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Smiling, I grab a glass. “Thanks,” I say, just as Brandon and Tracy walk over, also taking a glass each of champagne. “All good?” I ask them.
“Perfect,” Tracy replies, smiling as she leans in to kiss my cheek. “Thank you, Ethan, for everything. Today has been so perfect.”
“You’re very welcome,” I reply, glancing over at my brother who is busy flirting with Gabrielle, Brandon’s older sister and one of Tracy’s bridesmaids.
“You know there’s a good chance he’s gonna try and hook up with her tonight, don’t you?” Brandon says to me as he takes a sip of champagne.
I laugh, shaking my head as I look at my best friend. “You do know he’s already hooked up with her?” I ask, knowing Simon has had a huge crush on Brandon’s older sister, despite the eight-year age gap, for as long as I can remember.
“Seriously?” Brandon asks, looking genuinely surprised.
Tracy laughs as I grin at him and say, “Yep, pretty sure.”
“Fuck,” he mutters, throwing back half his glass of champagne.
“Baby, how can you not know this?” Tracy asks, looping her arm through Brandon’s as she giggles and gives me a wink.
“Wait, you knew?” he now says.
Tracy and I both laugh as we all turn to watch Simon and Gabrielle, the two of them clearly very familiar with each other and not just because Simon and I practically lived at their house for most of our childhood and then after our parents died.
“I thought we all knew,” Tracy now says.
Brandon finishes his champagne. “Everyone but me apparently,” he mumbles, almost to himself. “Hey, Simon!” he now calls, tipping his head when Simon looks over at us. “Come here for a sec.”
Simon grins before turning back to Brandon’s sister to say something that has her laughing before he kisses her on the cheek and walks over to join us. “Hey, what’s up?” he asks.
“Be nice,” Tracy says, kissing her husband quickly before she walks over to join her bridesmaids, all three of them now watching us and laughing.
Brandon crosses his arms over his chest, hitting my brother with a look as he says, “So what’s this I hear about you and my sister then?”
A look of panic crosses Simon’s face as he glances at me before turning back to Brandon. “Huh, what are you talking about?” he asks.
Brandon arches a brow at him. “You and Gabrielle,” he says, his voice measured. “What’s going on with you two?”
Simon looks at me, the panic now morphing into fear as he silently asks me what the hell this is all about. With a smirk, I shrug, knowing my brother got himself into this mess, so he can get himself out of it. While I get a good laugh out of it all of course. I’m actually legit surprised Brandon didn’t know any of this was happening though, because it’s not like Simon has ever hidden his feelings about Gabrielle. And if I had to guess, I’d say those feelings aren’t one-sided either.
“I, um…there’s um, there’s nothing going on,” he eventually says, his words a complete lie that we can all hear.
“Really?” Brandon says. “That’s not what I hear.” He glances at me and then the group of ladies before turning back to my brother, his face not giving anything away. “You wanna fill me in on what’s going on with you and my sister?”
“I, um…I…” Simon stammers before eventually Brandon bursts out laughing.
“Fucking hell, you should see your face, man,” he says, clapping Simon on the shoulder.
“Wait, what?” Simon replies as I laugh, shaking my head because I should’ve known Brandon was just giving him shit. “No really, you fucking knew?” he now asks, incredulous.
“You think I didn’t?” Brandon replies with a wink. “Jesus, Simon, we’veallknown you’ve been crushing on her for-fucking-ever. The question is, you finally gonna man up and do something about it. Something legit I mean?”
Simon stares at Brandon, dumbfounded while I struggle to contain my laughter. Eventually though, Brandon and I both lose it, Simon punching Brandon’s shoulder as he says, “You fucker. You’re lucky it’s your wedding day and I really like your wife.”
“And my sister,” Brandon says as the photographer calls us back for some last photos.
By the time we finally walk into the reception back at the lodge, it’s been over an hour since I last saw Zoey. I’d been tempted to call her while we were having photos, but I didn’t, knowing that was probably me being way too overprotective.
Plus, Eric is with her and he’d promised me he wouldn’t let her out of his sight, not even for a second.
The emcee announces our arrival and even from outside, we can hear the clapping and cheers. I watch as Simon and Gabrielle walk arm and arm into the room first, Simon whispering something to her that has her laughing before he nuzzles her neck, glancing back to give Brandon a smirk, clearly not caring who knows about them now.
