Twenty-Five
Their Eternity
Liv
“Where are you taking me, Raven?” I giggled with my hands in front of me. “This had better not be an enormous party. I told you I didn’t want that.”
“Relax,” Raven sighed with her hands covering my eyes. “No big party. I remembered the rules.”
I heard traffic. Horns honked in the distance. My heart raced at the unknown.
“Are we almost there?” I asked impatiently.
“Yes. Only a couple more steps,” Raven replied.
I saw glimpses of light through slits between Raven’s fingers, but those fragments didn’t reveal the secret. I couldn’t recognize anything. My fate for this surprise ladies’ night was in her hands. I had absolutely no idea what she had planned, but I was excited to find out.
I had waited my entire fucking life for this moment.
My bachelorette party. One last night of freedom before I tied the knot to two men who I wanted to spend forever with.
Anything could happen, but the sounds of cars speeding by grew louder and made me anxious.
The last thing I wanted was to get hit by a speeding vehicle driving erratically, and I wouldn’t even see my death coming.
I heaved a sigh. “Okay. Can I see yet?”
“Nope. One more step and…” I took a pace forward and Raven removed her hands. “Ta-da!”
I blinked. My vision was blurry until everything grew clear. Brighter.
“Surprise!” my mom yelled while she tossed pink confetti into the air. “Happy bachelorette party, honey!”
“What in the actual fuck?” My jaw dropped open.
“Surprise!” Raven exclaimed behind me.
Raven ran to join my mom’s side, and an enormous party bus sat parked behind them.
Gloria wore a pink skirt and blouse, and her hair had pink streaks of dye in it.
She wore a pink headband on her head, with plastic cocks wiggling like antennae.
My best friend wore the gimmicky headband too.
Everything was pink, including the freaking party bus!
“You guys…” I giggled with tears of joy in my eyes as I opened my arms and walked toward them. “This is…”
The event moved me deeply. I was lost for words. Raven had planned this, but I knew my mother had a hand in the event planning, judging by the smile on her face. I was the luckiest girl on the planet.
“Incredible?” Mom asked while she hugged me.
“Over the top?” Raven gave me a squeeze but pulled back with a raised eyebrow. “Amazing?”
“All of it.” I pulled my mom and Raven closer for a group hug. “This is too much.”
“No, it’s not. Anything for my girl,” Mom whispered in my ear and pulled back to pinch my cheeks. “My daughter is getting married tomorrow.”
In less than twenty-four hours, I’d become a wife. I couldn’t believe it. Someone pinch me. Wait… My mom was, and she was hurting my face.
“Mom. Quit fussing over me.” I swat her hands away. “My cheeks are going numb.”
“Oh, sorry, sweetheart.” Gloria stepped back and adjusted her skirt. “Sometimes I don’t know my strength.”
Raven broke our connection. Her arms flew up in the air, and she giggled with a hop. She took my hand.
“Come on!” Raven beamed, her eyes lit up like a jack-o’-lantern. “The night awaits.”
“Whoa!” I laughed.
Raven pulled me toward the party bus door and knocked on it. Immediately, the entrance opened, and music blasted out into the street. Multi-colored lights danced, and there was a driver seated at the front of the bus. She wore a sparkling pink wig and blew bubble gum with a loud pop.
“Is this the bride-to-be?” She held out her hand and kept her butt parked in the seat. “My name is Genie.”
Raven shook the bus driver’s hand. “Yes. This is the bride. I’m Raven. The maid of honor and best friend.”
“Pleasure to meet you, bestie.” Genie nodded with an annoying chewing sound and pointed at Gloria. “And this is Mom, I take it?”
“Yes. This is my mother, Gloria,” I answered.
“Perfect. Is this everyone?” Genie asked as she moved back and forth in her seat. “I don’t want to miss anyone.”
“This is it.” I glanced around with a smile.
“Precious.” Genie picked up a speaker and blasted into it. “Let’s get this party started!”
The unexpected sound startled us. Everyone jumped, gasped, and hurried onto the bus. Raven went ahead first, but my mom and I went in together. Genie shut the door behind us.
“Genie is quite the character,” Mom whispered loudly in my ear with her hand covering it. “Isn’t she?”
“One of a kind.” I giggled.
“Okay, listen up carefully to the rules of my party bus.” Genie spun around in her seat and spoke into the megaphone. “No drinking, no nudity, no sex, no drugs, and no gambling.”
What?
I stared at Genie as if she had lost her marbles.
This was a goddamn party bus where anything was bound to happen, and the restrictions would make the night a total loss.
I glared over at Raven, whose mouth was wide open in shock, and she appeared dumbfounded.
Obviously, my maid of honor hadn’t done her homework.
