A Woman's Fiancé's Best Friend Dressed as Snow White, Made Him the Prince, and Gave Her a Dwarf Costume – But at the Halloween Party, She Suddenly Shouted, 'How Dare You?'

Lexi chose a princess gown for herself and a fake beard for me, then asked whether I was offended. I told her I wasn't. By the time she understood why, we were standing in the middle of a Halloween party.

Three weeks before our wedding, Lexi tried to change her seat at the reception.

"I'll barely know anyone at that table," she said, leaning across our kitchen island to study the seating chart.

"Your parents are there," Emmett said.

"I'll barely know anyone."

"And your Aunt Sophie, and who is James?"

I moved a sticky note back into place.

She tapped the table beside Emmett's name.

"There used to be room for me."

She tapped the table

"We’re sitting with our parents at the reception." Emmett nudged her. "You’ll survive dinner at another table."

She laughed, but I noticed she didn't move her finger.

They'd grown up three houses apart.

I'd heard stories about their summers at the lake, Lexi's broken wrist, and the school play in which Emmett forgot every line.

She didn't move.

I liked those stories the first time.

By the fourth telling, usually halfway through something I was saying, I began to understand their purpose.

Lexi brought them up to exclude me.

That night, while we ate takeout over the seating chart, Lexi inspected my engagement ring.

I liked those stories.

"Still can't believe you're actually doing it," she told Emmett.

"I'm fairly committed. Bought a suit and everything."

My fork stopped halfway to my mouth.

"I'm fairly committed."

"Stop," Emmett said.

Lexi smiled. "What? I'm joking."

"Fine. Tough crowd."

She helped herself to another dumpling.

"I'm joking."

After she left, I collected the containers while Emmett folded the chart.

His expression changed.

"No."

"Because I don't want to sit there wondering whether everyone thinks I'm being a good sport."

"No."

He put the chart down.

"I'll talk to her."

"So are you, Maya."

"I'd like to enjoy getting married without having to prove that."

"I'll talk to her."

He took the stack of containers from my hands.

"You won't have to."

We stood beside the trash can while he kissed my forehead.

"Very romantic," I said.

"Hang on. I can fix that."

"You won't have to."

He nudged the trash can shut with his foot and kissed me again.

"Better?"

"Garlic is forever."

That was what I wanted more of. Us, being stupid in our own kitchen.

He kissed me again.

And nobody measuring how long she'd known him against how long I had.

***

Emmett called Lexi the next evening.

Afterward, he told me she'd promised to stop making jokes about our marriage. I wanted to believe that would be enough.

A few days later, Lexi announced she'd handled Halloween.

She'd promised to stop

"For all three of us," she said proudly.

I'd nearly forgotten the party at our friend Jules's house.

Between wedding calls and work, choosing a costume had dropped somewhere below replacing the bathroom lightbulb.

"That's thoughtful," I said.

"For all three of us,"

"It'll be adorable. Trust me."

I believed she was trying... that Emmett's talk had worked better than expected.

***

The next afternoon, she arrived with three garment bags.

She unzipped hers first: blue bodice, puffed sleeves, yellow skirt.

"Trust me."

She held the Snow White dress against herself.

"Perfect, right?"

Emmett's bag contained a Prince costume, complete with a cape.

Then she handed me mine.

An oversized hat flopped out first. Beneath it lay a tunic, a padded belly, and a beard attached to elastic.

"Perfect, right?"

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Lexi tilted her head.

I looked from the beard to the dress she was still holding.

I knew exactly what she was doing. Maybe Emmett would finally see it, too.

Nobody spoke.

"Wow, that's a real shame," Emmett said. "We really should've picked out something earlier. But at least we all match, right?"

"Exactly." Lexi grinned.

That was what he kept missing.

He knew he didn't want Lexi, so he couldn't see why I worried about what SHE wanted.

"Exactly."

An idea began to take shape.

If I refused, she could call me jealous. But if I played along, perhaps he'd finally see what happened when she didn't get the attention she expected.

"I'll keep it," I said.

Lexi's smile widened.

"I'll keep it."

Lexi slipped her dress back into its bag.

"Great." She winked at Emmett. "She gets it."

After the door closed, Emmett picked up the beard.

I hooked the elastic around my ears.

"She gets it."

"How do I look?"

"Like you're about to complain about working conditions in a mine."

He laughed, then searched my face.

"Seriously, though."

"How do I look?"

I took his hand.

"I'll tell you if I want to change costumes."

That evening, I photographed the outfit on our bed and sent a few messages.

