“Check him out.”
He walked up to Gabby, grinning like a sinner. “I see we have a bachelorette in the house.”
“Yes we do,” Amber screamed.
“Then we need to celebrate.” The guy lifted Gabby out of her chair and led her up onto the stage. Another man slid behind her, holding her hands above her head.
Amber leaned towards Noel, clapping. “I paid them a hundred bucks to do this.”
“She looks like she’s enjoying it.”
Gabby squealed when the curly haired guy threw her legs over his shoulders and buried his face between her legs.
Noel covered her face with her hand, laughing into her palm, horrified and amused all at once.
“She’s having fun, right?”
“She is. Thanks for setting this up. I know I wasn’t completely on board at first, but she deserves to have an amazing time.”
Amber looked at her, as if she couldn’t figure her out. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Because I don’t want to hate you anymore, Amber. Two of the people I love most in the world saw something good in you. I’m choosing to do the same.”
“But…a week ago, I was trying to get Nick back.”
Noel’s lips thinned momentarily and then she breathed out. “I know. I don’t like what you did, but I’m hoping that now we can all move on.” Noel laughed as a blond stripper brought a chair onto the stage and Curly sat Gabby in it, rubbing his balls in her face.
“Are you going to tell Gabby what I did?”
Noel shook her head. “I’m not going to ruin your relationship with Gabby. What happened is between you and me. Besides, she’s got enough going on without getting pulled into our drama.”
“So, what? We pretend to like each other?”
“No, I don’t think we’ll ever be friends. But maybe we don’t have to be enemies.”
The strippers led a very mushed, happy Gabby down the stairs to her seat. Curly kissed her knuckles.
“Have a wonderful wedding, beautiful!”
Gabby fanned herself. “God, I wish Drew were home. I would wreck him right now.”
Noel, feeling the shots she’d shotgunned, laughed. “You gonna be okay, sweetie?”
“Yes, except all the extra blood is rushing to my hoonany and making me horny!”
“Extra blood?” Amber asked.
Gabby cleared her throat and turned in her seat to face Amber. “I’m pregnant.”
“What?” Amber screamed, grabbing Gabby’s hands.
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn’t want to ruin the night.”
“Are you kidding? Nothing could ruin this night.” She hugged Gabby, catching Noel’s eye.
“You knew, huh?”
“She only told me earlier because I caught her puking.”
Amber smiled softly and pulled away from Gabby. “Guess we didn’t need those mimosas.”
“Sure we do,” Noel said. “She can have the orange juice and we’ll drink the champagne.”
Gabby’s gaze shifted between them and held her hands up. “I know I asked you two to get along, but this is too creepy.”
Noel patted her leg. “I’m going to use the bathroom and I’ll get the next round for Amber and me.”
“Oh, will you get more ones? There’s a cute Santa over there who needs a tip.”
Noel rolled her eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, she wasn’t having a terrible time. It wouldn’t be her choice for a bachelorette party, but tonight was about Gabby, who happened to be having a ball.
For her own last girls’ night, she’d love to do something she’d never tried before like roller derby.
Noel almost stumbled, realizing that she’d thought about a bachelorette party for herself without panicking.
It was progress.
A hand touched Noel’s arm just before she reached the bathroom and she turned. Pike stood next to her, still in a next to nothing thong. Santa hat askew.
“Anthony said you would be here, but I didn’t believe him,” he said.
“Why not?”
“I didn’t think this was your scene.”
“It’s not. I came for Gabby.” Noel cleared her throat, unsure what to say. “I didn’t know you were a stripper. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I figured Nick would. He knew.”
“He did?” Noel shook her head. Of course they did. They were probably having themselves quite a laugh at the surprise they’d given her. “I can’t believe neither of those bastards warned me.”