23. EVERLEE – BACHELORETTE PARTY
EVERLEE – BACHELORETTE PARTY
Standing in front of Lizzy’s door, I take a deep breath and let a wave of calmness wash over me.
Nine more days.
Nine more days before I can tell my best friend, my sister from another mister, the best news and two days until her wedding.
Two long, booze filled days, where I’m going to have to lie more than I ever have to her. Tomorrow should be fine because I’ll have my guys at the wedding, but tonight. Tonight is going to be damn near impossible. My only hope is to be the very best maid of honor and grab all the drinks tonight so I can quietly get my own.
My hand hovers in mid-air, frozen, as the door swings open before I can knock.
“Bitchhhhhh!” Lizzy is bouncing up and down, looking like she just stuck her finger in an electrical socket. “I’m so excited! What took you so long?” She’s still bouncing from side to side. “Ev’s here, Kiki!”
“Kiki?” My brow pinches in confusion. I’ve never heard of a Kiki before.
“Keeley. Kiki is Keeley’s alternate personality.” Lizzy turns her head and shouts over her shoulder. “The one who is going to let loose tonight and have fun! Maybe find her a new man!” A groan echoes from the kitchen.
“What happened to Mitch?” I whisper, leaning in.
Lizzy strikes her finger across her throat. “Last month.”
My face pulls. I’ve met Keeley several times through Lizzy’s parties and knew she was dating a guy named Mitch, who she thought was going to be her forever. They’ve been together for three years and were talking about moving in together, so the split is a little shocking.
“We’ve been drinking since two. Where have you been?”
Before I can answer, Keeley is walking up behind Lizzy with a purple feather boa wrapped around her neck.
“Love the skirt!” I say when she gets closer.
“You don’t think it’s too pink?” She hands us each a shot, then pats her skirt.
“Bubblegum pink suits you plus with the white top and purple boa, you look fire! And your legs!” I fan myself for good measure. “Legs for days.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. It’s probably a little hard being at a bachelorette party for your friend when you thought you were on the way to your own soon after to be back at square one. “Thanks,” Keeley says, before turning back to the kitchen.
Lizzy holds her glass out in front of her and I tink the glass. “To an amazing night of debauchery!”
Heart pounding, I don’t know what to do or say. I had a semi decent plan worked out for the bars, but I didn’t consider the pre-party. She tosses her shot back, so I take the opportunity to toss mine back… and over my shoulder. I hope no one saw, or worse… I didn’t check behind me first. Slowly turning around, I find the sidewalk behind me empty of people, but with a nice wet streak spattered across it. For good measure, I contort my face. “What was this?”
Lizzy hesitates for a second, then smiles. “Nothing but the best for you.”
My stomach clenches. Why do I have this sick feeling she has her good alcohol down and is doing shots with it? When I walk into the kitchen, I see it on the counter. Her two-hundred-dollar bottle of tequila. It’s supposed to be a sipping tequila, not a shot tequila. I’ll buy her another bottle to make up for tossing it out.
“Let’s do another shot!” she screams and several girls yell out, grabbing both ends of their boas and waving them in the air. Of course, they would want to do another shot. Shit is expensive.
My eyes flick to Keeley, who gives a slight head shake.
“Not now.” I laugh, trying to ease into being the bad guy. “We have the entire night ahead of us and we don’t want you puking your brains out before we leave the house!”
She loops her arm around me. “Such the mama.” She pats my stomach and my breath halts. She tosses her head back and winks. “Soon enough.”
Sooner than you think.
“Get this hooker a feather boa!”
“Are we ready to go?” I glance at my watch. We have reservations at six at a local cantina. We thought about doing a nice steakhouse, but she’s going to be loud and excited and I didn’t feel like getting kicked out or banned for defending her happiness.
“Waiting on-”
“Choo choo!” Betty’s voice filters through the living room and she’s holding a tray in the air as she dances her way through with Low right behind her, laughing.
“Betty! Low!” Lizzy screams. “Now the party has arrived.” Lizzy looks over her shoulder at me and tosses a wink as she flits across the room. She is pure light and joy. I’m sure if you look hard enough, you’d see the glow emanating from around her.
“I’ve brought Jello shots!” Betty yells.
The girls scream as she sets the tray on the counter. This is going to be more difficult than I thought. If I just bolt for the door, would that be too obvious?
Betty’s finger is flicking through the air as she counts the heads. “Oh shoot. Eight. I am one short.”
“It’s ok. I need to go check in with the driver, but I’ll make it up later tonight.” For good measure, I let out a celebratory woo as I walk out of the front door, thrusting my fist into the air.
“My angel,” Lizzy and Betty both say at the same time, then burst out laughing.
Thirty minutes later, we’re walking into the cantina. The music is thumping and lights are flashing. I’ve wanted to try this place out, but haven’t made it here yet. There’s a large U-shaped bar in the middle of the room with five bartenders, with high-top tables to the left and regular tables on the right. The walls on both sides have been retracted and open to patio seating as well, creating a nice cross breeze through the room.
“Right this way. We’ve reserved the patio on the bar side for your party,” the hostess says, looking at each of us from head to toe. “Who is the lucky one?”
“This girl!” I fan my arms to Lizzy, whose hands shoot straight over her head as she pops out her hip.
The hostess laughs. “Congratulations. Where are you all headed after this?”
