She was on her second gin and tonic.
Her first happened when the man in the polka dotted bow tie sitting next to her asked how she knew the “happy couple”. The second happened when the first dance came on.
She felt sick to her stomach. The tonic should suppress any nausea she told herself as she downed the last bit and made her way back to the bar to make the third happen.
“That’s gotta be a record.” The bartender smiled at her.
She flashed a nervous smile and raised her empty glass to him, “my compliments to the chef.”
He dutifully poured gin over ice into a new glass and paused a moment before adding a little extra. She watched as the ice began to melt, shift, and compact together under their baptism in the smooth clear liquor.
He winked at her as he slid it over, “bottoms up.”
And as if she heard a starting gun sound, she quickly latched onto the glass with both hands. Noticing, the bartender gave her a puzzled look before turning his back to put the gin onto the shelf.
She turned around as she heard the first dance come to an end but hurriedly turned back around when the groom caught her eye. Her breathing quickened and suddenly she felt faint. She raised the glass to her lips and titled it back.
“Weddings, amrite?”
She opened her eyes, on her left was one of the seven groomsmen leaning against the bar. His white shirt untucked, his blue silk tie undone. She sipped on her drink and raised her eyebrows in reply.
“A jack and coke.” He nodded to the bartender.
“I’m Demarcus.” He held out his hand.
She hesitated before removing the drink from her lips and placing her hand in his, “Elle.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Elle.” He said, letting her name roll of his tongue.
She shifted in response. She could feel his eyes slowly moving up her body.
“You want to dance-“
“Hey, DeMarcus! Take it easy, my man. She doesn’t want to be bothered by a gropy groomsmen.”
Elle almost choked on her drink as he cut in between them.
“Eric, Eric, we were just talking.”
“Is that right? Well, let me just ask her then.” His grey eyes turned towards her.
Elle’s head started to spin.
He continued, “Would you like to talk to DeMarcus anymore or is he bothering you?”
“Oh, c’mon man,” DeMarcus slapped him playfully on the back, “you’re gonna ruin it for me!”
Eric raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Well?...”
Elle blinked her eyes and shook her head, “not r-r-really.” She stuttered.
DeMarcus clumsily grabbed his drink off of the bar, “See, I know he influenced you. I’ll be back later.” He flashed a polished smile before walking off, no doubt in search for another lonely woman.
“I got my eye on you!” Eric teasingly shouted after him before turning his attention back to Elle, “College friend. I’m pretty sure he never grew out of his college phase of preying on the innocent.” He smiled and leaned in closer.
Elle tensed her shoulders.
“It’s good to see you, Elle.”
She could feel his warm breath on her neck. Her eyes immediately closed, she needed to get out of here. But before she could leave, she felt an arm on her shoulder. Chiffon and lace batted against her ankles.
“Yay! You guys finally met!”
Elle held her drink out to prevent it from spilling as she was pulled in for a tight hug.
“Elle, it’s so good to have you here!”
“You, too, Rachel. You look gorgeous.” Elle bit her tongue and took a deep breath.
“Isn’t she great? Didn’t I tell you how great she was?” Rachel asked Eric as she clung onto his neck.
He smiled and nodded his head, “Yeah, really great.”
Elle could feel her nausea bubbling back up.
“I’m so happy you came. I know we lost track of each other for a while after high school, but it’s like we picked up right where we left off, huh?”
“Rachel, I--”
Rachel pinched at her eyelashes, “These damn false lashes, I don’t know why I let my mom convince me to wear them today when I normally don’t.”
“You look great.” Eric kissed her cheek.
“Oh, isn’t he just the best?” Rachel scrunched up her nose, before kissing him back.
Elle turned away and finished the last of her glass.
“I better go see if I can just add more glue to them. I’ll see you around, thanks again for coming.” She hugged Elle again.
Elle let out a deep breath once she left, “I can’t do this.” She said quietly, her eyes shifted around to see if anyone was noticing them.
He leaned in closer, “It’s just for today. It’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”
Elle closed her eyes, “You have your-“ Elle’s throat throbbed as she let out the next, “honeymoon, don’t you?”
Eric clicked his tongue and titled his head back, “Ya. I do. Because that’s what you do when you’re married.”
“You shouldn’t have then.” Elle replied under her breath.
“Shouldn’t what? Shouldn’t have gotten married?”
Elle clenched her jaw. Didn’t he see how hard this was for her? “I can’t tell you what to do-“
“Then don’t.” His grey eyes flickered. “Look, I didn’t know you knew her.”
Elle’s hands started to shake, “I didn’t know it was her. I didn’t know I would have to be hiding it from her.”
Eric leant in even closer, all the while holding a smile for show, just in case someone was looking, “Then tell her.” He cocked his head, “Oh, wait, that’s right. You can’t.” He stood up straight and pulled at his sleeves, twisting his cufflinks into place, “Because if you did, I wouldn’t be the only one getting in trouble.”
Elle’s heart sank. She felt as if it had stopped and at the same time as if it was going so fast it would explode.
He flicked her empty glass, a sharp ding resounding, “Might want to order another one. It’ll help make this go easier.” He winked and immediately turned to the people behind him, “And are we having fun over here? I better see you on the dance floor, Uncle Marty!”
Elle wanted to scream. How could he act so casually about all of this? How sick and twisted this was. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to grab the emcee’s mic and blurt it out for all to hear, ruin his evening, ruin his life.
But she couldn’t. She was a part of it too. And he knew that.
“Another one, please.” Elle’s voice cracked as she set down her glass onto the bar.
“Not having a good time?”
Elle let out a laugh, “Sure, you could say that.”
“Oh, c’mon, you can tell me. Bartenders are basically shrinks.” He smiled as he held a newly filled glass out to her.
She took it and nodded her head, “mhmm, well I’m actually a therapist.”
He raised his eyebrows, “Really?”
She took a sip and sucked her teeth, “Afraid so.”
“That seems like a heavy job.”
“You have no idea.”
“So, you work with crazies, huh?”
Elle took a big gulp, “the craziest.”
“I once had a guy tell me he stole money from his job.” The bartender laughed.
Elle tilted her head, “I have a client who is cheating on his girlfriend with his coworker and instead of coming clean and breaking things off with either of them, he married the girlfriend.”
“Yikes. That’s no fun.”
Elle rubbed her neck.
“What’s the most difficult part about being a therapist?”
She took a swig, her eyes falling upon Eric, “Keeping your mouth shut.”