Three Girls And A Wedding (14 page)

“The car’s outside,” he said. “Your
parents are eating at one of the hotel restaurants so they said we could have
it for the night.”

“Wow, that’s really nice of them,”
I said.

“That’s the Barkers for you,” Eric
said, smiling. “The most generous people you’ll ever meet.”

Kiki gave him a squeeze. “Well,
let’s get going then! I want to dance!”

I fell into step behind them as we
walked out of the bar and through the lobby. Matt seemed determined not to walk
next to me. I felt my spirits drop. It was obvious he was worried I might think
of this as a double date. He may as well have shouted “Not interested!” in my
face.

The air had turned colder since we
had last been outside. Automatically, I looked up at the sky. Sure enough, dark
storm clouds were gathering. At least the rain had held off this long; so far
our time in New York had been marked by lovely summer weather.

“Are you cold?” said a voice in my
ear as I waited for Kiki and Eric to get into the limo. I turned in surprise to
see Matt standing very close to me.

“No, I’m fine,” I said.

Matt glanced over to see his
brother climbing through the door behind Kiki. “I should have told you before,”
he said, his voice low. “You look beautiful.”

I stared at him in surprise. His
eyes were dark. Something about the intensity I saw there made my stomach flip.
“Thank…thank you,” I stammered, feeling confused.

He smiled briefly, before offering
me his hand. “Come on, in you get.”

I was acutely aware of the
shortness of my skirt and Matt standing behind me as I climbed into the limo
and took a seat next to Kiki. To my intense relief, Matt chose a seat on the
back bench rather than next to me. I don’t know if I could have dealt with him
sitting any closer.

“So, Kiki,” he said. “Which
hideously trendy club are you dragging us to first?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Luckily
Kiki did too.

“It’s called Bella
Notte
and it’s supposed to be fabulous…if they even let you
in,” she teased.

Everyone seemed to be in a good
mood. We had champagne waiting for us on ice in the limo. I was dressed up and
feeling pretty. And Matt thought I looked beautiful. I took a gulp of the fizzy
liquid and relaxed in my seat. With a little luck I could get through this
evening without incident.

***

Kiki had been right: Bella
Notte
was
fabulous. The décor was stark, all white and black with clean lines and minimal
furniture. The drinks were exotic and seemed to feature flavored vodka
exclusively—but they were strong. I was tipsy within the first hour. Matt
and Eric complained viciously about the lack of domestic beer, but I was
pleased to find that neither of them was the kind of man who feared dancing
would taint his masculinity. Instead, they both joined us on the dance floor
enthusiastically.

It was a blast. We danced as a
group, Matt and Eric equally comfortable spinning either me or Kiki until we
felt dizzy. I never had a moment where I felt like a third wheel or an
unsophisticated charity case. I was shocked by how comfortable I felt with the
three of them, how much fun I was having.

After we had been at Bella
Notte
for a few hours, Kiki insisted we start club-hopping.
The next place we tried seemed to be aiming for a retro feel: disco was
blasting while neon lights flashed in time with the beat. It was cheesy and
totally awesome.

I kind of lost track of things
after that. Kiki could really put it back, and while at first I tried to pace
myself, I eventually gave into the fun. This didn’t feel like work
anymore—it felt like hanging out with good friends.

We ended up at a dive bar in
Brooklyn. The boys demanded we go somewhere with a decent beer selection, and
Kiki readily agreed. “I can play pool!” she said happily.

“Do you play pool?” Matt asked me
as we walked into the dark, somewhat musty bar.

“Yes,” I said. “But not well. In
fact, right now, I have a feeling I’d be seeing twice the amount of balls on
the table.” I was feeling quite tipsy now. Everything seemed a little fuzzy, a
little blurred. All of my stress seemed to have melted away. Why did I worry so
much all of the time? This felt
amazing
.

Matt laughed. “Let’s sit you down
then.” He led me over the bar, holding my arm while I tried, unsuccessfully, to
jump up onto one of the stools. He laughed again. “You’re
gonna
be in trouble tomorrow,” he said, then grasped me by both shoulders and lifted
me up onto the stool as if I weighed nothing. Totally hot.

