Chapter Seventeen #2
“Thank you,” Mei said. Joey and Miguel had known each other since elementary school, when they’d gotten into all kinds of mischief.
Now Miguel led product design at a booming AI e-commerce startup.
He and Ivan, a high school calculus teacher, had met five years ago while volunteering for an LGBTQ+ shelter.
They’d recently bought an apartment in Sunnyside and were saving up to start a family.
Not for the first time, Mei wondered how much Miguel and Joey still had in common.
She strode over to Bao and Chloe.
“Meiiiii-iiiii-iiiii-iiiii-iiii.” Bao pulled her into a side hug. Mei enthusiastically returned his embrace, charmed by his boisterous greeting.
“I didn’t know Joey was such a lightweight!” Chloe gave Mei an air-kiss on the cheek. She was Chinese American, too, and she’d grown up in New Jersey. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure he eats well and sobers up.”
Mei smiled gratefully. Joey’s friends were kinder and more mature than she’d remembered. Maybe she’d judged them too harshly.
Waiters motioned everyone to be seated. Mei took her place between Ali and Joey at the center of the table. Alexandre, she noticed, was diagonally across from her, with Kathy and Luis in between.
The table bore an array of banchan: fiery cabbage kimchi, tart pickled radish, and seasoned spinach. Everyone passed around platters of seafood pajeon and japchae.
Ali stood up and tapped her glass. “I’ll keep this short and sweet. Mei and Joey, we wish you a lifetime of love and happiness. May this be the start of a fabulous wedding weekend and your beautiful future together. Cheers!”
“Cheers!” everyone echoed.
Mei leaned in to meet Joey’s lips.
Wine and appetizers flowed. As everyone talked, Mei couldn’t help but notice how Luis threw his head back in laughter at Kathy’s stories.
Chloe rested her hand on Bao’s, who turned his palm over so they could lace their fingers together.
Miguel glowed with pride when Ivan spoke.
Ali and Luc finished each other’s sentences.
No one looked down in embarrassment or tried to change the subject like Mei did each time Joey opened his mouth.
When Evie was telling everyone about an electro-pop concert she’d attended, Joey jumped in with an overly long description of how he’d finally identified a batch of cryptic Moldovan techno songs.
When Miguel and Ivan shared stories from their recent vacation in the Bahamas, Joey recounted how he’d once suffered a massive bout of diarrhea while snorkeling in Florida.
“I didn’t tell the other snorkelers why the water got cloudy!” He guffawed.
Mei filled her wineglass to the brim.
The waiters lit the barbecue grills embedded in the table. The rich scent of kalbi filled the air. Alexandre’s raised eyebrows asked Mei how she was doing. She tried to smile reassuringly. She guessed Alexandre saw through her act when he glanced at Joey and frowned.
The conversation dipped when everyone started eating.
“This is the best Korean barbecue I’ve ever had.” Chloe licked her lips in delight.
“This is the best meal I’ve ever had,” Luc agreed, drawing enthusiastic murmurs.
“I’m loving tonight.” Joey touched his forehead to Mei’s. His eyes radiated pure joy.
“Me too.” Mei drained her wine, then refilled her glass.
Joey launched into a story about the latest epic fail video compilation he’d found. Mei squeezed his shoulder, then addressed Kathy and Luis. “Want to hear about Livinpalooza?”
Their eyes lit up.
On their other side, Alexandre turned his head. “You mean when I braved a hurricane to come get you?”
Mei giggled as she and Alexandre recounted her escape, her shoulders loosening for the first time that night.
Once the waiters cleared the table, Ali stood up, nearly tripping on her chair. “Who’s ready for karaoke?”
· · ·
Two buildings away, at Pop Star Karaoke, a hostess showed them into a private room. Smooth leather couches lined the perimeter. A jumbo flat-screen TV hung on one wall. In the middle of the room, a large coffee table bore beer, wine, cocktails, and little paper cups.
“Looks like someone got the works!” Bao shouted.
“It’s not every day your sister gets married!” Ali cried.
“Are those Jell-O shots?” Evie grabbed one of the little paper cups.
“Lychee Jell-O shots,” Ali confirmed with pride. “We have glow bracelets, too!” She waved a handful of thin fluorescent tubes in pink, orange, green, and blue.
