Dare card number one is why I had spent the last twenty minutes hiding in the hotel bathroom, blowing up a massive inflatable penis that I was going to torture Tessa with—she'd have to carry it all night.
I stood back and stared at the flesh coloured monstrosity, a loud giggle exploding from my lips. Pete the Penis even had a face! My hands went up to cover my mouth, as I tried to cover the sound of my laughter without success.
“Elle! What the hell are you doing in there? The front desk just called up—the limo is here and waiting!” Tessa's impatient voice, muffled through the closed door, only made me laugh harder.
I threw open the bathroom door, and Tessa's eyes widened with shock at the sight of me holding the inflatable, smiling penis. “I'm sorry, I had to blow a dick okay!”
The room exploded into a fit of laughter and camera flashes at the sight of the penis and Tessa's horrified expression. While I’d been busy in the bathroom, blowing Pete the Penis up, Cheyenne, Olivia, and Laura had arrived.
“What in the hell are you doing with that?” Tessa asked, dumbfounded.
“This is Pete the Penis and he'll be your date tonight,” I smirked, shoving the inflatable dick at her. “You have to carry it all night.”
“Pete the Penis!” Krista repeated with a cackle, doubling over. “I’m so hashtagging this!”
“Elle!” Tessa whined, her face going beat red. “I'm not carrying that around all night!” She tried to shove it back at me, but I sidestepped her, dancing around her until I was free of the small hallway that led to the bathroom.
Becky walked up to join us, the neat pile of cards in her hand. “Sure you are! It's dare number one!” she grinned, handing Tessa the first pretty pink card that declared she needed to bring Pete the Penis clubbing with us.
“Dare number one?” Tessa questioned us, her brow furrowing as she accepted the card from Becky and read it.
“Yup.” I clapped, elated. “There are ten of them! You only get three pass offs, so use them wisely.”
“Can I use a pass off now?” Tessa pouted, staring at Pete the Penis.
“Are you sure you want to do that, Tessa?” I said seriously, raising my eyebrows. “Just think about it...if this is dare one...what else does your old bestie have in store for you?”
“It gets worse, doesn't it?” Tessa moaned.
“It sure does!” Krista snorted. “I would definitely save those passes if I were you! You know how Elle can be.”
Tessa looked from me to Krista and Becky, to the inflatable penis, and then back to me, resigned. Her expression quickly changed to one of devious satisfaction. “Just wait Elle. One day, I'll be your maid of honor and I'll be in charge of your bachelorette party.”
My best friend's words made the hollow ache in my chest more profound, but I knew she wasn't trying to hurt me. It wasn't her fault that the whole “marriage” thing was a sore subject for me, and had been since I'd had my heart broken in the wake of my first love's own self-destruction. It wasn't her fault that I couldn’t fall in love with my boyfriend, or that I was still hung up on the past and conflicted over what to do about it.
I forced an easy smile to my lips and grabbed my clutch. “Well, let's get going—Pete really needs to blow off some steam...” I joked, pushing the aching feelings deep down inside to deal with later...maybe.
Thankfully, Tessa was too distracted by the inflatable penis to pay attention to anything else. She held it as if it were contaminated while the seven of us headed down from our room to the limo. Each time we happened to come across another hotel guest or worker, Tessa would turn bright red with embarrassment, and the rest of us would explode into a fit of giggles.
I tossed my arm around her shoulders. “I promise, it will get easier,” I assured her with a wicked grin. “The limo has a mini-refrigerator and it’s full of enough booze to get this party started!”
Everyone piled into the limo, and I immediately started pouring glasses of champagne and passing them around. “Here’s to Tessa,” I said once everyone held a glass. My eyes landed on my best friend and I smiled slowly. “And to one last hurrah as a single woman!”
Glasses tinked together and our night of fun officially started.
* * *
One of the best things about a bachelorette party is that the bride doesn't have to buy her own drinks. None of us really had to buy our own drinks. Our tabs were picked up by single guys and drunk girls more often than not. Everyone got a kick out of Pete the Penis, too. He was pictured in so many selfies I was almost certain that by the end of the night, he’d be an Instagram sensation.
