Chapter 47
Nikita
Iam not having a good time.
I hate that I’m sitting on this information and I don’t know what to do. We’re having a celebration for Britney and her last night as a single woman, but this wedding should not be happening. But is it my place to tell her? I am not friends with any of these people. In a couple of days, I will be on a plane heading back to my normal life where I’ll never interact with any of them again.
Yet the nagging in my stomach is telling me that I can’t keep quiet about this. It is wrong. I don’t give a shit that I am not a friend or whatever - Britney deserves better than this. Hell, if someone had found out that my fiancé was fucking my best friend, I’d hope that they would tell me. The question isn’t whether she will find out the information, but rather, how will I tell her?
We’re at an overpriced club (and no, I didn’t need to show identification), the music blares through the speakers as the alcohol continues to flow. I’m still sipping on the same cocktail I had gotten when we first arrived, but thankfully my drinking isn’t being policed by Kendra. She is more focused on getting her sister drunk. That has to be her plan since she takes every opportunity to feed her more alcohol. Britney’s on the dance floor now with a couple of the other bridesmaids I had been introduced to tonight, but I can’t remember their names. With her hands in the air, laughing and clapping along as she dances. Britney looks like she is having a great time. Her carefree energy exudes off her which only makes me feel worse about the information that is heading her way.
She has to be told. There’s no other option, but how the hell am I going to do this? And why will she believe me? I am no one to her.
I down my drink, trying to hype myself up enough to think of my next move when Violet returns to the reserved booth where I am sitting. She drops on the couch across from me, and my face betrays me with some kind of expression that has her shouting, “What?”
Shaking my head, my teeth sink into the inside of my bottom lip, willing my tongue to stay put. Her eyes roll as she looks through the small Chanel bag on her lap, grabbing her phone from it. I look around, silently begging for someone else from our group to return and not leave me in this uncomfortable situation. I am not sure how much self-control I have left to not run my mouth at her. This damn bitch has Calvin heartbroken over her, and meanwhile, she was fucking his friend.
And her best friend’s fiancé. I can’t stress that enough.
She huffs and shoves her phone back in her bag, looking up at me again, “Oh for god sake, what are you looking at, Nikita?”
My eyebrows jump up as my eyes narrow.
Stay calm.
“Nothing.”
“Then why the hell are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what, Violet?”
“Like you have something to say.”
I take a deep breath in, losing control of my tongue, “If I have something to say, I’ll say it, so why don’t you hold off on your projection and go snap at the person you really want to snap at?”
Her face pulls with confusion, her lips parting to say something, but her words are cut off by Julia returning to the booth with another tray of shots in her hand. While I have stuck to the same drink since being here, it is a lot more difficult to dodge the rounds of shots.
“Let’s do shots!” Julia shrieks, loud enough to pierce my eardrums even over the music. If I thought I was loud…
The rest of the party, including Britney, returns to the booth and we’re all handed a shot glass. I observe how Violet moves around Britney who is clueless to the truth. Or is she? Britney isn’t an idiot, and I wonder if any part of her already has suspicions about this.
Kendra pulls Violet to her feet, telling everyone to come close as she gives another toast. “To your last night of being single. After tonight, Kenneth is all you’re going to have, sis, so for your sake, I hope he’s great in bed!” Britney burst out laughing, hanging onto her cousin as the excited squeals go around the group. Violet plasters a smile on her face, but now that I have the insight I do, I also notice the way Kendra’s comment bothers her. The slight tightening of her jaw, the narrowing of her eyes that she plays into her fake smile.
We all take the shots. Tequila, ugh. I shake off the lasting effects of that particular choice of alcohol. I watch as Kendra drags a drunk Britney back to the dance floor. Each moment that passes of this celebration pisses me off. She is celebrating a lie.
Violet disappears to the restroom at the back and as much as I should have stayed seated in the booth, keeping my nose out of other people’s business, that isn’t how I’m wired.
I follow her.
Pushing through the door, the restroom looks more like it is placed in a five-star hotel rather than a club. This is one of the fanciest clubs in the area though, so I suppose I can’t be that surprised. Violet is leaning over the counter closer to the mirror, reapplying her lipstick. The three stalls in the bathroom are empty as the only other person in here slips past me, leaving Violet and I alone.
Her eyes narrow on me in the mirror, “What?
“Does your best friend know you’re fucking her soon-to-be husband?”
She freezes, her eyes widening with realization for a fleeting moment before she straightens up, placing her lipstick back in her bag, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” I walk over to the counter, turning towards her but she keeps her gaze forward. “You fucking Kenneth - that help ring any bells?”
This time she turns to me, shaking her head, “Keep your voice down, dammit.”