“That’s it, everybody off!” Gloria yelled.
Raven snapped her mouth shut and stomped toward Genie. “What the fuck kind of party bus is—”
“Ha-ha! Kidding!” Genie shouted with laughter and slapped her knee. “You should’ve seen the looks on your faces!”
Genie snorted through the speaker. Annoyance crept up my bones, but I stuffed the frustration down.
This lady had some nerve. Raven wanted to strangle the bus driver’s neck, and I wanted to grab her damn wig only to stomp on the pink flashy fake strands.
My mom stepped forward and got ready for a tense confrontation with the ignorant bus driver.
Genie shut up, chomped loudly on her gum, and blew another bubble.
“Pull a stunt like that again, and I’ll have your manager on the phone before you can blow another bubble.” Gloria popped the giant bubble, and the gum stuck to Genie’s mouth. “Now. Spit the gum out the window, get your damn hands on the wheel and drive, Genie.”
“Dang…” Raven exhaled with an impressed expression on her face. “Your mom isn’t playing around.”
My mom walked toward us as if she owned the damn bus.
“Don’t fuck with my mom, or you’ll find out.” I raised an eyebrow. “Trust me. I lived with her for eighteen years.”
“Technically, twenty.” Mom winked at me and spun around to glare at the driver. “Genie! Step on the gas! I’m not paying you to be lazy!”
The bus swayed with our unsteady feet. I gasped with laughter and grabbed onto a steel pole. The retro interior of the bus was much more striking than the outside. The clash of colors made my head spin, but once I got used to the array of neon displays, it wasn’t bad. Nothing alcohol couldn’t fix.
Raven grabbed three beers from the mini-bar set up against the wall in the bus and popped the tops off. The metal lids fell to the floor, and she passed my mom a bottle. I got the last beer and took a swig.
“Cheers to Gloria.” Raven clinked each of our glass bottles.
“And to Liv!” my mom cheered with a raise of her beer. “The beautiful bride any mother would love.”
“Oh, Mom.” I blushed with a shy smile.
Everyone clicked my bottle, and we danced to the music pounding throughout the bus.
The love I had earned was immense. Tremendous.
My heart beat wildly in my ears, and I never wanted this display of affection to end.
I’d live with this moment locked away in my heart, full of warm, thoughtful memories of a night with smiles, laughter, and fun.
Togetherness with the women I cared about most in this world through distance and tough times.
My mom and Raven had shown up for me, and their actions meant everything to me. This celebration was all I had wanted.
We were only missing male strippers.
Suddenly, the party took a turn onto the shoulder of the road. A hard jerk and a full stop. I saw red and blue lights flashing out the window.
“Oh, fuck…” Raven peered through the glass, and her breath fogged up the tint. “It’s the cops.”
“What?” Gloria gasped in shock.
The music cut. Shit. There goes my bachelorette party.
“Crap. Hide.” Raven got up and scurried around on the spot.
My mom laughed at Raven and grabbed another beer. She did look pretty fucking ridiculous. She scampered from one side of the bus to the other with no luck.
“Where?” I held up the beer in my hand, and some of its contents spilled onto the floor. “We’re trapped.”
A police officer walked by the side of the bus and headed toward the front door. As a knee-jerk reaction, I ducked behind the seat and slipped on the alcohol. I fell flat on my butt, laughing hard at my stupidity.
“Here…” My mom extended a wobbly hand to me. “Take my hand.”
I grabbed my mom’s kind gesture, and I struggled to pull myself up. My mom tugged, but we both failed. She fell down beside me, and we burst out into more laughter.
A knock tapped on the bus. We shut up with our mouths clamped shut, and our wide eyes turned to the front of the bus. The door swung open.
“Good evening, officer. Can I help you?” Genie called out.
“Driver’s license and registration, please,” the police officer ordered.
“Of course, officer.” Genie peered down the aisle toward us and passed her identification to him. “Everything you need is right there.”
Oh, fuck. Genie better not blow this party for me. She was quite the oddball.
The officer passed back Genie’s ID. “Anyone else on this bus with you, ma’am?”
Say no, Genie, for the love of God.
“Yes, sir, there is.” Genie spoke the truth and pointed toward us. “There’s a party happening on my bus.”
Fuck! Genie! You damn traitor!
The policeman stomped up the steps of the bus. “Is that so?”
I gripped the stripper pole and prepared to stand, but my legs froze. Fear paralyzed me. No way would I leave this bus in handcuffs. We did nothing wrong.
Please don’t let us get arrested. Frisked maybe, but not locked up behind bars. This was supposed to be the night of my dreams.
Bile formed in the back of my throat. Nerves clawed at me. Sweat beaded on my upper lip.