by Claire Adams
We learned the group of teens were part of a high school baseball team taking part in a team-building activity. The two coaches were sitting in the cafe area, sipping coffee. I was surprised they didn’t take part. Being almost thirty, I was feeling giddy like a kid in anticipation of getting out and shooting something.
“All right everyone,” Taylor, the guy running the arena, said. “We’re going to split into equal teams. Sienna, you’ll be with these guys, and Parker, you will be with the other team.
My mouth dropped open. “We’re not on the same team?” I asked Sienna.
“Hell no! I want the chance to beat your ass, Parker.”
I laughed. “Good luck with that.” And I intended to prove her wrong. She was never the type of girl to want the boys to be gentle with her.
During the first match in the smaller field, Sienna had convinced everyone, even my team members, to shoot me. They all had a good laugh at my expense. And I was sure to have a ton of bruises from that attack.
“Just wait,” I called to her, perched high on one of the taller walls. She was laughing the hardest.
The rest of the matches were fair and everyone played hard for their team to win.
The final match was capture-the-flag in the woods. The guys on my team were pretty serious about winning this game in particular, and so was I. Since they knew Sienna and I were celebrating my upcoming wedding, they wanted me to be the one to get the flag.
The goal for this game was only to capture the flag from the other team, without needing to bring it back to our side as other versions of the game dictated. We left two guys guarding our flag, while the rest of them formed a circle around me and we moved forward through the trees.
Along the way, my teammates were being picked off one by one. There were a few close calls, one of the balls even zipped by my ear. There were two of us left by the time we found the flag.
Sienna’s team had left it unguarded. The yellow fabric flapped in the air as if it were daring us to come closer.
The guy I was with, Mike, looked around. “I think they sent everyone to the front line. They—”
A blast of blue paint exploded on his back.
He cried out and glanced over his shoulder. “Damn it!”
I turned in the direction of the shooter and aimed my gun and fired. I picked off the other teen, and he cursed. These kids were like sailors when they were separated from their coaches. Good thing Sienna had an even dirtier mouth, or I might have had to correct them.
Mike clapped me on the shoulder. “Good luck.” Then he held his gun high in the air in the surrender pose and trudged to the safe zone.
I ducked down behind a thick tree trunk and scanned the area. I hadn’t seen Sienna in the mix of guys who had taken out my entire team. I started to suspect she was sitting out there, waiting for me.
I glanced over at the flag; it was so close. I had to take the shot.
I did one more scan of the area then bolted for the flag. Just as I was reaching out for it, I heard movement behind me. My hand dropped to my side.
“Drop your weapon,” Sienna said.
I knew she wouldn’t shoot me from that close range, but she did have me. Now I had to outsmart her.
I dropped my gun to the ground and turned around slowly.
She had various paint splotches over her gear from the previous games and she looked like a war-painted princess.
“You got me,” I said. And as she lowered her weapon ever so slightly, I rushed her.
I grabbed her shoulders and pressed her against me. If I could get her to drop the gun, I’d be able to get the flag.
But her foot caught against a root and she cried out as we both went down.
“Oof!” her breath rushed out of her when I landed on top of her.
Her legs kicked out and her arms were pinned under me.
“You weigh a ton!” she said, laughing.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I think so,” she said, looking around.
I managed to get my arms out and lifted my chest off of her. She moved leaves and other debris off of her face.
“I didn’t realize there was hand-to-hand combat in paintballing,” she said.
“I didn’t expect your clumsy ass to fall over that easily.”
She laughed again, and this time I joined her. Her body was so small underneath mine; I could have crushed her. I reached up and pulled several leaves out of her hair. I noticed her shift in breathing and then looked into her hazel eyes. Her expression was no longer carefree; it was serious.
I swallowed hard. I knew I should have moved off of her but for some reason, my body wasn’t catching up with my brain.
A few seconds later, I rolled over to the side of her and she scooted away from me. I stood and helped her to her feet.
I turned away, unsure of what the hell just happened. The feel of her body under mine had messed with my rational thinking. I should apologize, but for what? Having a spark of not-so-platonic feelings for my best friend? I was getting married to someone else.
A sharp pain stung my ass cheek, and I turned around to see Sienna holding her gun in front of her.
“Gotcha!” she said and danced around with a big grin on her face. She pumped her fist in the air and said, “I won, I won.”
I couldn’t help laughing with her. And it brought the attention away from my awkwardness after having fallen on top of her and waiting too long to get up.
When we reached the entrance to the field, the other guys were standing there. They asked for a recap of what had happened and Sienna animatedly explained how she got me in the ass. I didn’t correct her because that would mean rehashing what had happened between us. I wasn’t sure I was ready to explain that quite yet, especially since I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, either.
We called it a tie since none of the teams had managed to get the other’s flag. The teens had to go, leaving me and Sienna to grab lunch by ourselves.
