TW: Drug usage, mention of suicidal thoughts
Courtney sat in the lobby of the hotel waiting for Gwen and Heather's arrival. The comfy velvet couch did nothing to calm her nerves, and the marble below only offered her a faint reflection of herself.
She aimlessly stared out in front of her as her mind raced with a million thoughts a minute. It felt like she could barely breathe, the stress had begun to suffocate her. Not only that, but her insecurities loomed over her like a dark presence, and only served to send her further down into a spiral of self-loathing.
After all these years, all this time being the best, all this time trying to be perfect, it still wasn't enough. She was at the top of her class, she got a full ride to college, she was acing law school, and she worked at one of the best firms on the east coast. She had a boyfriend in med school for Christ's sake! She wanted to be happy for Bridgette, she did, but she couldn't help the jealousy that gnawed away at her heart every time she saw her best friend smile. And she couldn't help the lingering thought that burned in the back of her mind: that should've been her.
She managed to end her brief period of dissociation, and her frown was quickly replaced with a soft smile the second she heard the shouts and whoops of her fellow bridesmaids.
"Woooo!" Gwen hollered from across the lobby as she walked next to Heather. "Oh my god, look at her, the last B-face!"
Courtney stood up and rolled her eyes before enveloping them in a group hug.
"Aw B's, we're back again. Everything's ok!" Heather cheered rather uncharacteristically, excited to reunite with her closest friends.
After a moment, they all backed out from the hug as Courtney took in their outfits while she straightened out her own.
"Classy," she snorted taking in Gwen's midnight blue "dress," if it could even be called that. It looked more like a t-shirt thrown under a black blazer. She also noted that Gwen had failed to heed her advice against boots, but at least they had heels on them.
Gwen smirked, and with a shrug, pointed over to her accomplice, "Better than her."
Heather rolled her eyes, finding no issue in her skin-tight crimson cocktail dress that accentuated her figure. At least she was wearing a pair of black heels to compliment it, still a step above Gwen's tacky boots, at least in Heather's opinion.
"Alright, now how are we going to get through the next twelve hours?" Courtney cheered with a fake smile plastered on her face, struggling to think about how she would make it through the night, never mind the wedding.
"Gwen brought cocaine!" Heather cried out, clearly louder than she should have judging by her friend's reaction.
"Oh my god," Courtney put her hands up to her ears to block the shrill sound of Heather's squeal and shot her the dirtiest glare she could muster. She loved the girl to death, but she would not hesitate to strangle her if her reckless abandon leads to their arrest tonight. No one wears an orange jumpsuit to a wedding, it's distasteful.
With a nervous smile, Gwen put her hand over Heather's mouth, before letting out an awkward chuckle, "Let's use our inside voices."
Heather nodded before leaning in and whispering to the two as if she was sharing top-secret information, "Here's the deal though, we should take some before the bachelorette party because—"
"It's not that kind of party, Heather," Courtney sighed knowing she had to explain the change of plans.
"Hear me out Court, we shouldn't have to share our coke with these other bridesmaids. We don't even know them," Heather motioned towards Gwen's pocket and then towards the three of them, "This is for us, and god knows we're gonna need it to get through tonight—"
"Bee-yatch-faces!" the delighted voice of Bridgette called out and the group of bridesmaids turned around and cheered.
"Woo!" Gwen whooped, as the bride-to-be pulled them all into a bone-crushing embrace. Although none of them could breathe, it felt good for the four of them to reunite, it had been the first time in years.
Bridgette, thankfully, pulled away before any of them could pass out from lack of oxygen, and brightly beamed at them, "I'm so excited I could…do a handstand for hours! But not really because last time I did that at the talent show it didn't end well, and I've already had dinner, and—"
"Woah, breathe Bridge," Courtney put her hand on the blonde's shoulder in an attempt to calm her outburst of joy. She was used to Bridgette getting a bit ahead of herself and going on tangents when the situation did not call for it, but she let it slide and chalked it up to pre-wedding jitters.
Bridgette took a deep breath, and proceeded, putting a hand up to her heart, "You guys are all here, at my wedding. Isn't it insane? It feels like we all graduated high school just yesterday, and now here we are, at this fancy hotel."
Despite some earlier tension on Courtney's end, she couldn't help but playfully smile as she nudged the nostalgic girl beside her. The four of them grew up together, and it only made sense for her to be overwhelmed by how much time has passed.
"Did Courtney tell you guys just how happy I am to see you again?" Bridgette gently hip-checked her maid-of-honor, "I see Court all the time now, I'm sick of her."
Bridgette stuck her tongue out good-naturedly and made a face like she was going to be sick. Courtney scoffed at her childish antics but decided to play along, "Well the feeling's mutual, I'm sick of you."
Not taking her words to heart, Bridgette chuckled, while Heather held out her hands and clasped them with Bridgette's.