The first answer came while I was brushing my teeth.

I sent a few messages.

I read it, spat into the sink, and started laughing.

Emmett called from the bedroom.

"Something for the party."

"Should I be worried?"

I started laughing.

"Only about your tights."

"They're trousers."

Before bed, I contacted Jules, the party host.

By the following afternoon, the practical part was settled.

"Should I be worried?"

For the first time that week, I was looking forward to Halloween.

Lexi certainly was.

She added us to a group chat and sent photographs of couples dressed as Snow White and the Prince.

"This pose!" she wrote beneath one in which the princess leaned against his chest.

Lexi certainly was.

Emmett replied with a picture of a prince fighting an inflatable dragon.

"More my range."

I sent a thumbs-up.

***

On Halloween, Lexi arrived while I was fastening my padded belly.

"More my range."

She stood in our bedroom doorway with her makeup done and her dark hair curled beneath a red bow.

"You bought it for me."

"I know, but some people say they're fine and then make things awkward later."

"You bought it for me."

I adjusted the hat.

"Well, we wouldn't want that."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

I think she was onto me, but there was no way she could've guessed what I had planned for her.

From downstairs, Emmett shouted that someone needed to help with his cape.

I think she was onto me

Lexi turned immediately.

"I'll do it!"

***

By the time I came down, she'd straightened his collar and was brushing invisible dust from his shoulder.

She wanted a photograph before we left.

"I'll do it!"

Emmett held out his hand to me.

"Come on, sleepyhead."

"Wrong dwarf," I said.

"It could go either way."

Lexi took the picture using her phone's timer.

"Wrong dwarf,"

I stood beside him, beard tickling my mouth, while she checked the result.

She didn't send that one to the group.

***

At Jules's house, orange light spilled across the porch. Music shook the front windows, and somebody had hung a skeleton from the upstairs balcony wearing swimming goggles.

We'd barely got out of the car when Lexi caught Emmett's arm.

She checked the result

"Come on!"

She pulled him toward the house so quickly he stumbled.

"Lexi, slow down!" he laughed.

I followed, lifting my tunic clear of a wet patch on the path.

Inside, she turned toward me.

"Come on!"

Grace stepped out of the living room.

"There you are!"

Nina appeared beside her, followed by Ben, Theo, Sam, and Owen. They'd stuck to the plan perfectly.

They looked incredible.

They'd stuck to the plan

Grace caught my hands and pulled me into the middle.

I bit back a laugh.

"Oh, we're getting a picture of this," someone said.

Emmett looked at us, then at Lexi.

He burst out laughing.

"Oh, we're getting a picture of this,"

Lexi followed his gaze as the others crowded around me.

People near the doorway stopped talking to look.

Her hand slipped from his arm.

"How dare you?!" she shouted.

I smiled.

"How dare you?!"

"What? I wore what you gave me."

"You didn't tell me about this."

"I meant them."

She pointed at my friends.

"I wore what you gave me."

I looked around at my six friends in their dwarf costumes.

Seven hats. Seven beards. Seven padded bellies.

Owen's beard was already crooked, and Ben had somehow got his belt caught around a plastic pickaxe.

Grace adjusted her hat. "We were already coming. Maya asked if we wanted to join her."

I looked around at my six friends

"And abandon our extremely original witch costumes," Nina added.

Jules came through carrying a bowl of candy.

Lexi looked around at the phones coming out.

Then she smoothed her skirt.

Lexi looked around

"Well, obviously you need me."

We made room.

For the first photograph, everyone stood politely in a row.

For the second, Owen crouched, Sam leaned over his shoulder, and Grace pulled me down beside her.

We made room.

Emmett stood behind me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Okay," Lexi said, stepping forward. "Now one of just the main characters."

She reached for Emmett.

He glanced at me.

"I want one with Maya."

"Just the main characters."

"We'll do that too. I mean the prince and princess."

"Hang on."

He helped me stand and put an arm around my padded waist.

I looked up at him.

"Hang on."

"You've always wanted a woman with a beard."

Someone took the picture while he was still laughing.

Lexi stood a few feet away, pressing her lips together.

Then she spotted the couch.

"I know! We should do the glass-coffin scene."

Then she spotted the couch.

Jules moved a throw pillow.

"Please don't actually die on that. It's new."

Lexi lay down carefully.

"Everyone around me," she directed. "Emmett, you stand there."

She pointed beside her head.

"Everyone around me,"

Lexi closed her eyes.

"Wait," said a man dressed as a pirate. "The prince has to kiss her."

