“I still can’t believe you brought a present,” I said to my friend. “You know it’s not my actual birthday.”
Krista looked highly offended. “Of course I brought a gift. I’m not rude. Now let’s get inside, you international woman of mystery.”
I never should have told her about the spy thing. A bouncer at the front door asked for our names and then told us to follow his associate, another large and burly man. The front door was opened for us and the EDM sound waves hit me square in the chest. The thumping techno beat was so loud.
The second bouncer led us into a private room where you could see the dance floor, but it was soundproofed enough that you could hear yourself think. It was then that I realized Krista and I were the last to arrive, a feeling I did not enjoy. Five minutes early was ten minutes late in my world.
The room had been decorated with red balloons and streamers, my favorite color. There was a cake with red icing roses on a table. It wasn’t much, almost like a last-minute kid’s party, but I was touched by the effort.
Camden was sitting on a couch by himself, in a darkened corner of the room. He had his phone out and was pushing a lot of buttons. Again I had that thrill of excitement at seeing him, glad that I got to be near him.
I had to stop doing that.
Sadie ran over to hug both Krista and me.
“No camera crew?” I asked.
“Not tonight,” Sadie said. “I promised the club to take some footage with my phone and to mention them in a post, but we don’t need to do anything more than that. Come on, let me make introductions.”
She took us by the hands and led us over to where the other men had congregated. “You know my incredibly handsome groom, Dan, obviously. This is Rick, his cousin and one of the groomsmen. And here’s Vance, the other groomsman. He’s also a programmer at Dan’s company.”
I said hello and nodded as the men waved back. They were all huddled around Dan’s phone, and I wondered if they were looking at college basketball scores. Sadie sat next to Dan, linking her arm through his and resting her head on his shoulder.
Before I could ask the men what they were doing, Mary-Ellen joined us. “You already know me. In case you forgot, I’m Sadie’s cousin. The other bridesmaid. My name’s Mary-Ellen. Although some of my friends back home call me Melon.”
My eyes flicked between her head and her breasts, which both seemed average, and I wondered why she had been given such an unfortunate nickname.
At my apparent confusion she added, “It’s because they squish Mary and Ellen together. Melon. Isn’t it the cutest?”
I was pretty sure I was never going to call her that. “It’s definitely something.”
She noticed Krista laying her present down next to two others and announced, “When Sadie told me this was a birthday celebration, I briefly considered getting you a gift but . . .”
After I realized Mary-Ellen wasn’t going to finish her sentence I said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s the almost thought that counts.”
Rick left the group and approached Krista, offering her his hand, to properly say hello. They started chatting and I realized that she and Sadie had left me alone with someone who wanted to use the same nickname as a cantaloupe.
“Hey.” Mary-Ellen scooted closer to me and I took a step back at her invading my personal space. “You’re friends with that Camden guy, right?”
“Friends is a generous word.”
She blinked, as if she didn’t get my meaning. “Right. You have to help me out. Be my wing woman. I’ve been trying to talk to him for the last couple of days and he keeps blowing me off.”
“Did you tell him people call you Melon?” I shouldn’t be snarky right now, but it was like it was just pouring out of me. More jealousy? I refused to self-reflect.
She didn’t seem to pick up on my sarcasm. “That’s exactly what I’m going to tell him. I bet he’ll think it’s cute. Us bridesmaids are such a great squad. We should have our own motto. Like ‘in squad we trust.’”
The desire to say mean things threatened to overwhelm me, so I let her grab my hand and pull me over to where Camden was seated.
She said, “Hi!” brightly to him and sat down on his right. There was no room for me to sit next to her, and I was forced to sit down on his left side.
The look on his face when he saw me . . . I was trying to forget it. How he looked genuinely glad to see me, excited even. I willed the tropical butterflies in my stomach to calm down and to stop flapping their massive wings so freaking hard.