Between Friends

Chapter 5

Uggh! My dress keeps on getting tighter and tighter from inhaling this never-ending meal. The amount of food I have forced down my throat is out of control. When a light sorbet is placed in front of me, I am relieved this gluttonous event is over. I poke around at the melting slush in my tiny clear dish when Mr. Stanley Ellis, Jessica’s father stands up and clinks his glass to avert everyone’s attention to the far end of the restaurant. He clears his throat and announces he would like to say a few words. Jessica smiles adoringly at her father, and leans her head into Michael’s shoulder. He kisses the top of her soft blonde hair, and I stare fondly at them.

“I would just like to thank everyone for travelling all this way to celebrate the long awaited marriage of our beautiful daughter Jessica Marie Ellis to the strapping Dr. Michael Frances Mercier.” Jessica’s father looks proudly at his wife before he begins to tear up. He pauses for a few moments and wipes away the tears from his eyes.

Seeing Jessica’s parents share a moment of honor over her marriage makes me wonder what my crazy divorced parents would be like if I were to ever tie the knot. Unlike Jessica’s parents, my parents hate each other and can’t stand to be in each other’s presence. They would never be able to sit down together and actually share a pinnacle moment of joy in my life. Instead my mother would selfishly protest on not being anywhere near my father or his new family, and my father would insist on paying for everything, just to piss my mother off and rub his money in her face. Nothing would be about me. It would be all about their issues and their problems with each other. But Jessica’s family is different, and anything but dysfunctional. No wonder Jessica could find love so easily with Michael; it’s all around her.

Jessica’s father gains his composure and continues, “I am proud to say that in five days, everyone here will witness the most beautiful bride walking down the aisle.” He sniffles and adds, “I wish you both all the happiness in the world. Thank you everyone for coming. It means so much to our families.”

The mood is beautifully light hearted when everyone claps for Mr. Ellis’s speech. Jessica jumps out of her chair and gives her dad a kiss on the cheek. He blubbers into her shoulder and kisses her forehead. Michael stands up to shake his hand, but Mr. Ellis pulls him in for a tight hug.

“That was so sweet.” Stephanie whimpers and wipes away the tears trickling down her cheeks with a cloth napkin.

Michelle snorts back her emotions and I solemnly nod in agreement.

Eric ruins the moment by slamming his fists on the table and shouts, “Enough of this teary babble. Let’s grab some booze and hit up the beach.”

Ben and Matthew laugh, and immaturely engage in a frat boy high five. But when the chatter picks back up, Ben leans across the table and whispers, “Promise me you will come to the beach with us.”

I blush as balls of knots clenches my stomach. Just as I am about to respond, I see the playful glimmer in Ben’s eyes change to clouded confusion. I follow his gaze over my head, and crank my neck around to see Jessica and a handsome mystery man standing behind me.

“Megan, this is Steven. I have been dying for you two to meet.” Jessica exclaims, practically ripping me up from my chair.

My wobbly legs finally allow me to stand up, and I am completely awe struck. Steven is nothing like I expected. He is tall, fair skinned and stunningly gorgeous. I am at a loss for words, because I can clearly remember growing up, Jessica referring to him as her nerdy cousin from Connecticut. But Steven is anything but nerdy. He is smartly dressed, wearing a black suit jacket over a plain white t-shirt, and dark wash jeans. I notice his eyes are exactly like Jessica’s - big, bright and vibrant blue. He has an adorable bum chin and a strong jaw with a regal nose. His blonde hair is perfectly styled and he smells like a mixture of really expensive body wash and 100% man.

He clasps my hand in a firm shake, “It is so nice to finally meet you. Jessica has told me so much about you over the years. I have to say, you are even more beautiful in person than you are in pictures.”

I shoot Jessica an evil glare. Not because I am shocked she would go as far as send some random pictures of me via email to Steven, but I am furious that she didn’t tell me she did it. Jessica apologetically shrugs and bats her eyes at me for forgiveness. I remain calm, and look at Steven. I thank him for his kind words, and change the subject by asking him how he likes living in Chicago (Jessica updated me on his transfer a while ago; how he moved from Connecticut once his divorce finalized). Steven tells me he loves being in the windy city, and that he is really looking forward to exploring what Chicago has to offer.

“Well you two should set something up” Jessica jumps in and sticks her head in between our conversation, “I know Steven just loves the Cubs. You two should go see a game!”