Emmett laughed.

"Kiss Lexi? We've been friends since we ate glue."

She opened one eye.

"The prince has to kiss her."

"My fiancée's right here," he added.

He held out his hand.

I stood, and he drew me close.

The beard got between us. I tried to pull it down, but he was already kissing me, smiling against my mouth.

"My fiancée's right here,"

Someone cheered.

I forgot about Lexi for the length of that kiss.

Then she sat up.

"You've ruined the whole point!"

The room quieted unevenly. Music still played from the kitchen.

"You've ruined the whole point!"

I turned toward her.

"What was the point?"

She stood, gathering her skirt.

"We were supposed to be the couple."

Emmett's arm loosened around me.

"What was the point?"

"We aren't a couple."

"The costumes, Emmett. Obviously."

Lexi looked at me.

"Because she turned it into some big performance."

"We aren't a couple."

"I invited friends to dress up with me."

"To make me look stupid."

Nina frowned.

"You knew exactly what you were doing, Maya." Lexi pointed at me.

And she was right, but rather than argue with her, I cut straight to the point.

"To make me look stupid."

"Why did you pick yourself and my fiancé as the couple?"

"Oh, don't do that."

"Act like I'm some stranger who threw herself at him. I've been here his whole life. Two years," she said, turning to Emmett. "She's been here two years, and suddenly I have to ask permission to stand beside you?"

"Oh, don't do that."

"You've been standing beside me all evening," he said. "What you haven't done is let Maya enjoy it."

Lexi's eyes shone.

"You do matter. That doesn't give you the right to treat her like this."

She glanced at the people still nearby.

"You do matter."

"Can everyone stop staring?"

Jules quietly waved the pirate toward the kitchen.

Our friends stepped back. Grace squeezed my wrist before moving away.

Lexi looked at Emmett.

"I thought you'd realize before you actually married her."

"Can everyone stop staring?"

He went very still.

"Realize what?"

"Lexi."

"Realize what?"

"It was always us. Everyone knew it. I thought when you got serious about getting married, you'd finally think about who was already here."

I'd spent months wondering whether I was making too much of her comments.

Now she was asking him to reconsider marrying me, with me standing right there.

I wanted him to answer her, but I hated that our wedding had become something she expected him to defend.

"It was always us."

Emmett shook his head.

"We're friends. I never thought we were waiting to become something else."

"It is."

"Then why did you always call me? Why did you come over after your dad left?"

"It is."

"Because you're my friend."

I looked at his face. He wasn't laughing now. Whatever she wanted from him, the friendship he'd thought they had was something he was losing too.

She wiped beneath one eye with her fingertip.

"And now you're choosing her."

"Because you're my friend."

"I'm marrying her. I love her."

Lexi looked at me as though I'd interrupted a conversation.

"Come outside with me," she told him.

"We need to talk privately."

"I love her."

"Anything you need to say about my relationship, you can say in front of Maya."

Her expression hardened.

He didn't move.

"Emmett. If you stay here with her, don't call me tomorrow pretending we're okay."

He didn't move.

My heart was pounding, but I was tired of standing there while she spoke around me.

"You gave me that costume because you wanted me looking ridiculous beside you," I said. "Then I enjoyed wearing it, and you got angry."

"It was a joke."

"Then why were you offended?"

"It was a joke."

She opened her mouth, then turned back to Emmett.

"I'm not standing up at your wedding giving some speech about how happy I am. I can't watch you make this mistake."

Emmett took a breath.

"Then don't."

She turned back to Emmett.

Lexi stared at him.

"What?"

Her jaw dropped.

"You'd throw away our entire friendship?"

"What?"

"I'm not asking you to pretend this doesn't hurt. I'm asking you to stop hurting Maya. You keep refusing."

For a moment, I thought she might answer him honestly.

Instead, she snatched her purse from the couch.

"I hope you remember this."

"Stop hurting Maya."

He stepped aside so she could pass.

"I will."

The front door closed behind her.

Emmett looked down at his hands. They were shaking.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I will."

"Not really." He looked at me. "But I'm not going after her."

"I didn't want you to lose your friend."

"Are you going to resent me for this?" I asked.

He looked up sharply.

"Not really."

"No." He took my hand. "I should have listened before tonight."

Across the room, Owen was helping Ben untangle his pickaxe.

Nina had found a bowl of chips and was trying to eat without catching crumbs in her beard.

"Can we stay?" I asked.

Emmett squeezed my hand. "I'd like that."

"Can we stay?"