“You could have answered my text,” Chelsea reminded her. “If I had known no one was coming, I would have gone home.”
Holding up her phone, Kendall gave a helpless shrug. “Obviously, I didn’t have my phone or I would have.”
“Oh. Right.” Scooting further into the booth, she motioned to the spot next to her. “Well, now you’re back so…have a drink!”
“I shouldn’t. I had one earlier and once I got home, I realized how much I really wanted a quiet night in. Plus, I’m trying to find out how to get the feed from the resort for Monday!” Kendall’s hand instantly flew to her mouth as Drew groaned.
Chelsea swore she was getting whiplash from looking back and forth between the two of them. “What feed? What’s going on Monday?”
“Um…I should go,” Kendall said nervously. “I’ll talk to you later!” And then she spun and all but ran from the bar. It was pointless to go after her because Drew’s hand was already poised to stop her.
With a weary sigh, she massaged her forehead. “For the love of it, will you please just tell me what’s going on? Clearly something is happening.”
“I told you…”
“It’s not Uncle Vito!” she snapped. “So don’t even go there!”
His broad shoulders sagged as he leaned back in the booth. Both hands raked through his dark hair as he muttered a curse. “Before I say anything, you have to promise not to freak out.”
“Drew…”
“I’m serious,” he said tightly.
“Fine.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she waited.
“Jimmy and Bianca are eloping this weekend.”
“What?! But that’s crazy! Where? Why? And why am I hearing this from you instead of Bianca?”
“Probably because you’d try to talk her out of it and ruin her wedding!” he shouted. Even in the loud and crowded bar, people turned to see what he was yelling about. Holding up a hand, he said, “Sorry.” Once everyone stopped paying attention, he looked at her again. “You have to admit, Chelsea, you’ve been a real ballbuster to the two of them about their relationship. Are you really surprised they didn’t tell you?”
She wasn’t, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Bianca had been her best friend since they were eight. How could she run off and get married without her? Tears stung her eyes and she realized the last person she wanted to witness her pain was Drew.
“I should go,” she said quietly, reaching for her phone and purse. He didn’t try to stop her, and when she stood, so did he.
“Look, Chelsea, I’m sorry you had to hear it from me. That was never the plan. If Kendall hadn’t come back…” He helped her into her jacket and even helped her get her long blonde hair out from under it. Turning around, she faced him.
“If Kendall hadn’t come back…”
“You probably wouldn’t have heard about it until they got back Tuesday night,” he said solemnly. “I really am sorry.”
Nodding, she willed herself not to cry. “Me too.”
He let out a long breath as they both stood awkwardly facing each other. “You don’t have to leave, you know. You should stay and finish your wine.”
It was tempting–mainly because she felt like she could use a drink–but it would be better for her to be alone.
When she didn’t answer, Drew added, “I get that you’re upset, but if you go home all you’re going to do is obsess about this situation like ‘Where’s the wedding?’ or ‘Why’d they have to do it so soon?’ or ‘How can I stop the wedding?’” Then he let out a low laugh. “Not that I’m saying you’re going to go and crash the wedding and stop them from getting married…” He stopped and eyed her warily. “You wouldn’t do something like that, right?”
“Oh, please, give me a little credit,” she said testily.
However…the idea had merit.
No doubt, if Bianca was marrying anyone else this wouldn’t be an issue. But no, Jimmy the Jerk–ha! Take that Malibu Barbie burn!–had to convince her to run away to get married. Gah! He really was the worst.
Chelsea considered her next words very carefully. “There are hundreds of places for them to go and elope, how would I possibly figure out where they picked?”
His hands slid into his trouser pockets as he shrugged.
“Bianca loathes Vegas so I know they didn’t do anything as clichéd as that…”
Another shrug.
“And she doesn’t even have a passport so I know they didn’t leave the country…”
“Chelsea…”
“Niagara Falls makes her hair frizz so I know she’d never go there either.” She racked her brain for places people normally went when they eloped. “And there’s no way they’d do it in Disney World because the life-size characters freak her out.”
“Seriously? Like Mickey and Minnie?”
She nodded. “Yup. It all goes back to an unfortunate photo op with Barney the Dinosaur. Ever since then, she can’t stand being near anything in costume.
“Wow, that’s just…wow.”
“I know. Tell me about it.” She paused and tried to think of more places. “Anyway, I know Bianca better than anyone. If she were going to do something like this, the location would have to have a significant meaning to her or some sort of pop culture reference.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means she loves places where movies were filmed–like actual locations.”
“That sounds stupid.”
She couldn’t possibly argue with that because she had said many times how ridiculous it was to want to visit someplace just because a scene from a movie was filmed there or a celebrity couple got married there or…
Why didn’t I pay more attention to Bianca’s ramblings in Starbucks?
She thought about all the recent celebrity gossip and who had recently gotten married, when it hit her. “Oh, my God! I know where they’re getting married!” She turned to walk away, but Drew gripped her upper arm to stop her. “Stop doing that!” Tugging her arm free, she faced him.