“Wherever the night takes us.” I take the seat at the head of the table, letting Lizzy take the middle so the others can sit around her. I’ll be next to her all day tomorrow and likely tonight, while I’m holding her hair out of her face while she pukes her brains out. Maybe we can do it together, because my nausea has really kicked up a notch.
Those who puke together, stay together…
“Round of shots!” Lizzy yells.
“You may want to slow down,” Keeley says, eyeing me for back-up as Lizzy starts to protest.
“Boo.”
“How about this?” I offer. “Let’s get some chips and salsa, guac, queso… something on our stomach, and then I’ll personally go get a round of shots for the table.”
“Fine. I’m just so excited. Tomorrow is the big day. It’s finally here. And I’m stressed. So stressed.”
I push aways from the end of the table and walk to her, wrapping my arms around her neck. “We need you to be at the wedding and not in the hospital getting your stomach pumped.”
“What would I do without you?” she kisses my cheek.
Keeley nods at me and I sit back down and order several of the appetizers and dips to spread along the center. We get waters for everyone and three pitchers of margaritas.
At least it’s not shots.
And I told her to make them weak.
Is it a shitty thing? Maybe. But I’m helping make the night longer for my best friend. My hope is that they’re already too buzzed to notice.
We gorge ourselves on a delightful mixture of nachos, tacos, burritos, and, likely, all the chips and salsa in the world. I literally don’t think I can stuff one more chip in my mouth if my life depended on it.
But I feel good. Nausea has passed, and the baby seems to like it. My hand slides over my stomach for a second, as we stand outside waiting for the limo to pull around.
“Nice night,” Keeley says, walking to stand beside me.
She’s been quieter tonight, which I guess is to be expected. A person can go two ways I feel like when dealing with heartbreak. The quiet, self-reflecting way, or the balls to the wall, wild child.
“How are you doing?”
She looks at me as if she’s reading my face, trying to decipher which question I’m really asking. Is she having fun tonight, or how she’s doing after her breakup? Her shoulders slump. “I’m doing ok. It’s been a month. This last week has probably been the best. We finally met and exchanged the box of things that were at each of our places.”
I want to ask what happened, but don’t. The last thing she needs tonight is to fall down that dark rabbit hole.
“That’s tough.”
She nods. “But in a way, it was a little cathartic. I think part of me kept holding onto the thought that maybe this wasn’t over between us. When I saw him, and saw zero emotion in his eyes, zero look of interest, while tough, it was like ripping the band-aid off.”
“Well, that’s good. Wondering is sometimes the worst part.”
“The only thing I may never know is why. I thought we were in a great spot. We were talking about buying a house together, marriage, kids, and then suddenly...”
“Whammo blammo.” I smile when Keeley looks at me with her brows pinched.
Nodding my head to Betty, I smile. “She said it to me once.”
“Betty seems fun.”
“She’s the best.”
“Lizzy has talked a lot about her.”
The limo is pulling around the corner, so we all step closer to the curb. “She is great. A little spitfire.”
“I can tell. I feel like we’re going to have a lot of fun tonight and she’s going to be at the center.” She pats the air with a worried brow. “I didn’t mean-”
Chuckling, I grab her hands. “All good. You’re probably right. She’ll probably be right in the center with Lizzy. My job tonight is to make sure we don’t end up in the hospital and that everyone stays safe.”
“Do you know what Tony is doing?”
“I think he’s going to some clubs.”
“So no strippers? I would hate for him to make a terrible decision.”
“I don’t think so, plus I’m fairly confident he won’t.” One, because Tony is so in love with Lizzy, but also because my guys are there and they won’t let him do anything stupid. Jax has already made it clear to Tony that if he hurts Lizzy, Jax will hurt him.
“I don’t think so either, but you never know when guys get around other guys.” Her words trail off just as the limo driver comes to a stop in front of us. “Lizzy said your guys are with him.”
My head snaps in her direction.
She laughs. “I hope it’s fine she told me.”
I nod, still unable to speak.
“Four. I can’t even get one.” She laughs awkwardly.
“It will happen when you aren’t expecting it.”
“Hope so.” She climbs into the car and that’s the end of our conversation. The music is blaring and champagne is being passed around.
Betty fills up the glasses, but Lizzy cuts her off when she gets to mine. My heart stops in my chest as I watch her.
“Only give Ev a splash. She doesn’t like champagne and I don’t want to waste it.”
“You know me so well, boo.”
Lizzy pumps her eyebrows and blows a kiss at me before thrusting her glass in the air.
“I just want to say…” She swallows and I can see her eyes starting to glisten, which will make mine, so I blink fast and look at her forehead. “Thank you so much for coming out with me tonight. This has been a long time coming, and I can’t believe the day is finally here. I’m getting married tomorrow.” She lets out a deep breath. “I’m getting married,” she repeats. “We’re going to have the most fun tonight as we say goodbye to the last day I’m a single woman, before that handsome man of mine puts a ring on it.” She flashes her hand, twisting it back and forth, then jiggles her glass before bringing it to her lips.
Glancing at the splash of champagne in my glass, I hold it up and then drink it back. When I hand the glass back to Betty, Lizzy’s eyes are watching me. Trying to break whatever the look is she’s giving me, I blow her a quick kiss then tap on the window divider separating us from the driver.