“Why? Are you afraid that she’ll find out?”
Turning forward again, she closes up her bag, placing it underneath her arm. “I don’t have to answer to you.” She moves to head towards the door but I step in front of her. Thankfully the heels I have on have us level in height for the first time.
“Britney deserves to know.”
Her jaw clenches, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She is seriously sticking to this?
Frustration brews inside of me, “Cut the crap, Violet. I heard you and Kenneth arguing.”
She is trying her best to dismiss what I am saying, “This has nothing to do with you, Nikita.”
“I know that. Do you really think I want to be caught in the middle of this?” I shake my head, exasperation in my words, “Trust me, I would have much rather stayed out of this.”
“And you still can.”
“No, I can’t. Unlike you, I’m not okay with this. I’m not okay with knowing that Britney is about to commit her life to someone who is fucking her best friend behind her back.” Violet tries to side-step me again, dismissing me, but the fear in her eyes that her secret is about to be revealed is unmissable. “You need to tell Britney.”
She half-scoffs, half-laughs, “I don’t need to do anything.”
“If you don’t tell her, I will.” This time she takes my words seriously. Her gaze turns to a glare, jaw clenching and nostrils flaring. “That’s why you broke up with Calvin, isn’t it?” I ask, “You were cheating on him?” She straightens up, regaining her composure as a stuck up, bitchy demeanor returns. “He’s better off without you. Britney too.”
Stepping closer to me, her carefully constructed appearance falters. “You have a lot to say for someone sticking her nose in other people’s business. You don’t belong here, Nikita. You’re not even supposed to be here.” She laughs, but there is no humor in it, “You are Calvin’s desperate attempt to make me jealous. It’s the only explanation to why he would bring you because up until a couple months ago, I was everything to him.”
“It must be difficult for you to accept that that’s no longer the case.”
“Oh honey, one snap of my fingers and he’ll come running.” The frustration inside of me turns to anger, making my blood boil as it takes every inch of self-control not to sock this smug, entitled bitch in the face. “And as for Britney, do you really think she’s going to believe you?” Her menacing laughter follows, “I’m her best-friend. You’re nothing, so do us both a favor and mind your own damn business.” Violet pushes past me, making sure to shove my shoulder on her way out.
A part of me is ready to turn around and yank that hair of hers, turning this into a full-on bar brawl, but the logical part of me keeps me in place. I take a deep breath in, counting to ten as I will myself to find a sense of calm.
Britney deserves to know. I tried to give Violet the opportunity to do what is right, but she chose differently. I’d be damned if I leave here without speaking to Britney. I don’t owe Violet a damn thing. She is the lowest of lows in my opinion.
The door to the restroom bursts open, snapping my attention to Britney and Kendra stumbling inside, “We’re almost there, Brit!”
Kendra notices me, “Oh, Nikita! Thank God, help.”
She shoves her sister in my direction. Britney looks like she’s going to be sick any moment now, so I step in and help her into the closest stall. Britney drops to her knees with a groan as Kendra steps out, shaking her head, “I can’t handle someone throwing up. Please, no. I hear them gag, then I gag, and just no.”
“Go and get her water then.” I move inside the stall, reaching for Britney’s hair as she leans over the toilet.
“Water, okay - I can do that.” Kendra is drunk too, but she is still functioning so she stumbles out of the restroom as I close the door to the stall, giving Britney some privacy.
I move her hair into a ponytail in my hand. “Hey, Britney, you okay?”
Her only response is a groan as she drops her head over the toilet again, her arms on either side of the toilet seat. There is a hair tie around her wrist which I grab and use to pull her hair into a bun out of her face. She mumbles something, but I can’t make it out. Shifting to the side of her, I drop down onto my haunches. “What was that?” I ask, but her only response is to throw up.
I turn my head away from it. I’m definitely not a fan of someone throwing up either, but we’ve all been there and I am not about to leave her alone. My hand rests on her back, gently rubbing circles over it, “Come on, get it all out.”
Her groans turn to another round of heaving, releasing whatever is in her stomach into the toilet. I hand her some toilet paper and she wipes her mouth, resting her cheek on the side of the toilet seat and closes her eyes. I flush the toilet before grabbing some more and use it to wipe the sweat off her hairline. “You okay?”
“No.” She opens one eye, “Whose idea was this?”
“To drink?”
“Yes.”
I chuckle, “That’s what you do at bachelorette parties.”
Groaning, she leans over into the toilet, but this time nothing comes. “Bad idea.”
“You’ll be okay, I promise.”
Sighing, she drops onto the floor and leans her head against the side of the stall. Her makeup is smudged and I am not sure she has much left in her to celebrate now that she’s thrown up.
