levelheaded girl would do in my situation. I slam another two shots of tequila and tell Stephanie to lead the way.
It doesn’t take long to find them, since I was already privy to the information on their whereabouts. I spot the bachelor party crew, cheering on Michael while he shot guns a beer, before Matthew points over at our three-some headed their way. Michael spurts out his beer when he locks eyes with me and he turns stark white. He runs over to us, grabs onto my shoulders and in a panic shouts, “Please tell me Jess is okay.”
“She’s fine” I nod and let out a tiny hiccup, “She puked, but her mom brought her back to their villa.”
Michael sighs with relief, and Eric pops up beside him, “This is a bachelor party, no girls allowed.”
“What are you five?” I laugh, and drape my arm over Michael’s shoulders as the room spins around me.
Michael pipes up, “So what. It’s my bachelor party, and I want them to stay”
Eric rolls his eyes as Michael walks me over to the table.
My heart stops when I see Stephanie has already thrown herself on Ben’s lap and is whispering sweet nothing’s in his ear. I catch him laughing and whispering something back, and it makes my blood boil. He shifts on his chair when he sees me. When I look away, he shouts out my name over the music, but I do my best to ignore him, and keep my eyes straight ahead.
“Megan, over here.” Steven’s voice says from the opposite end of the table. He stands up to greet me, and stumbles over in my direction. He drapes his arm around my shoulders and gives me a tiny kiss on the cheek, “What a nice surprise.”
I catch Ben out of the corner of my eyes with a scowl on his face. Stephanie places her index finer on his chin and turns his head back to her, but his eyes are still directed at me. I flip my long brown curls behind my shoulders and let Steven escort me into the empty chair beside him.
“Did you meet Dave and Charlie yet?” Steven says sliding me a shot of some clear licorice smelling liquid, which I’m guessing is Sambuca.
“No, I haven’t.” I say and shake both their hands.
“Dave’s my brother, and Charlie is Aunt Florence’s son.” Steven says with a smile.
“It’s nice to finally meet you. Jessica has kept you locked up for too long.” Charlie laughs, “I don’t know why she didn’t introduce us before. If she had, you might have been on my arm tonight and not with this goof ball over here.” He nudges Steven and they share a chuckle.
“Ready to take that?” Dave asks narrowing his eyes at my shot glass.
“I guess so.” I say and pick it up in my fingers.
“Hey!” Dave shouts and turns to everyone at the table, “Let’s all do a shot. Everyone grab one off the tray.” He raises his glass and looks at Michael, “To Jessica and Michael.”
I bring my shot glass to my lips, and feel Ben’s big brown eyes glaring at me. He is still chatting with Stephanie, but at least she has moved off his lap and onto the chair beside him. I catch her flirtatiously graze her fingers along his exposed arm, and it feels like someone has punched me in the gut. Ben looks over at me again, with what I detect is a little pang of uncertainty in his eyes, but I immediately look away.
“I like your dress.” Steven says, as he inches closer to me and grazes his hand up my bare thigh.
“I like your shirt.” I say and mean it. He is wearing a very sexy denim shirt, over top of a crisp white tee.
He blushes a bit and looks down in his chest, “I don’t know what you’re doing to me, but I like it. Jessica knew what she was doing when she introduced us. You’re everything I’m looking for, beautiful, smart, and very modest. I like that.”
I am trying so hard to feel something, anything after Steven says this to me, but all I feel is empty. I take a deep breath and make the mistake of looking over his shoulder. Ben cups the back of Stephanie’s neck and a bunch of her auburn curls wrap themselves in his fingers. He whispers something in her ear and I immediately feel nauseated.
“Excuse me.” I say and push up from the table, “I need to use the