CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BITCHY BRIDESMAIDS
June 12th, 2020
Gemma was more than thankful when she realized that she was not scheduled for a shift at Target that night. Marcie on the other hand, still had to work, but managed to get out of her closing shift and clocked out at 5pm. Gemma practically begged her best friend to get the night off, so she wouldn't have to attend this get together alone.
"I literally just started working there," Marcie groaned when Gemma begged, and begged, for her to call off work. "I haven't been there long enough to cash in any favors."
"Just say you have a headache?" Gemma suggested. Marcie rolled her eyes, and although she had a perfect work ethic, a part of her wanted to attend this party just so Gems wouldn't be by herself. Marcie did think it was weird, that she, an outsider to the wedding was able to go -- considering it was just the bridal party attending. But after witnessing the wrath of Avery, she wanted to attend to witness any juicy details that may occur during the party.
"Fine," Marcie acted like she was annoyed, but deep down she wasn't. This was only a service industry job, after all. It wasn't like this was Marcie's fashion career that she was skipping out on. Faking a headache for one shift at Dunkin, where she only made eleven dollars an hour, wouldn't hurt her. "I'll go."
"Thank you!" Gemma screamed, quickly covering her mouth when she realized her voice had echoed throughout her childhood bedroom.
So now here they were, standing outside of the Airbnb that Avery rented for the weekend, with overnight bags in their hands. Both Gemma and Marcie did not know how to dress for the occasion, and as they saw people through the windows of the medium sized house, they realized they were underdressed.
Gemma wore a black and white striped tube top and a plain pair of black ripped shorts with simple black sandals, which she recently bought with her Target employee discount. Marcie wore a casual strapless sundress that was plain yellow, with simple white sandals that she used Gemma's Target employee discount to buy. Everyone in the house though, was dressed head to toe in clubbing-like clothes. Gemma gulped, feeling out of place.
"Stop overthinking it," Marcie shrugged, as if she was reading her best friends' mind. "Let's go in."
"This is the first time I'm going to see them... together." Gemma sighed, wondering if this truly was a good idea.
"Having second thoughts?" Marcie asked as she started walking up the porch steps.
"No," Gemma was quick to answer. "The past is in the past, remember?"
"Whatever you say," Marcie mumbled, not quite believing her best friend, but ready to get in there anyways and let loose for a night.
Music was blasting as soon as the two walked in. The first thing Gemma noticed was a beer pong table set up in the dining room, and a table with flip cup set up in the living room. Looks like she and Marcie would be getting drunk tonight, whether they liked it or not.
"Gemma!" Avery's voice boomed throughout the house. She turned the music volume down on her phone, making her way towards Gemma and Marcie who stood in the entrance. "And Marcie! So glad you could make it!"
Marcie looked around the room, eyeing Rowan whose eyes appeared to be on Gemma... or Avery? Marcie couldn't tell. He appeared to be shocked, as if he wasn't expecting his ex girlfriend to walk in. Perhaps Avery did not tell him.
"Gemma?" a voice from next to Rowan sounded throughout the now quieter room. Gemma's eyes widened at the sight of Wesley, Rowan's younger brother, who she hadn't seen in years.
"Wes!" Gemma practically screamed, essentially ignoring Avery by accident.
"Who the hell?" a girl who wore a sash that read maid of honor, spoke with attitude clear in her voice. Marcie eyed the girl up and down, immediately feeling a bad vibe from her. This must be one of the people Avery ghosted Gemma for, Marcie figured.
"Let me introduce you to my maid of honor, and the other bridesmaids!" Avery smiled so wide, it almost looked fake. Gemma never broke eye contact with Wes as her former friend pulled her into the dining room, to introduce her to the rest of the wedding party.
Marcie stood awkwardly in the doorway once Gemma was pulled against her will into the other room. With a smirk on her face, Marcie approached Rowan and his brother, as well as two other guys who sat on the couch, clearly not aware of the confusion and tension radiating throughout the air.
"Nice to see you again," She nodded towards Rowan.
"Uh," He gulped, still trying to process why the hell Gemma Perry was here, at his and Avery's party. "Yeah."
"Dude, what the fuck is going on?" Wes asked, looking back and forth between Rowan and this girl who he'd never seen before.
"I'm trying to figure that out myself," Rowan mumbled.
"Well, good luck with that," Marcie laughed. "I'm gonna go insert myself into whatever the hell Gems just got pulled into."
"Wait - " Rowan started to say, though Marcie was gone before he could even finish his sentence.
"Who the hell was that and what did she mean by nice to see you again? And why the fuck is your ex girlfriend here?"
Rowan sighed. "That's a long story."