Tessa proved to be a good sport too. She was on a mission to complete all of her dares. She found a man with a moustache and kissed him on the cheek, asked a body builder if she could see his abs and pretended to wash laundry on them, got a younger guy to buy her a drink. She asked a bachelor to write down why she should marry him instead of the groom, asked the DJ to play five Justin Bieber songs in a row, and danced on the bar to said Justin Bieber songs. All while carrying around Pete the Penis.
My feet were aching and I desperately wanted to kick off my heels by the time we hit our final stop of the night—the male strip club. Tessa's final dare was to accept a lap dance on stage. I was surprised that she hadn't passed up any of her other dares, and I sort of figured she'd pass up on this. To my absolute delight, she didn't. She allowed herself to be led up on the stage by the cowboy stripper. He sat her down in a chair and started dancing for her and practically on her to Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy by Big and Rich. Our group—positioned in the booth closest to the stage—was struggling to keep it together.
Needing an excuse to break away from the group for a bit, I moved closer to the stage to take some pictures and videos. I nearly peed my pants laughing at Tessa's pink face and the cowboy's Magic Mike inspired moves as he thrust his pelvis at her in time to the music.
Becky sauntered over, holding two drinks with a bemused grin on her face as she watched Tessa. “Elle, you are cunning,” she laughed, holding one of the drinks out to me. I gratefully accepted it, taking a slow sip while she threw her now free arm around me. Normally, Becky wasn’t the hugging type, but tonight…she was the drunkest I’d ever seen her, and seemed to have no qualms with hugging everyone around her. “This night has been incredible—Tessa hasn't stopped smiling once. You outdid yourself!”
“Yeah well, the company is good,” I responded, trying to hold back a smile. I was glad my planning paid off, glad that Tessa seemed to be having the time of her life. Everyone she'd requested to be here was here and all were getting along perfectly. Hell, even Olivia seemed less annoying tonight, which was a bonus for me.
I could see Becky watching me carefully out of the corner of my eye. I tried to keep my smile in place and focused on taking some more pictures of Tessa on stage. Becky’s eyes were very similar to Braden’s—they were the same electric blue—and having them fixed on me made me feel uneasy.
“Are you okay though?” she asked me, her voice as low as she could get it over the sound of the club. “You’ve seemed a little distracted and distant…almost like something’s bugging you.”
“I’m fine,” I said, working harder to keep my smile in place. “I’m just a little tired.”
Becky snorted. “Dude, I’m a mom. You can’t bullshit a mom. We read lies like printed words in a book.”
“You’re pretty deep for a drunk person,” I laughed, hoping my unease wasn’t showing.
Becky grinned and shrugged. “Is it Braden?” she pressed, her eyes widening slightly.
“No,” I said on an exhale. It might have been a tiny lie, but there was also a lot of truth in my statement. None of this had anything to do with Braden—it was all me. It wasn’t Braden’s fault that I couldn’t emotionally handle the difficult profession I’d chosen. It wasn’t Braden’s fault that I couldn’t find that spark with Alex. I mean, lots of girls had their hearts broken and moved on. My inability to leave the past in the past wa
s my problem, not Braden’s. It didn’t matter if he was the beacon, the focal point for my sadness a lot of the time—that’s where I put him.
With a start, I shook my head, desperate to clear my thoughts and get back to the present. Becky was still staring at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to spill my secrets to her. Unfortunately for me…vodka made my lips loose.
“I’m just going through something,” I finally admitted, averting my eyes. “With work, I mean. It’s been…hard.”
Becky nodded thoughtfully. “I figured.”
“How so?”
“Most people don’t take a whole month off work to come out for a wedding,” she pointed out with a sad smile.
I took a shaky breath, trying to stop the drunk verbal diarrhea from happening all over my ex-boyfriend’s sister. “Yeah, well. It was sort of at the assistance of my boss and doctor.”
