by Alli Sims
“Um….” That was enough of an answer for me.
I tried not to let out an annoying sigh. I knew it was probably just the stress, but really couldn’t he have at least thought of this?
“Just… let me know by the end of the week, okay?”
“Alright. I know I want Adam to be the best man.”
Alright, at least that was something. I scribbled it down quickly as I heard the first shrill of my phones ringtone.
I jumped to my feet and rushed to get it. “Hello?” I almost snapped.
“Hey Nat.” My mom said on the other line. “How are things going?”
“They’re going good… just going over wedding stuff with Chris right now.”
“Oh that’s great! You two must be getting so excited! Have you been for the cake yet? What kind are you going to have?”
“I’m not sure.” I admitted. We had an appointment with a bakery for next weekend.
“And how are the invites going? Are you still planning on getting those done tomorrow?”
“Yea, if you want to come by we’re going to be at Jacks.” His mom had offered to help us with filling them out.
“You’re going to Jacks?”
“Yea, Chris is going to have some friends over to watch the game tomorrow and I didn’t want to have all the invites out around them…” beer, rowdy guys and a football game did not mix well with wedding invitations. “So I’m going to be there in time for lunch, he said he had something planned so it’s probably just pizza or something.” I shrugged even though she couldn’t see it.
“Alright, I’ll bring your sister.”
“Okay.”
“And Nat, your sister… she’s kind of hurt just a warning. That you didn’t make her your maid of honor.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright, good to know.” No it wasn’t, I didn’t want to know that. But I guess it was good to know, that way I could be prepared for it in case she wanted to bring it up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Before she could say another word I hung up.
Arms wrapped around me as Chris pulled me close to him. His lips touched my cheek. “Come on babe, let’s go draw you a hot bath. You’re tense; I can give you a massage if you want.”
Just the thought of it was relaxing. “Alright, but only a short one.” After all, it wasn’t fair to ask for a long massage after he finished working all week. “And I can give you one tomorrow.”
Chris beamed. “Sounds perfect to be babe.” He took my hand and guided me to the bathroom.
I stripped as he got the water running.
“So you want me to make your sister a bride’s maid, right?”
“It would be the nice thing to do.”
“Alright, it can be her, my sister and Jack.”
“What about Amanda?”
I paused. “I don’t know.” I admitted. The truth was that Amanda and I hardly talked these days. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be my lifelong friend she ended out ditching me for her boyfriend’s more often than not.
My brow furrowed trying not to think like that, despite the fact that it was how I felt. I mentally shook myself. “Anyways,” I jumped at the chance for a topic change. “Do you want to sit your aunt away from your parents?” we’d have to take family feuds into account, if anyone even RSVP'd. Which I’m sure they will. I reminded myself.
Yes. I had to stay positive about it. Chapter
Chris kissed my cheek as I loaded the last of my supplies into a bag and slung it over my shoulder. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into a kiss, our lips crashing together.
The sound of seven men surrounded us, with mocking “aw”s, whistles and other obnoxious noises. I pulled away from him, a blush rising to my cheeks as I turned away from the men and headed for the door. “Have fun!” I called behind me seconds before stepping out of the house and into the fresh air.
The drive to Jack’s seemed like it only took a couple seconds and when I pulled into his condo parking I wasn’t surprised to see his mother slipping out of her car. She caught sight of me and came to a stop, waving.
She waited for me to put the car into park, grab the key and step out before she crossed over to me.
“Hello!” She beamed. The look on her face would resemble that of a mother getting ready to fill her own child’s wedding invitations out.
“Hey Gail, how’s it going?” I asked as we made our way to her son’s condo.
“Oh same old, same old.” She shrugged. “But you, oh this must be so exciting for you!”
“Yes.” I lied. The truth was, this entire thing wasn’t exciting yet, I knew it would be more exciting the closer I got to the actually date- I hoped.
My gut turned. Why wasn’t I excited yet? I should have been excited the second it happened. What was wrong with me?
I swallowed dryly. “How’s Gorge doing these days?”
“Oh he’s getting old and he’s not willing to admit it.” She laughed softly. “He still thinks he can go, go, go.” She shook her head softly. “Of course I can’t tell him it’s time to start slowing down.”
“Of course you can’t!” I laughed softly. “That will just make him want to prove you wrong.”
The two of us laughed as we reached Jake’s door and I pulled out my key chain. He’d warned me ahead of time that he was going to be out.
I unlocked the door, pushed it open and motioned for Gail to step into the place.
“I’ll get the kettle on, do you want a tea?”
“Please.” His mother put a bag on the table and looked around the place. “I don’t know how it is he has a cleaner place than I do.”
I snorted. My best friends place had always been spotless. I wasn’t sure how he managed it. I’d hardly been able to figure out how to keep the house clean-ish on top of everything I had to deal with these days. I put the kettle in place and flicked it on as I heard the door open.
“Hello!” his mother and I called at the same time.
“What’s up?” I called as I pushed myself onto of the counter and stood up reaching for the cupboard that held the green tea.
