The Last Name

To the 22 year old Jenna, marriage didn’t seem like a big deal and she imagined herself walking down the aisle in front of her family and closest friends gathered in the Montgomery Boat House—20 days from now—dressed in the perfect-fitting bridal gown which she had already bought for thousand dollars and her only desire—at this point—was everything to be perfect on the most important day of her life and Mark’s. “You know as much as I love you, I’m not taking your last name after I marry you,” Jenna teased her fiancé as she leaned over to him on the sofa. Rather annoyed than amused by her goofiness, Mark turned his head and gave a frowning look to the young bride-to-be and blurted out, “You are not?! Every bride who marries a ‘Beach’ is supposed to take the family name!” To Mark’s surprise, Jenna burst out laughing, “Beach!! Don’t you see how ridiculous it sounds, Mark?! As if my colleagues doesn’t make fun of me already! They wouldn’t spare me with a name like Jenna Beach,” not compelled by her fiancé’s serious tone, the silly girl chuckled casually, “I’m not a ‘beech’, anyway.” Three weeks later, Mark Beach and Jenna McGuire’s wedding was still off.     Five Sentence Fiction for this week’s prompt – Marriage.