CHAPTER NINE: SOME KIND OF CLOSURE
June 3rd, 2020
Two days had passed since Avery mentioned the completely unexpected and absurd question, of asking Gemma to be her bridesmaid. Thankfully in the last two days, Gemma was able to avoid the wedding planning at all costs, considering she had her Target interview today and was hired on the spot. Given her onboarding and training did not start until two days later, Gemma figured she may as well celebrate, since both she and Marcie were able to secure part time jobs for their summer stay in Gemma's home town. It was Marcie's idea to go out to a bar, despite it being a Wednesday, not only to celebrate getting jobs, though to start out the summer right.
As the Uber dropped Gemma and Marcie off at Gemma's favorite college bar by the University of Michigan, the two were surprised to see the bar was packed for a weekday. All the college crowds were officially on summer break though as of a few weeks ago, so the packed bar full of college students made some sense as post-grads Gemma and Marcie walked in.
"I should've worn something else," Gemma yelled over the loud music as she tugged the strapless dark blue dress over her thighs. She hadn't worn the tight piece of clothing in years; it was one of many outfits Gemma left behind when she moved to New York. Given her stay in Michigan was only going to be a few days, Gemma did not bring many clothes, so she and Marcie were stuck wearing her old clothes from high school and her first few years of college. Thankfully, the two wore the same size in almost everything, though Gemma did not feel as comfortable wearing the revealing dress as it rode up her thighs, every time she pushed through the crowds forming within the packed college bar.
"No way!" Marcie responded as she made her way towards the bar. She sat on an empty barstool, motioning for Gemma to sit on the empty one beside her, before some random college kid took it. "You look great!"
"Re-wearing my old wardrobe wasn't what I had in mind," Gemma laughed. She watched a bar tender make his way towards where she and Marcie sat. "I thought Liv would be wearing this stuff by now."
"She doesn't have the boobs for that dress," Marcie laughed as she eyed the college bar's menu. "No offense to her, but you're rocking it!"
"Whatever. What are you ordering?"
"Vodka tonic! This place is cheap! Why can't bars in New York have drinks this cheap?" Marcie gawked as she eyed the menu. She could order three drinks at this middle-of-nowhere college bar, for the price of one at any of New York's typical college bars.
"That's the beauty of the Midwest!" Gemma grinned, ready to get drunk for cheap.
The bar tender finally made his way over to where they sat. Marcie did not hesitate to order multiple drinks and shots, because she wanted to get drunk fast. Gemma watched as Marcie downed the vodka tonics, followed by a shot of Pink Whitney. "Slow down!" she grabbed Marcie's hand which was headed for another shot. This was how Marcie drank: her motto being go big, or go home.
"Shh," Marcie bat Gemma's hand away. "No one knows me here! I can handle my liquor!"
"Can you though?" Gemma jokingly rolled her eyes, her memories filled of many parties where she had to hold Marcie's hair back while she vomited from drinking way too much.
"Don't be a buzzkill. You've only had two of your shots!"
"That's because I'm not trying to die this early in the night." Gemma checked her phone. The two had only been there for twenty minutes, and she was barely feeling a buzz. Marcie, on the other hand, was already drunk and ready to dance.
"Come on, Gems! Down those drinks, and let's go dance! The dance floor will sober you up."
Gemma hesitated before eyeing the two vodka tonics Marcie ordered for her. She shrugged, knowing Marcie was not always the best influence when it came to alcohol, but not caring at the same time. After all, she wasn't driving, and it had been awhile since she let loose. Her last year of college kicked her ass, and her senior year internship on top of taking fifteen credit hours each semester did not give her much of a chance to party.
"Fuck it," she laughed as she chugged the two drinks, and another Pink Whitney shot that Marcie had ordered when Gemma wasn't paying attention. "I deserve to let loose."
"Yeah you do!" Marcie drunkenly clapped. "Let's go dance!"
