Page 22 of Here You Are

“I am not crashing their wedding!”

“We aren’t crashing; we were invited,” she whisper-shouted at me, dragging my body behind her. “We are plus ones!”

I groaned, yet let her drag me over to the dance floor. The groomsmen were waiting for us, high-fiving, impressed that their hollering actually worked.

Drunk groomsman number one made the introductions. “Hi, I’m Justin, and this is my brother, Jeffrey. We thought we were the only people here who didn’t have gray hair. It was a pleasure to see you two ladies on the beach earlier today. I’m glad we caught you.”

Cora yanked me closer to the men. “I’m Cora, and this is my sister, Cassie. Are you telling me you guys are brothers with names that start with the same letter and have pulled in sisters whose names also start with the same letter? What are the odds?”

We were making small talk when a slow song came on, and the newlyweds started dancing. “So what brings you to this resort, ladies?” Jeffrey asked.

“We needed a break from winter and responsibilities. We have never been out of the country. We didn’t want to wind up out of the country at a sketchy resort, so we splurged, and it looks like that gets you in with the gray-haired crowd.”

Through some additional chatting, we learn that the brothers are the groom’s best friends. They all hail from upstate New York, except for Justin, who shockingly lives in a different suburb of our city. What are the odds?

The music sped up, and Cora whispered to me, “Dibs on the one I have no chance of ever seeing again.” She grabbed Jeffrey’s arm, the older brother, and pulled him out onto the dance floor. True to Cora’s nature, she was soon dancing and laughing with the bride and bridesmaids while I watched from the sidelines with Justin, the groomsman from the burbs.

Justin nudged my shoulder with his. “This really isn’t my thing, but we might as well go dancing.” He pulled me over to the bar and said, “I’m going to need a tequila first. Want one?”

“When in Mexico,” I replied. We cheers-ed our shot glasses, threw them back with a grimace, and hit the dance floor.

What we had anticipated to be another early night in bed, turned out to be the most fun night of our trip thus far. We danced with the brothers and the rest of the wedding party until 1 a.m., when the resort staff came to tear down the reception. Cora and Jeffrey had disappeared somewhere a while ago, but I was having so much fun dancing and drinking that I didn’t really mind.

“Let me walk you back to your room and make sure you find Cora,” Justin said as he grabbed my hand. We stopped by the steps to pick up my sandals, and I noticed that Cora’s were gone. The resort was huge, but it turned out my room was on the way to his, so he walked back with me. As I walked up to the door, I noticed the Do Not Disturb hanger was on the door, which was weird because we hadn’t even used it.

“Thanks for walking me back. I’m sure Cora is in the room. When do you guys leave?” I asked.

“We are here for three more days. Most of the wedding party is leaving the day after tomorrow. We decided to extend our trip a little for some fun in Mexico. We also didn’t understand the vibe of this resort when we booked it,” he said with a grin.

“Okay, well, I’m sure we will see you around the pool or the beach tomorrow. Thanks for walking me back to my room.”

“No problem. My room number is 2274. If you don’t find Cora in there, come get me, and we’ll track those two down. My brother is kind of famous for getting lost in unfamiliar locations when he’s been drinking heavily. Have you seen The Hangover? That was basically the scene of the last bachelor party we went to.” He laughed and leaned in for a side hug. “It was good to meet you. Hopefully we can hang out again tomorrow.”

I felt a little blush creep over my cheeks. “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

Chapter 10

February 2015

I watched him walk away and went to open the door to our room. As I opened the door, I heard music playing, which was also weird. I walked around the bathroom and stopped dead in my tracks as I saw a thrusting, white, man-butt illuminated by the moonlight shining in through the balcony window.

“OH, MY GOD!” I screamed and stood there, stunned.

“Cassie! I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door!”

“I didn’t know you meant I couldn’t disturb you!” I yelled back.

“Cass, get out!” she screamed.

“I’m leaving! Oh, my God!” I hollered.

I threw myself out of the room into the hallway. I looked up and down the hallway, still a bit in shock and more than a little annoyed that I had been evicted from my own hotel room. As I was standing in the hallway, trying to decide if I should sleep in the lobby or on a beach chair, I saw Justin heading back down the hallway toward me.

“Um, hi again. Jeffrey isn’t in our room. Did you find Cora?”

“Oh yeah, I saw her. I saw everything.”

He looked at me quizzically. “Tell me more.”