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Old batty turned away slowly, looking absolutely shell-shocked. As soon as she walked a few feet away, Claire downed another glass of champagne and shook her head.
“Old bitches,” she snarled.
“Thank you,” I told her sincerely.
Her eyes softened and she nodded before looking for another champagne flute. “I need to not feel my feet.” Her face scrunched up in pain.
I admired her even more in that moment for going after Aunt Batty. Even though Claire was my younger sister, she was stronger than me. She said her opinions straight out and never apologized for them. I, on the other hand, spent most of my life hiding my true feelings. I only ever wrote them out… and even then, I usually never reread them again– if I did, I’d probably just break down over old emotions. My google drive was a graveyard for unfinished books and writings– all fiction… with underlying hints of truth…
“AndI think I need to be drunk for this garter toss,” Claire added as she downed the contents of another flute glass.
I snapped my eyes to hers. “Wait, you’re actually doing that?”
She rolled her eyes. “Duke said that was one thing I wasn’t allowed to ax for some reason. Oh, and we’re doing the dumb bouquet toss too. Your ass better be on the dance floor to support me.”
I quickly realized why Duke wanted to do the garter toss: He wanted a show, which wassohim.
He walked around the crowd of people lining the black-and-white checkered dance floor and raised his arms for cheers from his hockey boys. When he turned to look at Claire sitting on a chair in the middle of the floor, his face turned fiery. Claire’s face, on the other hand, burned bright red, and I could see her trying to stifle a giggle.
He stalked toward her and proceeded to practically give her a lap dance before taking one of her long legs in his hand. He sniffed up her leg before disappearing under her skirt.
“Jesus Christ,” my dad muttered next to me and turned to order another beer from the bar. “I can’t watch this.”
I laughed at that and patted him on the back. “You should be happy about this. Don’t you want a mini Duke and Claire grandbaby?”
He choked on a sip of beer. “God help us all.”
The two of them had tormented practically everyone in the rink when they were kids.
I chuckled wryly at that and turned back to the happy couple. Claire was most definitely tipsy because she threw her head back laughing at his antics. Knowing them, he was probably narrating the experience and making it even more funny than it ever could be– that was a total Duke thing to do.
My dad side-eyed me. “I heard you guys went after Aunt Pearl.”
I shrugged. “She had it coming,” I said simply.
“Guess so,” my dad grumbled. “But now I have to go do damage control.”
I patted him on the back and smiled fake sweetly at him.
“You tell her off nice and good at least?” he said out of the corner of his mouth as he waved to an old uncle across the room.
“Claire did.”
“Oof,” he chuckled. “Alight, I’m going to chat with her. Come save me in 15 minutes if I’m still talking.
“Aye-aye-Captain,” I said, saluting him.
He walked off and I inconspicuously kicked off my shoes under the bar.
“Whatup Kessel?”
I turned to face a scruffy looking Max.
I took a sip of my whiskey coke. It was my drunk drink– the one I only ever ordered when I was already feeling it… when I wanted to drown my sorrows in old memories… because it smelled likehim… but I’d never admit that to anyone.
I cleared my throat. “If you ask me about when it's my turn to get married, I will literally deck you in the face, Max. Couldn’t do it to my old batty aunt, but you? You’ll have a shiner for weeks,” I told him sassily.
“Woah, woah, woah.” He laughed and put his hands up in innocence. “No, I was just gonna say it’s nice to see you. I haven’t seen you in forever, girl.”