“What’d you say?” he asked. I
looked at him blankly. “Did you just say I was totally hot?”

Oh
shit
! Did I seriously say that out loud?

“I was talking about the room,” I
stammered, my face flushing. “It’s hot in here. Probably too much to drink, you
know.”

He looked at me for a minute, his
eyes clearly amused.

“
Wanna
switch to water?” he asked.

“No,” I said, watching a waitress
load a dangerous- looking blue martini on her tray. “I want one of
those
.”

He laughed again. “If you say so.”
He ordered my drink for me and got a Miller for himself.

“Annie would be so horrified by me
right now,” I said.

“Who’s Annie?” Matt asked.

I looked at him blankly.
Everyone
knew Annie. “Annie,” I told him
clearly. “My best friend. Well, with Ginny. You know, come on.”

Matt laughed. “You are so far gone.
We’re definitely switching you to water next,” he said. “Okay, skip the
introductions. Why would this Annie be so horrified?”

“Because I’m drinking a froufrou
drink. With a boy. Annie always says you should drink beers when you’re with
boys so they don’t get the wrong idea about you. She thinks froufrou drinks
make boys think you’re girly and easy to take advantage of.”

Matt laughed again. “She sounds
interesting.”

“She’s wonderful,” I sighed. “My
best friend. And Ginny. My girls.” A thought struck me, and I felt my face
fall. “Except Ginny won’t be anymore. She’ll be Josh’s girl.”

“Okay, go back,” he said, taking my
hand. “Focus, Jen. Tell me about Ginny and Annie.”

“They’re my roommates,” I told him.
“We’ve been best friends
forever
.
Well, since high school anyhow. But now Ginny is getting married.”

“To Josh?”

“Yup. And they’re
gonna
move out. And it won’t ever be the same. No more
Danny waking me up every morning.”

“Who the hell is Danny?” Matt said,
laughing.

I looked up at him. “Wow, talking
is kind of hard. Maybe I
should
switch to water.”

“I think that would be a good idea.
Want to use the bathroom? Splash some water on your face?”

“But that would mess up my makeup!”
I said, horrified by the thought. “Kiki would be so mad at me!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Matt said,
helping me up. “You don’t need all that anyhow.”

I smiled. “You’re so nice when
you’re like this, you know,” I told him, leaning into him as he walked me to
the ladies’ room. “You should
always
be this way.”

When I returned to the bar I found
my pretty blue drink gone. In its place was a tall glass of water and a huge
basket of fries. “Ooh, fries,” I said. “Yum!”

Matt helped me up again. “I gave
your drink to Kiki,” he said. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Where is she?” I asked, peering
around the crowded room.

“In the back, beating all the boys
at pool in her four-inch heels,” he said, smiling.

I laughed. “That’s awesome.”

“You like her, don’t you?” he
asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

I nodded. Already I could feel the
effects of food and water, coupled with using the bathroom and taking Matt’s
advice about splashing water on my face. “I didn’t expect to like her,” I told
him honestly. “She’s not the kind of girl I usually hang out with. But she’s
so…genuine, you know? She’s honestly that kind, that concerned about people. At
first I thought it was an act.”

“It’s not,” he said, nodding as he
ate a fry. “I’ve known her for ages and she’s always been that way.”

I squinted at him. “When did you
meet her?” I asked. As far as I could remember, Kiki and Eric had only met a
few years ago, in college.

“We went to high school together,”
he said, sounding sort of uncomfortable.

“But Kiki went to Country Day,” I
said, felling confused. Country Day was a super-exclusive private school in our
area, and I knew for a fact Eric hadn’t gone there. Matt’s face was definitely
getting red now.

“Oh my God,” I said, pointing at
him. “You went to
Country Day
?”

He shrugged. “It was for hockey,
okay?”

I laughed gleefully. “Mr.
Anti-Consumerism, I’m-too-good-for-fancy-parties went to the ritziest, most
expensive private school in the state. Oh, I love it!”

“I had a scholarship,” he said,
defensively. “For hockey. It was my best chance to get into a good college.”

“
Mmmhmm
,”
I said. “Sure. Oh my God,” I said, realizing something and starting to laugh
again. “You had to wear a uniform!”