“Ouch,” Becky whistled, compassion softening her features. She was quiet for a moment, watching the stage and Tessa. “I know how hard it can be…if you ever need to talk, you know—when we’re both sober, I’m around. Seriously Elle.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I told her, knowing I likely wouldn’t take her up on that offer—at least not while I was stone cold sober. I hadn’t even told my mom yet, although I knew I needed to soon…she was already suspicious that something deeper was going on than my evasive answers about my vacation time and life in Barrie. I turned to look at Becky again. “Same goes for you. If you ever want to talk about whatever happened at O’Riley’s, I’m around.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Becky hiccupped, trying to rearrange her features. I gave her a small, knowing smile, recalling the heartbreak on her face that night when Travis sauntered into the bar with the porno twins, and the way she’d quickly disappeared.
“You and Travis. I saw how you guys looked at each other at your mom’s wake. I figured something happened between you,” I said, my voice as close to a whisper as I could get it in the loud club.
Becky crossed her arms, as if suddenly cold in the sticky, sweaty club. She opened and closed her mouth, as if catching herself. “Thanks, but nothing’s up with us—or me. Same old single Becky, same old life.”
There was something sad about her statement, but before I could call her out on it, the club exploded into applause. The cowboy was done stripping for Tessa and she started to make her way off the stage. I raised my phone again, snapping a few more pictures of her as her shoulders shook with laughter and embarrassment.
She came up to us and jumped on me, wrapping her arms around me. “Thank you, Elle,” she said into my ear.
“Oh, did you like that cowboy? If you prefer him to the hick you have back home, then that's alright by me. He could be Channing Tatum's twin,” I joked. Tessa laughed and shoved away from me, her amber eyes dancing with amusement.
“The hick back home is all I want,” she assured me. “But thank you for an amazing night, Elle. Seriously, you’ve exceeded all my expectations and then some.” She gave me a big, sloppy kiss on the lips, her eyes shining. “I have the bestest best friend ever!”
* * *
The next morning, I awoke with one hell of a hangover. Everyone in the hotel room felt the same.
“Ugh my head,” Katie moaned from the bed beside us. “What did I drink last night?” she wondered aloud.
“Just your weight in alcohol,” Becky answered, her voice equally pained. “Water and aspirin, followed by a greasy breakfast and coffee should cure it.”
“I can’t even think about food right now,” Cheyenne whimpered from beside Tessa. “I think I’m going to be sick!” She tried to get up quickly, but she got tangled up in our blankets. She landed on the floor with a loud thump and an equally loud squeal. She hopped up a beat later, her hand over her mouth as she hurried to the bathroom.
“Pretty sure that was the best night ever,” Krista remarked. “I met the hottest guy ever!”
“If by that you mean your tongue and his tonsils met, and if by “hottest”, you mean your beer googles were in full affect than yes—you met the hottest guy ever,” I said, smirking. I couldn’t wait until Krista saw the pictures of her so called “hottest guy ever”.
“You’re just jealous,” she huffed.
“Ladies, no arguing,” Tessa yawned. “More sleep.”
“No more sleep I’m afraid,” Becky sighed, sitting up and checking the alarm clock. “We have twenty minutes to check out.”
The room exploded into chaos as seven severely hungover girls attempted to get organized, packing up makeup, clothing, and hair supplies. We made it to the front desk to hand in our room key cards with minutes to spare.
After checking out, Olivia and Laura wanted to get an early start on their trip back to Barrie. The rest of us headed to a restaurant a few blocks away to grab breakfast and coffee. The grease and caffeine helped wake me up and ease the annoying hangover. It was a good thing too—since our day was far from over. Tessa wanted to do some shopping for her honeymoon at the Yorkdale mall.
“Oh my God,” Krista said, her eyes wide with horror. “Who the hell is Ransom Cauz and why is he friending me on Facebook?”
“That’s the “hottest guy ever” that you spent most of last night making out with,” I smirked into my coffee mug.
“No fucking way,” Krista shook her head. “Ransom Cauz? What the hell was I thinking? He’s not even a solid three.”
