The Bridezilla - Chapter 13 (Patreon)

Wynonna took another sip of her wine, looking across the party room at Caleb, who had pulled his phone out again, waiting for a text that clearly wasn't going to come. She almost admired his persistence, his belief that things were going to work out, no matter how unlikely that was.

Was it time? She glanced around her table, though, by now, there wasn't much of a point. Helena had run off, and taken Nikki with her, and Caleb's brothers had mostly dispersed, talking to other guests. Brandon was still there, but he was busy staring at his phone, not really having anyone his age in the room. No doubt he was complaining about how boring this was... That was only because he didn't know why so many people had left so early, however.

She got up, taking her glass with her, sauntering over to the seat Darcy had vacated. "How are you doing?" she asked, sitting down.

"I cannot believe her," Caleb fumed. "All I wanted her to do was say she was sorry! Is that so hard?"

Wynonna gave a sympathetic sigh, patting Caleb on the shoulder. "That's just how she is, you know? Apologizing isn't something she's ever been great at."

"I guess," Caleb shrugged. "I mean, there's a reason she had so much trouble finding people who would be in her bridal party..."

Wynonna smirked, taking another drink from her glass. "You said it, not me." He'd said the same thing to her months ago, in fact, and Wynonna had suggested Helena to him as an option. 

He chuckled wryly. "Hey," he said after a moment, "do you want to come outside with me?"

"Sure," she answered nonchalantly. "Some fresh air would be nice."

He headed to his car first thing, Wynonna wondering if he was about to bail on this rehearsal dinner, too, though, instead, he was just fetching a pack of cigarettes from his glove compartment. "I thought you quit," she teased.

"I did... Pretty much." He tapped a cigarette out of the package, then looked over at Wynonna, who shook her head. "Until we started working on this wedding."

Wynonna raised an eyebrow. "It's been that bad that it's driven you back to smoking?"

"Once or twice," he admitted. "It's a lot easier to do when your bride to be decides she doesn't want to be around you at night until the wedding is over."

"Oh, really?" Wynonna slid a little closer to him. "That doesn't sound like Darcy."

He rolled his eyes. "Who knows with her? I'm sure she has her reasons... I was planning on getting rid of these before the wedding tomorrow, but if tonight is any indication... I think I might be needing them."

"Maybe being a massive brat is how she deals with the stress of all this," Wynonna suggested.

He chuckled, coughing as he inhaled at the wrong moment, pulling a puff of smoke into his lungs. "That's a little harsh for your best friend, isn't it?"

"I know how she is," Wynonna shrugged. "Probably better than anyone else... Except, you know, you."

"I don't know about that," Caleb shook his head. "After all of this, sometimes I feel like I don't know her at all. You're right, though... Brat is definitely a good word for her."

She smiled, taking another step in. "I could think of a few more."

"Go ahead," he said. "Hit me."

"Well," Wynonna grinned. "For one, she's definitely a..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

'Crybaby,' the pacifier declared, staring up at Wynonna from her table, the plastic gems around the shield catching the light, not too dissimilar from the way the stone on the engagement ring Darcy so proudly flashed around whenever she had the chance did. It had taken some searching to find exactly the right one, but as soon as she'd seen the photo on the Etsy store, she knew this would be it.

The other part of the present had been far more difficult, but that was the one she really had to get right. The pacifier could have been anything; this had to be something specific. At first, she hadn't even known where to start looking, just wandering the aisles of the local drugstores, hoping something would leap off the shelves at her and let her know it was what she needed. 

The packages didn't exactly brag about what they had inside, showing, instead, women talking and laughing with one another, having a good time, none of them looking familiar. Was she going to have to buy one of each until she found the right one, if that was even still being made? It was that part that scared her, made her hold off... It had been some time since she knew, for sure, that they were, and the company could have gone out of business, or discontinued this particular product... 

Or maybe she was totally misguided in the first place. Maybe Darcy had managed to move past all this, and deal with her insecurities from when she had needed them... Knowing Darcy, however, that seemed pretty unlikely.

She turned to the internet, and found plenty of alternatives that, in terms of looks, would have been just as embarrassing, if not more so... But Darcy didn't have the same history with them. Eventually, she thought to start checking the past, feeling stupid that it hadn't occurred to her before now.

She knew exactly what the package had looked like, once upon a time... She'd had to go buy a couple so she could stuff Darcy's locker full of their contents, and ensure the whole school knew what a giant baby she was, pretending the whole time to be shocked that anyone would do such a thing. With a bit of sleuthing, she was able to find that design, and trace it forward to what it was now. If she'd been like Darcy, and had to look at that package every night for years as she got one out, she'd probably have remembered the brand name, at least, but she'd only had to find them that one other time.

Once she'd found that, it was simple to go to the product's webpage and confirm that, from what she could tell, they still looked the same as in her memory. She almost ordered them online, although, after she saw what the new packaging was, she was positive she'd seen it in real life, at at least one of the drugstores. Just out of curiosity, she went to the one closest to Darcy's place, and, sure enough, there it was, sitting and waiting.