“Shut up,” he said, but he was
smiling now. “It was actually really rough for me at first.”

“Food in the gourmet cafeteria was
just too delicious?”

He shoved me playfully and I felt
my skin tingle at the contact. The combination of alcohol in my system and Matt
sitting this close to me was delicious.

“I was very lonely,” he said. “I
was a senior when I started; I had to leave all my old friends. And most of the
kids there didn’t think too much of me, being from lowly Ferndale and all.”

“I live in Ferndale!” I told him.

“Really? My parents are still
there,” he said. “Anyhow, eventually I met Kiki—she was dating one of the
other guys on the team. She was nice to me right from the start, invited me to
eat lunch with her and her group. She was only a freshman then, but she was
already a little social organizer. She was a great friend to have.”

I smiled. “That sounds like Kiki.”

“So,” he said. “You live in
Ferndale. With Annie and Ginny and someone named Danny?”

I laughed. “Sorry, I guess that
wasn’t really clear. Danny is Ginny’s son.”

Matt raised his eyebrows.

“She had him last year. He’s
amazing, seriously, the best baby in the world.”

“His dad is out of the picture?”

“No, Josh is his dad.”

“
Ahh
,”
Matt said. “And they’re getting married?”

“Yeah. But Josh wasn’t around at
first.” I told him the whole saga of Ginny and Josh and their breakup, about
how Annie and I had to help Ginny with the pregnancy, how we had promised to
always be there to raise the baby with her.

“But now they’re moving out,” he
said, softly. “I’m sorry, Jen.”

I shrugged, feeling tears in my
eyes and desperate not to let him see me cry. “They’re my family,” I said
softly. “The girls, Danny. They mean everything to me. When I’m with them, it’s
the only time I really feel like me. I know it makes sense for her to move now,
and I know Danny should be with his dad. It’s just…”

“Hard,” he finished for me, placing
a hand gently on my shoulder. His kindness sent me over the edge, and I felt a
tear slip down my cheek.

“Hey,” Matt said quietly, placing a
finger under my chin and gently forcing my face up to look at him. “Don’t cry,
Jen.” His eyes were concerned, warm and liquid, like melting chocolate. I must
be really drunk, to be thinking of cheesy lines like that, but God, he was
beautiful. He held my gaze for a long moment, staring into my eyes.

“I want to kiss you,” he whispered,
and I felt my stomach drop.

“That would be…nice,” I stammered,
my heart racing. Matt smiled, once, and then his lips were on mine, soft and
warm at first, but then with increasing intensity. His hand, still under my
chin, swept up gently to cup my face as his other arm came around behind me and
rested at the small of my back. My arms, seemingly of their own accord, were
wrapped tightly around his neck.

It was the best kiss of my life.
Maybe it was just the alcohol, but I literally felt like little zaps of
electricity were shooting from his lips straight down into my toes. It was like
an explosion was taking place in the pit of my stomach. I had never felt
anything like it before.

Maybe it was just the alcohol, but
I doubt it.

“Jen,” squealed a familiar voice,
and Matt tore his lips away from mine, jumping back on his stool and letting me
go. It felt like being doused with cold water, the loss of contact with Matt. I
shook my head, trying to regain my equilibrium, as I heard the voice again.

“Jen, Jen, there you are!” It was
Kiki, making her way across the bar to us, pulling Eric along in her wake. I
couldn’t detect any hint that she had seen us, and I felt relieved. “Eric says
we need to go home. He says I’m way too drunk and won’t be able to get up in
the morning for our flight.” She rolled her eyes. “I think he’s just
embarrassed because I beat him at pool. Look!” She pulled a wad of cash out
from between her breasts. “Two hundred bucks! I beat
everyone
!”

I felt knocked completely off
balance. Between the alcohol, the mind-blowing kiss with Matt, and the
hurricane force that was Kiki, it was hard to wrap my mind around what was
happening.

But then I felt a steady hand at
the small of my back, a warm arm behind me, balancing me. I looked up to see
Matt looking down at me, a slight smile playing at his mouth. “Ready to go?” he
asked.

I nodded up at him and he helped me
down from the stool. As we followed Kiki and Eric out to the waiting limo, his
hand never left my back.