CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: PERMANENT
July 17th, 2020
The most important day, aside from the wedding itself, had finally arrived. And Gemma was absolutely dreading it. The bachelorette party -- also known as the one day aside from the wedding where Avery, the bride, would be the center of attention.
Gemma forced herself out of bed that evening, knowing she only had limited time to get ready. She paused the episode of American Horror Story that she was watching, sad that she would not be able to finish the action packed episode that at this point, she'd likely seen over twenty times.
She was not sure what to wear as she sifted through her closet full of clothes from her teenage years, though ultimately decided on a plain, strapless black dress. Gemma went ahead and picked out some outfit ideas for Marcie as well, who Avery was letting attend the bachelorette party, despite Marcie not being in the bridal party.
While applying makeup, Gemma messed up and had to redo it three times before it actually turned out somewhat decent. In the time Gemma was applying makeup, Marcie had come home from her mid-shift at Dunkin'.
"You look cute!" her best friend cheerily spoke as she walked into the room.
"I don't feel like it," Gemma sighed, still dreading whatever it was that this night was going to bring. "Those outfits are for you," she pointed towards the piles of clothing on her bed.
"You know me so well," Marcie held the outfits up to her body. She decided on the black leather skirt and checkered tube top to match. "I'm gonna go shower because I smell like coffee. I'll meet you downstairs when I'm done!"
Gemma just nodded in response as she finished applying mascara. Once she was fully finished, she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. This was only going to be a few hours -- all she had to do was get it over with. Gemma had no intentions of drinking due to the brutal hangover she experienced at the Airbnb party, but if she was going to get through tonight, alcohol was necessary.
Gemma took the stairs one by one, that is, until she heard her mother and Jax speaking from the kitchen. She stood on the last step, eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Jax, you need to make a decision." Gayle's tone was sharp.
"I can't," Jax pleaded with his mother. "I need more time."
"This is the problem, Jax. You're running out of time. You need to figure out what you're going to do."
"Give me a few more weeks," he begged. "Please."
"I'm not the one you should be begging," Gayle sighed, and before Jax could respond, Marcie walked downstairs.
Gemma walked down the last step, knowing her family heard Marcie's feet coming from down the stairs. Gemma slowly walked into the kitchen, wondering what the hell Gayle and Jax could have been talking about.
"Are you guys good?" she asked, once she was fully in the room, looking at them with confusion and curiosity clear on her face.
"Of course," Gayle smiled, though it did not seem genuine.
"Really?" Gemma asked, pushing for more details. "Whatever you were talking about seemed pretty intense."
"Gemma," Gayle scolded. "It's rude to eavesdrop."
Gemma sighed, knowing there was no use in asking questions. Gayle was downplaying the situation, by turning it around on Gemma for doing something that her mother cannot stand: eavesdropping. Gemma was curious though, and thought that maybe Jax would tell her if Gayle was not in the room. It did not look like Gayle would be leaving the kitchen anytime soon, though, given she was preparing some dish that Gemma could not make out.
"Sorry," Gemma rolled her eyes. "Come on, Marcie. We should get going."
"I'll drive you!" Liv chimed in from the dining room. "I'm bored. Let's go!"
Gemma and Marcie quickly said goodbye to Gayle and Jax before following Olivia out the front door. As they got in the car, an idea crossed Gemma's mind.
"Liv,"
"Yeah?"
"What were mom and Jax fighting about?"
"They were fighting?" Olivia asked, confused while she put the car in reverse.
"Didn't you hear them?"
"No," Liv spoke while focusing on the road. "I had headphones in."
"Damn," Gemma sighed, her idea shot.
"If I would've known they were arguing, I would have paid better attention." Olivia laughed.
"Oh, well." Gemma shrugged. "It's okay."
The rest of the car ride consisted on conversations not surrounding their family, or the wedding planning. Instead, Gemma caught up with her sister, who she had not seen much of lately, because of her constant shifts at Target, and the fact that Olivia was hanging out with her friends often. When Olivia pulled up to the club that the bachelorette party was being held at, Gemma frowned. She did not want the conversation with her sister to end.
"Have fun! Tell Avery I said she's a bitch, and that I don't know what Rowan sees in her!"
Gemma laughed. She never did tell her sister that Avery was pregnant with Rowan's child, given it just was not her place to mention it. Gemma just laughed it off and said goodbye to her sister, though as soon as Liv pulled away, she wished she was back in the car.
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Avery held her hand on her stomach as Rowan pulled his car up to the club, where Avery would be celebrating her bachelorette party. She'd thrown up three times before leaving her apartment, and although Rowan begged her to call the night off, she didn't.
"Aves," Rowan put the car in park and turned to face her. "This isn't a good idea."
