by Aimee Brown
“Before we get started, I think the bride and groom have some gifts they want to hand out.” A man walks towards us with a rolling cart full of gift bags.
“We do,” Hannah says, as Evan hands a bag to everyone, Liam included. “Evan had these specially made for his groomsmen, but please don’t devour them right now. Maybe later, or even take them home.”
“And I… had these made up this morning and I think you all should put them on right now for rehearsal. It’ll be fun!” Her giddy smile tells me these gifts are either expensive or embarrassing, or quite possibly both.
I watch as other girls start pulling black t-shirts out of their bags. “Oh my God! This is so funny… I love it!” One of the other bridesmaids pulls the shirt on, and I’m immediately afraid to look at my own.
“The Bridesmaids…” Hannah points to the front before having the girl turn around. “I’m the sweet one…” She giggles. “Aren’t they cute!?”
“Which one are you?” Liam leans over quietly asking in my ear.
“I’m afraid to look.” I hold the gift bag tightly against my chest, afraid to pull out my shirt and see what title I’ve been given. All the other girls are pulling their t-shirts on. So far, I see THE SWEET ONE, THE FUNNY ONE, THE LATE ONE, and Greta’s says THE QUESTIONABLE ONE. When I glance at Hannah she smirks at Greta’s shirt. Apparently, all the information I’ve given her this week has made her question Greta’s role in anything.
“Come on Emi, it’s fun. Put yours on.”
I reluctantly pull the shirt out of the bag and turn it to read the back before anyone else can. Shit. It would be just my luck that she’s chosen my weak spot as my title. Thankfully she didn’t choose THE CONFUSED ONE or THE STILL-LOVES-JACK ONE.
“Read it out loud, Ems,” Hannah encourages me.
“Um— THE DRUNK ONE…” I say aloud, and immediately hear Evan burst into a laugh.
“It’s just a joke,” Hannah says to Evan. “Put it on!”
I glance at Lily and Josh behind me before looking at Liam again who has a strange, almost smile on his face. “Fine.” I pull the t-shirt on over my dress and do a spin so everyone can see.
“She got that one spot on, didn’t she?” Greta announces to the room with a laugh before being elbowed in the ribs by Jack. “What?”
“Quiet!” Muffy claps us into silence. “Enough nonsense, let’s get started!!”
“Wait!” Hannah interrupts her quickly, scurrying to her side in the center of the room. “We have one more thing to do.” Evan walks up behind her with two white sashes hanging over his arm. “We haven’t really announced who our Maid of Honor and Best Man are, we wanted it to be a surprise, so…” We all watch her take the sashes from Evan.
“As Evan’s Best Man he chose the guy who he’s been the closest to for so many years, a man who actually helped bring us together so long ago.” She walks up to Jack and puts the sash over his head like he’s just won some sort of beauty pageant, straightening it so the words Best Man lie across his chest.
“Thanks for always being there,” Evan says to him. Finally, I see Jack smile as he walks over to hug my brother.
“And… my Maid of Honor… This was really hard for me, but the last few days really made it clear who it should be. Because of you, this day is even happening and I couldn’t ever be more thankful for that.”
When she’s directly in front of me I feel myself shaking my head. “Hannah, I can’t walk down the aisle with—” I whisper, but she purses her lips and glares with an intensity I can almost feel.
“Emi, I chose you as my Maid of Honor because after today we’ll be sisters forever.” The sash is slung around my neck and straightened to show the glittery pink Maid-Of-Honor squarely across my chest.
“Thanks, Hannah.” I force myself to not be a pain in the ass, and hug her as lovingly as possible.
Muffy claps. “Now that the awards ceremony is over let’s get to rehearsal.”
“Wow… this is quite the wedding already,” Liam says next to me.
“This is bad.” I glance around the room looking for Lily but since she and Josh are only guests and not wedding party, they’ve moved to the seating area and are both scrolling through their phones.
“Why’s it bad?” Liam asks me.
