Between Friends (16 page)

“
Well, hello” Stephanie
says and tosses off her shoes.

Michelle stumbles in behind her and
flops down on the sofa, “What did you two do all night?”

“
Nothing” Ben calmly says
and sits up on the bed, “I was too tired from fishing all day, so I
called Megan to see what she was up to. I didn’t feel like going
out either.”

Stephanie makes her way over to my
bed, and flops down on the edge beside Ben, “Well you guys missed
out on a great night.” She runs her fingers up his exposed arm and
pinches his cheek.

Ben brushes her away, “How much have
you had to drink?”

“
She’s intoxicated.”
Michelle says and gets up from the sofa and looks right at me, “By
the way, your boyfriend was there. Eric had him and Stephanie doing
shots all night long.”

“
Whose boyfriend?” I ask
playing-dumb, not at all impressed by this sudden
labeling.

“
Ah let me think. The guy
you’ve been seeing, Steven, Jessica’s cousin. Does that ring a
bell?” Michelle says with a slight bit of humor to her voice, and
kicks off her sandals. “He asked where you were tonight, but
obviously we had to tell him you ditched out.”

“
Well just to be clear,
he’s not my boyfriend.” I say and force my eyes to the
floor.

“
You would be more than
lucky if he was. He’s awesome.” Stephanie says with a hiccup, “You
should have seen him and Eric on stage with the dancers from the
resort. They were completely wasted and it was
hilarious.”

“
Sounds like fun.” Ben
rolls his eyes.

“
I wish you guys were
there.” Stephanie coos and hangs off of Ben’s arm. She grazes her
hand over his chest and bats her long auburn lashes in his face.
Her behavior, although not surprising, instinctually has me wanting
to rip her off of him. Of course I don’t. Instead I clench my jaw
and shift between the sheets.

“
Well I think we had a
pretty great night too.” Ben smiles at me and removes Stephanie’s
hand from his chest.

She darts her glazed eyes
at me and raises her eyebrows, “Well, how about that.” Then she
adds with a slur, “It looks like we
all
had a great night then. Didn’t we
Michelle?”

“
Shut up!” Michelle shouts
and tosses her clutch; missing Stephanie by an inch.

“
I caught Michelle and
Matthew having sex in the washroom.” Stephanie giggles.

“
I told you not to say
anything,” Michelle snaps.

“
Oh, who cares, you two
aren’t fooling anybody.” Stephanie says and flashes a coy smile at
Ben. He shifts his weight and clears his throat. A few awkward
seconds later, he gets up and says he is going back to his villa.
Stephanie blows him a kiss as he exits through the doors. She looks
back at us then says, “Well ladies. Goodnight.”

****

The next morning I wake up,
crawl out of bed and throw on a simple black string bikini. I rifle
through my luggage and pull out a
sparkling
stunner of a cover-up. It is a sexy black sheer bodice with a
dazzling gold embellishment plunging along the neckline. I wanted
to wear this once I got a little sun kissed, so I am glad that my
white Chicago skin is gone, and my tropical glow is
radiating.

I walk down the cobblestone road,
leaving the villa and the girls to their dreams. I find my way to
the breakfast buffet alone and happy. I select a hearty meal of
poached eggs, toast, and a fruit salad. I pick a small table in the
corner over-looking the ocean, eat in peace and drink my coffee.
When I cannot stand to swallow down another bite, a server comes by
and asks me if I want a refill on my coffee. I do want more, but I
decline because I have to meet Jessica in the lobby to help her go
over some last minute wedding details with the wedding planner from
the resort.

As I make my way up the stairs and
into the lobby, I see Jessica waiting patiently in an overstuffed
chair and flipping through a magazine. When she sees me, her eyes
light up before she pounces up from her seat, “Oh Megan, I was
wondering where you were! I am so glad you are with me for
this.”

“
Aren’t we just finalizing
the dinner menu?” I ask.

“
Well that, and some other
things. This is a really big deal.” Jessica moans tugging on my
arm, “Everything needs to be perfect. You know I can’t handle
anything going wrong or any unnecessary imperfections.”

