Chapter 14 #2
The three of them walked to the entrance of the restaurant.
While he had never been to the Beach Club before, there was a lot of buzz about the new “it” spot, so he wasn’t surprised when he stepped in and saw the expansive and bright space that took its decorative cues of white, cream, and gray from the east coast beach scene.
What did surprise him was everything else.
This wasn’t a prom theme. This was prom.
He was standing on a red carpet that went between an enormous life ring that had the words “S.S. Wilomi” at the top.
There was a stage, with a band, and a dance area that had wave-shaped lights projected on the floor.
There were streamers, balloons, flowers, and a banner that said, “Set Sail for Love.” And there was a photo backdrop, if it could even be called that.
It was a three-dimensional cruise ship deck with an actual winding staircase.
He knew that he should say something for the cameras that had, like vultures, begun circling him.
He and Naomi, and he suspected the rest of the wedding party, were already mic’d, so anything he said would get picked up even if the cameras weren’t close.
But Naomi’s squeak of delight about summed up all the words he had.
He tried to imagine how they had pulled this all off in a matter of days, until his internal pondering was quickly answered.
“Yoohoo!”
Riley. Of course. If anyone could imagine this and make it happen, it was them.
Riley was relaxing, in a posed kind of way, on a wooden beach chair and sipping something bright pink from a tropical-looking glass.
They wiggled their fingers in an invitation to join them.
As he approached, Will could see Riley was in some kind of massive, nautically-themed ballgown, and their hair, almost blindingly silver, was spiked up like waves billowing across the ocean.
He should have known that Riley would never have been anything but extravagant when it came to dressing for prom.
“Welcome aboard!” Riley said.
Naomi let out another squeak, and Will started to wonder if that was all Naomi would be able to get out this afternoon.
But then she said, “Riley, this is incredible! Way better than …” She stopped so abruptly that Will did a quick visual sweep to see if he could spot something that had drawn her attention.
But he didn’t see anything, and she continued, although a little hesitantly. “My actual prom.”
“I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out,” Riley said after taking a long sip. “Especially since I basically had to do it by myself.”
“Dirty, dirty lies, Riley. I helped.” Becca entered Will’s line of vision and he was sure if he had been drinking something, he most definitely would have done a spit take.
She was dressed in … nothing? In truth, it was a see-through dress with a handful of rhinestones that would theoretically cover enough to keep her from getting arrested.
Becca had never really made a habit of leaving much to the imagination when it came to her clothing, but this eliminated any questions.
Riley, naturally, didn’t bat an eye. “You put me in touch with some strippers.”
“It’s not my fault the studio refused to listen to reason!
If no one is going to get naked, can you even call this a bachelorette party?
” Becca was always, sometimes comically and sometimes uncomfortably, sexual.
But it seemed especially dialed up today as she balanced herself on the armrest of Riley’s chair and leaned back like she was taking direction from a Playboy photographer. “Speaking of getting naked—”
“That didn’t take long,” Will said.
“—has anyone seen Peter?”
“Peter?” Will repeated. And so did Riley and Naomi. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t expected to hear that she had come to the party with her estranged husband.
“The last I heard …” Naomi didn’t finish her sentence, instead looking over at Freya. He had forgotten about Freya. He wondered how much, if any, introduction into the world of Naomi’s friends she had gotten during their party planning.
Becca seemed unperturbed at the idea of sharing her marital strife with outsiders.
She looked at Freya. “It’s fine, honey. My husband and I were having a little, you know, trouble.
My MySpace of a sister had us going to couples counseling and group therapy and obviously none of that helped.
And then I figured out what the answer was.
See, I was looking to other people for something Peter could give me all along.
The excitement and variety I was looking for?
All we needed to do was roleplay. Well, and the occasional threesome, but mostly roleplay!
” She punctuated her sentence by leaning back even more, as if it were possible to reveal any more of her body under that dress and making a seductive face at the nearest camera.
She continued talking but kept her eyes on the camera.
“So tonight, we’re running with the prom theme.
