The poor man. How had I not seen it before? He seemed to be getting even more worked up, no doubt with regret that he had helped me nab a different guy. I slid Stephen’s untouched Marry Me toward him in sympathy. He accepted it and drank half of it down.
“There you are.” A woman appeared at Christopher’s shoulder. “I was wondering what was taking you so long.”
“Hey, babe.” Christopher’s face softened. “I got caught up talking to a friend.”
My drink seemed to freeze in my throat. The woman twining her arm through Christopher’s was the most stunning woman I’d ever seen in real life. She had a thin ski-slope nose, demure rosebud lips, and those jutting collarbones I’d always thought were photoshopped in. Her hair was perfectly straight and shiny, the color of honey, and she wore a chic, shapeless silk dress that hung off her body in a revoltingly effortless way. Suddenly I felt hideous, scantily clad and overdressed at the same time, my floral cutout dress screaming where hers whispered, my curly chignon trying way too hard, and my giant Julia Roberts mouth deafeningly loud even when I wasn’t speaking.
I wanted to melt into the floor and disappear.
“Rachel, this is my date, Andrea. Andrea, Rachel,” Christopher said.
“So nice to meet you. Your dress is to die for. And I’m just sohappy this guy was able to find a date!” I gave Christopher a playful punch on the arm—why?
Andrea gave Christopher aWho is this crazy lady?look, squinting her makeup-less eyes. (Makeup-less? God, was she really not wearinganyeye makeup?)
Andrea’s appearance as Xio’s replacement cemented how very wrong I’d been. Christopher didn’tlikeme. He was more of a fuckboy than Stephen was, dating gorgeous women and replacing them just a few weeks later.
“Well, I should get Stephen another Marry Me since you’ve finished his.” I laughed and noticed that Andrea seemed pouty. This gave me a surge of confidence: I might not be a five-foot-ten supermodel type, but at least I was fun.
“Don’t worry about it, Rach,” came Stephen’s voice in my ear. I spun around, and he wrapped his hands around my waist. “Let’s get a couple tequila shots instead.”
Christopher made a grimace of distaste. Stephen seemed to notice because he scoffed and rolled his eyes before placing our order at the bar.
“So, I take it you two, um…,” I started, then faltered. Their expressions did not look at all receptive to friendly small talk. I glanced at Andrea, intending to share aWhat’s up with these guys?look, but she had taken out her phone and was swiping at it intently. She didn’t lookquiteas beautiful with her neck craned at a ninety-degree angle.
“Small world.” Christopher addressed his words to Stephen. “I know your girlfriend. Congratulations, by the way. I know it’s not easy for you to settle down. Rachel’s a good one.”
My eyes darted between them. I was confused. Christopher’s tone did not sound sarcastic, but it also didn’t quite fit with his ostensibly friendly words.
Stephen didn’t flinch at the G-word. He arched his eyebrow at me almost imperceptibly and collected our tequila shots. “Thanks. I know she’s a good one, or she wouldn’t be my girl. See you.”
He led the way through the crowd, over to our dinner table. He handed me a shot glass and clinked his against it.
“Cheers!” I followed suit, and we thumped our empty glasses down on the table.
“What a lucky guy I am.” Stephen leaned toward me with a devilish smile. “I have the hottest girlfriend at this wedding.”
“Look. I know we haven’t really discussed—”
Stephen stopped me. “No, it’s okay. I like it.”
“You do?” This was the easiest Define the Relationship talk I’d ever had.
“Yeah.” And he draped his arm over the back of my chair, as if he wanted the whole wedding to look at us and see a couple.
We talked and giggled our way through dinner. Honestly, I hadn’t realized how much fun he was before tonight. He was as much of an exuberant extrovert as I was, and he had our tablemates conversing with such gusto, it became apparent that our table was the life of the party. He was so amusing that Annette—fiftysomething former aunt of the bride by marriage, now divorced—screamed with laughter, and people at the other tables looked around in apparent jealousy. When dinner ended and people began to disperse, heading to the bar or the dance floor, Stephen pointed out various people he knew and told me all the college gossip about them.
At one point, he flagged down a couple more tequila shots, and we whooped and high-fived each other after tossing them back. I leaned in for a kiss and he scooped me into his lap instead, making me shriek until he kissed me to quiet me down. I was havingsuch a good time—and was so tipsy—I don’t know what compelled me to open my eyes as Stephen’s mouth moved down to kiss my neck. Perhaps I felt someone looking at me. At the other end of the white tent, Christopher sat rigidly at his table, staring at me with a stony expression. Was he judging me for having a bit of fun? It was a wedding, for God’s sake! I noticed Andrea was sitting next to him, her neck now resembling that of an ancient turtle as she jabbed at her phone. I pointed at Andrea and mouthed, very clearly, to Christopher:Kiss your girlfriend.He looked both startled and offended. I mouthed it again, as obviously as possible. Christopher narrowed his eyes at me. Stephen looked up.
“Did you say something?” he asked—and then his gaze followed mine. He stood up so suddenly I slid onto the floor.
“Ow, what?” I straightened up, rubbing my hip.
“What are you…” He turned his back to Christopher and spoke as quietly as possible. “How do you know him?”
“Christopher? Our parents are neighbors.”
“Jesus,” he muttered.