I scrunch up my nose and think of Ben behind me, hearing every little ounce of this conversation. I try to send telepathic waves to Jessica to make her stop. I force our eyes to meet, but it clearly doesn’t work, because she gloats and continues to babble on about how when Steven does happen to take me to a game, he should remember how I love getting a corndog (something Ben and I both enjoy having every time we go to a game).

Steven blushes, which I find endearing and says, “I do have season tickets if you ever want to go.”

“Sure” I nervously laugh and flirtatiously place my hand on his rock solid bicep.

Jessica giddily claps her hands together, “Well, I think my work here is done. I’ll leave you two to chat.”

The thunderous rumble of a chair startles me. I turn around to see Ben push up from the table and rise to his feet. He tosses his napkin down on his plate and clears his throat. Then Eric pipes up and asks him where he is going. Ben lets out a fake yawn and scratches the back of his head, “I think I’m going to call it a night.”

“But we’re going down to the beach” Eric moans, “Just wait a few minutes. The bartender is bringing us a bottle of Tequila.”

“Benny!” Stephanie says with her annoying baby voice and pouts at him, “Don’t be like that. Please come.”

For some reason, only with Ben, Stephanie will sometimes turn into a whiny clingy mess, especially when she is drinking. It doesn’t usually annoy me, but tonight when she tugs on his arm and bats her eyes at him, I can’t stand it.

“Come on man” Matthew pitches in, “Why are you turning all sour?”

Ben pulls his arm out of Stephanie’s death grip and shifts his eyes from me to Steven, “I’m sorry guys, I’m still feeling jet legged. But I am sure Steven will gladly take my place.”

I turn bright red and clench onto the back of my seat. Ben kicks in his chair and storms away from the table. Eric throws his hands up in the air looks over at Matthew, “What the hell is his problem?”

Matthew shakes his head and brushes off Ben’s dramatic exit by leaning over to Michelle and placing his hand a little too far up her skirt. I am ready to jump across the table and chase after Ben as he walks away, but I stand frozen in place and watch him by-pass the concrete path and shuffle through the grass. My heart is torn. I look back at Steven who is beaming at me with Jessica still at his side. I bite my lip and nervously fiddle with the bottom fringe of my dress. I selfishly wish I could rip off these ridiculous heels and be anywhere but here.

Then Jessica pipes up, oblivious to my current situation, “Well that would actually be a great idea. Steven should definitely come down to the beach with you guys.”

Before I can even object, Eric happily invites him along, and Steven graciously accepts. I consider shouting out that I feel sick, and insist I have to leave, just so I can chase after Ben and ask him what the hell that was all about. I have rarely ever seen Ben upset over much of anything. This is one of the many good things about him. He is always level headed and doesn’t upset easily, which is why his snappy exit has me questioning what is going on. He couldn’t possibly care about Jessica playing matchmaker with Steven. Why would he? Ben has never cared about who I liked or dated before. I tell myself I am just being paranoid. But when I glance back over my shoulder and watch Ben disappear into the darkness, I can’t help but feel like a twisted bunch of nerves.

Eric slams a bottle of Tequila on the table and shouts, “Alright, let’s go!”

I pull myself together, and give Jessica a farewell hug and straighten out my dress. With Steven close by, I follow my friends and leave Jessica with Michael to enjoy a nice evening with their families. On our way to the beach, I can hear Matthew and Michelle swapping spit as they linger behind us, while Eric walks ahead with Steven and talks to him about the recent Cubs game. Stephanie on the other hand, locks arms with me and chats about making tomorrow a sun-tanning day of leisure.

The path that leads down to the beach is quiet and dark, but full of luscious greenery. The waves crash on the sand, filling the air with a refreshingly misty sprinkle. Eric jets ahead and searches for a spot to plop down and pound back the Tequila. When he finds a well-lit area on the sandy ground, he waves us all over.

“Alright Steven, as initiation I think you should be the first one to take a swig of the bottle.” Eric announces and pushes the bottle in Steven’s direction.

I roll my eyes and feel like I am in some bad sorority nightmare and become embarrassed by Eric’s pushy demeanor.

Steven shrugs with a smile, “Okay. I guess so. Hand it over.”

“No Eric. Steven does not have to do that.” I say and push the bottle back in Eric’s face.

“It’s fine.” Steven says and rubs my shoulder.

“Yeah Megan, relax.” Eric chimes in and when Steven isn’t looking sticks his tongue out at me.

“Real mature.” I snap and roll my eyes.

“You’re not his old lady yet. Steven is a grown man who can make his own decisions.” Eric laughs.

“You are being too aggressive – “ I shout at Eric, but before I can even continue my rant, Steven has taken the open bottle and slammed back the first shot.

