Julie and Andrew stood at the baggage claim carousel, their eyes scanning the sea of suitcases. But as the last bag circled around, their hearts sank. Their luggage was nowhere to be found.

“Oh no, Andrew,” Julie exclaimed, her voice tinged with panic. “Our clothes, our gifts for the wedding… everything is in those bags!”

Andrew tried to remain calm, though his mind was racing with thoughts of attending a fancy destination wedding in their travel-worn attire. “Don’t worry, Julie. We’ll figure something out. Let’s go to the lost luggage counter and see if they can help us.”

They approached the counter, where a frazzled airport employee named Bob was already dealing with a long line of disgruntled passengers. Julie and Andrew exchanged a nervous glance, knowing they were in for a long wait.

Finally, it was their turn. Bob looked up from his stack of paperwork, his eyes weary but kind. “Lost luggage, huh? Let’s see if we can track it down. Can I have your names and flight details?”

Julie provided the necessary information, and Bob clicked away on his computer, mumbling to himself. After what felt like an eternity, he looked up with a sheepish smile. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ve located your luggage. The bad news is that it’s been mistakenly sent to a different destination wedding.”

Julie and Andrew exchanged bewildered glances. “A different destination wedding? How did that happen?” Andrew asked, trying to wrap his head around the absurdity of the situation.

Bob scratched his head. “Well, it seems there was a mix-up with the luggage tags. Instead of ending up at a fancy beachside wedding, your bags are now at a formal wedding in the heart of the city.”

Julie couldn’t help but chuckle at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. “So, what do we do now? We can’t show up at a fancy wedding in these travel-stained clothes!”

Bob’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Well, I have an idea. Follow me.”

He led Julie and Andrew through a labyrinth of airport corridors until they arrived at a room filled with lost and unclaimed items. Bob rummaged through a pile of clothes until he found two outfits that, while mismatched and slightly outdated, were at least presentable.

“I present to you the finest attire from our lost and found collection,” Bob declared dramatically, holding up a neon-colored Hawaiian shirt for Andrew and a sequined dress for Julie.

They burst into laughter at the sight of the outfits, unable to contain their amusement. “Well, it’s not exactly what we had in mind, but I guess it’ll have to do,” Julie said, wiping away tears of laughter.

With their newfound attire, Julie and Andrew made their way to the wedding venue, causing heads to turn and eyebrows to raise as they entered. They embraced the absurdity of their situation, dancing and mingling with the other guests, who were initially taken aback but soon joined in the lightheartedness.

Their mismatched outfits became the talk of the evening, and soon, everyone was laughing and sharing stories of their own travel mishaps. The serious atmosphere of the wedding transformed into a joyous celebration of unexpected adventures.

As the night came to a close, the newlyweds approached Julie and Andrew, their faces beaming with gratitude. “You two have brought so much laughter and light to our wedding. Thank you for turning a potential disaster into a memorable and hilarious experience.”

Julie and Andrew exchanged a knowing smile, realizing that sometimes, the unexpected turns of life can lead to the most remarkable and unforgettable moments. And with that, they danced the night away, clad in their mismatched attire, their lost luggage a distant memory in the midst of newfound friendships and laughter.

“Liz! They lost my luggage! I don’t have my tuxedo for the wedding!”

“The wedding is canceled, Mitch. Bonnie got hit by a bus on the way to the ceremony. She’s… she’s dead..”

“Oh thank god, I would’ve been so embarrassed.”

“Dude, where’s your suitcase?”

“Um, I don’t know.”

“WHAT?!”

“Look, I’m sorry, I really am I-“

“THIS IS MY WEDDING DUDE! I’VE HAD A CRUSH ON VERONICA SINCE I MET HER!”

“I said I’m sorry-“

“YOU BETTER GET YOUR SH-“

“DUDE! IM JOKING!”

“What”

“It was a joke-“

“I’ll shove your suitcase right up your a-“

Mandy stared at the luggage carousel spinning slowly in front of her. The completely empty carousel. She looked up at the sign. It quite clearly said “UA flight 155 from New York”, her flight.

She was the last one there. Everyone else had been greeted with cries of “Aloha!”, decked with fragrant flower leis, gathered their luggage and left. Mandy had barely scraped enough cash together for all her bridesmaid expenses and the trip. There was no way she could replace all her clothes, let alone the bridesmaid dress.