“Beer googles,” I raised my mug in solidarity while everyone else chuckled. “I bet he’s some wannabe rapper or something.”
Krista shot me a dirty look and dropped her phone to the table as if it was poisonous. “Whatever, add him to the pile of horrible mistakes I’ve made.”
“What happens in Toronto, stays in Toronto,” Tessa amended, massaging her temples.
“Unless it’s posted all over Instagram,” Cheyenne laughed, her green eyes twinkling as she shoved her phone at Tessa. “Look! Pete the Penis is trending!”
“Oh God.” Tessa’s eyes went wide, she was mortified. I couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. “This is all your fault, Elle. Now my future employers will be able to find photos of me with a giant dick.”
“I think it adds a little spunk to your resume,” I grinned. “Besides, I didn’t start the Instagram hashtag. That would be Krista.”
“Just remove your tags and stuff,” Krista shrugged. “That’s what I’ll be doing. Oh, and blocking anyone who tries to add me.”
“Poor Ransom Cauz,” I chortled.
“Okay, I’m done. I need to get home so I can sleep,” Cheyenne said, stretching in her seat. She looked a lot like Tessa, all fair hair and delicate features, beautiful in that fresh-faced way with her green eyes and the freckles that dusted across her nose and cheek bones.
While Cheyenne was every bit as sweet as she looked, she was also mischievous and loved to have fun. Her mother—Tessa’s dad’s sister—busted out of Parry Sound the second she turned eighteen. She moved to Toronto, met some guy and got married. Cheyenne was used to city life; she knew all the best clubs in town and the quickest way to get anywhere. She was my go-to person during the location planning for the bachelorette party.
“I’ll see you at the wedding, right?” Tessa asked, standing up when her cousin did.
“Of course,” Cheyenne exclaimed as they embraced. “I wouldn’t miss it. Mom and Dad will be there too. Can’t wait to see Uncle Bill and the league of incredible douchebags,” Cheyenne added mischievously.
“Hey now, Ben’s not so bad,” Katie argued in defense of her husband.
“Now,” Tessa, Cheyenne, and I said in unison.
Shortly after Cheyenne left, Becky, Katie, and Krista followed. Becky and Katie had to get home to their kids and Krista supposedly had a hot date she had to get ready for. Tessa and I followed them out to the underground parking.
My phone kept buzzing as we said our goodbyes. Aggravated, I pulled it from my purse and sighed as I read Alex’s name.
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“What’s wrong?” Tessa demanded, seeing me shove the phone back into my purse.
“Alex keeps calling,” I muttered, irritated.
“How dare him,” Tessa said dryly, arching her brow and repressing a smile. I didn’t laugh. I just shrugged and climbed into my car.
“I’m still not sure what to tell him,” I confessed. “I don’t know what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking.”
“You need to tell him that,” Tessa insisted gently. “I know it’s scary, and I know that you don’t want to hurt him… But putting it off will only hurt him more when the truth finally does come out, because it will come out.”
“I’m too hungover for this conversation,” I sighed, my head throbbing. “Let’s just go shopping and turn off our brains for a bit, shall we?”
“Sounds good to me,” Tessa pursed her lips. “I’m all out of advice anyway. Those vodka shots really did a number on me.”
Braden
Brock offered to watch Aiden so that Becky could go to Toronto for the bachelorette party, and I hung out with them because I had nowhere else to be. My nephew had been a great distraction for me all day, taking up much of my attention while all three of us fished off the dock and went swimming. But when he finally crashed in Brock’s spare room at the cabin, I had nothing to distract me from the call of social media.
Krista was posting pictures of their evening like clockwork. The first photo was of Elle holding a huge, inflatable penis out to a horrified looking Tessa. More photos of them in the limo and them ordering drinks at the bar, the inflatable penis in tow.
“Dude, you’ve got to stop looking at those,” Brock grumbled, catching me on my phone again for the twelfth time in the past hour. I shoved it back into my pocket and picked up the Xbox remote.
Rebel Heart: (Rebel Series Book 2) ((Rebel Series)) Page 16