Between Friends (20 page)

I am utterly heartbroken. I
am his second dirty little secret of the month. What a scumbag!
This is why I tried to stop this from going any further that
morning in my condo. This is why I flat out said it was a mistake.
But unlike Ben,
I
actually valued our friendship. I guess I was the only one
smart enough to know that sex only complicates
everything.

By mid afternoon, we say our goodbyes
to the Spa and a good chunk of my bank account. We walk back to our
villa, while I schlep behind and kick random pebbles. Jessica takes
off down a separate cobblestone road, and tells us she will be by
our villa in twenty minutes. I wave her goodbye, and listen to
Stephanie and Michelle chitchat about what they are going to wear
tonight. I feel so crummy that all I want to do is toss on a pair
of pajamas and go to bed. But unfortunately, I have a bachelorette
party to attend.

Twenty minutes later, I rifle through
my luggage, feeling hopelessly lost in what to wear. Everything
looks grey and frumpy, crumbled and disorganized. I glance over at
Stephanie and Michelle holding dresses up against one another and
debating on which one looks better for tonight. Jessica appears out
of nowhere, pushing herself through the doorway. She walks in
beautifully dressed, wearing the most stunning long sleeved purple
hued skin-tight dress. It sparkles all over, making her vibrant and
fantastically gorgeous. Stephanie and Michelle gawk at her, and
tell her she looks amazing. She gives us a twirl and swings her
arms, shaking the bags hanging from her forearms.

Michelle squeals at the sight of pink
bows and pretty wrapping paper when Jessica plops down on the sofa.
She calls us over; and just how my dad would imitate Santa Claus
every Christmas morning, she does the same. She reaches in the bag
and playfully asks, “Who do you think this one is for?” Then shakes
it by her ear and shouts, “Stephanie!”

Stephanie graciously accepts her gift
from Jessica, and stretches her shoulders back with a tiny grin.
Jessica continues to pull a separate present out for Michelle, and
then finally one for me. I thank her, but she grabs onto my arm and
looks at me with glossy eyes.

“
I hope you like it” she
whispers, “Nothing I can give you will ever be enough to thank you
for putting up with me. I know have been quite the bridezilla over
the past year.”

I tell her not to worry about it, and
assure her she has not been as crazy as she thinks (which is only
half true). I snuggle up beside her, and unwrap my present. I hear
Stephanie and Michelle squealing behind me, thanking Jessica for
their new fabulous golden peep-toed Louboutin heels.

Jessica tilts up her chin, and says
“These are the shoes you have to wear tomorrow for the wedding.
Aren’t they gorgeous?”

“
Their fantastic!” Michelle
shouts slipping one onto her bare foot and admiring herself in the
mirror.

I choke when I un-wrap my sparkling
pair and catch a glimpse of how high the heel is. Jessica must see
the look of concern splashed across my face, because she says, “If
you wear them tonight you will have enough practice by
tomorrow.”

I let out a strained laugh, “Thanks
Jess, they’re so beautiful.” Which is an understatement. They are
absolutely stunning. But I wouldn’t have expected any less from
Jessica.

“
Look back in the bag.” she
nudges me with a huge smile on her face.

I peer down, and see a tiny little
blue Tiffany box, “Jessica, this is too much.”

Stephanie and Michelle are
huddled around us, and I can feel Michelle’s warm breath blowing
against my ear, which is really irritating. Jessica’s face becomes
quite nervous and she fiddles with her engagement ring as I flip
open the box. I gasp at the sparkling silver chain with the cutest
little charm staring back at me. It’s light pink, and has a carved
diamond ring on the front of it. Jessica insists I flip it over,
and when I do; there is a tiny etching in the back:
Friends Forever J.

I am not sure if it is finding out
about Stephanie and Ben, or if because this pendant reminds me of
our youth and the time Jessica and I went to the mall, picked out
matching friendship necklaces, then wore them until the early part
of the eighth grade. But whatever it is, tears pour down my cheeks.
They stream even more so, when she pulls out the same one from
around her neck.

