18 - Landon

18

Landon

"Honestly, I feel fine," Bradyn said while we relaxed in the country club library. "Not even a little nervous."

"Atta boy," Teddy said. Everyone else was calling him Theo, but I still thought of him as the same wild Teddy who used to take care of my hungover brother in college. "Have you tried the Whistle Pig yet? It'll knock your socks off."

Theo The Adult Man had brought several bottles from his whiskey collection for everyone to try. We still had over an hour to go until the wedding, but we all had a nice buzz going. The whiskeys were smooth and full of complex flavors. It was a huge change from the ten dollar bottle of scotch that Teddy The College Student used to bring to parties.

"I heard your girlfriend got promoted to bridesmaid," Theo said, joining me over by the window where club employees were arranging the outdoor chairs for the ceremony.

"Word spreads fast, huh?" I replied.

Theo blinked and said, "Oh, uh, Bradyn told me. Apparently Liz has been puking her guts out since this morning."

I chuckled to myself. "Glad it's just her. It sounds like a stomach bug. My mother would die of embarrassment if she accidentally gave the entire wedding party food poisoning from the rehearsal dinner!"

"Nothing says in sickness and in health like puking into adjacent toilets in the bathroom." Theo flashed that friendly smile that made everyone love him. "Joanna seems nice, though. How long have you two been dating?"

"About two months."

"Where'd you meet?"

"A conference in Milwaukee," I replied. He was asking a lot of questions. He was probably just being friendly though, rather than being actually suspicious about my relationship with Joanna. Mom had always called him a Golden Retriever. Friendly and enthusiastic about everything, but not exactly a Jeopardy champion. He wouldn't figure out what was actually going on with Joanna and me.

"Like I said, she seems nice. You two make a gorgeous couple." His smile slipped a little bit. Strange.

"How are the ladies treating you these days?" I asked, to change the subject away from Joanna.

"I can't complain," he replied with a modest shrug. "I had a good first date with a woman last week. She's really into hockey, though. Doesn't even watch the Cubbies."

"That might be a problem," I said. I knew Theo was a huge Cubs fan. "What's her name?"

"J… Jane," Theo said. "Jane, uh, Bedard."

"Like Connor Bedard? No wonder she's a hockey fan. She gets to wear the same jersey."

"Yeah, totally." Theo took a sip of his whiskey and looked around.

"When are you seeing Jane again?"

"Next week. When we're all back from Jamaica. It's only been one date… but man, she's something special."

"You should have brought her to the wedding. I'm sure Bradyn could find a way to make room at the last minute for you."

"Nah, that's all right," Theo said. "It would be crazy to bring someone you barely know to a wedding."

He stared at me a fraction of a second longer. Long enough that I began to wonder if he did suspect something about Joanna. Then he turned to Bradyn and launched into a long story about the first time they got drunk together.

I was just imagining things. So far, Joanna and I had fooled everyone else. There was no way Theo of all people would figure it out.

The final hour before the ceremony went by surprisingly fast. One minute we were laughing about college stories, and the next moment we were walking outside and lining up to the left of the altar. There were at least two hundred people at the wedding, all seated in their chairs while Austin played light guitar music off to the side. I scanned the crowd, smiling at friends and family that I recognized. That was the best part about weddings: seeing people you hadn't seen in a long time.

Then the bridesmaids started walking down the aisle. They came in reverse order: Chloe first, a huge grin on her face. Wanda was next, openly weeping but trying to keep her face smiling, which made it look like she was silently screaming.

Then Joanna appeared at the back of the crowd.

The bridesmaid dresses were hideous blue things, but my girlfriend somehow looked stunning in hers. The cut of the dress hugged her hips and accentuated her narrow waist. A chain of sapphires hung deep into her cleavage, and matching earrings framed her heart-shaped face.

She met my gaze from across the ceremony, and gave a sheepish little smile.

I realized I had been holding my breath; slowly I let it out and resumed breathing normally. For the first time since that morning, I was glad she had agreed to be a bridesmaid. If anything, she was stealing the show from the other women. My cock stirred at the way she swayed her hips while walking down the aisle. Obviously I knew she was an attractive woman, but this was the first time I had truly paused to appreciate her body.

She's not my real girlfriend, I reminded myself. After tonight, we can stop pretending .

When she reached the altar, she abruptly darted over to the men's line and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she moved to the other side of the altar and took her spot next to the other bridesmaids. In the front row, my parents beamed at me.

"That's going to leave a mark!" Uncle Robert whisper-shouted in the second row. A few people around him groaned.

Theo was giving me a sideways look, though. I shrugged at him. He probably thought Joanna's kiss was stealing the show, but I didn't think it was a big deal.

Carol came down the aisle last, and then the priest motioned for everyone to rise. The guitar music trailed off, and a long silence stretched. Then Marisa appeared at the back of the aisle, escorted by her father. She paused, eyes shimmering as she looked up at her groom.

The wedding planner was off to the left, pointedly coughing. I glanced over there: Austin was standing with his guitar, but instead of playing any music, he was transfixed by the bride.

"Hey!" the wedding planner hissed. "Canon in D! Austin!"

The Texan gave himself a little shake, and then resumed playing. Marisa and her father began the long walk down the aisle.

The ceremony was short and sweet. A few stories, a couple of prayers, and then the vows. Theo made a show of patting his body and pretending like he'd lost the ring, but then bent down and pulled it out of his sock. He thrust his hand in the air, proudly displaying the ring like Frodo at the end of Return of the King .

Always the goofball, that guy.

After the ceremony, we walked down the aisle in pairs. Bradyn and Marisa first, obviously. Theo and Carol went next.

I extended my elbow for Joanna, and she clung to it as we walked away from the altar. "You look amazing," I said.

"You clean up pretty nicely yourself," she replied. "Your ass looks downright illegal in those tuxedo pants. Don't be angry if I cop a few feels tonight while I'm still your girlfriend."

Strangely, the compliment made my cheeks hot. It meant more coming from Joanna than if she was my actual girlfriend. "How many mimosas have you had?"

"That's none of your business," she said, sticking her nose in the air. "But I'll give you a hint. It's a number between four and six."

"You've had five mimosas already?!?!"

She gasped. "You cracked my code. You must be a math genius."

The two of us giggled while joining the others in the clubhouse, and for a few moments I forgot that we were only pretending.