“I honestly thought there might be blood, but the bride probably would’ve flipped out at getting the wrong shade of red on her dress,” Mikey murmured back. Judah smothered a laugh as he watched Jessica Rabbit plaster on a fake smile, looking entirely unrecognizable as the bridesmaid he’d butted heads with.
“Do you know any of them?” Judah asked casually. Jewish Geography was a common enough game that he knew Mikey wouldn’t read anything into the question, but he tore his gaze away from her anyway.
“Third down from the bride is Kira Richman. I think we’re technically second cousins? And that one on the end lookssofamiliar, but I can’t figure out how I know her.”
Jessica Rabbit.
The photo shoot ended and the bridesmaids came flowing off the platform, with Jessica headed right in their direction. He knew he should keep his mouth shut, but he couldn’t resist. “I see you’re doing much better in these heels.”
She stopped in her tracks and whirled around, immediately making him regret ever opening his mouth. “Maybeyoushould try a pair so you can develop the ability to feel empathy,” she said sweetly.
“They don’t really go with this outfit, but thanks.”
“Neither does that tie, but that’s clearly not stopping you.”
Next to him, Mikey snorted with laughter. “Klein, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl hand your tuchus to you before. How do you two know each other?”
“We don’t,” they said at the same time, although she surprised him by adding, “though you’d think we would, given his brother is one of my best friends.”
Nowthatcaught him off guard. “You’re friends with Akiva?”
“Better friends than you are, I’m guessing,” she said wryly. “I live in the apartment below his. You’d probably know that if you ever accepted one of his million invitations.”
“Yeah, I’ve clearly missed out on many a pleasant social interaction,” he shot back. “Currently swimming in regrets that we haven’t had more of these lovely encounters.”
Her ocean-blue eyes flashed. “You—”
“Arielle!” Another bridesmaid stalked in their direction, and Jessica Rabbit—Arielle, apparently—winced. “Are you coming?”
Mikey snapped his fingers. “Becker, right? Why do I know that? And you look so familiar.”
“I probably hooked up with someone you know,” she said coolly, and it was Judah’s turn to wince, though Mikey took it in stride.
“Nah, I’m sure—oh, wait. Robbie Stern?”
“Winter break in Miami, senior year of high school,” sheconfirmed. “Well, this has been fun, but I’m needed by the bride. See you at the chuppah. Don’t worry,” she added to Judah, “I fully intend to keep my distance this time.”
Then she sashayed off, as if knowing everyone in the room was watching her walk away.
“Was that Bend Her Like Becker?” Dave asked, bumping Judah in the shoulder with his guitar as he came up behind them. “Man, I haven’t seen her in years.”
Mikey snorted. “And just how much have you seen of her?”
Judah wasn’t sure why he wanted to smash Dave and Mikey’s heads together—it was clear Arielle was just fine with her sexual past—but he had to curl his fingers into his palms to stop himself anyway.
“Unfortunately none, but one of my friends in yeshiva hooked up with her for a few weeks. I hear she’s still single,” Dave said with a rueful shake of his head. “Guess that makes sense; hard to imagine wifing up a girl half your friends have probably seen naked. Feels like a waste, though.”
“Yeah, she—” Mikey cut himself off and clapped a hand on Judah’s shoulder, jolting him out of the conversation. “Hold up. We’re probably scaring poor, pure Judah here. He’s a good yeshiva boy. He doesn’t wanna hear about hot girls or your wannabe glory days.”
“Sorry, man.” Dave’s grin suggested he was anything but. “Speaking of, how come you’re still single? I’d think girls’d be all over you.”
“No one’s good enough for this man.” Mikey wrapped his arm around Judah’s neck and pulled him into the briefest of bro hugs. He smelled cloyingly sweet, like cherry cough drops. “He needs a good girl. Let’s find him a good girl.”
“That’s really not necessary,” Judah said wryly, rubbing his fingers together in the habitual way he’d done ever since the Kellerman-Kahn wedding. It was a most annoying tic, and it was a relief noone ever asked him about it, because he still hadn’t come up with a good cover story.
“Oh, come on. There’s gotta be some eligible bachelorettes here. There are a ton of bridesmaids. Are they all married?”
“Definitely not all,” Dave said with a waggle of his bushy eyebrows, and Mikey burst out laughing.