“Because, the Maid of Honor walks down the aisle with the Best Man.”
“I take it the Best Man is the guy who broke your heart?”
“Yes, Jack.” I watch Liam rub his neck for a moment, his face somber and staring into space. When his hand touches mine a spark of electricity moves quickly all the way to my brain.
“Then everything considered, I think my status is now boyfriend status.” And in a moment too quick for me to even process the words he just said, his arm is around my back, he’s pulled me against him and his lips meet mine. I melt… like literally; my knees go weak and I don’t pull away. I can’t, the last time someone kissed me, it was Jack. My head and my heart are in a war and right now my brain is on strike, fizzing like champagne.
“OK, OK… Enough with the love scene.” Muffy’s stern voice causes us both to pull away but Liam's hand doesn’t leave my back. When I glance around the room, all eyes are on us. Hannah’s mouth is hanging open through a huge awkward smile and Jack’s face is much the opposite of hers. “Hannah and Robert to the back of the room, Best Man and Maid of Honor in front of them…”
Hannah skips to me and slips her arm through mine, pulling me from Liam’s touch and towards the back of the room with her.
“Oh my God. So, what is this then?” She tries to be quiet, but I’m sure he just heard her.
“Shhhh… Hannah. I don’t know. He just… kissed me.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“And was it good?” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“What? This isn’t a sleepover where we talk boys. I don’t know what it was. It was, uh…” We stop at the back of the room. The only person there is Robert, who isn’t listening anyway. “It was surprising.”
“I bet! He’s cute, but, are you sure you want this?”
“It’s nothing. It’s just an act, remember?”
“Right…” Her gaze moves to my side, and when I glance round Jack is quietly standing there waiting for us to drop into walking orders. “Right,” she says again, walking away from me towards her father.
“Emi.” Jack voice is unemotional, and he doesn’t look in my direction at all.
“Jack.” I match his tone in return, not really knowing what else to say.
“You look beautiful, as always.” He finally looks down at me with a hesitant shy smile. “Who’s the guy?” He glances at Liam at the front of the line.
I look up at Liam only to discover that he is paired with none other than Greta. She’s got a firm hold of Liam’s arm and is giggling at whatever he’s said in the same way she leeches onto Jack.
“Just a friend,” I answer. How does this dreadful woman keep weaseling her way close to men I know?
“A friend you make out with?” He looks down at me with a disapproving look on his face.
“So? Why do you care?” I ask him, wondering what his motive is for drilling me on a man I’m with, considering he’s here with his fiancée.
“I don’t. I just wasn’t aware you brought anyone, that’s all.”
“Well, we are broken up, so why would I tell you?”
He sighs heavily. “Listen…” He turns to me, this time looking more sad than angry. “I’m not worried about your new guy. I’m worried about you.”
“Why are you worried about me?”
“I just am, Ems. I always have been; you know that.”
“When the music starts,” Muffy yells from midway up the room, “you are to count to three and then take your groomsman’s arm and start slowly walking up the aisle.” I glance up and see Liam and Greta now deep in conversation, and worry a tiny bit that some time between now and tomorrow night, this whole act might end up blown.
&n
bsp; “We need to talk,” Jack whispers, holding out his elbow for me.
“We don’t.” I refuse to take his elbow before absolutely necessary.
His sigh says what he’s thinking without him needed to say it. “Ems, please, I just want to say what should have been said two years ago. Can I have at least that?”
“No.” I finally take his elbow with a glare.
“Fine.” We both take a step forward. “I’ll say it right now then.”
“What?” I say, a little louder than intended, and see Greta turn to us from midway up the aisle. “Jack, no.”
“I never cheated on you.”
I roll my eyes and take another step forward.
“That day, I know it looked bad, but it wasn’t the way it looked.”
“Stop.” I look up at his sad face. “Just stop. I’ve heard all this before, but I know what I saw.”