I’m the prom queen, obviously, and he’s going to be a nerdy kid who always had a crush on me, and I’m going to pop his c-h-e-r-r-y. ”
Will tried not to laugh. “Out of everything, that’s the word you feel you need to spell out?”
Becca didn’t answer, which wasn’t unusual. He had learned early on that at least fifty percent of what Becca said was for performance instead of conversation. “We rented a room at a seedy motel,” she said. “I tried to get the same motel I used for my actual prom, but it’s gone, tragically.”
“Well, mazel,” Naomi said. “I’m so happy that you and Peter found something that works for you. I knew you two would figure it out.”
“Yes, congratulations on your,” Will realized, too late, that he had approached his congratulations from the wrong angle and his voice lifted an octave as he tried to pull out of the verbal nose dive, “role … playing?”
Thankfully, Riley was ready to bring the focus back to them. “Rediscovering marital bliss, while certainly a feat, is no excuse for abandoning me. As I was saying, I basically did this by myself.”
For the first time, Freya spoke up. “I’m not even going to try to argue with that.
I’ve been completely checked out for the last three days, so thank you, Riley, for taking on the lion’s share of the work.
And doing such a fantastic job.” This was the most she had said about the party planning process, and it couldn’t have been more Freya.
She had navigated working within a close-knit friend dynamic that often required a decoder ring to understand.
It also included someone who, not that long ago, she had been throwing ice cubes at—but could potentially be in love with or still hate just as much as before.
But he knew she would never admit that any of that was challenging or even of note.
“What about Abby?” Naomi asked, before taking an hors d'oeuvres from a passing server. “Oh my God, this is fantastic.”
Riley gave a pleased smile. “Wait until you try the coconut and pineapple spring rolls. And Abby? Well, she—oh here she is, right on cue.”
Will turned with everyone else to see Abby coming towards them in a purple dress that was unmistakably 90’s with a skintight skirt and low-cut peplum top.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” She shuffled towards them in a specific way that said I-can’t-move-my-legs-and-I-don’t-want-to-trip-in-these-heels-and-please-god-don’t-let-my-boobs-fall-out.
Women and their dresses.
Abby entered the circle between him and Naomi, practically flopping onto Naomi as she took in deep breaths.
While they waited, Will checked to see if he could notice anything out of place on Freya’s face. But, unsurprisingly, she wasn’t giving anything away. He took a quick survey of the group and saw they were all checking too.
“You okay there?” Naomi asked, turning her attention to Abby.
Abby straightened and exhaled. “Yes, sorry. I really thought I could get here in time to help set up. I tried to explain to the police that it was a false alarm and I had a party to get to, but they still made me go through the entire process.”
“Your alarm went off again?” Naomi asked.
Will looked at Freya, wondering if he should catch her up on the fact that for reasons yet unknown, Abby’s office alarm had been going off repeatedly over the past few weeks, but decided that she probably wasn’t invested in any of their friend-circle conversation.
“I didn’t want to bother you while you were getting ready for your party. But yes. Again.”
“What is that, the second time this month?” Will asked.
“Fourth time in less than two weeks!”
“That’s so scary!” Naomi said.
“At this point, it’s mostly annoying AF. No one has any idea what’s going on. The alarm keeps showing that the door is open, but it’s not open and nothing is missing. The alarm company thinks it’s an electrical short. The building super thinks it’s a mouse.”
“Now that is scary!” Riley said.
“I know! Can you imagine if it showed up while I was in my office?” Abby said, looking horrified.
Riley gave a little shiver. “Why don’t you bring Lancelot to your office? Let him live up to his name a little and save a damsel in distress.”
Was Will supposed to tell Freya that Abby had a cat named Lancelot? He wasn’t sure what his role was here.
Abby laughed, but then her smile refocused into a scowl.
“This is the last straw for me. The alarm company keeps promising me that they’ve solved the problem and it won’t happen again.
And then it does. And it’s a huge waste of my time because I have to go all the way down to my office each time, talk to the police, inspect the place, and confirm to them and the alarm company that nothing has been stolen or destroyed.
It’s more than an hour out of my day each time, and I’ve decided if it happens again, I’m ripping the panel out of my wall and setting it on fire while I dance over its melting body. ”