With a sigh, she set out for the United Airlines desk. There was no way she would survive her sister’s destination wedding in Honolulu, Hawaii with just the comfy sweats she was wearing, her pjs and the cute bikini she had thrown in her carry on at the last minute. Her sister would kill her. They had argued about the bridesmaid dresses so often, an allegation that Mandy had lost the dress on purpose would not be out of line.

Forty five minutes later, all she could get out of United Airlines was that they would track down her luggage and deliver it to her hotel as soon as possible. She turned to walk out and almost ran over a short man with freckles and bright red hair smiling at her.

“Hi,” he said. “I couldn’t help but overhear. You’re Mandy, Michael’s soon to be sister-in-law. “I’m Brian. I’m on of Michael’s groomsmen.”

“Oh, uh, hi,”. She stammered. “Yes, I’m Mandy. My sister mentioned you.” What she didn’t say was the tone of her sister’s comments was less that flattering. Apparently she had tried to talk Michael into picking someone taller and less funny looking, but Michael had held firm.

“I’m sure she did,” the his eyes crinkled indicated he was aware of the tone of her comments and was amused by them.

“She’s going to kill me. Or worse, she isn’t going to kill me and I’ll hear about this at every family gathering for the rest of my life.” She covered her face in her hands. “Maybe I should just double down and show up in this bikini.” She tugged it out of her carry on and waved the yellow and green bikini around.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” He said.

Oh, no. She thought. He’s going to offer me money, and I can’t take it. “Uh, thanks, but I don’t think so.”

He turned to the woman behind the United Airlines desk. “Will you please hold my luggage and send it to the hotel with hers?”

The woman took some convincing, but finally agreed to do it.

Then he offered his arm, and guided her over to a small shop that seemed to be mostly bathing suits. She was confused, if there was anything she didn’t need, it was another bathing suit.

He walked up to a rack of Speedo’s and flipped through until he found a bright yellow one with green trim. “I think this will do. It will go nicely with your bikini.” His eyes twinkled with mirth. “What do you think? It will look stunning with my super pale skin and starter beer belly. Your sister will be so upset with me, she won’t even think about you.”

Mandy stared at him in amazement. “You would seriously do this for me? Seriously. She at least loves me, and I still think she’ll kill me. God only knows what she’ll do to you.”

He laughed. “I would absolutely do this for you. So what do you think?”

“I think I love you,” she said, only half kidding. No one had ever been willing to make a fool of themselves for her, or stand up to her sister, for that matter. “Remind me to ask you to marry me if we both survive this.”

He laughed. “We should at least go on a date first.” He paid and they headed out towards the taxi stand. “So if we survive this, I’ll ask you on a date then you can ask me to marry you!”

“Agreed!” She said. Everything was going to be all right.

Oh no, crap.

Of course, they were getting married in Ibiza. E-bee-tha, I hated that they pronounced it like Spanish people. Sorry you aren’t allowed to say it like that if you were born north of Andorra.

I did not want to go. If there’s one thing I hate more than posh people is drunk posh people. Fine, let’s look at the positives. There will be food, presumably good since we’ll be in Spain, and free booze. Alright, that’s decent.

At least, Jess will come pick me up at the airport. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all. I’m getting a bit nervous now, not going to lie. I've lost track of how many rotations the conveyor belt has made by now. A decreasing number of bags on it and of people around me give me a queasy feeling. Please not today.

After a couple more rotations, the belt stops. A man starts putting the few unclaimed bags onto a cart.

“Excuse me, my bag isn’t here.”

“Sorry love, you’ll have to take that one to the desk.” The man doesn’t even glance at me, while pointing behind him.

Brilliant.

Well that’s confirmed then. My bag is lost. I see Jess waiting outside the sliding doors, she lifts her arms up when she sees me.

“What took you so long?! I swear everyone in your flight came out ages ago.”

I give her a quick hug. “My bag. It’s lost.” She widens her eyes, then starts laughing.

“Thanks.” I say, drily. “The universe telling me again it’s bad idea to attend your ex’s wedding.”

“More like the universe giving me some comedic relief.” says Jess, still laughing. We’re just getting in the rented car.