“You don’t, though, and you need to know this.” His eyes plead with me, and for the first time since I’ve been here I see a tiny bit of the Jack I knew and loved.
“Can we STOP the conversation back there and pay attention!?” Muffy yells back at us, her finger waving from across the room and silencing us both, which honestly is a relief on my part.
Another step forward but Jack leans closer to me. “We will talk this week, whether you like it or not,” he whispers into my ear, his breath making the hair on my neck stand straight up.
Chapter Ten
Four Years Ago
Cancun, Mexico
The Wedding of Lily & Josh
“So why did you choose a combined bachelor/bachelorette party? How will Josh have strippers if we’re there?” I ask Lily, who still has the curling iron in her hair even though we were supposed to meet the guys at the bar twenty minutes ago.
“Because it’s fun, there will be no strippers, and we’re all friends. So why not?”
“Got it. I just hope this burrito I ate earlier doesn’t make another appearance soon.”
“What, you’re sick?”
“Not sick, yet, just… iffy.” I wasn’t going to tell her this at all and just hope it passed. Literally.
“Well, hold it together.”
When she’s finally ready we walk the few blocks from our hotel down to the bar where this magical event is to take place. I probably shouldn’t have worn heels this high for this much walking, but I hate looking an entire foot shorter than Jack.
“Wow! This place is busy!” People are spilling out of the front doors, laughing, drinking and just overall partying. “Come on.”
We push our way through the crowd and look around the busy bar for the rest of our party. Someone waving from the private balcony above grabs my attention, and I look up and see Evan.
“They’re up there.”
“Perfect! We wanted to get the balcony but weren’t sure we could at such short notice.” We squeeze through a crowd full of scantily-clad half-naked bodies towards the stairs, and the man guarding the VIP rope nods towards us without a word while letting us through.
“It’s so hot in here,” I yell to Lily over the music, following her to the top.
“It’s Mexico, Ems. It’s always hot.”
It’s so hot that I think my hair is sweating, but I continue up the stairs and hope there is air conditioning in the VIP room.
“Finally! What took you so long?” Jack greets me with a smile.
“Lily… She just had to look perfect.” I glance across the room at her and Josh already making out in a corner by themselves. “I’m not sure why we are having a party to watch them have sex in public. It’s kinda gross.”
“They’re not gonna have sex. That would be disgusting.” Evan takes a swig of his beer. “We leave disgusting to me, remember?” He winks at the only other bridesmaid that made the trek from Oregon to Mexico.
“No, Lily will be pissed if you screw her cousin.”
“Lily will never know.” He and Jack both laugh and glance at me. “Right?”
“I know you have like zero morals about this stuff, just don’t do it here, please?” I beg Evan to try and keep it in his pants, but I know he’ll never listen. He never does.
“I got you a drink.” Jack points at the Cosmo on the table in front of him.
I take a giant slurp, hoping it doesn’t go to war and piss off the burrito from earlier. “Please promise me that if we ever were to get married that we won’t have bachelor/bachelorette parties.”
“Promised. Really aren’t they just an excuse to do something dirty right before the wedding?”
I glance back and Josh and Lily, still making out. “I thought so, but apparently, in this case, it’s just to make the rest of us feel dirty.”
“They’re just in love.” Jack smirks over at them. “Dirty love.” His scrunched-up disgusted face matches my own, even through our laughter at his joke.
You can only drink in a hundred-degree room for so long before you feel like you’re going to have a stroke. An hour was about all it took for us decide to take our party outside to the beach.
“Where’s Josh?” Lily asks after she finally realizes he’s not lying on the sand with us.
“Maybe he went to get another drink?” Jack says, without moving from his star-gazing position.
“Evan’s gone too, so I’m sure that’s where they are.” I glance around at the indentations that held all six of us just thirty minutes ago. “Wait…” I sit up and glance around again. I may be seeing doubles of things, but I know I’m missing a complete person here. “Corinne is gone too.”