It took a minute to make their way to the dance floor, due to the amount of people packed in the small building. As the alcohol swayed through her veins, though, Gemma stopped caring about the dress riding up her thighs. She completely forgot about it by the time she was on the dance floor, screaming the lyrics and jumping up and down to the early 2000's music that the DJ was blasting. Though after a few songs, the alcohol was starting to rest on Gemma's bladder. The one part she hated about drinking, was that she had to use the bathroom more than the average person. She never understood how Marcie could fill her small body with alcohol, yet not have to pee for at least a few hours.
"Gotta break the seal," Gemma yelled in her best friend's ear, who was singing and dancing to the lyrics of an old Kelly Clarkson song.
"Of course. Well you know where to find me!" Marcie slurred. By the sound of her voice, the alcohol was definitely hitting her.
Thankfully the line to the restroom was short, despite how crowded the bar had become in such a short amount of time. Gemma wondered why the place was so packed for a Wednesday, that is, until she noticed the television screens plastered on the walls read: Early 2000's Hits. The screen flickered, displaying a drink menu with various alcoholic beverages with themes centering around the early 2000's. As the basic vodka drinks Marcie ordered were quickly depleting Gemma of being sober, she started to wonder if she would run into anyone she knew from her first two years of college. As the thought trickled through her altered state of mind while she used the bathroom, she figured that wouldn't happen. This place was packed, and she had already been here for almost forty-five minutes. If she was going to run into anyone she knew, she probably would have, by now.
Or so she thought.
It didn't take Gemma long to find Marcie back on the dance floor, though when she arrived, her best friend was not alone. Gemma walked back to find Marcie grinding up against some random guy, to the beat of yet another 2000's hit.
"Go order us some more drinks!" Marcie yelled as Gemma walked towards her. "I'm gonna need it if I want to keep up with him!" She laughed as she turned to face the random guy she was dancing with.
Despite being drunk, Gemma eyed the two carefully. She did not want this to be another scenario where Marcie left with some hot guy from the bar, with no way to get home. It had happened twice before, and although Marcie would likely not mind leaving with the hot guy she was dancing with, Gemma didn't want her being stranded not only in a different city, but a different state.
"Get that look off your face!" Marcie drunkenly rolled her eyes. "I know what you're thinking. I'll be fine. Order us some of those drinks off the fancy 2000's menu!"
"Whatever you say," Gemma smiled, though kept her eyes on her best friend. She stood by the bar only a few feet away from Marcie, and despite being drunk herself, she was in full mom-friend mode.
Though it did not take long for Gemma's protective mode to shatter, as she heard her name from a few feet down the bar from a voice that did not belong to Marcie. Gemma kept her eyes glued to the menu, hoping the voice she knew too well would not catch up to her since the crowd next to Gemma was difficult to push through. She hoped the voice she had heard too many times since she arrived back in Michigan would realize that maybe it wasn't Gemma he saw from only a few feet away. Gemma hoped and hoped, though before she could run away with the drinks she ordered for herself and Marcie, the painfully familiar voice caught up to her.
"Gemma," Rowan Taylor's voice yelled over the music. Maybe it was just the drunkenness catching up to Gemma, but as she chugged the two shots she ordered for herself and the darkness of the bar, she found herself smiling at her ex boyfriend. She smiled at the man who she hadn't spoken to since they broke up over seven-hundred days ago, as he called her name over the blaring pop music.
"Row-an Tay-lor," she giggled, eyeing Marcie's drinks while she pronounced each syllable of his name.
"Are you drunk?" Rowan asked as he eyed Gemma up and down, though he already knew the answer. The goofy grin on her face and the way she eyed the other two shots in front of her told Rowan everything he needed to know about Gemma Perry's current state of mind.
"Mayyybbbeee," Gemma sloppily shrugged. Though the other shots were for Marcie, Gemma did not hesitate before drinking one of them. If she was going to have an awkward conversation with Rowan, who she left on very bad terms with, she did not want to remember any of the pain or embarrassment that she may cause.