“
Everything is going to be
fine.” I assure her, “We already know from eating here that the
food is fabulous.”

Jessica smiles, “I did pick a good
resort.”

“
The best,” I smile
back.

Jessica’s eyes dart away from me, and
she waves over at a short and skinny bald man. He sees her arms
flailing and gives her an over-the-top smile. His nose is long and
skinny, and his cheekbones are really high and defined.

“
Megan this is Jose, the
wedding planner for the resort. Jose this is Megan, my
maid-of-honor” She beams between the two of us.

He extends his bony hand, and I notice
his crooked teeth through his plastered grin. We shake, and I tell
him how nice it is to meet him. He nods and looks back to Jessica,
“Okee, right this way ladies,” and waves us down a hallway jetting
out from the lobby and into his office.

My whole morning and early afternoon
is spent listening to Jose and Jessica talk about every single
detail of the wedding. They nit-pick every item and act out the
ceremony three times. We go over the flowers. We discuss
decorations. We even praise Jessica on her great choice of
selecting the color turquoise for the bridesmaid’s
dresses.

Then Jose gives us a run-down of what
will be happening behind the scenes during the ceremony and
reception. Things like where the photographer will be, what the DJ
will be playing during dinner, and then what he will play later for
the dance portion. Jose even goes as far as telling us how many
waiters will be serving each table, and the exact time each dinner
course is expected to arrive.

Finally we start our discussion on the
food, and that becomes a small nightmare. First Jessica thinks she
wants fish. Then she remembers her Uncle Gary has a fish allergy.
Then she decides on beef tenderloin, but turns pouty and decides
beef is too typical of a wedding. Then she waffles between a
stuffed breast of chicken or Veal Roulade (I have no clue what that
is), but then she decides neither will do. At this point, she looks
to me for advice, but I am so confused and exhausted from listening
to her and Jose talk, that my day just went from living the Vida
loca to wanting to rip my hair out.

I try my best to give some
suggestions. I recommend pork tenderloin or maybe some other type
of chicken. But flamboyant Jose and the flick of his wrist
immediately shut me down. Jessica tells me to think outside the
box, and I tell her I am trying. For the next thirty minutes, I let
her and Jose carryon without me. I sit staring off into space until
I hear them finally come up with a main dish. They of course think
it will be out of this world, but I would argue that it is a little
over the top. Jose repeats their finalized menu, and Jessica
vibrates in her chair.

“
Every guest will get a
piece of fillet mignon and a piece of chicken Kiev, plus a side of
lobster tail.” Jose exclaims, “Minus Uncle Gary of course on the
lobster.”

“
It’s perfect.” Jessica
squeals, “What do you think Megan?”

“
I think it will be the
best dinner anyone has ever had, not to mention the most
expensive.” I smile.

“
I know!” Jessica shouts,
“Everything is going to be done with such class. Just like how it
should be.”

Jessica and Jose hug as she thanks him
a million times over.

When we finally leave Jose’s office,
we cruise our way through the lobby before Jessica asks, “You
hungry?”

“
After all that food talk
who wouldn’t be?” I say as we step directly into the scorching
sun.

“
Michael is having lunch
with Ben to discuss the bachelor party for tomorrow night. I
thought we could join them and go over what you have planned for
the bachelorette.” She smiles and bats her eyes at me.

“
Fine by me” I say, feeling
all giddy inside at the thought of seeing Ben.

When we walk into the restaurant, they
are already waiting for us and have ordered our food. Ben’s face
lights up when he sees me and I know mine lights up too, because I
feel myself flush gazing into his dark brown eyes.

“
How’d it go?” Michael asks
standing to greet Jessica.

“
Wonderful!” Jessica
exclaims, “Jose is the best, isn’t he Megan?”

“
He is pretty special.” I
mumble and sit down beside Ben.

Right away, she starts to tell Michael
everything we discussed with Jose, and makes me relieve the wedding
planning horror. Amongst her chattering, Ben leans over and
whispers in my ear, “I missed you.”