“Chelsea, you can’t seriously be considering going to the wedding! You can’t!”
“Why not? Aren’t you the least bit pissed that your best friend excluded you?”
He stared hard at her. “Well, yeah, but we talked it out and I’m good with it. They’re going to have a party or even another wedding for their friends and family in the future, but this weekend is just for them so…don’t go ruin it!”
Ugh…why didn’t anyone understand that she wasn’t doing this to be mean or petty or spiteful? She was doing this because Bianca and Jimmy were wrong for each other.
“Are you saying that out of all the women in the world, Bianca is who you’d choose for your best friend?”
“Well…”
“This is crazy,” she muttered before he could say another word. “I don’t have to stand here and explain myself to you. Thanks for being the only one willing to hang around and wait for me tonight. And for being the only one willing to tell me the truth,” she added sadly. “Have a good weekend.”
Chelsea wove her way through the crowd, and once she was outside on the sidewalk, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. She hadn’t considered following Bianca and confronting her in person, but there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it was the only way to go. If she tried calling, Bianca wouldn’t answer, so why waste her time?
It took her a minute to get her bearings before she walked around to the side of the building to the parking lot. She was getting ready to open her door when a large hand landed on her shoulder. Screaming, she turned, knocking the hand away.
“Dammit, Drew! You scared the crap out of me!” Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest as she sagged against her Hyundai SUV.
“I’m going with you.”
“Um…what?”
He nodded. “We both know you’re going to try to stop this wedding, and while I don’t agree with you, I also don’t think you should have to face doing it alone. So�
�I’m going with you.”
“I hate to break it to you, Ace, but…I didn’t invite you, nor do I want you for company.”
“Too bad because, like it or not, I’m going.”
She groaned. “I don’t have to wait on you or go anywhere with you. I’m just going to grab a flight in the morning. It’s too late to get one right now, so I’ll just get one for first thing in the morning.”
Taking a step back, Drew considered her. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll take care of the flights…”
“Drew…”
“No, no, no…I travel a lot on business and have a crap-ton of miles I can use, so the flights are on me.”
She eyed him warily. “What’s the catch?”
“The catch is…when we get there, you have one hour to plead your case. If you don’t convince them–and you are logical and not all…you know…crazy–then you agree to leave and let them have their day.”
“Only an hour? That’s hardly enough time to…”
“Either you do it my way or I’ll call them both and tell them you’re coming,” he said quickly. “No doubt they’ll have you blocked from getting anywhere near them or they’ll simply move the ceremony. Either way, you won’t get a chance to screw this up for them.”
“Why are you such an ass?”
Now he leaned in close. “I could ask you the same thing.”
Oh, how she loathed him.
“How do I know you’re not going to call them anyway?” she asked.
“I give you my word,” he said firmly. “Think all the bad things you want about me, Chelsea, but I’m a man of my word. If I tell you I’m not going to call, then you can rest assured that I’m not going to.”
Letting out a long breath, she realized maybe he was right. “Okay, then. How do we do this?”
“We’ll need to exchange phone numbers to start with, and I’ll need your pertinent information so I can book the tickets. We’ll meet at my place in the morning and head to the airport. Deal?” He held out his hand to her and she shook it.
And suddenly she felt like she’d made a deal with the devil.
4
“What took you so long?”
It was only eight in the morning and she was already ready to murder him. “What took me so long?” she mimicked. “You gave me the wrong address! How is it possible that you don’t know your own address?”
“You’re crazy,” Drew replied, stepping out onto the front porch. “If I gave you the wrong address, how did you find my house, huh?”
“You said you lived on Heritage Place,” she explained. “This is Heritage Place South and it’s only by pure luck and several wrong turns that I got here!”
“Well, we need to hustle or we’re going to miss our flight,” he said, taking both of their suitcases to his car.
With no other choice, she followed behind him. “We should be fine. It’s Saturday morning and MacArthur airport’s only twenty minutes away. Our flight isn’t until ten.”
She was on the passenger side and he was standing on the driver’s side when he shook his head. “We’re not leaving out of MacArthur. We’re leaving out of LaGuardia.” He climbed into the car and she did the same.
“No,” she said once she was buckled in. “You said MacArthur! It’s in the text!” Pulling out her phone to prove her point, she pulled up their messages. “See? Right here, MacArthur.”
He shrugged. “Typo. We’re leaving from LaGuardia.” And without another word, he backed out of the driveway.
“Why? That’s so much farther away, isn’t it?”
Turning, Drew looked at her like she was crazy. “Don’t you know where LaGuardia is?”
“Kind of. I don’t particularly like to fly and any time I do, I fly out of MacArthur. Why go all the way to the city when there’s a perfectly good airport right here?”
“So you’ve never flown out of any other airport here?”
“Nope.”
“Interesting.”
“Why do you say that?”
“No reason.”