“Just picked up some lunch for us all. I also made up some snacks, but I wasn’t in the mood to make lunch too. I hope pizza is alright! We’ll have to eat before addressing the invites of course!” he came into the kitchen and snorted as I jumped down from the counter top. “How many times do I have to tell you not to stand on my counter top Natasha?”
Before I could answer someone knocked on the door before pushing it open. “Anyone home?”
All together the three of us called. “Yes!”
My mother came into the kitchen as the kettle popped and I grabbed down four mugs. “Where are the rest of you?”
“Oh it’s just me today. Your sister decided not to come after all.”
I felt my heart skip a beat in thanks. Hey, it was the little things you had to be thankful for, right?
I poured all four of us a mug of tea and brought them all over to the table.
“Alright, let’s get some of these invites done. We’ll work for an hour or so and then I’ll put the pizza in the oven, how does that sound to you lovely ladies?” Jake asked.
I nodded. “Sounds perfect.”
No one objected so we got to work, and sure enough an hour later Jake put the pizza in the oven.
“Are Chris’s parents helping with the wedding?”
I shook my head. No one was, Chris and I were going to be paying for it all. I didn’t say that though.
My mom beamed from ear to ear beside me. “He’s perfect.” The two mothers locked eyes. “I’ve never had to worry about her while she was dating him, and compared to some of her otter boyfriends…”
Jake snorted. “Do you remember the one who thought he could tell her she wasn’t allowed to hang out with me?”
My mom laughed.
“Oh god.” I groaned hiding my head in my hands. “I was only with him until he said I wasn’t allowed to see Jake
again.”
“Chris lets you hang out with him.”
“Chris wouldn’t bat an eye if I told him Jake and I were going to share a bed.” I’d never tried it, but I was thankful to have a boyfriend who was so accepting of my male best friend. It had caused issues in the past and I was glad it had never been an issue in this one.
Nonetheless I couldn’t deny that I wasn’t getting excited. In fact I think I was the least excited person here. I bit my lip trying to hide the guilt the welled up inside me. No one seemed too noticed as they kept talking about my past boyfriends. I turned them out filling out an invitation for a second cousin I hadn’t seen in ten years who probably wouldn’t even come to the wedding. None the less, it was the right thing to do and I wasn’t going to go out of my way to be rude. So I slipped the RSVP card into the card and slipped both those into an envelope.
I licked it and closed it up before writing the address on it and tossing it into a pile with the rest of the finished ones.
“What are you doing for the honeymoon?” Gail asked.
“I’m not sure. Chris has been handling all that. He says he wants it to be a surprise.”
“Oh! That’s so sweet.”
I caught Jake’s eye. The grin on his face told me he was in on it.
My eyes narrowed, silently promising him I would grill him later, then turned my attention to his mother. “It would be a lot more sweet if I didn’t hate surprises.” I laughed. “But it’s still been so nice of him to want to do something special for me.”
“He’s been seeing how hard you’re working on the wedding.” Jake said.
My cheeks flushed. Chris always noticed everything. I couldn’t have a crappy day without him realizing it and doing something sweet to make me feel better.
“You two have almost been together for a decade haven’t you?”
“Not quite, 6 years… seven once we’re married.”
I still forgot how long it had been. Most people dreamt of marrying their high school sweetheart, and here I was doing it. It had never even occurred to me that it might happen when we started dating. While most of my friends in high school had been planning their weddings I’d been too busy trying to get my hands on the next book I could find.
“Wow, I never would have thought when I saw you two for the first time that seven years later you’d be getting married and settling down.”
My gut turned. Settling down. We’d already talked about it, this wasn’t the time this wasn’t the time to be settling down and we’d both agreed on that. We’d travel, see the world, live our lives a little before having a family and living that stage.
I glanced at Jake. Something crossed his face as he worked on filling out another invite. I wasn’t sure what it was, but when he looked up at me and a smile spread across his face my heart skipped a beat. Out of everything going on, and all the stress and all the crap I was beginning to regret having to deal with he was there for me. He was the one thing helping me through this, at least emotionally.
I downed the glass of wine in a matter of seconds.
“Alright, we’re going to jump right to the hard stuff I see.” It was my fifth glass of wine throughout the day.
“She makes me want to kills someone.” I blurted out as I watched him head to the liquor cupboard and pull out the whisky and two shot glasses.
I loved my mother but she went from being totally non helpful to trying to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do at the wedding- there was no in between. I already had five people telling me how I should and shouldn’t do.
I reached for the bottle in his hands, ignoring the glasses. As our hands touched a shiver ran down my spine. I stared at my best friend, for the first time in a long time really looking at him. His dark brown hair and green eyes made him look like he could be a movie star. When he grinned his smile just went to further that statement.
My eyes traced over his body as I pulled the bottle from his hands. He was muscular, I knew that because he always talked about going to the gym- but I’d never noticed the muscles flex in his arms, or the way his chest moved when he let out a deep breath. It must be the booze.
