I turned to Anna and offered her my arm again, but she was already walking away, once more stepping on the balls of her shoes.
“Hey, I’m going to talk to my friends.” With one last unreadable look, Anna turned away and waved excitedly at two women, one of whom was Cassie’s maid of honor. Soon they were all screeching with joy, jumping up and down and hugging and talking over one another. I left them to it.
I made my way to the seating chart and checked for my name and Anna’s. We weren’t sitting at the same table, not even close. I’d been seated with the Stumpstashers, and she’d been seated with what I assumed was the college crew. Shame.
Not looking to mingle, I picked up my place card and headed to the bar for a drink.
Chapter 5
-Anna-
I wasn’t used to talking to big groups of people anymore, but I grabbed a glass of wine and threw myself into the task, feigning enthusiasm. I had to, in order to get my mind off of Ian…
...his tantalizing cologne…
...his firm bicep and rough hands…
...his soft, warm lips against my knuckle.
That last one had really surprised me. The kiss was an old-timey gesture, one that I would have laughed at had someone else been on the receiving end. Instead, I’d found myself melting, my brain turned to mush, dripping and pooling down between my legs. An utterly illogical response.
It must not have been completely illogical, though, given the number of heads that turned as we walked into the ceremony space.
I didn’t like where things were going. The things he did to me. Those types of feelings were not supposed to come from that type of guy. Acting on them would surely bring disaster.
I actively avoided him for the rest of the evening.
For dinner, I was seated at a table with Jessa and Lisa and their new husbands, Jake and Prashant, as well as some of our other college friends. I thought that they’d be sore at me for missing their weddings, but right off the bat, we were giggling and joking, just like in the old days. Each inside joke and playful exchange filled me with bubbles of warmth, and I silently thanked Cassie for strong-arming me into coming.
The whole wedding was really sweet, and I was grudgingly affected. Not that I would ever admit it to anyone, but I started tearing up during the ceremony. Despite my cynicism about the institution of marriage, I could see how genuinely pleased Cassie was. This was not Fake News. They way they looked at each other, the same way that Frankie looked at both of them...I was so happy for her, so glad that she had found someone who loved her just as deeply as she loved him. Plus, the speeches from Cassie’s mom and Michael’s dad were hilarious, and Jessa gave a heartwarming speech about how Cassie had brought together all of our friends. She’d even given a shout-out to each person in our crew who had come to the wedding, and I was glad once again that I was there, especially when Cassie came over to our table after the speech to take a silly selfie with us.
That was one aspect of weddings that I could get behind—bringing old friends back together. In their company, I laughed and cheered and enjoyed myself way more than I’d ever thought possible at a wedding.
After the speeches came the first dance. For the first minute or so, Cassie and Michael did the usual slow sway, back and forth and side to side. But partway through, the DJ cut over to an upbeat pop song, and Cassie tore off the bottom of her dress, tossed the fabric to Jessa, and broke out into some disco moves with Michael. It was impeccably executed, fun and entertaining and true to Cassie’s style, and as soon as the song ended, the audience erupted in cheers and applause.
Right after, the DJ invited everyone to join them, opening up the dance floor. The music was top 40, and while it wasn’t my usual cup of tea, I didn’t mind getting up to bounce around with Jessa and Lisa and our old college buddies. It felt a little like we were at a frat party again, especially with the open bar, which I found myself taking advantage of more than once.
Maybe weddings weren’t so bad.
But then the DJ announced that it was time for the bouquet toss. I planted myself in my seat, refusing to budge, despite the fact that Jessa and Lisa were both chanting my name. I ignored them and turned to look at Cassie, whom I was annoyed to find staring at me and waving me over, exaggeratedly mouthing Come on! I hid my face behind my hand and stared at the table, mortified. Then Jessa and Lisa chanted louder, and soon my entire table was encouraging me to go.
Finally, the DJ announced, “Looks like there’s a pretty young lady over there who should join in. Let’s get her to come up, everyone!”
And then everyone was chanting my name.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck.
I threw my hands up in exasperation and everyone clapped and cheered as I walked over to the dance floor, to where the bouquet toss was happening.
I vowed not to catch the bouquet, even if it hit me in the face.
There were maybe ten of us single ladies, a couple of whom were just young girls who were running and jumping around, excited to participate in the festivities. I noticed Ian then, sitting at the table just behind where I was standing. He’d turned his chair out to face the dance floor (undoubtedly to better see me be humiliated), and he gave me a thumbs up when he saw me looking his way. I stuck my tongue out at him and turned around to face Cassie.
Cassie peered out at the crowd on the dance floor and purposefully made eye contact with me. She then turned around,
