Dakota
Why do wedding dresses have so many goddamn buttons? Why can’t they put a fuckin’ zipper back here or something?
I had unbuttoned about thirty buttons and there was still more to go.
“They really want to put a damper on the wedding night with all these damn buttons,” I muttered under my breath.
She laughed. “Yeah, but turns out, there’s an even better way to fuck it up. Groom rails maid of honor who just so happens to be engaged to the best man!”
Her body shook from either sobs or laughter, I couldn’t be sure from behind. The last button was right above her ass, and I made easy work of unfastening it. As I stood back to admire my handy work, I noticed her bare back was covered in goosebumps.
“Lena, grab the t-shirt and put it on.”
She didn’t move but the laughter stopped.
Stepping around the white enormity that was her wedding train, I realized she was silent because she was testing her ability to chug a third of a bottle of whiskey down in one gulp.
“Chug! Chug! Chug!”
Why am I cheering this on? She’s half naked.
She finished the bottle and held it up triumphantly before abandoning the empty bottle on the bar top. She looked so proud of herself that I couldn’t help but smile.
“Good girl.”
She stopped mid-shuffle to the bathroom.
Uh oh, she’s gonna vomit.
“What did you just say?” she demanded.
“Good girl,” I enunciated.
“Don’t say that,” she warned.
The fuck?
“I’ll do what I want, but for curiosity’s sake, why?”
“Because I said so.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Go change, Lena.” I chugged from my half empty bottle of whiskey.
Turning around, she continued her shuffle with one arm holding the strapless, snow colored garment in place.
“Good girl.”
Spinning back around, she dropped her arm, and the dress went with it. She stood before me in nothing but a lacy, white thong with a garter belt, some sheer thigh white stockings and some sort of lacy, flowery nipple covers.
Fuck me running.
I had seen her in a bikini millions of times.
Hell, I had probably seen her naked before. We’ve all been friends since we were kids, and we all used to go skinny dipping all the time, but that was back when I had no reason to be looking so I didn’t.
You shouldn’t be looking now either, Dipshit.
We stood in silence, her staring at me, defiantly, and me staring at her, deliberately.
One of us has to speak.
“Do you need help?”
Yeah, that helped nothing and sounded more suggestive than anything else.
“Nope, I’ve decided I’m going to get in the hot tub,” she proclaimed before wobbling to the back door.
You’re what? The hot tub?
“Lena, you’ve been drinking and it’s –”
“And I have a firefighter here that saves lives for a living that probably won’t let me drown.”
What the…
“Of course, I’m not going to let you drown but it’s too fuckin’ cold to get in that hot tub,” I reminded her gently.
“Guess I better see what I can do to keep myself warm then,” she winked.
That Jack Daniels smacked the logic all out of her.
Walking like a newborn deer, she stepped out onto the back deck and began peeling off her stockings.
Take your ass outside before she falls over the fuckin’ railing.
“Lena, seriously, it’s too fuckin’ cold.” The wind was brutal, cutting through the thin fabric of my monkey suit with ease.
Ignoring me, she climbed into the bubbly water, the only thing between her and I was the distance, the hot tub wall, and a lacy piece of dental floss.
Leave room for Jesus, Dak, leave room for Jesus.
“You gonna get in?”
No.
“I reckon I am because your drunk ass didn’t give me much choice,” I griped.
She laughed.
I peeled down to my boxers. Her laughter grew louder, echoing throughout the back deck and the open yard.
It’s such an ego boost for a woman to be, literally, cackling as you strip in front of her.
“What’s so damn funny?” I demanded. “Don’t even say nothin’ smart because it’s about 18° out here and you decided it was the right time to strip and fuckin’ swim!”
Her laughter only intensified, alternating between a snort and sounds of a walrus.
Ignoring her, I climbed in the warm water. As much as I hated to admit it, it really felt great in contrast to just standing around outside underneath Jack Frost’s nutsack.
“Lena! Stop and breathe, fuck!”
She stopped immediately, tears of laughter on her freckled cheeks.
“What is so damn funny?”
Hanging her head, she spoke softly. “I forgot that the panties I have on… I forgot that…they’re dissolvable.”
What?
“What do you mean?”
Even with the dimmed lighting from the living room, I could see her blush.
“They’re dissolvable! I ordered them online from some place called The Brazen Bride and when they get wet, as ALL PANTIES SHOULD ON A WEDDING NIGHT THAT GOES ACCORDING TO PLAN, they dissolve.”
I couldn’t get two brain cells to rub together to get a spark.
“I’m naked under the water, , except for these pasties which I’m fairly certain will be floating soon because the water is going to deactivate the sticky pad thing.”
Lord, if you’re testing me, I’m weak.
“Oh, okay.”
We sat in the hot tub in silence. Tilting her head back, she lowered herself up to her neck and stared up at the night sky.
A single tear that even half a bottle of Jack Daniels couldn’t prevent, rolled down her cheek.
The good friend in me wanted to hug her, to comfort her, to make sure she knew she didn’t have to go through this alone, but the respectful man that knew she was naked, and I absolutely couldn’t touch her at this moment, refrained.
“Lena?” I asked gently.
She turned to look at me but didn’t speak.
“It’s his loss, you know.”
Nodding, she spoke quietly. “It’s hers, too.”
From beneath the water, I felt her grab my hand.
“I don’t know what to do now. I will have to move back in with Mama and Daddy until I can buy a house, I have to figure out how to get all my shit from his house, I have to change my address, change my ID,” she explained needlessly.
“None of that has to be done tonight, Lena Loo. Or even tomorrow. If you need me to, I’ll go get your stuff from his house and if he has something to say about it, I’ll rock his shit again.”
She sat straight up in the water, giving me an unbridled look of her large chest. Her nipples hardened at the sudden exposure to the cold December air.
“Again? You hit Jace?”
Not as many times as I should have.
“Yes.”
“What did he say when you hit him?” she interrogated.
“Ow?”
She shot me a glare.
“I don’t know what he said, Lena, or if he said anything at all. He hit the floor. I stepped over him like the piece of shit he is and left.”
Her eyes widened.
“Where was Cassie when all this was happening?”
You really want a full recap while you’re completely naked in the hot tub, shitfaced, and in the middle of a winter storm warning?
“She was right there. I was in the room where all the groomsmen were hanging out and I heard hollerin’. It was your daddy. I went down the hall to see what the fuss was about and when I got down there and asked, he told me to ask my girlfriend.”
She didn’t speak but her eyes urged me on.
“I didn’t even notice Cassie was there at first. I heard your daddy saying something about your best friend and when he told me to ask her, that’s when I noticed her,” I recalled. “When I looked at her, I just knew. She had mascara on her cheeks, she was standing between your daddy and Jace. I could just tell. So, I decked him and left.”
“We are goin’ to be the laughingstock of town,” she remarked bitterly.
“No, we won’t. If anything, we will get the sympathetic head tilts for a little while, but why would we get laughed at?” I was confused.
“They’re going to say we should have known; that we should have noticed.”
“Well, whoever ‘they’ are, they can kiss my ass. It never occurred to me to question the morals of my best friend, and I know it never occurred to you, either.”
She nodded, the fresh tears she had been fighting back spilling down her cheeks.
Without thinking, I yanked her hand, pulling her to my side. As I put my arm around her, she rested her cheek against my chest, sobs wracking her slender body.
The whiskey abandoned me in that moment, and I felt the tears I didn’t want to cry, colliding with her messy bridal curls.