Tell her.
“Kendra?” She asks.
“She’s gone to get you water.”
Britney grimaces. I don’t blame her - as much as you need water when drunk, it is also difficult to get down. I drop onto the floor across from her, “Are you having fun?”
“I was.” Taking a deep breath in, she slowly opens her eyes. She had thrown up, but she is still drunk and what she needs right now is to rest.
“Maybe we should get you back to the hotel,” I suggest, but she shakes her head, “Yo-you don’t want to go back?”
Emotion flares in Britney’s eyes, “I want to go home.”
“You’ll be home soon.” I offer her a comforting smile but I know this is my opening, “You just have to… get married first.”
A soft exhale that resembles a scoff escapes from her as she shakes her head. “Get married. Marriage. Husband and wife.” She looks up at me, “It’s a lot, don’t you think?”
I shrug, “I guess it is.”
There’s more to Britney and I want to see where this is going to go. I want to tell her, but I also know there is a possibility that she will not be able to truly comprehend what I was telling her. Will she even remember this conversation tomorrow?
“Can I tell you a secret?” She lowers her voice, using her hand to gesture for me to come closer.
“Of course.”
“I don’t want this.”
I try to keep the surprise from my face, “You don’t want what?”
Her hands flung about, “All of this.” She shakes her head before lifting her elbow to rest on the toilet seat, dropping her head in her hands. “I didn’t want to get married in the first place.”
The plot thickens and again, I’m brought into it. First the revelation of Violet and Kenneth and now Britney’s true feelings are being revealed.
“Then why are you doing this?”
“I have to.” She shrugs, tears swelling in her eyes, “I’m almost thirty. I haven’t done much with my life. My dad wants to retire, but will not give us the business if we aren’t married so I just figured it’s the right thing to do” Her words trail off as she closes her eyes.
My heart goes out to her. From an outsider’s perspective, I have picked up on some of the pressures and expectations of this particular group of people that Britney is clearly caving under. Her father is incredibly demanding, her sister is a handful and everyone she has surrounded herself with is more interested in forming a particular picture to outsiders. It is very… cliquey.
“Britney,” My voice is soft as I squeeze her hand wanting her attention, “What do you want?”
She looks over at me and shakes her head, “I don’t know.”
“Maybe you don’t know what you want, but you certainly know what you don’t want.”
Her eyes, now filling with tears, peer up at me, “It doesn’t matter. This is what I have to do.”
I shake my head, “No. Fuck that. You get to decide what you want for your own life. No one else.”
“I wish that was true.” Chuckling, she wipes her eyes, “Plus, what about Kenneth? I don’t want to hurt him.”
Fuck Kenneth as far as I’m concerned, but I don’t say this out loud.
“Kenneth will be fine, Britney, in fact he—” My sentence is interrupted by the door of the toilet stall being yanked open, both Kendra and Violet on the other side.
For fuck sakes…
Kendra shoves a bottle of water in my direction, “Here.”
I take the water from her, untwisting the cap of the bottle.
“Brit, honey,” Violet says next, “You don’t look so good.”
Ignoring her, I lean closer to Britney, “Here’s some water. Try to drink as much as you can.” Britney takes it from me, but not without a look of disgust on her face. I turn back to tweedle dee and tweedle dum, “We need to get her back to the hotel.”
Both of them nod before Violet speaks up again, “Kendra, go call an Uber and I’ll help Nikita get Britney out.”
“I’m more than capable, thanks.” I shot Violet a look, “We’ll meet you both outside.”
“I insist,” Violet says, plastering that fake smile of hers on her face. She pushes into the stall, taking up the space we need to get Britney out. This bitch is insistent on being involved.
Britney attempts to sip on the water before turning and spitting it in the toilet. Both Kendra and Violet pull looks of disgust that has me rolling my eyes. I stand up, shoving Violet on the way up. She takes a step back with a scoff.
“I said, I got it.”
“No, you are helping me get everyone else out,” Kendra orders, yanking me out of the stall, “Violet can deal with Britney.”
“Deal with Britney?” I repeat, surprised and annoyed with her dismissive tone, “She needs to get to the hotel, Kendra. Your sister’s had enough for the night.”
Kendra shoves her phone at me, “Then why are we just standing around? Let’s get her out of here.”
Violet slips her hands underneath Britney’s arms, pulling her up, “Britney, I need you to work with me here.”
Frustration boils in my blood. I don’t want to leave her in the hands of Violet, and to be frank, her sister isn’t too great either. But when Kendra steps into the stall to help, I have to focus on what Britney needs right now.
I use Kendra’s phone to order an Uber.