“The wedding is in a couple hours. Plenty of time to buy you a whole new outfit. Do you have any preference?” Jess is finding the situation extremely amusing while all I want to do I go home and eat ice cream.

“Just not naked would be great.”

We’re driving past a road of white low rise buildings with big windows and Jess pulls over next to one showcasing flowing white dresses, you guessed it, Ibiza style.

“Jess, are you meant not to wear white as a wedding guest?”

“No, unless you get married in Ibiza and your guests lose their bags. I’m not driving around this island hoping to find a pink frock.” Jess gets off the car and I follow her into the store, progressively caring less about the outcome of the day.

In the time it takes me to gather courage to move a dress on the rack, as if I’m turning the page of a book - activity that I’d much rather be doing right now - Jess has already picked three outfits for me.

“Try these on” she pushes the clothes on my face. “I’ll find you some shoes, those espadrilles would look incredible. You’ll need a bag too, maybe some earrings…”

I stopped hearing her from the comfort of the fitting room. My tired face looks back at me from the mirror. Why god, I see what you’ve done for other people and I want that for me. I’ve got the feeling he’s laughing at me from up there like Jess.

I decide on the first item I try on, a white linen jumpsuit.

“I’ll get this.” Jess gave me two thumbs up like the goofball she is. “Cut the label, I’m not taking it out.”

“Yeah babe! Let’s do this.”

And this is how I found myself dressed in blinding white, wearing way too high espadrilles and sticking out like a sore thumb in my ex’s absurd Ibiza wedding.

Oh boy, oh boy, a trip! A big trip! I’ve been waiting so long.

Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. Do you really need all of this? You know the airlines have a weight limit, right? Sure you can put your back into it and get the zipper closed, but really?!

57 lbs! 57 lbs! I told it was too much. Now what? Are you going to pay the $100 overweight fee? Or maybe lose the fourth pair of shoes? Maybe you don’t need seven sun dresses? Just a thought.

Oh, okay, the penalty fee it is. I feel for the baggage handler who has to get that much weight from the luggage wagon onto the plane. But what do you care? Right? As long as you’ve got a different bathing suit for each day of the vacation.

Alright, I know, I’m being dramatic. I’ll see you on the other side. …..

What a flight, crammed in there like a sardine, ten hours. I can’t believe the airlines can get away with charging for this kind of experience.

Now to the terminal, to baggage claim, and then to the hotel. I can’t wait to see that luxurious hotel room, the view of the beach from the pillow top king bed. It’s a dream really.

Okay, where are you? I’ve been going round and round in baggage claim for twenty minutes. Everyone else has picked up their suitcases, but you’re nowhere to be seen. Did you get lost? Picked up by immigration? Did they catch you trying to bring pot into the country?

Wait. What’s that language they’re speaking through the PA system? We were going to Cancun, but that’s not Spanish. It’s not English. It sounds Eastern European. Maybe Romanian? …oh no. What if? What if I got on the wrong plane? What if you’re in Cancun but I ended up in Bucharest?

This is terrible. What are you going to do without me? What will you wear to to dinner, to the beach, to your sister’s wedding!? You’ll be lost without me. And what am I supposed to do? Just sit here on the floor in the corner of the airport hoping someone figures out where I was supposed to go? That could take weeks. Months. I might end up sent off to some homeless shelter.

Unless…the AirTag…you got me one and maybe you see me, even though I’m thousands of miles away. Maybe you’ll call the airport and have them track me down…they’ll put me on a plane back to you…maybe even in time for the wedding.

I hear the phone ringing. A man in a uniform approaches. He’s reaching out his hand to me, and picking me up. He’s giving me a new baggage tag - it says Cancun. Now I know you found me and have sent for me.

It will be another long flight to be reunited. But I can already imagine the smile on your face when we are reunited.