Gemma sighed of relief when Marcie was by her side again. Even though it was only a few seconds of being absorbed in the wrath of Avery, it still felt awkward and uncomfortable. Gemma's nerves increased as she came face to face with the girls who Avery ditched her for, all those years ago. They looked slightly different from Avery's social media photos of them back then -- they all looked older, and more bitchy. Gemma couldn't ignore the death glare that the maid of honor was sending her.
"This is Miranda; she was one of my first friends when I started taking college classes at the University of Michigan!"
Ah, Miranda. Step one in Avery's ghosting of Gemma. Marcie noticed the look Miranda was sending Gems, and she did not appreciate it. She returned the glare right back, though Miranda didn't seem to notice considering she was too busy giving Gemma the stink eye.
"And this is Peyton! My other bridesmaid, and a member of the sorority I ended up joining after I met Miranda!"
Marcie couldn't help but let out a laugh. "You all were apart of a sorority together?"
Miranda turned her head, now paying attention to Marcie, and sending her the glaring looks instead of Gemma. "Yeah," she scoffed. "Why?"
"Just wondering," Marcie bit her lip to keep from laughing some more. She didn't mean to judge, but she couldn't help it.
"Be nice." Gemma nudged her. The last thing she needed was to be on Miranda's bad side, if she wasn't on it already.
"Nice to meet you," Peyton smiled, though it didn't seem genuine. They all had to have known who Gemma was, considering they were all the reason that Avery dropped her in the first place.
"This is Gemma, my - "
"We know, Aves." Peyton's eyebrows raised. "She's your friend from childhood, you've already told us all about her."
"Oh, I'm sure she has." Marcie rolled her eyes. By the short interaction she'd witnessed from Avery's friends, she could easily tell that they were the type of girls to be mean for absolutely no reason at all. The looks they were all sending Gems proved that Avery clearly had not spoken very highly of her childhood friend in the time she'd known her sorority sisters.
"Well," Avery smiled that fake smile again. "Now that the introductions are over, let's take some shots!"
Avery stalked into the kitchen, completely out of view from Gemma and Marcie. Miranda and Peyton followed without hesitation.
"Well that was awkward, and uncomfortable as fuck." Gemma nervously laughed. She turned towards Marcie, who still appeared to be annoyed at the presence of Avery's minions.
"If you wanna back out now, I don't blame you. Those girls seem like bitches."
"Maybe I won't have to see them as much once the wedding planning really gets rolling?" Gemma sighed. "I could use some alcohol,"
"I'm right behind you." Marcie grinned.
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One hour into the party, and Gemma was already drunk. She had taken multiple shots of some strong vodka that she didn't know the name of, and she was super confused as to why Avery's face wasn't scrunching up when she took multiple shots of the same clear liquid. Years ago when the two were best friends, they would sneak alcohol out of Avery's mom's liquor cabinet, and Gemma remembered clearly that Avery could not stand the taste or smell of vodka.
Maybe she'd outgrown that though, like she'd outgrown Gemma.
Gems pushed this thought to the back of her drunken brain as she was focused on the game of flip cup in front of her. Wesley was her partner, who Gemma had missed so much in the last few years. Wes was dying to talk to her, and figure out why the hell she was even here -- since he couldn't get any sort of answer from his brother. But with the commotion of the party and all the attention being on Avery, Wes lacked a chance to talk to Gemma, aside from the few comments he'd made towards her about the game they were playing.
Despite being drunk, Gemma was a pro at flip cup. Marcie on the other hand, was struggling, as she was paired up with Caleb; Rowan and Wesley's cousin who was apart of the wedding party as a groomsmen. Caleb wasn't even that drunk; he just sucked at flip cup, which was causing him and Marcie to lose.
The game finally came to an end, and Gemma was thankful. She'd lost track of how many shots she had taken, which was not doing her body any good since she hardly ate anything hours before. She clamped her hand over her mouth, feeling as if she was going to vomit at any second.
"Marcie," she mumbled, placing her hand on her best friend's shoulder to keep herself from falling over. "I'm going to puke,"
"Oh shit," Marcie's mom friend instincts kicked in. "Where's the bathroom?"
"Upstairs on the right," Miranda spoke flatly, without looking up from her phone.
Marcie didn't have time to roll her eyes at Miranda's attitude, since all she was focused on in that moment was making sure that Gemma was okay.
"Is she alright?" Rowan and Wesley said in unison. Neither Marcie or Gemma had time to respond, because Gemma took off running up the stairs to find the nearest bathroom. She could feel the vomit traveling up her esophagus as she ran. After almost face planting and vomiting all over the carpeted floor, Gemma finally found the bathroom.
She didn't hesitate before letting her vodka filled insides empty into the clean toilet bowl. She had to have been in there for at least five minutes, given periodically she stopped to dry heave before more vodka induced vomit exited her system. Gemma heard feminine laughing coming from down the stairs, and she couldn't help but wonder if Avery's bitchy bridesmaids were laughing at her.