They drove in silence for several minutes. He got on the Northern State Parkway and then crossed over to the Southern State Parkway. There wasn’t much to see and she figured they were going to be stuck with each other for a couple of hours so she might as well try to talk with him. “How long should it take to get to the airport?”
“At this point, we’ve got another forty minutes or so. Then we’ve got to park and then race to get through security. If we make the flight, it will be a miracle.”
Damn, if they missed their flight, it was basically her fault.
Even though he gave her the wrong address.
“Can I ask you something?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“How did you figure out where they were getting married?”
Laughing softly, Chelsea turned to him and smiled. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but Bianca is a huge Justin Bieber fan.”
“Um…no. I don’t think it’s ever come up.”
“It’s true. Anyway, back in September, he got married to Hailey Baldwin at this super posh resort down in South Carolina. I remember the day clearly because Bianca was glued to her phone, Instagram in particular, waiting for any pictures of the wedding to be released. She carried on about how it was the most romantic-looking place. So I took a shot at that being where they went.”
“Wow,” he said with a chuckle. “You really do know her well.”
“We’ve been friends for over twenty years,” she reasoned. “You get to know a thing or two about each other.”
“I’m impressed.” He got quiet for a minute before asking, “So was she upset that Justin got married? Did she hope to marry him herself?”
That made Chelsea laugh. “There was a time when she definitely thought it was a possibility, but she hasn’t mentioned it in years, so… it was really more about it being a celebrity wedding. Bianca loves anything celebrity-related. It’s kind of crazy.”
“A little, but honestly, it kind of fits,” he said casually.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “She strikes me as that type, that’s all.”
“What type?”
“You know, shallow. Ditzy. Someone who watches way too much reality TV and dreams of being on one of those shows about the housewives.”
Twisting in her seat to face him more, she glared. “That’s really insulting, Drew. You realize she’s my best friend, right?”
“Yeah, I still can’t figure that one out,” he murmured. “The two of you are nothing alike. I mean, what do you even talk about when you’re together?”
“Basically we talk about what a colossal jackass you are!” Straightening in her seat, Chelsea knew it would be best for her to ignore him. It was obvious they couldn’t agree on anything so what was the point in even trying with him? With a huff, she reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. Maybe if she could see how much longer they were going to be in the car together, she could refrain from any more disagreements with him.
The jerk.
She pulled up her GPS and frowned. “Um…Drew?”
“Yeah?”
“You said we’re leaving from LaGuardia, right?”
“About a dozen times, why?”
“Because you’re going the wrong way,” she stated, more than a little annoyed.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are! Look!” She held up her phone next to his face but he swatted her away. “Drew!”
“Have you ever driven to LaGuardia? No, right? Trust me. I know where I’m going.” He sounded just a little too cocky and that irked her all the more.
“You’re on the South Shore and the airport is on the North Shore, Drew. You’re driving to Kennedy Airport according to the map! If you’d just look…”
“I know what I’m doing, Chelsea,” he snapped. “I’ve driven to the airport dozens of times!”
“To the correct one?” she mumbled under her breath and decided t
he best thing to do was to simply bite her tongue and see how this all unfolded. There wasn’t anything she could do; she was essentially at his mercy. It wasn’t like she could get out of the car and drive herself. Plus, he had her ticket!
They drove on in silence for another twenty minutes when she heard him curse.
“Problem?” she asked sweetly.
“Um…yeah, so…it seems like we’re going to Kennedy instead of LaGuardia,” he said begrudgingly.
“Hmm,” she replied thoughtfully. “That’s odd. I thought you drove to the airport sooo many times that you know everything.”
“I never said I know everything,” he retorted. “But…we are going to be cutting it even closer now. If there’s no traffic, we could–realistically–cut across the Grand Central Parkway and be there in 15-20 minutes.”
“But we’ll still have to deal with parking and security,” she reminded him.
“What choice do we have?”
“Why don’t I look up other flights? It’s not like this was the only flight to South Carolina. And what’s another hour or two? The wedding’s not until Monday, so we’re still good.”
Drew turned his head and looked at her. “You’re being incredibly chill about this. Why?”
She shrugged. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m usually very chill. It takes a lot to make me freak out.”
He snorted with disbelief.
“What? What was that snort for?”
“Chelsea, no offense, but you just don’t strike me as the chill type. You always have a problem with something. That’s not the way a laidback person is. Sorry.”
“You see me one night a week for a few hours–and we never talk about anything remotely personal–and you think you know me? Arrogant much?”
“It has nothing to do with arrogance. It’s observation. Plus, I may not talk with you about personal stuff, but I’ve certainly talked about you.” As if he just realized what he said, he groaned.
Chelsea’s cheeks heated and she was beyond embarrassed. Her conversation with Bianca came to mind.
“Seriously, you’re the worst. Even when we’re hanging out, you’re not really focused. We all talk about it.”
“What do you mean we all talk about it?”
Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series Page 4