After a hearty meal of hot dogs and french fries, Sienna took me home. She had to stop over at the diner for a little while that afternoon.
“I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun,” I said.
“I’m glad you had a good time.”
It was nice driving without a scarf over my face. And with Sienna’s attention on the road, I found myself staring at her while we talked. Her hair was a mess, and her face paint streaked down her cheeks. But she was still one of the most beautiful women I knew.
“Thanks for this,” I said, turning away from her. We were almost to my house. I didn’t want this day to end, but I consistently took her away from work. It was only fair after everything she did for me today that I let her get back to her life.
“No problem,” she said. “Just to let you know, this wasn’t your bachelor party. We’re going above and beyond for that.” She tossed a smile at me then moved her attention back to the road. “Lately you’ve been doing so much wedding planning, I thought you could use a day of being a kid again.”
“I definitely needed this.” As we pulled into the driveway, the weight of the wedding pressed on my shoulders.
“Glad to be of service.”
I got out of the car, not wanting to give her another awkward moment. What I really wanted to do was reach across the center console and give her a hug. As friends, we weren’t very affectionate, but since that moment when I’d fallen on top of her, I had the strangest desire to touch her again. I wanted to see if this was real or just me having cold feet.
I waved to her as she backed out of the driveway and waited until she was out of sight before I went into the house.
My phone rang, and I grabbed it out of my pocket. Maybe Sienna wanted to meet up after the diner; I’d be game for that.
Instead, Rachel’s face filled the screen. I stared at it for two more rings before I turned the phone on silent and walked into the house.
Chapter Twelve
Sienna
The next morning,
I woke up sore in many places. After taking a shower, I inspected my body in the full-length mirror attached to my closet door. Bruises dotted my skin from the multiple paintball hits. And as much as they hurt, I smiled at the memory of how much fun we all had. It was nice to see that Parker and I could still keep up with high school kids. I tried to ignore the fact that each of them hit on me at least once, and some multiple times. It was all in good fun, even though I was paying for it today.
I took a picture of the big one on my neck and sent it to Parker.
He texted me back, “Nice hickey.”
“You wish!” I wrote with a gun emoji.
“Rematch,” he replied.
“You’re on! Be prepared to get your ass handed to you again.”
“Thanks for that bruise, by the way. I can’t sit right.”
I sent a smiling emoji.
Thinking of going out there again with him made me smile. And that smile lasted all the way to work.
Later that morning, Tony came into Sunny’s after I’d prepped for the breakfast crowd. He had trouble with his bike that morning and needed to catch a ride from a friend.
“When can you pick up your bike?” I asked.
“Tomorrow, probably,” he said, reaching for his apron. “It’s the bill I’m worried about. I feel like this is going to be way more than I want to spend.”
“Way more than getting another bike?”
He whistled through his teeth. “It’s going to be close.”
That totally sucked. Tony loved his bike. It would be a hard decision for him to make. “Well, if you need to keep it at the shop until you get the money together, I can give you a ride.”
“Are you sure you can?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
“Well, you and Parker are always off gallivanting around the place doing wedding stuff.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can give you a ride.”
“Speaking of Parker, how was paintballing? Did you kick his ass?”
“You know it. It was so much fun. I have like a million bruises, but it was worth it. Oh! And I wanted to plan a big bachelor party for him. Are you in? I’ll need a man’s touch for this one.”
“Yeah, of course. I’m always down to party.”
I clapped my hands together. “Awesome. I was thinking of doing it here. Is that weird? Maybe if we move all the tables in a different formation, it might look more like an appropriate restaurant. I don’t have a ton of money, and I refuse to ask Parker to give me any for his party—”
Tony’s hands rested on my shoulder. “Sienna, breathe. It will be fine.”
I took a breath and hadn’t realized I was prattling on. “I just want this to be fun for him.”
“Parker may be a billionaire, but he has fun with you. So, whatever you think would be fun, I’m sure he’ll love it.”
“You think?”
“Definitely,” he said, smiling. “And to bump it up a notch, I can get a stripper.”
“A stripper?” I asked. I knew a lot of bachelor parties had strippers, but I couldn’t imagine some chick taking her clothes off here. I would have to sanitize a lot if things got crazy. But I was sure I could make this really special for Parker. I thought he’d get a kick out of having a stripper.
“You can’t have a bachelor party without a stripper, Sienna.”
“I know, yeah, let’s do that. Call whatever pimp you know and let’s get that going,” I teased.
“I don’t know a pimp. It’s called a service.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Cool, I’ll get to work on that today.”
The Lamontes were our first customers for the day. We all exchanged pleasantries, and I started preparing their meal before they even sat down.
When I brought the food out to them, a stream of customers came in through the door. Outside there were two vans parked in the lot and I knew we were going to be busy for a little while. The thought brought a smile to my face. We’d been picking up lately, and I knew we were getting close to the busy season, but I had an inkling that Parker’s promotion had helped as well.
