Friday Night Brides

by Samantha Chase

  “We love you too.”

  ****

  The club was crowded, but not quite as much as the previous weekend. Hailey was standing with her back pressed against Jack’s chest, unable to stop smiling. When he had shown up at her place earlier to pick her up for dinner, he took one look at her in her electric blue dress with matching stilettos and hauled her over his shoulder, up to bed.

  The drive-thru burgers they’d had right before showing up here at the club were totally worth it.

  She felt his hot breath against her neck. “I’m all for supporting a friend,” he murmured in her ear, “but I don’t think he’d be too upset if we didn’t stay for the entire set.”

  Hailey smiled. “You’re not going to get an argument from me.” Turning, she kissed him. Jack’s arms immediately banded around her but she pulled back before things got too out of hand.

  “Geez, get a room,” Becca teased as she and Max approached. They were both smiling and holding hands as they all greeted each other. “I haven’t seen Angie or Ella yet.”

  “Me either,” Hailey replied. “Maybe Sean’s flight was delayed.”

  Becca shrugged. “Maybe. But Ella wasn’t coming with them, was she?”

  “Actually, I think they decided that after you left this afternoon,” Hailey said. “Ella said she felt weird about coming alone. I just wish she’d stop being so stubborn about this whole Dylan thing!”

  “Her?” Becca asked incredulously. “I wish Dylan would get his head out of his ass and stop pouting! I have to tell you, I’ve lost a lot of respect for him after this whole thing. He never should have let her go the way he did. It was cowardly.”

  “Oh, I agree. But…” She stopped when Jack bent down and whispered in her ear that Angie and Ella were walking in. Hailey looked at Becca. “To be continued.”

  Becca nodded.

  A few minutes later they were all standing together—minus Sean. “I thought Sean was flying in tonight?” Hailey commented after they settled at the end of the bar.

  “Change of plans,” Angie said curtly and then looked away.

  Ella looked at Hailey and Becca with a sad smile as she shook her head.

  “All righty then,” Becca said brightly. “The band is heading up to the stage.” She hooked her arm through Max’s. “You promised me a dance tonight. Don’t forget that.”

  Max chuckled. “Only if it’s slow,” he said. “Don’t expect me to go out there like the four of you did last weekend. I’m not dancing to Madonna or anything.”

  “Like I’d ever ask that of you,” she replied, kissing him lightly.

  Hailey couldn’t help the smile on her face as she watched them. They were going to be fine. They’d had their first fight, their first bump in the road and they’d survived. Looking over at Ella, Hailey only hoped she could soon say the same thing. Even though the two of them had been together for what seemed like forever, technically this still was Dylan and Ella’s first fight, first bump. It was just taking them a little longer to get over it.

  Then her gaze wandered over to where Angie was standing. Something was definitely up, but here in the middle of the bar was not the place to get into it. Suddenly the thought of hearing the music and having fun lost some of its appeal. Turning to face Jack, she said, “Excuse me for a minute.”

  She moved quickly and grabbed Angie’s hand as she walk by her and tugged her behind her until they made it to the ladies’ room. Once inside, Hailey blanched. It was a little dark and dank but it would have to do. “Okay, spill it. What’s going on?”

  “What are you talking about?” Angie asked, slightly defensively. “It smells like something died in here.”

  “Then I suggest you talk quickly,” Hailey said, using her best no-nonsense tone.

  Angie glared at her silently.

  “Look, you were fine this afternoon at lunch and now you’re not. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know something’s wrong. So?”

  For a minute, she didn’t think Angie was going to answer her, but then—much to Hailey’s horror—tears filled her friend’s eyes. Oh God. This was bad! This was bad! Why hadn’t she thought to bring Ella and Becca with her? “Ange? Sweetie? What happened?”

  Furiously swiping at her eyes, Angie said flatly, “I’m pregnant.”