She couldn't even wait until she got home to rip it open. The pictures hadn't lied; they looked exactly the same, felt the same under her fingers, sounded the same as they rustled against one another when she pulled one out, then attempted to return it to its spot. This was going to work, she was certain... First, though, she was going to need a scapegoat. 

She smiled, looking at the present she had set up for the bride-to-be, as she dialed the number in her cell phone. "Helena?" she asked. "Hey, it's Wynonna... I wanted to double check that you remembered the bridal shower this weekend."

"O-Oh, yeah," Helena replied. "Of course I did."

Was she lying? Or just nervous? From what she knew of the girl, the latter seemed quite likely. "Great," Wynonna purred into her phone. "And you remembered to get Darcy a gift, too, then?"

"Umm..." Helena said quietly. Wynonna could practically hear her squirming on the other end of the line, blushing and stammering in a way that made it so very obvious that she was, indeed, perfect for her plan. "What do you get someone for their bridal shower?"

"Helena!" Wynonna scolded. "You don't remember, do you? This is a lingerie party, so what do you think you should get her?"

"R-Right." Helena had looked, predictably, embarrassed at the idea when Darcy had brought it up, and it didn't sound like she'd come around any. "I-I guess I can find something..."

"You'd better," Wynonna told her. "I don't want you ruining this for Darcy. It's what she wanted, so we're going to do it right for her." 

Darcy had officially been the one to suggest pivoting from the bar crawl Wynonna had been planning to the lingerie party... Wynonna, however, had put the thought into her head, and set up an alternative that she knew her friend wouldn't want to go for. Darcy was cute, of course, but there was no way she'd want to go to a bunch of bars dressed like a Playboy bunny when Wynonna and Nikki were there in the same outfit to steal her thunder. Sitting in her living room and getting gifts instead? That was definitely more her speed.

"I'll tell you what," Wynonna said, after giving Helena a few uncomfortable seconds to stew in the thought of having to find lingerie for the woman who was about to marry the man she'd had a crush on for years, "I'll send you some ideas. I already got my gift for her, but I had a few backups."

"Thank you so much!" Helena sighed. "That would be a huge help!"

Would Helena notice that Wynonna had said gift, rather than gifts? Wynonna didn't want to hit that point too hard... The things she was going to send were all pretty expensive, along with being conservative and boring, so she doubted Helena would want to buy more than one anyway, if she didn't think she had to. "You are so welcome," she cooed. "I just want to give Darcy a party she'll never forget..."

It was almost a pity, having to finally move the diaper from its spot on her kitchen table, next to the Crybaby pacifier, into a gift bag. She loved to look at it, imagine what was about to happen, if everything went according to plan... If she didn't pack it away for now, though, it definitely wouldn't. She hid the gift bag inside of one of her own, making it look like she only had two until Helena arrived at the party and she saw, for sure, that the girl had only brought one present.

Helena stopped in front of her nervously, as if she were reporting for duty, a long cardigan wrapped around her despite the heat. "Th-They go over there?" she asked, not quite able to meet Wynonna's eyes... Or, perhaps, the sight of her in her bunny outfit.

"Are you dressed?" Wynonna demanded, as if the sweater didn't answer that. Bashfully, Helena opened the cardigan, Wynonna struggling not to gush over how adorable it looked on her, much the way she'd had to do for Darcy. "Good," she nodded. "Get your ears on... I'll take this."

She snatched the gift bag out of Helena's hands, setting it down on the table as Helena fumbled in her purse, looking for her headband. Nikki was helping Darcy in the kitchen, and Helena was distracted, so she didn't even pause, didn't glance around, not wanting to give Helena a chance to look up and think anything strange was happening. She set Helena's bag down, then pulled the one she'd smuggled in out of her own gift bag, putting it right beside the other girl's present.

There was no reason anyone else would think it had come from anyone other than Helena, since it hadn't been on the table when they left the room... And if Helena tried to deny it, it would just make her look more guilty. 

"Here," she could barely contain her glee as she strutted over to Helena, taking the headband out of her hands, sliding it into place. "There you go! Perfect! What a sweet little bunny you are!"

She tapped Helena on the nose, knowing her condescending tone was not going to do wonders for the girl's no doubt already flagging confidence. Little did she know this would be the highlight of her time at the party... If Wynonna knew Darcy - and she did - things were going to get much, much worse for poor Helena before they got any better... And Wynonna was going to be there every step of the way to guarantee it.

Helena was the closest one to Darcy's size, after all, and she was too timid to be likely to fight back as hard as she should. That was why Wynonna had planted the idea of her as a bridesmaid into Caleb's mind, in the hopes he would pass it on to Darcy... And that timidness would keep Darcy from being too intimidated to try to get revenge, and, ultimately, make things so much worse for herself....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What are you laughing at?" Wynonna chuckled herself, giving Caleb a playful shrug. "She's your fiancee, you know. You agreed to marry her."

"Don't remind me," Caleb snorted. "Sometimes I really wonder what I was thinking... You're right, though, she can certainly be an immature, spoiled little brat."

