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I flinch and pull my head back and she does too, shaking her head like she’s been caught in a trance, her face looking as if she’s seen a ghost.
I don’t do this. I don’t go after another man’s woman. There are a lot of men out there who subscribe to that way of thinking, but I’m not one of them. Call me old school or whatever—it’s just not something I’m okay with. Of course, I’m also not the kind of guy that ditches his responsibilities, which I totally did tonight. Mila messes with my brain in so many ways. How is this next week in Hawaii going to go when I can’t keep my mind—or my hands right now—off her?
The song ends and we pull apart completely. I clear my throat and give her a closed-mouth smile that has to be awkward if the one she’s giving me is any reflection.
She stands with her hands at her sides. “Thanks, uh … for the dance,” she says. Her eyes move down to my shoes. “They don’t look too bad from here.”
I look down at them too, for lack of a better place for my gaze to land. I couldn’t care less about these shoes. “Look just fine to me.” I give her my best reassuring smile.
“I’m gonna go back to my seat,” she says with a head bob in the direction of the VIP section as the beginning of a Beyoncé song starts to play through the speakers.
“Sounds good,” I say as she walks away. Part of me wants to follow her back there, to sit down on the couch with her and talk more. But I know what I need to do now. I’ve done enough tonight.
I tap Shane, who’s now doing some sexy dancing with Nadia, on the shoulder.
“I’m heading out,” I tell him, my mouth close to his ear so he can hear me.
“Why? Looked like you were getting cozy with Mila over there,” he says.
I shake my head, wishing he hadn’t noticed. “It was just a friendly thing.”
“Didn’t look friendly,” he says.
“I’ll see you next week in Hawaii.” I give him a quick slap on the back as a goodbye.
Then, with a quick wave to Nadia, I grab the jacket I’d checked at the door when we arrived and pull up my Uber app to get home.
FIVE YEARS AGO
THIS ONE WAS A DESTINATION wedding in Saint Thomas and probably one of the prettiest venues I’ve ever seen. With the white sandy beaches, the crystal-clear turquoise water, and the tropical climate, it made the most beautiful wedding backdrop for my friend Harper, who I met in college, and her fiancé, Oliver—who she also met in college.
Harper’s parents were wealthy. Not Shane wealthy, but not far off. So, all the stops were pulled out for her nuptials. There was nothing the daughter of James Walsh could not have. The phrase“Anything for my baby girl”was thrown around multiple times.
We all went for the week, and both Scarlett (who’d been married the previous year and whose husband’s concussion was partly my doing) and I were bridesmaids, so it was fun to be there with her and Daniel. Accommodations were paid for by Harper’s mom and dad, and there were activities every day of the week leading up to the wedding. Private beach bonfires, a sunset catamaran cruise (which ended up being more like a booze cruise), a snorkeling adventure, expensive catered dinners, and glamorous spa visits.
It was, for many of us who were shoulders-deep in student loans, the most extravagant vacation we’d been on in years, and for some of us (ahem, me), the most lavish one ever.
One of the groomsmen was a guy named Lorenzo, who was a cousin of Oliver’s and was quite possibly the most beautiful man I’d ever seen at the time. It turned out Lorenzo had a thing for pasty, lanky girls with dark hair and blue eyes, because during the sunset catamaran cruise, we hit it off.
It was ridiculously romantic, something straight out of a fairy tale, honestly. He was handsome, funny, intelligent, witty, and handsome. Yes, I know I said that twice. It bears repeating. Picture a taller, buffer Michael Trevino fromThe Vampire Diaries.
There were long walks on the beach, swimming in the ocean together, staying up late talking, lots and lots (and lots) of kissing. Lorenzo definitely knew how to kiss. He was a dream. That’s what it felt like: dreaming. I had visions of continuing this thing when we got back to the States. He lived in Las Vegas, which wasn’t that far of a plane ride away from me. He talked like he didn’t want it to end either.
Funny thing about dreams: some of them are too good to be true.
The day of the wedding, everything went great. Harper looked amazing, Oliver cried like a big baby as she walked down the aisle, and Lorenzo and I kept giving each other little flirty looks throughout the ceremony.
Afterward we took pictures on the beach, and then the reception began. It was a big affair, tons of food, lots of alcohol, and the centerpiece for the whole thing was a massive wedding cake sitting on a stand that made it nearly as tall as me. Harper’s dad made sure we all knew that it was made by some super famous baker he’d flown out here just for the occasion. Because he’d doanythingfor his baby girl.
It should be noted that Harper didn’t care about the cake at all and that it was totally her father’s thing, which took some of the sting out of what happened later that night.
I was luckily seated next to Lorenzo at dinner, and we dined on lobsters and filet mignon and drank champagne from a fountain while a jazz trio played in the background.
When the dancing started, following Harper’s and Oliver’s first dance as husband and wife, Lorenzo wanted me to dance with him. But I lured him into a dark corner at the back of the venue to kiss me instead. It was a win-win. I didn’t have to dance, and I also got to kiss him.
When a song came on that Lorenzo wanted to dance to, he guided me toward the floor, where I realized I suddenly needed to use the bathroom. Convenient excuse, but not one I’d be able to use every time. I really needed to think of something better.
It was on my way back to find him that I saw him and one of the other bridesmaids, who was another cousin of the groom, having what looked like a heated argument over off to the side of the big, glorious wedding cake. Not one to interrupt, but also not one to pass up possible juicy gossip, I snuck around to a pillar near them and stood behind it.