"Gemma?" A voice sounded from in the doorway. Gemma did not need to look up from the toilet bowl to know that it was Wesley who had come to check up on her. "Are you okay?"
"No," Gemma could feel her eyes welling with tears, though she didn't know why. It was likely just from the adrenaline that comes from throwing up. "I should've never agreed to be a bridesmaid in this stupid wedding."
"Wait," Wesley's eyes widened. "That's why you're here? I'm so confused. Am I missing something?"
It occurred to Gemma, even in her drunken state, that Wes likely didn't know the story of Gemma and Avery -- he must've only known Avery as his brother's fiancé; his soon-to-be sister-in-law.
So she told him everything.
Everything, from her friendship with Avery and how it ended, and how Gemma came face to face with not only her ex best friend, but Rowan as well in her trip back home to Michigan. Gemma told Wes everything, not leaving out any details.
"Holy shit," he shook his head in disbelief. Gemma had been talking for so long, that at this point, both she and Wes were sitting up against the bathroom sink. She had no idea how long she'd been in there explaining everything, but she didn't care. Gemma had no desire to get back to the party. She did feel bad for Marcie, since she did leave her alone in a pack of wolves.
"Yeah..." Gemma sighed, closing her eyes. She didn't know what else to say.
"Well, now it makes sense why I've never liked Avery."
"Wait, you don't?" Gemma laughed, for what felt like the first time that day.
"Nope," Wes didn't hesitate before answering. "She's just so... fake. I haven't spent too much time with her, but every time I've seen her, I've never gotten a good feeling."
"Wow," Gemma didn't know what else to say. She felt validated though, to know that she wasn't crazy, and that someone else saw Avery for the person she'd become after she met her bridesmaids.
"I especially don't like her now that she's - "
"Gemma! Wes!" Avery's voice sounded, interrupting Wesley from what he was about to say.
"We better get back down there." Wes shrugged, as if he wasn't about to tell Gemma something.
"Wait," Gems tried to stop him as she stood up from the bathroom floor. "Now that she's what?"
Wesley scratched the back of his neck, a look of regret covering his features, which were older from what Gemma remembered. He was twenty-one now, and although he was still young, he looked much older than he did from when Gemma knew him at age nineteen.
"Forget I said anything, Gems. I'm pretty drunk. Let's just go back to the party, okay?"
Before Gemma could protest, Rowan's younger brother walked out of the room. His footsteps were loud going down the stairs, making Gemma sigh. That was her cue to get back to the party, even though she really did not want to. Though as she walked slowly down the stairs, holding onto the railing to steady her drunk body, Gemma couldn't get Wesley's words out of her mind. What was he going to tell her?
The thought diminished though as she walked into the kitchen, to find Avery, alone.
"Where is everyone?"
"Outside. We're gonna have a bonfire!" Avery said while balancing a tray of filled shot glasses in her hand. For being drunk, Avery was weirdly stable while holding the tray that had to have held at least ten shots full of clear liquid.
Without thinking, Gemma's drunk mouth did not seem to be connected to her brain. "You know that Rowan and I know each other, right?" From their conversation weeks ago, Gemma knew that Rowan didn't tell Avery the full truth, but the drunken part of her wanted to hear it from Avery, to see what she had to say.
She was expecting Avery to be surprised. Surprised that Rowan had been keeping something from her -- that Gemma was really his ex. But that didn't happen, as Avery's facial expression did not change. She heard Gemma, but was focused mostly on the tray of shots.
"Yeah! Of course I know," she smiled, making eye contact with Gemma for the first time since she'd come downstairs.
"You do?" Gemma asked, hoping Avery would elaborate.
"Yeah! When he saw you that day at Clementine's, he told me that you two were friends in college. That you had some classes together at the University of Michigan before you moved to New York."
Gemma felt her face go pale. "Right," she gulped, feeling guilty for keeping up with Rowan's lie.
"I'm gonna get out there before I drop this tray. See you out there!" Avery smiled widely and was quick out the door. Gemma just stood there for a moment, before gaining the courage to go outside.
From what Gemma could gather by Avery's statement, Rowan never even told his fiancé about Gemma, that is, until he had to. She wondered if he was ever planning on telling her at all. If it weren't for that unexpected run-in at Clementine's, Gemma wondered if Rowan would have ever even mentioned her.
That, and Avery thought they were just friends. Friends from college. Friends who studied together.
She had no idea that they were in love for two years. And it didn't seem like Rowan was going to come clean anytime soon. Gemma hated keeping secrets, but with Avery's confirmation that Rowan had in fact not told her the full truth, she knew this was a secret she was going to have to keep.
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a/n: this story just keeps getting messier and messier HAHA