she saw but had been a size six since eighth grade!
Christa hated herself for feeling jealous of her sister. It wasn’t Madeline’s fault that she was beautiful. And contrary to her behavior, she wasn’t really a stuck-up, self-absorbed bitch who only cared about her looks. Madeline was one of the most loving, generous people Christa knew and she often encouraged her baby sister to let go of hurts from the past and open her heart to people. Unfortunately, Madeline was much more comfortable hiding behind the stuck-up, self-absorbed bitch persona she’d made for herself.
“Look, hoe, you ain’t gotta be rude!” Reesa snapped. “I’m trying to . . .”
“Oh my god, Christa!” Madeline shrieked, as she tossed her laptop on the seat beside her and rushed to her sister who’d come stumbling out of the restroom.
Reesa and the other bridesmaids rushed behind Madeline to find out what was wrong. Christa was crying hysterically with her hand over her heart and she looked seconds away from collapsing.
“Christa, baby, what’s wrong?” Madeline cried, holding her sister close. “Christa Belle, please,” she said after a few minutes passed with no explanation.
“Ellis . . .” Christa gasped.
“Oh god, what happened to Ellis,” Reesa asked.
“He . . . he called . . . he called off the wedding,” Christa finally said between breaths. She was close to hyperventilating.
“What?” all the women shouted.
Christa relinquished her cell phone to Madeline who silently read Ellis’s text. I COULD NEVER MARRY A WOMAN LIKE YOU!!!!