  Hailey’s heart stopped for a second. “Okay,” she said, nodding. “And I take it you’re a little freaked out.”

  “Ya think?” Angie snapped. “This isn’t supposed to happen! This wasn’t part of the plan!” Her voice was nearing hysteria.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Hailey soothed, wrapping her arms around Angie and simply hugging her until she calmed down. After a few minutes, she pulled back. “What did Sean say?”

  Without a word, Angie turned toward the sink and bent over to splash some cold water on her face. Hailey handed her some paper towels and waited for her to respond.

  “He wants to get married,” she said angrily. “Like…seriously. He wants us to get married!”

  Hailey looked at her, uncertain of what it was she was supposed to say here. In her mind, it was the correct response for him to have.

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Angie snapped and then growled with frustration. “Things were just starting to go well—we were settling into this new routine, relationship, whatever!—and now we’re supposed to just jump in and get married? This isn’t the fifties! People don’t have to do that anymore.”

  Being the level-headed one of the group, Hailey knew immediately why this was the kind of reaction Angie was having. Her parents had married young—due to a pregnancy—and never seemed truly happy. That was one thing. The other? Angie took great pride in being fiercely independent and not following in anyone’s footsteps. So this whole surprise pregnancy thing? Yeah, it was absolutely bringing up all kinds of negative feelings that were overshadowing all the positives of this situation.

  “I know you’re upset,” Hailey began cautiously, “and this is something we are going to have to talk about when you’re not feeling so…freaked out.”

  Angie simply glared at her.

  “You’re overwhelmed with all of this right now. You know it, I know it and I’m sure Sean knows it. But it’s not something that’s just going to go away. You’re going to have to deal with it and I think sitting down with all of us—where you can verbally unload without any judgment—will go a long way in helping you.” Hailey paused and rubbed Angie’s arm comfortingly. “We’ll do takeout at my place tomorrow night. What do you say?”

  “I’d say we’ve already spent too much time together this weekend,” she grumbled.

  “Yeah, well…it’s a good thing we all love each other or it would really suck.” She was relieved when Angie chuckled with her. “Now let’s go back out there, listen to some music and put the world on hold for a little while. Okay?”

  “I shouldn’t have even come,” Angie said as more tears welled up in her eyes. “I thought I’d be able to push it all aside and act like nothing’s wrong but my damn hormones are all over the place!”

  Hailey hugged her again. “And just so you know, when you’re feeling better, we’re all going to have a lot of fun with that.”

  Angie swatted her away and chuckled even as tears streamed down her face. She turned to wipe them away and check her reflection in the mirror when Becca stuck her head in the room. “Um…you guys need to come out here. Like now.”

  They quickly followed and all came to an abrupt halt.

  Ella was up on the stage—drink in hand— singing “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.

  The girls all looked at one another in confusion. “How long were we in there?” Angie asked.

  “Obviously long enough for Ella to have a drink,” Hailey said.

  “She did shots,” Becca said. “Shots!”

  Hailey threw up her arms in frustration as she turned and faced the two of them. “Who was stupid enough to let Ella do shots?”

  “Don’t look at me!” Angie cried. “I was with
you!”

  They both looked at Becca. “Sorry. Wasn’t me.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with either of them and quickly looked over her shoulder at Ella.

  Hailey spun her around. “Who did she do shots with, Bec?”

  Frowning, Becca said, “I don’t want to say.”

  “Ladies, you’re back,” Jack said smoothly as he walked over and put his arm around Hailey.

  One look at Becca’s face and Hailey had her answer. She quickly turned to Jack. “You did shots with Ella? Why? Why would you do that?”

  He laughed and pointed to where Ella was screaming out the chorus. “Because she needed this! Look at her! She’s smiling. She’s happy. I wanted her to have some fun!”

  Hailey looked at him as if he were crazy. “What is wrong with you? After everything that happened the last time she drank, you went and encouraged her to do it again? With shots?” She huffed loudly. “Jack…”

  He put a finger over her lips to stop her from saying anything else. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, “Trust me.” Then he took her by the shoulders and turned her back toward the stage.

