Carmen ”Not like this.”

Carmen shakes her head, regretting the words as she speaks them.

Carmen ”…We can’t.  …It was supposed to be Shane.”

Lara ”Fuck Shane.”

Carmen ”I was supposed…to marry…Shane.  I can’t do this to you, it isn’t fair to you…I’m sorry.  I wish it could have been you.”

Carmen breaks down once again, letting go of Lara and holding her wedding dress as she hurries off, embarrassed, hurt, and heartbroken, with her family following after her.  Lara stands there, frozen in position.  She has just suffered heartbreak again, this time instantaneously.  Alice ignores her own pain, walking up to Lara.

Alice ”C’mon.  I’m givin’ you the rest of the night off.”

Lara looks at Alice.

Lara ”…I’m sorry.”

Alice ”No.  You have nothing to be sorry about.  It’s not your fault.  …C’mon.”

Alice turns Lara around and walks her out of the wedding tent, her right arm around Lara’s shoulders.

Alice ”We made a promise to each other.  It’s my turn now.”

Slowly, but surely, the tent empties out after what has been a bizarre and unfortunate turn of events.

Post-Wedding Debacle.

Inside the bar, Marina, Francesca, and Claude have drinks.

Francesca ”That…was the disaster to end disasters.”

Claude ”Do your friends always have these kinds of weddings?”

Marina smirks.

Marina ”No.”

Claude ”That is unfortunate.  They seem more exciting when genuine love is involved.”

Francesca ”God.  Poor Carmen…being stood up at the altar like that.  Hell, she didn’t even make it to the altar.”

Marina ”Poor Carmen?  Poor Lara.”

Francesca ”You know…I wanna say I don’t get that, but I remember those two when we were working on that project months ago.  They were always around each other when they weren’t working.  They really formed a bond and…”

Marina ”…And perhaps Lara was afraid of losing that bond forever tonight.”

Claude ”Had the other showed up…maybe we could have seen something the epic romantic stories are made of.”

Francesca ”Well…that’s Shane.”

Marina ”I detest her doing that.  What can we do, though?”

Claude ”Ladies…we can drink and then retire somewhere and recite our favorite poems.”

Marina ”To poetry!”

Francesca ”To poetry!”

Claude ”To poetry!”

The three clink their glasses together.

In Alice and Lara’s suite, the mood is far less jovial.  Alice has helped Lara out of her dress and into the bed.  She brushes her left hand through Lara’s hair, also stroking her right cheek as she stands by the bed, leaning towards her.