“Sienna, dear,” Harriet said, touching my arm. “Ken and I were talking about you the other day.”
“I hope all good things?”
Kenneth coughed into his handkerchief. I’d know that cough anywhere; he’d been doing it a lot lately. “Always,” he squeaked out.
“We were curious why you wanted to open a diner.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the other customers filtering in. Four tables worth.
“If you’re busy, we can talk later,” Harriet said.
I slid into the booth next to Kenneth. “I’m never too busy for my best customers.”
Harriet nodded and leaned closer to the table. “I’d love to know how you got here. Such a strong woman. You’re a great influence for other girls.”
“I don’t know about all that,” I started, “but I’ve always loved to cook, even when I was a little girl. We didn’t grow up with much money, so I had to make food with whatever we had. It was sort of like a fun game for me. And while there have been some disasters in the kitchen, it helped me understand cooking and opened my mind a bit. I think of recipes as a jumping-off point more than a blueprint. And I’ve always wanted to open up a place for myself, never really wanting to have a boss.”
“That’s lovely,” Harriet said.
“And I get to meet wonderful people like you.”
“Is business good?” Kenneth asked.
I shrugged. “It’s not as profitable as I wanted, but I live in a beautiful home and am able to pay the bills each month. So, I’d say it was worth it.”
Harriet looked at the other group who was starting to get loud. “We appreciate you sitting with us. But you should probably get back to work. We’ll talk later.”
“Enjoy your meal,” I said, sliding out of the booth.
Tony was already in the kitchen starting on the orders for the larger group.
“Sorry,” I said, grabbing the next ticket. “Harriet had a question and I rattled on too much.”
“Don’t worry about it. These people think this is a fast food restaurant. They can wait. Harriet and Ken are more important.”
I knew Tony would understand. We were almost the same person in a lot of ways.
“If I didn’t have this place, I would have never met them. That’s wild, right? I can’t even imagine it,” I said.
“They are pretty amazing. Did you know Kenneth was a Marine? That’s a tough job, man.”
I glanced out at the dining area; I could imagine Kenneth when he was a young man. Under the wrinkles and constant coughing, I could see him kicking ass as a Marine. I wished I had more time for them today. But I’d make up for it another day. They weren’t going anywhere.
We carried on with preparing the food. A few times, I glanced over at the Lamontes. Harriet was chattering away about something while I saw the back of Kenneth’s head bob as if he were in rhythm with a tune. They were adorable, and I hoped they’d keep coming back for a long time.
After the Lamontes and the van-crowd left, we had a steady stream of customers throughout the rest of the day. Tony covered for me while I ate my lunch. I made myself a grilled cheese and thought of Parker while I ate it.
“So, what should I prepare for food for the bachelor party?” I asked. “Maybe mini grilled cheeses. Oh! Sliders, too. Maybe more finger food-type things? Unless you think we should do a sit-down dinner? Not sure that would go with the stripper theme, though.”
Tony turned around. “It’s not a stripper theme; there will be a stripper at some point. Maybe two. Usually after we eat. And appetizers sound fine.”
“Good, I’ll make up a menu.”
“You’re really getting into this,” he said.
“Into what?”
“This whole planning thing.”
“How else would you expect me to plan a party?”
“I mean, you’re really into i
t. Like more than I’ve ever seen you.”
“Well, I am the best man,” I said.
He gave me a look that said, “Yeah, okay.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
I couldn’t forget it, but I also couldn’t explain why I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted this party to reflect me in some way. It was almost a last hurrah for me and Parker. And I wanted it to be a night he always remembered. And if I was honest with myself, I wanted him to remember it even more than his wedding day.
Chapter Thirteen
Parker
I laid in bed for almost an hour after waking, and worked on my phone answering emails and texts. For some reason, I had no motivation to do anything about getting ready for the day. This is why I loved technology and my job. I could be lying on the beach and no one would know or care. I supposed Rachel assuming that I could do most of the wedding planning made sense. She knew I worked from anywhere. I set up the company so that it practically ran itself, and now I only had to put in a few hours each day to keep the money rolling.
It was almost seven when Rachel’s face lit up the screen. I had been in the middle of typing something and accidentally hit the green button to answer the call. I fumbled with the phone for a second before answering.
She said “hello” a few times before I answered.
“Hi, Rachel,” I said into the phone. I pressed the speaker button and her voice filled my bedroom.
“Hey, Parker. I can’t believe I’m up this early; we had such a crazy night last night.”
I adjusted my body until I was in a sitting position. My back cracked; I hadn’t realized I was in a stiff position for so long. “What did you guys do?”
“Well, Holly and Trisha met us here, and we went out on the town. So many guys bought us shots. I only had a few because those things are loaded with empty calories, but Holly got so wasted. We had to drag her away from this creeper; it was hilarious.”
“Sounds fun,” I said.