I wrap my arms around her, and bury my
head in her shoulder. Jessica continues to jabber on that she
picked the charm with a diamond ring, because it would always
remind us of our twelve year old wedding promise to be one
another’s maid-of-honors. I feel knots form in my stomach and more
tears sting at the corners of my eyes, because she may never get to
be my maid of honor, especially now that I want to swear off all
men forever.

Stephanie breaks up our moment and
cracks open a beer, “Enough of this blubbering! Are we ready to get
this party started or what?”

Jessica assesses my attire;
navy shorts and a white tank top, “I hope you don’t think you’re
wearing
that
to my
bachelorette party.”

I glance down at my plain Jane self
and give a pitiful shrug. Right away, the girls jump into selecting
an outfit for me that will match our new shoes, because Jessica
wasn’t kidding when she said I should practice wearing them before
tomorrow. Michelle riffles through the closet and pulls out my deep
V-neck lace Guess dress, and insists it will be a perfect match. I
agree, because even if I did object, I would be overruled. I slip
into the two-toned high-shine layer dress, letting Jessica pull up
the metal zipper in the back.

The restaurant is so elegant, with
high ceilings and dim lighting overlooking the pool glimmering in
the moonlight. We are a tad bit late, because at the last minute,
Jessica insisted she loosely curl my hair. Jessica’s mother, Anne
Ellis, greets us and runs in our direction. She wraps her arms
around Jessica, and whispers in her ear how stunning she looks.
Michael’s mother forces herself up from the table and gives Jessica
a stiff hug and a firm pat on the back. While all the other ladies
sitting at the table, cheer over the bride-to-be’s grand
arrival.

Throughout dinner, Mrs.
Ellis takes over most of the conversation and tells childhood
stories about Jessica, including reiterating the day she was born.
She even divulges into a few stories about our high school years,
like the one time she caught us attending a college party when we
were only sixteen. Mrs. Ellis just happened to be driving down
fraternity row when Stephanie was doing a keg stand on the front
lawn of the Alpha Delta Phi frat house. Or when she caught us
trying to highjack Mr. Ellis’s Jaguar, so we could hit up a party
on the west end of Chicago. Her mother laughs now, but I don’t
remember her laughing at all when it happened. Matter of fact, I
distinctly remember her calling my mother and ratting me out, (even
though I was the
only
one who tried to stop Jessica from illegally pulling out of
her driveway).

Once dinner is over, with a
lot of motivation on my end, and the shuffling of a flimsy Jessica,
we are out of the restaurant. The shuttle pulls up to the front
doors,
and Michael’s mother announces she
isn’t coming with us. Jessica’s mother, who is also a little tipsy,
asks her why not. To have Michael’s mother turn up her nose and
insist it isn’t her scene.

“
That’s okay” Jessica says
brushing her hand over Michael’s mothers face, “You need your
beauty sleep anyway.”

Michael’s mother rolls her eyes and
hops on a separate shuttle to take back to her villa. Jessica’s
whiney voice and blunt drunken behavior is less than attractive
when she stumbles onto our shuttle and waves her finger in the
driver’s face and tells him he’s cute.

The music is blaring and everyone is
dancing inside the bar. Jessica is out of control, and finds
herself on top of the bar with an alcoholic beverage in either hand
dancing like a bad version of Coyote Ugly. The men surrounding her
are cheering her on, and she loves every minute of it. At one point
she even let’s a random dude take a shot off of her body, and I
find myself having to intervene, before she crosses the line of
having a good time to cheating on her fiancé.

Michelle prances over to us with a
plate of shots just as I am trying to convince Jessica to calm down
and drink some water. I politely decline for the both of us;
because I am still feeling depressed over Ben, while the last thing
Jessica needs is another shot of booze. But Michelle doesn’t take
no for an answer and shoves two of them in my face, “Come on Megan,
let’s have a goodtime. I wanna have fun with you. No more frowning
on that pretty face of yours.”

So, I slam the two shots.

I need to forget about Ben and
Stephanie’s secret romp, and of course Jessica’s inappropriate
behavior. A few more shots later, and I have let loose and danced
the night away. I even bump and grind with just about any guy that
crosses my path, and I engage in some flirtatious salsa moves with
a couple of cute Costa Rican’s.