"Can be?" They both snickered at that.

"I might have chosen to marry her, but you've chosen to stick around, too, you know," Caleb pointed out. "You could have bailed at any time... Most of her other friends have by now."

"Maybe I should have," Wynonna said. "Especially when I saw the way she was treating poor little Helena... I guess I feel responsible for her somehow, though. I think she sees me as a big sister, almost."

"You're the same age," Caleb reminded her.

"Well, yeah, technically. But considering her... interests... it doesn't really feel that way." She nearly wished, in that moment, that she did smoke; it would have felt very dramatic to take a drag off her cigarette as she let those words hang in the air, waiting for Caleb to take the bait.

And take it he did. "Interests?"

"Oh, you don't have to pretend with me," Wynonna smirked. "I've known for a long time... And she must have told you by now. You're getting married tomorrow!"

Caleb furrowed his brow. "I... don't think I do."

"Well, it's hardly my place to say," Wynonna smiled coyly. "Then again... You are getting married tomorrow, and I'd say it's something you deserve to know... But I can't imagine that even she would be so immature that she wouldn't have said anything about it..."

"She hasn't!" Caleb insisted.

"Really?" Wynonna acted surprised. "Not one mention of her little... fetish?"

Caleb's eyebrows raised. "Fetish?"

"Oh, Darcy," Wynonna sighed. "I'm sorry, I assumed she had to have... She'd been telling me how excited she was to finally have a Daddy to look after her..."

"A... Daddy?"

"You honestly don't know," Wynonna observed. "She's never even shown you her diapers, has she?"

"Di...?!" he sputtered, looking around the parking lot, cheeks red. "Seriously?! I mean, no judgement, but... Why would she not tell me that?!"

"Who knows? Maybe she was going to spring it on you tomorrow night... I wouldn't put it past her. Once the wedding is done, she probably thinks it'll be too late for you to change your mind. Or she might have been staying away from you at night for so long so she could pretend she's started actually needing them and didn't want you to know."

"Wow." He took around cigarette out, stunned. "That does make sense, but... Wow." 

"If it makes you feel any better, she is pretty cute in them." Other than a few glimpses under her clothes lately, that she likely would have missed if she hadn't known to look for them, she hadn't seen Darcy wear diapers in a long time, but she had no doubt that was still the case. "I would have been happy to be her Mommy."

"Hmm," Caleb mumbled into his cigarette. "Too bad we broke up back in the day."

Wynonna turned towards him, eyes shining. "It is, isn't it? Do you even remember why that was?"

"It was Darcy, of course," he shook his head. "She told me there was another guy, and... I don't know why I believed her, especially when she was so eager to take your place. I guess I just didn't realize what a big liar she was."

"It hurt, at the time," Wynonna admitted. "I'm over it now, though... And, to be totally honest, I never really lost my feelings for you..."

He looked over at her, their gazes catching one another. "Well, if we're being honest... I can say the same..."

Wynonna smiled. "I had a feeling that might be the case..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Darcy shook her head, squirming in a way that made it obvious Wynonna was right. Not that there was any doubt about it... Darcy had been so proud, telling Wynonna all about her plan to drug Helena's food at the rehearsal dinner, and Wynonna had been happy to encourage her to do it... But not as happy as she was to drug Darcy's food in return.

"W-Wait," Helena's eyes widened. "Is she...?"

"Why don't we see?" Wynonna grinned, yanking down Darcy's sweatpants, exposing her soggy diaper.

"Wynonna!" Darcy gasped, grabbing for her sweatpants, eyes darting over to the curtain she'd had set up to change behind, to give her some privacy... Not that it mattered now. "Wh-What are you doing?!"

"Wow," Wynonna gave the girl's diaper a squeeze. "These are soaked! I think you really do need double diapers, sweetie... There's no way you'd make it through the whole ceremony without leaking otherwise!"

"I don't need double diapers!" Darcy stomped her foot, though, with her sweatpants tangled around her ankles, it was hardly as dramatic as she probably would have preferred. "I-I don't need diapers at all!"

"We can all see what a lie that is," Wynonna patted her drenched diaper. "And we don't like lies, do we?" She gave Helena a pointed look, and the girl helpfully shook her head. "I didn't think so. Be a good girl, Helena, and get the hairbrush out of my purse... Somebody obviously needs some time with it."

"She does!" Darcy squealed. "R-Right? She's the baby, not me, so you're not... Y-You wouldn't... H-Hey!" 

Wynonna hauled her up over her lap, putting an end to any hope she might have had that she wasn't the one about to be punished. Darcy squirmed helplessly, paling as Helena waddled up to them, handing over the large, wooden hairbrush Wynonna had stashed in her purse.

"Good girl," Wynonna patted Helena on the head. "Now, as for you, Darcy..." She swung the hairbrush without any warning, listening with pride to the loud smacking sound it made as it hit the plastic of the diaper, and the shocked wail that came from Darcy's mouth. "Caleb and I had a little talk last night, and there are going to be a few changes to this wedding... And I don't just mean your diapers."