  When the song ended, the entire bar exploded in applause as the lead singer introduced Ella and thanked her for joining them on stage. Ella waved to the crowd enthusiastically and jumped down to high five people as she walked by. The band immediately went into their next song—“Surrender”—as she bounced over to the girls. “Did you see me? Did you see me?” she asked excitedly.

  “Ella, honey,” Hailey began, “I thought you weren’t going to drink tonight.”

  Ella waved her off. “It was just a couple of shots and,” she stopped and turned to look at the band, “I love this song! Woo!”

  Hailey looked over her own shoulder at Jack. “Seriously? This is a good thing to you?”

  Not answering, he simply held up his beer and took a pull and focused on the band.

  “I totally wanna dance!” Ella said. “Come on, girls! Come dance with me!” She didn’t wait to see if anyone followed, she shimmied her way through the crowd and began dancing with pretty much everyone.

  “If I had been drinking, I’d swear I was seeing things,” Angie said in Hailey’s ear. “Should we stop her?”

  “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the dancing, but we definitely can’t let her have any more to drink. That could be dangerous.”

  “Agreed.”

  Over the next few songs, Ella continued to dance while Angie, Hailey and Jack watched in relative amusement. Becca and Max were currently out on the dance floor in their own little world and for the moment, Hailey felt herself relax. A loud ruckus coming from in front of the stage caught her attention. “What the…?”

  “Oh, my God! Is that Dylan?” Angie cried. They all made their way through the crowd and saw that it was—indeed—Dylan.

  “Dylan!” Ella cried. “What are you doing here?” The band was still playing—loudly—and it was hard to be heard over them.

  “What am I…? What the hell are you doing with this guy?” Dylan demanded. People moved away and Dylan reached out and grabbed Ella’s hand but she pulled back. “I came here to see you and you’re…you’re dancing with some other guy?”

  “Why are you so surprised?” she yelled back. “What did you think I was doing here?”

  Oh, no. Hailey inwardly groaned.

  Jack stepped forward and put a hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “Why don’t we go outside where it’s not so crowded and talk, okay?”

  Dylan nodded and stalked away, Ella trailing behind him.

  “Should we follow them?” Becca asked.

  Before Hailey could answer, Jack did. “Give them a few minutes and then go check on them.” He took Hailey’s hand and led her back over to the bar where he ordered another beer, smiling the entire time.

  Hailey studied him and then thought about all of the events of the evening—particularly where Jack was concerned. “You did that,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips.

  “Did what?” he asked innocently.

  “You got Dylan to come here.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Oh my God!” she playfully slapped his arm. “You totally went and talked to Dylan! When? What did he say? Did he come here to win her back? Is he going to…?”

  Jack cut off her words by kissing her. She instantly melted against him and for a little while, forgot all about the drama that was unfolding.”

  ****

  “Dylan!” Ella cried as she tried to keep up with him. He was stalking across the parking lot and she had no idea if he was going to stop or get in his car and leave. “Dylan, wait!”

  He spun around so suddenly that she almost ran right in to him. “What?” he demanded.

  Her eyes went wide for a minute. “What is going on? What are you doing here?”

  “What am I…? I thought you knew I was coming! Jack said you wanted to see me and to meet you here! And then I walk in and you’re all…dancing all over the place!” He paused, stepping closer and sniffed. “Have you been drinking? Jesus, Ella. Is that why you wanted me here? So you could flaunt your newfound freedom in my face?”

  “Newfound freedom? Are you high?” she accused. “I had no idea you were coming here tonight. I’ve been waiting for you to come home for weeks, Dylan. Weeks! Believe me, this is the last place I expected to see you!”

  “Then why did Jack say you wanted to see me?” he asked angrily.

