Gabriela sipped at her malbec, wishing this night would come to an end.
“What are we going to do about this lame-ass party?” Liv moaned. “I’m bored.”
Lame? This party was not lame, and Gabriela had a clipboard to prove it. A clipboard full of activities. Granted, they’d only gotten through the shots part so far, but they were warming up to the rest, like Friend-ivia. Trivia all about the roots of Lola’s friendship with each bridesmaid. Gabriela had read about it online.
“We could play a trivia game. I made up one just for Lola,” Gabriela began, searching for her clipboard. She had all the questions mapped out and party prizes for bridesmaids who got the right answer.
“Trivia? No way.” Felicia frowned. Then she seemed to get inspired. “I know! Why don’t we go crash the bachelor party?”
Liv squealed in delight, clapping her hands together. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Oh, no, no...no! Gabriela couldn’t think of a worse idea. For one, they were supposed to have separate parties, and she’d made sure through a detailed schedule on her clipboard that they’d all be headed to different bars at different times to avoid crossing paths. Now Felicia was going to ditch all her hard work!
“No, we can’t,” Gabriela said. “We promised we’d stay in separate bars.”
“Who promised? I didn’t promise.” Felicia smirked at Gabriela.
Gabriela thought the idea had disaster written all over it. “Seriously. What if they’ve got strippers there?”
“On a cruise ship?” Liv looked doubtful. “Besides, I bet Lola wants to go. Lola!” Liv raised her voice.
Lola turned after having a bite of cheese. Veronica was already stacking her plate high with tiny cubes.
“Do you want to go crash the boys’ party?”
Felicia skipped over and Lola’s face lit up. Pretty soon, the two were jumping up and down and squealing in delight.
“Of course she does!” Felicia called as she tucked her arm through Lola’s and led her out of the bar.
“But I don’t think...” Gabriela protested one last time.
“What the bride wants, the bride gets,” Liv said and pushed past Gabriela on her way to the cruise ship elevators.
Gabriela shook her head. She had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling.
UP ON DECK TEN, Sebastian was desperately trying to liven up what he could only call the world’s tamest bachelor party. They’d taken over the small whiskey bar on Deck Ten, with the ornate, old-fashioned, carved wooden wraparound bar, and had staked out the corner table surrounded by oversize leather chairs. The men sat in a semicircle: the groom, Marco; his brother, James; and Marco’s cousin Bill, who were about as lively as a stick in the eye. The only lively attendee so far was Lola’s brother, Theo, whom Sebastian had known since first grade.
So far, the men had only barely sipped at their expensive whiskeys and the most exciting conversation revolved around who took which expressway to work every morning. Boring.
Sebastian had to think of something to put this party back on track and fast. He was determined to make this bachelor party the very best party of a lifetime. If his best friend was saying goodbye to singlehood, something Sebastian himself thought was darn near close to social suicide, then he was determined to send him off with a bang. First, he needed to get these guys to drink.
Sebastian raised his glass high for a toast. “To you, Marco. Tonight is almost your last night—technically—as a single man. You crazy fool!” The others laughed a bit, but he continued. “I know that Lola is going to make you a very happy man. And no one deserves it more than you.”
Sebastian meant every word. He’d known Marco since law school, where the two happened to sit next to each other in Constitutional Law. But their friendship had deepened when Marco had helped him bury his mother after she lost her battle with liver cancer. That was a sorrowful memory, but Sebastian would always be grateful to Marco for being there.
“Hear, hear,” James echoed.
“Let’s get this party started,” cried Theo.
They all clinked glasses and took a swig. “By the way, when is it going to be your turn, Sebastian? Isn’t this the fifth wedding this year you’ve gone to?” Marco asked.
“The answer is never,” Theo interrupted. “This guy? He’s not the settling-down type.”
“That’s not true,” scoffed Sebastian. And lately he’d been thinking more and more about settling down. Sure, marriage sounded like pure insanity to him: one woman for the rest of his life? What was he, dead inside? Or he would be if he ever put on a ring. But, lately, he was thinking more about a woman who might be able to keep his interest for more than a week or month at a time. Lately, his parade of partners on the dating hookup app Spark was all about the quick physical connection. He couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d had a decent conversation with one of them. Then again, that’s not why they came over to his house at midnight, either.
“You like to play the field, huh?” Bill leaned forward and grinned, his wedding band catching the meager light. “Tell me about it.”
Bill was the last person Sebastian wanted to confide in.
“He was the first guy with a dating app account in law school,” Marco agreed. “He cleaned up.”
“He’s got game.” Theo grinned and elbowed Sebastian hard. Sebastian mustered up a weak smile. Sure, he had to admit, it was fun hooking up with random women who weren’t looking for commitment, but these days, he wanted to take a girl out for once, maybe even learn a single detail about her other than what position she liked best. Maybe he was getting old, or maybe he was just tired of the revolving door of his own bedroom. He wanted something more. Marco had showed him exactly what he wanted, actually—real companionship. Someone to talk to. Someone to care for him when he was sick. Somebody who’d just care about him period after the fury of the one-night stand wore off.
“Yeah, but I’m not into that now.” Sebastian shrugged and stared at his glass of whiskey.
“You want to get married?” Theo asked, shocked.
“Hey, I don’t know. Maybe.” What was he saying? Was he really ready to shelve his riding spurs for life? Strap himself to one woman for all time? He didn’t know. All he did know was that for the very first time in his life, he’d actually consider the possibility.
“Oh, please.” Marco didn’t believe him. Of course, Sebastian didn’t blame him. Why would a player suddenly have a change of heart? Because the player was almost thirty, that’s why, and realized that he’d built a life and had no one to share it with. In fact, most of the men here were married or engaged. James and Sebastian were the only fully single partygoers. “You once dated three girls in one weekend.”
“Well, be careful,” Bill said. “You know how many STDs are out there? Some of them aren’t pretty.”
Who talked about STDs at a bachelor party? Geez.
“Sounds like you know a bit too much about that, Bill,” Sebastian joked. But when the man turned bright red, Sebastian realized that Bill might actually have had a few experiences at the local health clinic.
“You get in trouble, Bill?” Theo echoed.
“I’m married now,” Bill said, as if that answered anything. It didn’t.
The men all stared at Bill. Now they were all thinking about Bill’s issues. How