"You know, I've been wanting to talk to you, but not when you're like this." Rowan sighed, taking a seat next to Gemma, who was still standing against a bar stool. "You should sit down. You're stumbling."
Rowan reached his hand out to Gemma, which she swat away. "Don't tell me what to do, Rowan. I don't have to listen to you."
"Like you didn't listen to me when I told you not to go to New York?" Rowan snapped back, though immediately regretted it. He was slightly drunk, too, though he didn't want his first conversation with Gemma to be like this, considering how long it had been since they even saw one another.
"O-kay." Gemma laughed, annoyed, downing the second shot for Marcie. She didn't regret it -- Marcie was so drunk to the point where she likely forgot that she even wanted more alcohol in the first place. Gemma confirmed this, as she turned to look for Marcie among the dance floor. It didn't take long for her to spot her best friend, who was now making out with the hot guy she was grinding on from before. "I don't need your shit right now, Rowan. I'm gonna go find my best friend and leave you to, I don't know, Avery? I bet you're here with her right now, so why don't you just get back to it? You guys have a fucking wedding to plan. Time is ticking!"
Gemma knew everything she was saying was harsh, but the liquid courage in her did not stop her from speaking her mind. Millions of thoughts were running through her drunk mind in the last few seconds, or minutes, or however long it had been -- since Rowan approached her. She wondered why he thought he could even approach her in the first place. She wondered how the hell Rowan and Avery even got together. She wondered why Rowan would go for someone as awful as Avery. Gemma's mind bounced between lots of different questions but most of all, she wondered what would have happened if she would have just listened to Rowan the night they broke up, when he told her not to move to New York.
"Avery isn't here, Gems." Rowan sighed as he broke eye contact with Gemma to view the drink menu. "I'm here with Wesley."
Gemma's drunken mind immediately erased all thoughts of Rowan, and Avery, as Row mentioned the name of his younger brother, whom Gemma had not seen since before the breakup. She also wasn't sure if it was the vodka running through her bloodstream, or the way Rowan called her Gems, that caused chills to appear throughout her entire body.
"Wes is here?!" She beamed, suddenly excited to see the younger brother she never had. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," Rowan shrugged. The last thing he wanted, or needed for that matter, was to lose Gemma when he had her in his sight for longer than two seconds. Ever since the two ran into each other, he had been dying to talk to her -- to actually have a conversation with her. Once Rowan saw Gemma for the first time in two years at Clementine's, and put the pieces together of how the hell his ex girlfriend knew his current fiancé, he figured that the two needed to talk. In the past seven-hundred and something days, Rowan longed for the closure that Gemma never gave him. And now that he was getting married in two months, to the girl who happened to be Gems' ex best friend and according to Avery was now a bridesmaid in the wedding -- Rowan figured it was time to get some kind of closure. "He's somewhere. Can we talk?"
"Hmmm," Gemma pondered on the thought for a second. "I'm drunk."
"Obviously,"
"Let's talk when I'm not drunk."
"Really?" Rowan almost couldn't believe it. "You're not gonna run away from me next time we run into each other?"
"Good point," Gemma let out a drunken sigh. She could feel the alcohol balancing on her bladder once again. "I may, I may not. Anyways, nice talking to you Rowan!"
"Wait - " Rowan tried to stop her once again, in his now third run-in with her, though she was gone among the crowd of people before Rowan had the chance to say her name again.
Feeling defeated, Rowan sat at the bar and ordered four drinks in total. Two for him, and two for Wesley who was still outside smoking a joint. Though it didn't take long for his brother to find him sitting at the bar, taking the stool Gemma was previously standing against.
"So, did I miss anything?" Wes asked as he began drinking one of the bud light's Rowan had ordered.
"Nope," Rowan lied. He didn't have the energy to talk about Gemma in that moment, so he only had one thing on his mind: "Let's get drunk."
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a/n: I had so many ideas for this chapter but I'm glad I wrote it this way ... because of what is to come hehehe
also I apologize for the messiness of how this was written, that was somewhat intended as Gemma became messy the more she drank lmao