“Yes, as close as she and Evan were getting in the bar I’d say—” Jack groans suddenly, probably because of my elbow in his ribs. “I mean…”
“What? Evan is with Corinne?”
“No.” I quickly denounce the idea of Lily’s engaged cousin Corinne doing anything she shouldn’t with my brother. “Maybe she went back to the hotel? I’m sure Evan is with Josh.”
“Let’s go.” Lily jumps up but stumbles backward, catching herself on a nearby lounger. “Your brother will not screw another one of my friends, or family members.”
“Come on Lil…” Jack is slurring his words, which is a rare occasion and I’m sure is only happening because absolutely no one from his family or job is even in the same country as us right now. “Evan has always had a way with the ladies, you know that.” The perverted tone coming from my boyfriend is somewhat disturbing. “It’s not like he forces them to have sex with him. They just do.”
“Nice.” She glances at Jack with a glare. “It’s good to know you lost your gentleman status at my wedding.”
“I didn’t lose anything. I’m just sworn to the truth right now because I’ve had way too much to drink today.”
“Don’t fight! Let’s just go find Josh and Evan,” I say, trying to sound as motherly as possible. Wrangling a couple drunks to get along is about as effective as herding a flock of seagulls.
“And Corinne,” Lily adds, like I had forgotten her.
“Yes, Corinne too.”
“There are at least five bars between here and our hotel, so we’re gonna go search them all?”
“That’s right. And no more to drink for you.” Lily points directly at Jack.
“Or for me,” I say, hoping that the acid bubbling in my throat is just heartburn and not the attempted reappearance of the previously mentioned burrito.
The first bar we walk into appears to be a dirty dive bar. It’s so dark you can hardly see a few people ahead of you, and there is a band playing with strobe lights so the thirty minutes we search is completely pointless. I couldn’t even find the bathroom in that place, let alone a person.
“I think this is an after-hours bar.” Jack glances around the next one, his eyes as big as saucers. On the bar are three mostly-naked women (I’m not sure if sequined barely-there underwear count as clothing) dancing in heels so high it hurts me just to look at them.
“Do you see them?” Lily yells over the swanky music playing overhe
ad. I shake my head, trying to avoid eye contact with every woman walking around in nothing but a bikini bottom. “I’m going to ask the bartender,” she shouts.
“Jack and I will wait outside.” I turn to grab Jack but he’s nowhere to be seen. “Shit.” Maybe he already went outside? It is packed in here, and he’s not exactly thinking straight this evening. Of all the places to lose him, why did it have to be at the topless bar?
I shove my way through the crowd and reach the sidewalk only to see Jack sitting on a bench out front. A nearly-naked, definitely topless woman is sitting next to him and giggling at whatever it is he’s just said to her. Jack is sitting as far from her as possible, while not falling off the bench completely.
“Jack!”
“Ems, I was just asking this lady if she’d seen them.” He jumps up, as fast as one can when they are drunk, and grabs my hand. “I founnd hher,” he slurs to the lady, who is now looking at the two of us and being less giggly than she was a moment earlier.
“They haven’t seen them.” Lily comes up behind us looking more than frazzled. “This is the worst party ever!” Her voice quivers when she says it, cuing me to what is coming next.
“Please don’t cry,” I say, as tears start to roll down her cheeks. “Maybe they got confused and went back to the hotel?”
“Lessh go check,” Jack slurs into my face, causing me to fan the beer smell away from me.
“How about we don’t breathe directly onto one another?”
“Deal.” He reaches down and grabs my hand, pulling it up to kiss it, missing on the first try but nailing it on the second. “Sssee… Shtill a gentleman.”
“Come on.” I lead him down the street by his hand, my shoes in my other hand. “I’m sure they’re at the hotel,” I say to Lily, but she’s no longer standing next to me. “Lil?” I call out. “For Christ’s sake, can we stop losing people, already?” I turn to Jack who is pointing just past me.
“Ssshe went that way.”