Nancy is running to the airport. She accidentally ran into somebody.OMG I am so sorry sir Said Nancy.The random stranger said it’s okay why are you such in a rush looking up and down at Nancy.She was wearing a dress with flowers blooming in the wind running throughout the airport with her luggage, trying to get to check out, but in the back of her mind, she thinks of them out, but she ran into the plane, but she had to take She ends up, arriving to her destination after four hours in the plane she goes out to grab her luggage. It’s gone, but you wanna know what’s there a stranger man that she secretly ran into at the airport in the beginning she went up to him and said, are you following me the stranger said I’m going to the wedding for my best friend and by the way, my name is Aiden  Nancy said she was going to a wedding for her best friend to at the same time. Nancy and Aiden said the exact same names that they were going to the wedding for, but Nancy is dreading everything since she lost her luggage. She asked Aiden if he could help her Nancy remember that she put an tracker in her luggage in case of this ever happened again. Now it’s time for Aiden and Nancy to run around the city to find her luggage, but will they make it on time for the wedding?

Auntie Dottie gasped. Mrs. Treadwell, mother of the bride, wavered on her heels. My cousins, Tonya and Amanda, squealed. Under the crown molding and gold chandeliers of the Austen room, the guests went silent.

It didn’t start when Amber Lynn cursed me out my name when my flight got delayed out of O’Hare and my luggage including my overpriced bridesmaid dress was lost. I had to rent a car, grab a cocktail dress, and sped over to Midway to catch a redeye. Apparently I controlled the weather, who knew.

It wasn’t even during the bachelorette party when Miss Goody Two Shoes got wasted on Long Island Ice Teas and made out with Ebony ManTool back by the Dumpster at Ladies’ Delight All Male Revue. I respect unfettered sexy fun time. I also knew Amber Lynn had cheated on Denny a couple of times before so he knew what he was signing up for.

Broke as a joke, I paid for my share of the ridiculous high tea bridal shower at Claridges, the engagement party gift, the bridal shower gift, the bachelorette fiasco, and the wedding gift. I smiled through the sarcastic barbs from Amber Lynn’s posse on my piercings and tats. I schlepped Amber Lynn to the bridal expo and tanning appointments because she was overwhelmed. Hell, I hot glued satin ribbons to Jordon almond-filled tulle sachets for some ungodly reason. Always patient, I did it for Denny.

Denny and I used to be close especially after Mom died. We looked after each other and Pops and little Leoni. Mom had made us promise to be like the Wonder Twins and activate. Mom loved crap TV. We promised to keep the family together. Family is everything, right.

I kind of went a little wild during my fifteen minutes in college. I guess I wanted to be a kid. Denny was my sounding board and cheerleader as I got my shit together. He had a knack for taking care of people. Pops said Denny could see the good in people that Jesus couldn’t see. When he fell for her there wasn’t much room for me. I pulled away an hurt us. When Denny asked me for Mom’s engagement ring for Amber Lynn, his on again, off again girlfriend I was determined to be there for Denny.

The end of being nice started with the text Big Chicken I got when I finally landed at La Guardia: Yo Tink I’m covering 4 Cheez @Goldy’s Pawn & saw Denny’s girl selling your mom’s ring Remember you wearing it on a chain WTF

My knees turned to jelly. Big Chicken has a thing for me so when I texted him back he’d already put a down payment on the ring and set it aside for me. Oh that sweet, sweet man.

Sporting a new big rock engagement ring, Amber Lynn told us Mom’s ring was in a safety deposit box until you could get it resized to wear as her wedding band. I headed to the Four Seasons hotel for the wedding on autopilot. When my Uber stopped at a red light in front of a secondhand shop I knew what to do.

Reverend Chauncy Alcock raised an eyebrow. My sister Leoni did a fist pump. Denny’s eyes bugged out. I walked no cross that out I strutted up the aisle and took my place standing at the front next to my sister in a lavender, goldenro, and purple Wonder Twin leotard. With pointy ears and shiny spandex awesomeness I did my best power pose.

“Wonder Twins powers activate!” Denny said, blocking his bride from clawing my face. I grabbed the unity candle ready to throw down. The groom’s side cheered. Screaming Amber Lynn ran from the altar.

“So that’s what happened,” Janey said. She took a long sip of Chardonnay. The sun was setting, and a cool breeze off the ocean seemed to blow all the stress away.

“Uh-huh,” Debbie, bride-to-be, said. She, too, took a long sip of her matching glass of wine.

“Well, those are the breaks,” Debbie said. “I don’t care if you’re not wearing the right dress. I am just glad YOU didn’t get lost.”

The two sisters clasped hands. It would all turn out fine.