I bite my lip and whisper that I
missed him too. He leans back in his chair all calm and collected,
while I break out in a sweat, just hearing him say those three
little words.

“
Okay, Ben. Tell me exactly
what you have planned.” Jessica says a takes a tiny bite from her
bland salad.

“
It’s pretty straight
forward.” Ben shrugs and bites into his wrap. He chews, swallows
then says, “It’s none of your business anyway; it’s Michael’s
bachelor party not yours.”

Jessica freezes with anger, “It is so
my business. Right, Michael?”

Michael quickly nods and looks at Ben,
“Just tell her already and stop being such a dick.”

“
Fine” Ben mumbles and puts
down his wrap. “Golf in the morning, a late dinner, then drinks at
the Sports bar afterwards. Is that okay? Is Michael allowed to
attend his own bachelor party?”

Jessica bites her lip and lets out a
cocky chuckle, “Don’t be a wise ass.”

“
I’m not!” Ben laughs and
leans back to stretch out his long legs, “I just don’t see why you
have to micromanage everything. You are going to drive yourself
crazy if you don’t relax.”

“
Have you ever planned a
wedding Ben?” Jessica says and drops her fork. He opens his mouth
to answer, but she interjects, “I didn’t think so.” Then she darts
her eyes at me, “Now you tell me what you have planned for the
bachelorette.”

I trade a glance with Michael who
looks petrified and clear my throat, “I planned a full day at the
Spa, followed by a nice formal dinner, and then drinks at the
Theatre bar.” I say and hope my plans are up to snuff for the
bride-to-be.

Jessica leans back in her chair and
glances at Michael with raised eyebrows. Then she looks between Ben
and I and points her tiny finger in our faces, “Okay, now that I
know our parties will not overlap, I still need you guys to make
sure Michael and I do not see each other at all tomorrow. It’s
really bad luck if we do.”

Ben nods, “Don’t worry Jess, we don’t
want you around anyway. I wouldn’t want you punching out any of the
Costa Rican strippers I ordered for us.”

Jessica narrows her eyes at Ben “I
wouldn’t put it past you to do something stupid like that. You
better be joking.”

Ben raises his eyebrows and gives her
a smug grin, “Maybe I am, and maybe I’m not. But now you’ll never
know.”

If looks could kill, Ben would be
dead. Jessica gently leans her hundred and five pound self across
the table and whispers, “If I find out there was even one stripper
within three feet of Michael, I will rip your beloved balls
off.”

“
Jessica, relax, he’s
joking.” Michael says and stupidly smiles at Ben.

“
Don’t smile at him!”
Jessica says, and slaps Michael in the shoulder.

“
That’s okay if they do.” I
say with a proud grin, “Because I hired us some sexy male Costa
Rican strippers of our own for tomorrow night.”

Ben narrows his eyes at me then leans
back in his chair with amusement, “Really?”

“
Really” I lie, and hear
Jessica snicker in my ear.

“
You’re full of shit.” Ben
says with chuckle.

“
Well, I guess you’ll never
know.” I say and give him a tiny wink.

****

When lunch is over, Jessica and
Michael take off to spend time with their families. Ben and I
linger by the front of the restaurant and wave goodbye. As soon as
they are out of our sight, he turns to me and says, “Meet me in the
lobby no later than three-thirty.”

“
Why?” I ask and
flirtatiously toss my hair to the side.

“
Don’t do that.” Ben
whispers, “Every time you toss your hair like that I want to fuck
you.”

“
Why do you have to be so
vulgar?” I whisper.

He laughs and tugs on a few strands of
my hair, “Just be there.”

I tap my foot on the ground and we
hold an intense gaze for a few moments, “Where are you taking
me?”

He flashes me a wicked grin and
glances down at his phone, “You have approximately forty-five
minutes to put on that tight jean skirt of yours and get your ass
down to the lobby. Don’t make me come and find you.” He scolds,
kisses the top of my head and walks off in the other
direction.