  “I didn’t ask Jack to talk to you! He did that on his own!”

  “Why?” he demanded. “Why would he even do that? I barely know the guy!”

  “Because I did want to see you! I mean, I do want to see you! Everyone knew how much I wanted that! It wasn’t a big secret! But the more time that went by and you didn’t come around, the worse I felt! Dammit, Dylan, how could you just leave me like that?”

  “You weren’t happy! I thought it was the right thing for me to leave and give you some space!”

  “I never wanted you to leave!” She paused and pulled at her hair in frustration. “I never asked you to leave nor did I imply that I wanted that! All I wanted was for us to talk! For you to listen to me and know I was having some struggles! I just needed you to understand what I was feeling and help me through it!”

  “It didn’t seem that way to me,” he said firmly. “Every day it was something else—something else you were missing out on. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”

  “Probably the same way it made me feel when you kept letting our parents march all over me and our wedding plans! I kept telling you how unhappy I was and all you would say was that it would be all right. You never took my side or even tried to see things from my perspective.”

  “I didn’t…I didn’t understand how much it was all affecting you. At least not at the time,” he admitted. “I couldn’t understand what the big deal was because all I knew was that we were finally getting married. I just assumed you were thinking the same way.”

  “Well I wasn’t,” she said defiantly. “I mean, yes, I was so happy that we were finally getting married but somewhere along the line it stopped being about you and me and started being about our families and only what they wanted.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I know. I see that now.”

  “And then when I came to talk to you, you still wouldn’t listen to me! You still made me feel like everyone else’s opinion was more important than mine. Dylan, we were supposed to be partners.” She sniffed and wiped away the tears that were starting to fall. “You made me feel like I was all alone.” She shook her head. “And that’s not what I wanted.”

  “That was never my intention,” he said gruffly. “You have to know that.”

  “And in the end it’s exactly what you did—you left me all alone.”

  And just like that all of the fight seemed to go out of him. “Dammit, Ella. Do you have any idea how badly I wanted to come home to you?”

  She had to fight the urge to fling herself into his arms. “Then why di
dn’t you? I begged you, Dylan! I begged you to talk to me, to come home and you wouldn’t!”

  He hung his head as he shook it. “I really thought I was doing the right thing, Ella. You’d been going on for so damn long about all you thought you were missing and I thought if I just gave you some time, you’d see it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be and come back.”

  She sighed with frustration. “I wasn’t the one who left!”

  Dylan looked up at her, his expression bleak. “I thought you’d come back again and get in my face and tell me you were wrong and you wanted me to come home.”

  It should have irked her that what he really wanted was for her to admit she was wrong but…she was. So very, very wrong. For so long she thought she was the one missing out on some key life experiences when the reality was that her life had been so much better without them. As much as she loved her friends, she wouldn’t trade her life for any of theirs.

  Closing the distance between them, she looped her arms around Dylan’s neck and waited until his eyes met hers. “I was wrong,” she said softly. “Our life together was so much better than anything else in the world. I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate it more, that I didn’t realize what a gift I’d been given. But if you come home with me tonight, I promise I’ll never take it for granted again.”

  He gave her that slow grin that never failed to make her go a little weak in the knees. “I’m so sorry, Ella,” he said, his voice gravelly and thick with emotion. “I know I’m equally to blame for all of this. I didn’t stand up for you—for us—with all of the wedding plans and I let you carry that burden all by yourself.” He rested his forehead against hers. “It won’t happen again. I promise to be more supportive, more vocal, and together—when you’re ready—we’ll have the wedding we’ve always dreamed of, not the one our families were orchestrating.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Do you mean it? You still want to marry me?”

  He reached up and cupped her cheek. “Ella Gilmore, since the first time I laid eyes on you I knew you were the girl I was going to marry. Not seeing you these last few weeks nearly killed me. I want to see you every day, lie beside you every night and wake up next to you every morning. You’re my everything, Ella.”