Avery shook her head, taking deep breaths in. "I can't cancel. Miranda rented out a whole room for this."
"Can't she get her money back?"
"No," Avery snapped. "I'm going, Rowan."
"Okay," Rowan gave up on trying to convince her otherwise.
"Have fun at your bachelor party," Avery leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I love you."
Rowan felt yet another strange feeling radiating throughout him when Avery said those three words that the two said to one another quite often. He pushed the feeling away as he opened his mouth to say it back.
"I love you too."
Avery was quick to get out of the car, despite her intense stomach pain. Rowan waited until she was in the building before driving off back home, where Wes was waiting so they could leave. Rowan had no idea where they were going tonight; Wes just kept saying it's a surprise.
When he arrived back at the house he grew up in, Rowan was surprised to see Wesley, Caleb, and Jonah standing outside of what looked like a party bus. Once he was out of his car and approaching the group, his suspicions were confirmed.
"You didn't have to do all this," Rowan was in awe at how large the bus was.
"Of course I did," Wes placed his hand on his brothers shoulder. "Ready to get drunk?"
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By the time they got off the party bus, Rowan was beyond plastered.
So when the party bus pulled up to a strip club, Rowan did not say a word, because he was too drunk to comprehend what was even happening.
"What is this?" Rowan sloppily asked Wes, who was somehow not as drunk as Rowan was.
"Strip club," his brother laughed as the party bus came to a stop. All the groomsmen exited the bus quickly, though it took Rowan a second. He found himself tripping over his own feet as he walked down the brightly lit aisle of the party bus, almost face planting when he finally got to the door.
"Okay," Caleb laughed. "Maybe we got him too drunk, too fast."
"He'll be fine," Wes placed his hand on Rowan's arm to steady him. "He just won't drink while we're here."
"How much did I drink?" Rowan asked. They had to have been in the party bus for maybe an hour before arriving at the club. Rowan figured that was enough time to get wasted but at this point, he could not even remember what he had to drink.
"A lot of liquor. Lot's of shots." Jonah laughed, to which Rowan just drunkenly nodded.
"Come on," Wes motioned for the rest of the groomsmen to follow. "Let's go inside."
Despite being drunk, Rowan was shocked when he walked inside. He'd never actually been to a strip club before, and for a moment, he felt guilty. His eyes were glued to the stage, where a number of girls were dancing around poles with hardly any clothes on.
"Avery is gonna kill me," he mumbled to himself. Though in the moment, Rowan tried to free his memory of Avery. She would not be happy if she knew he was at a strip club, surrounded by other women. But in that moment, at least ten shots deep if not more, Rowan did not care. Just for one night, he did not want to think about Avery. That's all he'd been thinking about lately -- Avery, the wedding, and this baby on the way that he was not ready for. Rowan barely had his life figured out yet, considering he just graduated from college and had not even started his career yet. Throwing a baby in the mix, was not something he had ever planned for.
Rowan kept his eyes on the women on the stage as he took a seat at the bar. A drink was passed his way, though when he took a sip, he quickly realized that it was water. Although he wanted more alcohol, he figured that drinking water would be best for now -- because ever since he sat down at the bar, the room immediately started to spin. Rowan could no longer focus his eyes on the women on the stage, due to how fast the room appeared to be spinning.
He closed his eyes tightly for what felt like five minutes. Wes, Caleb, and Jonah were conversing beside him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. When Rowan opened his eyes, he noticed a few different women had entered the stage, one of whom looked extremely familiar. Or maybe she didn't, and Rowan was just too drunk to know the difference.
The girl on the stage couldn't have been who Rowan was thinking of, though he said the name aloud anyways: "Gemma?"
Wes, surprised, turned to face him. "No, Rowan. That is not Gemma."
Caleb and Jonah laughed. "He's wasted."
"It just - it looks like her," Rowan rubbed his hands over his face, as if that was going to fix the room from spinning, and free his vision of the dancer who looked eerily similar to his ex girlfriend.
Wes gave his brother a knowing look. "Why are you thinking about Gemma?"
Rowan shrugged. He just thought the dancer looked like Gemma, which in turn caused her image to appear in his head. "I don't know."
"Are you okay?" Wes asked, honestly. "You've been acting strange lately."
"You kinda have," Caleb supported Wesley's statement. Even though Caleb and Jonah did not see Rowan as much as Wes did, the two of them still noticed Rowan's weird behavior over the last couple weeks.
The one thing about Rowan, was that he become honest when he was drunk. Typically, he did not drink enough to get to that point, but tonight was different. The amount of shots his groomsmen gave him were catching up to him, and Rowan could feel the honesty brewing inside him.
And if he didn't talk it out, he was going to explode.
"No," he shook his head. "I'm not okay."