Mei laughed and slid a few onto her wrists. “Anyone want to start a playlist?”
“I got you, Mei.” Luc reached for a songbook and remote.
A familiar bass line thumped through the speakers. Everyone laughed and groaned.
“Any takers on ‘500 Miles’?” Luc asked.
“Right here!” Miguel grabbed a mic and passed one to Ivan.
After “500 Miles,” Ali and Kathy sang “I Want It That Way.” Everyone screamed along to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and “Party in the U.S.A.”
Mei threw back two Jell-O shots. The night now had the glossy quality that only comes from imbibing massive amounts of alcohol.
The title card for “All the Small Things” appeared.
Joey jumped up. “This one’s mine!”
Mei beamed. She’d asked Joey to stick to songs that everyone would know. Thank goodness he’d picked a crowd-pleaser. Everyone gleefully joined in.
During the musical interlude, Joey put down the mic.
He wove a stack of glow bracelets between his fingers.
As the music built to a crescendo and the beat dropped, he started raving, bopping up and down and swirling his hands in wavelike motions.
He kick-kicked his feet faster than Mei had ever thought possible, jumping around crisscrossing his legs.
There were not enough Jell-O shots in the room, or on earth, to drown Mei’s humiliation. Joey had mentioned he’d been into raving as a teenager, but Mei had never seen him rave and certainly hadn’t thought to ask him not to go rave-crazy tonight.
“Whoa, raving!” Kathy exclaimed.
“Yeah, Joey!” Luis called out encouragingly.
Mei looked helplessly at Ali.
She smiled overenthusiastically. “I didn’t know Joey raved!”
Luc and Alexandre were deeply engrossed in opening a bottle of wine. Bao, Miguel, Chloe, Ivan, and Evie sipped their drinks and watched Joey dance, their smiles a touch too wide, their eyes faintly pitying.
They’re embarrassed for Joey, Mei realized. And me.
The final chords of the song faded out. The opening lilt of “Eternal Flame” filled the room. Mei exhaled with relief.
A karaoke employee dropped off food menus. Ali held them up. “Anyone want a look?”
Joey grabbed a menu. “Me! Because I are hungry!” His eyes met Mei’s, and the grin fell off his face. “Oh shit. Sorry.”
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
“I are hungry?” Luc repeated. “How drunk are you?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just an old joke with these two.” Joey waved his hand toward Bao and Miguel.
Bao snorted and rolled his eyes.
“Dude, you’re still saying that?” Miguel said.
Neither he nor Bao seemed particularly surprised or offended, but Mei suspected this wasn’t the hilarious inside joke Joey claimed it was.
“I don’t get it,” Ivan said to Miguel.
“Yeah, let us in on the joke,” Chloe chimed in.
“It’s so dumb, it’s not even worth explaining,” Miguel said. “When Bao and I were kids, we sometimes made mistakes when we were learning English. This clown always gave us shit about it.” He cuffed Joey on the back of his head.
Ali wrinkled her nose. Evie arched an eyebrow. Kathy and Luis exchanged a look. Chloe glanced at Bao, then eyed Joey with distaste.
Mei’s face burned. She grabbed the remote and flipped to the next song. “Anyone want ‘I Got You Babe’?” She shot Ali a desperate look.
Her sister took the mic. Luc grabbed the other.
Mei slipped into the hallway. In the bathroom, she dabbed her forehead with a damp paper towel. Other than the typical signs of drinking—her eye makeup smudged, her hair slightly mussed—one would never know she’d just realized her fiancé was a joke and everyone felt sorry for her.
As Mei started back to the room, Alexandre stepped out. He’d shed his blazer and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down. Mei slackened at the sight of him, barely managing to stumble over.
“Remember that out-of-body experience you told me about?” she asked.
Alexandre nodded.
“Well, I just had one, during the epic rave.”
Alexandre cracked a smile. Then his expression turned serious.
“I don’t know what to do.” Mei’s voice broke.
Alexandre nudged her chin up with the edge of his finger. He withdrew his hand, but his touch lingered.
“You have a choice,” he said. “This is your life. Your decision. You may not always have had choices, but you do now. If this isn’t what you want, only you can change that.” His hazel eyes seared into her.
“I know.” Mei’s shoulders dropped. With a shaky inhale, she touched Alexandre’s arm, then trudged back to the room.