“Everything okay over here? Lovely service, wasn’t it?” She smiles pointedly at Gabby, who doesn’t return my mum's smile and instead rolls her eyes, then walks off. My mum's cheeks flush, and my blood boils, “Oh, Cole, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything nasty by it. I could tell things seemed a bit heated…”
I don’t let my Mum finish before I bring her into a hug and kiss her cheek.
“Don’t you dare apologise for her rudeness, Mum. I’m sorry for her behaviour. I'd better find her before she causes any more trouble. Can you do me a favour and find Lacey, make sure she’s OK?” I leave my Mum and go on the hunt for Gabby.
**********
I find Gabby in the next room, perched up against the bar, nursing a gin and tonic. I sit beside her, and she doesn’t even bother looking my way.
“Hey!” A few people turn around to stare, but I don’t care; I’m done with her rudeness. “Are you going to talk to me and tell me what that was about with my mum? You were fucking rude, Gabby, and that isn’t okay with me.”
She tuts before saying, “Where is this going, Cole? Why even invite me to your brother's wedding?”
“I thought you would have a nice time?” I turn my answer into a question because I have no idea where she’s going with this.
She nods as if I’ve confirmed something. “You meant it when you said this could never be more, didn’t you?” She turns and looks me dead in the eye.
Realisation dawns and my stomach drops. “Yes, Gabby, I meant it. I can’t give you a future. That isn’t in the cards for me. All I can offer is right now, and if that isn’t good enough for you, then I don’t know what you want me to do.”
Her eyes shine with tears, and she angrily swipes at them. “Well, Cole, you should have thought about that before inviting me to a fucking wedding. I’ll pack up the shit you left at mine, and you can collect it in a few days. If you don’t, I’ll just bin it.” Then she gets up and storms out of the venue.
**********
It’s been a few hours since Gabby walked out. Everyone noticed that she made a swift exit, but none of them was surprised. I throw back the whiskey and head over to where my brothers are all gathered together.
“Cole, where have you been? You'd better have practised because if you ruin this for us, I will not be happy with you, okay?” Archie is as frazzled as ever.
Nate smacks the back of his hand across Archie’s chest. “Will you relax, Arch? We’ve all got this.”
Cas joins us, smiling from ear to ear as he says, “Okay, so Hayleigh has Emmy and is bringing her out to the dancefloor. Do you all remember the routine?” He stares each of us down, looking at me twice.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, little brother, we won’t let either of you down.” Little does he know that Lacey has had me practising routines since we were kids. I’ve got this in the bag. The very embarrassing bag, nonetheless.
We take our position on the dance floor; to my left, stand Rafe and Archie. Cas is to my right in the middle of the group, and on his right stand Vik, Ethan, and Nate. We all face away from the crowd. Soft music plays as Hayleigh leads a blindfolded Emmy to her designated seat on the dancefloor just behind us. As one, we all face away from the crowd."
Cas bounces nervously on his feet, so I say to him, “She’s going to love this. Stop bouncing.” He laughs but gulps when, through the speakers “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Directionstarts to play, and we hear Emmy’s squeal of delight as she realises what’s about to happen.
Just like we practised, going from left to right, we swing our hips in time with the beat. Then, when the lyrics start, Cas spins around and sings along as he dances to Emmy. We all stay in our positions until the chorus kicks in, then we spin around and shimmy our top halves to the music before turning to the side and twerking.
Yes. Twerking.
As we follow the routine, I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous we all look, apart from Cas, who, of course, is a pro at this dancing business.
The music switches to “Pony” by Ginuwine, and we spin to the side, all facing the same direction. As the song kicks in, we roll our bodies down, once, twice, before putting our right hands on the shoulder in front of us and lifting our left hand, then bringing it down as we thrust our hips.Who knew I could be so flexible?
We break apart, and Cas does some crazy dance moves while the rest of us continue to thrust our arms and hips in sync. When the lyrics start up, we face away from the crowd and dive to the ground as if doing a handstand, but instead of throwing our legs up, we kick one leg up behind us while lowering ourselves to the floor. Like some sexy version of the worm, we thrust our hips against the floor a couple of times.
We bring our bodies into a wide plank position before jumping up onto our knees. Spinning around with one arm out to help us turn, we stand and roll our bodies.
Cas, still on the floor, uses his knees to slide outwards along the floor to where Emmy sits. He flips around to face away from her before dipping low into a plank. Slowly, he walks his legs back till he’s standing and shakes his backside in front of her face.
She smacks it, and he jumps around, standing over her with his legs on either side of her chair. He holds the back of her chair while he rolls down her body a few times before planting a kiss on her lips.
The music fades, and we bow to the crowd, who have been deafening this whole time.
Lacey makes her way over to me, fanning herself. “Wow! Who knew all of those dance routines would pay off, Cole?” She’s smirking at me, and I can’t help but smile back.
“Sorry, did you just say ‘dance routines’? As in plural?” Archie’s voice floats next to me, and I close my eyes, knowing he’s going to give me shit for this for the rest of our lives.