Wes threw his arm around his brother's shoulders. "I had a feeling."
"This is all happening too fast," Rowan could feel his eyes watering. He never cried when he was drunk, so this felt.. off. But he did not try to stop it.
"I could've told you that," Wes tried to joke, but Rowan clearly did not find it funny.
"Shut up," Rowan rolled his eyes, then continued down the path of honesty that he'd been keeping inside for weeks. "I love Avery, I really do. This is just happening too fast, and I can't handle it." he wiped the tears fresh on his cheeks, though it was no use since he continued to cry.
"I'm sorry, man." Wesley sighed. He knew that this was what was bothering his brother, considering his attitude towards the entire wedding planning process. He just did not seem excited anymore, and that was obvious the day that Rowan bought his tuxedo for the wedding. Wes thought there might have been more to Rowan's sudden second thoughts, though now was not the time to bring that up.
"I don't know if I want to get married," he admitted. "At least not yet. It's just so.. permanent."
"Then call off the wedding." Jonah suggested, like it was easy.
"I can't,"
"Why not?" Wes pushed for more details.
"Because," Rowan attempted to free his face from tears. "Too much money has already been put down. Avery would be crushed if I called it off."
"Rowan," Wes sighed, wishing his brother would see the bigger picture. Money should have been the least of his worries. "You have to think of yourself. You have to think about what you want."
"I want her," Rowan choked on his words.
Wes saw right through him. "Are you sure about that?"
Just as Rowan was going to ask, what is that supposed to mean, he felt all the alcohol in his system start to rise up his throat. He threw his hand over his mouth, his eyes immediately scanning the room for the closest restroom.
"I'm gonna throw up," Rowan announced to the group before taking off towards the restroom. He could feel the vomit coming out before he was even in the restroom but thankfully, it all landed in his hand. He did not even have time to close the stall door before all the alcohol contents in his system began exiting his body. The toilet bowl was full of vomit, and within seconds, Rowan felt better. While he was flushing the toilet, Wesley entered the restroom.
"Dude," Wes couldn't help but laugh. He did feel bad that Rowan got sick, considering he was the one to feed him an excessive amount of liquor. "Are you okay?"
"Better now," Rowan wiped his face with a piece of toilet paper as he emerged from the stall. He quickly washed his hands that were full of vomit, grossed out at the site of vomit on his skin. "I just wanna go home."
"Understandable," Wes threw his arm around his brother's shoulders once more, helping him out of the restroom. "Let's go get Caleb and Jonah."
Rowan was basically falling asleep on the party bus on the ride home. His eyes opened when the bus came to a stop, when he could feel Wes helping his drunken body out of the seat.
"We're home," Wes announced, and the next thing Rowan knew, was that he was laying in his bed with the lights off. Wesley must have carried him up here, because Rowan did not remember coming into the house or walking up the stairs.
Rowan checked the time on his phone beside him, which read 1:43AM. He unlocked his phone to see some unread texts from Avery, saying that she was home safe, she loves him, and that she will see him tomorrow.
Rowan did not respond to these messages, though. Instead, he opened a new message, typing in the letters G-E-M. Her name popped up instantly, and without thinking, Rowan sent a text.
Rowan: I got so drunk I threw up lmao
To his surprise, she responded within seconds.
Gemma: are you okay? also, how do you still have my number?
Rowan's fingers were fast to type a reply.
Rowan: I'm ok. just drunk still. lol. I never got rid of your number, I couldn't bring myself to delete it.
He probably could have gone without the honesty there, though it was too late. The message was already sent.
Gemma: oh. you probably didn't mean to text me, then. you're drunk.
Rowan: no. I did.
Gemma: really?
Rowan: yeahhhh. I'm tired. goodnight gemsâ¥
Rowan fell asleep within seconds, with his phone screen still lit up, displaying his sudden messages with Gemma.
Gemma fell back on her mattress, her eyes glued to her phone. She and Marcie, both sober, ended up leaving the bachelorette party early not only because it was lame, though because Avery couldn't stop throwing up from pregnancy sickness. On her way up the stairs to her childhood bedroom, Rowan unexpectantly texted her, causing her emotions to spiral. Gemma was happy, and excited that Rowan, in his drunken state, thought of her. Though once she dissected the texts before going to sleep, Gemma concluded that this was nothing more than a drunk text. If he wasn't drunk, he wouldn't have texted her.
But the one thing Gemma could not figure out in Rowan's drunk texts -- was the fact that he ended his last message with a heart emoji. She sighed. It couldn't have meant anything.
Because Rowan was getting married in three weeks.
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a/n: eeeeek intoxicated, honest rowan was wild to write
which actors/actresses do you picture these characters as? my mind automatically defaults to the outer banks cast most times HAHA i love that show