“Are we skipping the glasses too?” he grinned.
“Yes.”
I unscrewed the bottle cap and took a long drink, the whisky burning my throat on the way down. I closed my eyes trying to forget about my day.
The mothers had left together a few minutes ago, thankfully. “I guess she’s not that bad.” I admitted. “It’s just… I’ve been left to figure this crap out all on my own.” I opened my eyes and found Jake staring at me.
He listened as I passed him the bottle.
“I’m sick of it, I have no clue what I’m doing and no one is trying to help me. They all want to know everything about it but once I tell them I did something they question it.” I let out a huff of frustration as I watched Jake take a long sip and hand the bottle back to me.
“It’s been a long time since we did this.”
His words shocked me. Totally random but so powerful.
“You’re right… We’ll have to do it more often.” We used to spend every weekend together. It was great, I’d go to a club and I wouldn’t have to worry about if I was going to get caught dancing with a creep- I’d just dance with my best friend.
I gave him a soft smile. “You’ve been great this entire time.”
“I’m trying Nat.”
“Thank you, it means a lot to me Jake.” It was nice to know I could count on him.
He shrugged as a blush touched his cheeks. “It’s what friends are for.”
“You’re right, but I’ve come to realize I have a couple crappy friends, so thank you for being a good one. It means a lot to me.”
I stared at my best friend. She was gorgeous even when she was pissed off. I felt my stomach turn.
Why did this have to be happening now? Why did I have to realize how amazing she was now? Not just on a best friend level, but the fact of the matter was that I had feeling for my best friend.
I took a long swig of whisky, knowing I had to be careful not to get too drunk or I would do something stupid.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared down at it. She let out a deep breath. “I’ve had way too much to drink.”
“Just stay here the night.”
She stared at me. “It’s been a long time since we had a sleepover.”
I gave her a grin. “I know, I think I still have some of your old clothes here, if not you can always borrow a pair of my sweat pants.”
She stared off into space mulling it over. “I guess... I mean there isn’t anywhere I have to be tomorrow and it has been a long time… it would be really fun.” She admitted.
“So it’s settled! You’re staying with me tonight.” I grinned, the idea of being able to have her crash here tonight, like the old days, pleased me beyond belief. I pushed myself to my feet, my head buzzing. I stood there for a second to regain myself. I hadn’t realized how much the whisky had affected me until now.
Nat giggle behind me.
“Hello?” she sounded taken off guard. “Hey baby. I um, I’m going to crash at Jack’s tonight, okay?.... Oh yea, everything is fine. I just had a little too much to drink….” I tried not to listen to her conversation as I headed into the kitchen, got us a bottle of water and pulled the dip out of the fridge that I’d made for this afternoon. I grabbed some chips and made my way back over to her. There was no point in not trying to avoid a hangover. “It’s fine… no I don’t want you to go out of your way to come get me. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you too.” She hung up and grinned at me. “I’m all yours now.”
I swallowed dryly. Her comment was totally friendly, and nothing else, but I couldn’t help hearing sexuality drip from it as I dropped down beside her.
She reached for a bottle of water and I passed her the remote.
“Just no chick flicks.” I ordered.
She laughed softly as she flicked the TV on and found a hocke
y game to put on. We ate and drank in silence as we watched the game for a while.
It felt odd to be back here, like it was home and it felt really nice. I closed my eyes as I rested my head against his shoulder. This feels right.
My gut turned as I realized what I’d just thought.
The thing was that it was the truth. Sitting here, having a whisky and some chips with Jake felt right. I swallowed dryly as I pulled away from him. I couldn’t help but think of what the girl in the wedding dress store said to me when we were in there. About the way he looked at me when I walked out of the dressing room.
My heart skipped a beat. My mouth went dry despite the bottle of water I’d pretty much drained a couple seconds ago.
He turned to look at me. My heart skipped again, this time my pulse picked up, racing faster and faster as our eyes locked.
“Jake…”
“Yes?”
I swallowed dryly. When I’d first met him I’d had a crush on him, that was why I hung out with him at first but then as our friendship grew, it and it had turned into something so much more. It had turned into something I’d never wanted to lose.
Now, now it was like I was 7 again and seeing him for the first time. My first crush, my first best friend…. I licked my dry lips as I leaned closer to him. I knew I shouldn’t. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, I was about to be married to another man. A wedding I wasn’t excited for.
When Jake looked at me, all that excitement I should be feeling for the wedding boiled up in me.
Before I even realized what I was doing my lips were touching his.
Soft, warm, welcoming. I didn’t dare move as I realized what I’d just done.
His warm hands touched the small of my back, pulling me closer to him. My eyes opened to see his locked on me. Neither of us moved for what felt like ages.
I swallowed dryly and pulled away. “Sorry.” I looked down, my cheeks burning.
How could I have just done that? To Jack and to Chris.
“Nat.” He barely spoke my name. “I…”
I pushed away from him, trying to put as much distance between us as I could. His fingers curled around my wrist and pulled me closer to him. Our lips crashing together again.