Everyone breaks out into roaring cheers and Eric even slaps Steven on the back, “I like this guy.” He laughs and high fives Matthew.

Immediately I decide Steven is already racking up the “boyfriend material” points. The first point being his actions tonight, prove that he is a good sport. He forcefully hands the bottle back to Eric and chokes a bit on his release, which tells me he doesn’t drink often. I also decide he deserves another point, because his obvious lack of boozing only proves he is mature and stable, unlike our rowdy group.

As the night progresses, there is never a dull moment during our late night beach fiasco. Eric and Matthew control most of the conversation and tell old stories from our high school days. They make sure they embarrass me and tell Steven about some stupid things I did back then. Like when I backed into the Principals Mercedes Benz with my mother’s old station wagon, or the time Ben and I did a magic act for the Christmas Talent Show. They even unleash a few memories from our university years, like the time I drunkenly threw up all over Ben one night at the pub, or the time I organized a rally to protest against smoking on campus, and no one except Jessica, Michael (because he was dragged by Jessica) and Ben showed up. Of course, Steven enjoys all of them and flashes me his bright (definitely cosmetically enhanced) grin.

“Okay. No more of the let’s embarrass Megan stories.” I grumble and take a shot from the bottle.

“What? The stories are funny!” Matthew chuckles, “Steven probably appreciates hearing about your dorky days. Oops, I mean glory days.”

All my friends giggle at my expense when I snap, “Those days were hardly what I would consider glamorous. And don’t think for a second I didn’t hear you slide in that dork comment.”

Stephanie cuts me off, “Hey Steven, one more thing you should probably know about Megan - she used to wear pop bottle glasses!”

“Oh yeah!” Eric laughs and chokes on his shot of tequila, “Shit, I forgot about that. Too funny.”

I roll my eyes and can’t believe my friends are pulling this right now. Every time I bring a prospective boyfriend candidate around they do this. Eric insists it is their way of testing whether or not the guy is genuinely interested in me. He made a point of telling me I am too nice when it comes to men and put on blinders when red flags of a*shole are popping up all over the place. Whether or not they are trying to protect me from future douche bags, right now, it’s annoying.

Steven pats my leg, “Well it doesn’t matter, because I think the stories are charming”

“Really?” I say with a tiny smile. Maybe Eric’s man-test does hold some truth. Steven’s reassurance couldn’t have been more sincere.

Michelle starts to whisper something in Matthew’s ear, and averts the attention back to their cheating ways. Matthew bites his lip and wrestles her to the ground, but Eric smacks his back, “Hey you two! Keep it PG for tonight.”

Michelle sticks her tongue out at Eric and Matthew straightens up his shirt, before he snaps at Eric to mind his own business.

While they argue amongst themselves, Steven leans over and whispers in my ear, “I am having a really good time. Don’t worry. I loved the stories. I think it’s cute that you wore pop bottle glasses. I had headgear. Believe me, it doesn’t get much worse than that.”

I giggle and give him a smile. I love how sweet he is.

“What are your plans tomorrow?” he asks.

“Nothing besides roasting in the sun with the girls.”

He tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear; “Think you might be able to find some time for me?”

I blush thankful it’s dark out, “I think I could manage to fit you into my schedule.”

Steven laughs, enjoying my flirtatious side, “I would like that.”

“Drink the last shot!” Eric shouts and shoves the bottle back in Steven’s face. Steven grabs hold of the bottle and finishes it off making my friends roar with enthusiasm.

“Let’s go skinny dipping!” Stephanie shouts out of nowhere and pulls off her dress. She is clearly induced with one too many Tequila shots. Eric’s eyes widen in amazement, and before I can even stop them, he and Stephanie have completely disrobed and made it halfway into the water. Matthew begins to unbuckle his pants and Michelle rips off her dress. They grab onto each other’s hands and ask if we are coming. I politely decline and tell them to be careful. Steven says he will stay with me on shore, but thanks them for the invite. Michelle makes a comment about how I am always the cautious one, and that’s why they keep me around. Matthew tugs her arm when they break into the waters to meet Stephanie and Eric.

As Steven and I hear their splashes and laughter from the ocean, he invites me to lie down beside him and look up at the stars. He stretches his arm across the sand, and I snuggle up to his chest. While Steven begins to tell me about starting his new life in Chicago, I can’t help but think how this is exactly what getting to know someone is supposed to feel like, a well-produced mixture of excitement, romance and subtle intrigue. But as I gaze up into the dark everlasting sky, lying with the perfect guy, all I can see in the back of my mind is Ben.