But when midnight hits; so does
Jessica’s vomit. Mrs. Ellis freaks out and calls the party quits,
“Ohmigod! Someone put something in Jessica’s drink!”

I roll my eyes, because
Jessica’s mother is just as dramatic as she is. I
offer to bring Jessica back to her villa, but Mrs.
Ellis says not to worry, she will stay in the Ellis’s villa
tonight. Once all the other ladies fizzle out, Stephanie, Michelle
and I are left completely buzzed and still raring to go.

“
Should we call it a
night?” I ask, feeling the tequila shots rush to my brain now that
our dancing has stopped.

“
No way” Stephanie shouts,
“I am going to find Ben and make my move. Tonight’s the night
ladies.”

Even when I am drunk, it still hurts
like a bitch to hear Stephanie talk about him. It hurts even more
so when an image of them having hot and steamy sex flashes through
my mind. Therefore, I do what any levelheaded girl would do in my
situation. I slam another two shots of tequila and tell Stephanie
to lead the way.

It doesn’t take long to find them,
since I was already privy to the information on their whereabouts.
I spot the bachelor party crew, cheering on Michael while he shot
guns a beer, before Matthew points over at our three-some headed
their way. Michael spurts out his beer when he locks eyes with me
and he turns stark white. He runs over to us, grabs onto my
shoulders and in a panic shouts, “Please tell me Jess is
okay.”

“
She’s fine” I nod and let
out a tiny hiccup, “She puked, but her mom brought her back to
their villa.”

Michael sighs with relief, and Eric
pops up beside him, “This is a bachelor party, no girls
allowed.”

“
What are you five?” I
laugh, and drape my arm over Michael’s shoulders as the room spins
around me.

Michael pipes up, “So what. It’s my
bachelor party, and I want them to stay”

Eric rolls his eyes as Michael walks
me over to the table.

My heart stops when I see Stephanie
has already thrown herself on Ben’s lap and is whispering sweet
nothing’s in his ear. I catch him laughing and whispering something
back, and it makes my blood boil. He shifts on his chair when he
sees me. When I look away, he shouts out my name over the music,
but I do my best to ignore him, and keep my eyes straight
ahead.

“
Megan, over here.”
Steven’s voice says from the opposite end of the table. He stands
up to greet me, and stumbles over in my direction. He drapes his
arm around my shoulders and gives me a tiny kiss on the cheek,
“What a nice surprise.”

I catch Ben out of the corner of my
eyes with a scowl on his face. Stephanie places her index finer on
his chin and turns his head back to her, but his eyes are still
directed at me. I flip my long brown curls behind my shoulders and
let Steven escort me into the empty chair beside him.

“
Did you meet Dave and
Charlie yet?” Steven says sliding me a shot of some clear licorice
smelling liquid, which I’m guessing is Sambuca.

“
No, I haven’t.” I say and
shake both their hands.

“
Dave’s my brother, and
Charlie is Aunt Florence’s son.” Steven says with a
smile.

“
It’s nice to finally meet
you. Jessica has kept you locked up for too long.” Charlie laughs,
“I don’t know why she didn’t introduce us before. If she had, you
might have been on my arm tonight and not with this goof ball over
here.” He nudges Steven and they share a chuckle.

“
Ready to take that?” Dave
asks narrowing his eyes at my shot glass.

“
I guess so.” I say and
pick it up in my fingers.

“
Hey!” Dave shouts and
turns to everyone at the table, “Let’s all do a shot. Everyone grab
one off the tray.” He raises his glass and looks at Michael, “To
Jessica and Michael.”

I bring my shot glass to my lips, and
feel Ben’s big brown eyes glaring at me. He is still chatting with
Stephanie, but at least she has moved off his lap and onto the
chair beside him. I catch her flirtatiously graze her fingers along
his exposed arm, and it feels like someone has punched me in the
gut. Ben looks over at me again, with what I detect is a little
pang of uncertainty in his eyes, but I immediately look
away.