By the time I made it back to the table, Alex was smiling at my sister. “You’re welcome,” she said when I handed her the drink.
“Thank you is the traditional response.”
“I’ll let Alex tell you,” she said sweetly, giving me a wet kiss on the cheek. “Back to my party! It was nice to meet you!”
“Tell me what?”
He laughed. “Your sister invited me to her wedding. As your date.”
I blinked rapidly. “She did what now?” He shrugged. “My mother is going to have a field day with this one.”
“I told her my answer depended entirely on you.”
“Do you want to go?”
“Do you want me to?”
“I asked you first.”
He shrugged again. “Could be good practice for Tim and Megan’s. And it will keep your older relatives from asking why you’re still single.”
He had a point. “Okay,” I said, feeling a twinge of something other than dread about my sister’s wedding for the first time since it was announced.
“It’s a date,” he said, clinking his glass against mine.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
When the evening devolved, it devolved quickly.
Ashlee came to find me, her hair disheveled and her face green. “Kayla, Taylor, and Fiona are all throwing up,” she said.
I shook my ponytail holder–covered wrist at Alex. “Duty calls.”
“Gross. I’ll sit this one out.”
“Keep your phone handy. I might need help getting Ubers.”
“Will do.”
I followed Ashlee and handed her a ponytail holder just in time for her to vomit into the sink. I did not miss this phase of young adulthood.
Madison seemed to be running the show in the bathroom, switching from stall to stall, holding girls’ hair. “Here,” I said, handing her three ponytail holders.
She looked at me gratefully, a slight sheen of sweat shining on her forehead, and then began tying up a girl’s hair for her.
Taylor flushed the toilet and exited the stall. “I feel better,” she announced. “I’m going to get another drink.”
“Nope,” I told her cheerfully, steering her toward the wall, away from the door. “You’re done.”
Ashlee seemed much more composed after she threw up, and I suspected her nausea was more from the smell of vomit in the bathroom than from too much alcohol.
I realized Amy was nowhere to be found. “Has anyone seen my sister?” Ashlee and Madison exchanged a look. “What?”
“She was talking to some guy,” Madison said, and Ashlee shot her a murderous look.
My shoulders dropped. Not now, Amy, I thought despairingly. I knew my little sister had inherited some of my self-sabotaging ways, but she was within three weeks of the altar.
“Where?” I asked.
“The booths by the dance floor,” Madison said.
“Round everyone up,” I told her. “We’re heading back to the hotel. I’ll get Amy.”
I made a beeline for the booths. But when I got there, I found Alex sitting next to Amy, the guy who had been eating candy off Amy’s necklace across from them.
“What are you doing, Alex?” Amy slurred.
“Being a cockblock,” he responded matter-of-factly. “You’ll thank me tomorrow.”
She punched him lightly on the arm. “You’re so silly. I’m not doing anything wrong. Am I, Luke?”
Luke looked none too pleased with Alex or his declared intentions.
“Come on, Ames, time to go,” I said, planting my hands on the table and leaning directly into her sightline.
“What time is it?”
“Last call.”
“No it’s not,” Luke said, checking his phone.
“It is for us,” I said firmly. Alex stood and offered Amy his hand.
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Amy said again, petulantly, but she took Alex’s hand and stood.
I put an arm around her waist. “You only say that when you are, in fact, doing something wrong. Don’t forget, I’ve known you since you were born.”
Amy pouted, then burst into tears. “I really wasn’t though. I love Tyler. I wouldn’t mess that up.”
Alex gave me a look and tilted his head toward the door. I nodded.
Madison and Ashlee were crowded at the entrance with the rest of the girls. Two were sitting on the floor, looking like they might throw up again. “I’ll see if I can grab a couple of trash bags from the bar,” Alex said, surveying the situation. “How many Ubers do we need?”