"You are the first B-face to get married, I could cry," Heather pretended to shed a fake tear before returning to her usual disinterested stare, "But I obviously won't."
"Well I hope you don't, because if you start crying then I can't promise that I'll be able to control the waterworks," Bridgette joked, and secretly appreciated the sentiment from her typically cold-hearted friend.
"Like that time when we took that road trip and accidentally ran over a squirrel," Gwen reminisced, while the rest of the girl's eyes widened at the unfortunate event. Trying to calm Bridgette down that day had been a nightmare, Courtney actually believed that she was going to drown in her own tears.
Nervously, she looked over at Bridgette, who grimaced from the memory, before Courtney then murmured, "Too soon."
"It's fine, it was years ago," Bridgette gave a half-hearted sigh, before shaking her head to dismiss the thought, "So did Courtney explain what's happening at the party tonight?"
Courtney shook her head no, "Well, I was actually just about to tell them before you came down."
"It's a little last minute, but we are having champagne," Bridgette gave them a devious smirk as if she had said something scandalous. She was met with the "ooh's" of the newly arrived bridesmaids, who were excited to relive some of their infamous party days.
"Also, we're having ice cream in our suite, after the rehearsal dinner!" Bridgette clapped her hands together with excitement, while the other two waited to see if she was going to continue. After they realized she was finished, Heather took it upon herself to speak up.
"But then we're going to like, party, right? Like in the old days," she tried to convey her message by making a series of obscene hand gestures that made Courtney swat Heather's hands down, shooting her one of her signature scowls.
Looking down and playing with the hem of her baby blue dress, Bridgette spoke with a hint of sadness in her voice, "Oh, I know it sounds a bit boring from what you're used to. Mrs. Boring almost married Bridgette over here, killing the mood."
The others looked at each other with unease, clearly, their reaction was a bit far off from what Bridgette was expecting it to be, but she continued nonetheless, "You see, a lot of the bridesmaids also came from out of town, so I didn't want it to get too crazy. I don't really party much these days anyway."
Bridgette finally looked up, "Not like some people, I guess. You guys still seem to be the same."
"That's what we were talking about, it's gonna be low-key. That's also what we want, just keeping it calm, nothing crazy," Heather attempted to smooth over her earlier statements, and flashed, what she hoped, was a convincing smile.
Thankfully, all the discomfort washed away from Bridgette's face, and she nodded. Courtney checked her PDA and started to steer Bridgette towards the entrance of the hotel. Courtney warily glanced over her shoulder at her friend's, before clueing them in, "Our car's here, so we'll see you at the venue. Don't be late" She finished her statement with a pointed look as if she predicted the series of events that was about to transpire and were sending them a warning to keep their shit together.
Silence remained between Gwen and Heather for a few seconds after their friend's departure, until finally, Gwen nonchalantly shrugged, "Wanna do some coke before we leave?"
"Yes!" Heather cheered, as she looped her arm around Gwen's and walked towards the lobby's bathroom.
Before the rehearsal dinner, a crowd of people was socializing at the site of the reception. From overbearing relatives to old high school friends, everyone was mingling and sipping their glasses of champagne. The stress of the impending wedding was temporarily overshadowed by the excitement from everyone, who was looking forward to witnessing the union of the happy couple, but a few people still felt the pressure of it all weighing them down.
Gwen, however, was nervously chewing on the little black straw from her strawberry margarita, as her eyes nervously scanned the room, "God, you can smell the desperation in here. These people are probably terrible, all of them, it's like a reality show on steroids."
Heather nodded fervently her eyes widening, "You're so right, I mean look at these people. They look insane." The irony of the statement was lost on her, as she wildly looked around, appearing to everyone as a slightly paranoid and whacked-out bridesmaid.
Heather paused for a moment to take a sip of her drink, before looking at Gwen with wide eyes and whispered, "Hey, we should do some more coke."
"No fucking way, if we do any more coke, someone's dick is gonna get sucked!" Gwen harshly whispered back to her promiscuous friend. To make it through the night, she knew the both of them needed something to boost their moods, but she knew all too well where Heather's impulsivity could lead to. Especially if she was under the influence, well, further under the influence than she already was.
While Gwen was discouraging Heather from further drug usage, Courtney was making her rounds, as she catered to the throng's people in the room. She made her way over to Bridgette's mother, Claire. As she approached, she noticed a man next to Claire chug a glass of champagne, before grabbing two more, as he turned around to face Claire.
"Here we are, to you and your lovely daughter," the man clinked his glass to Bridgette's mother's before Courtney entered the conversation.
"Claire, how are you feeling? Are we confident about tomorrow? I noticed that the walk down the aisle was a little bumpy?" Courtney's voice was light and playful, but her mind was working overtime to ensure that everyone was prepared for tomorrow. There was no room for even the slightest error.
"Bumpy? I don't remember it being bumpy, are you kidding? Best man," the man motioned to himself before flashing a charismatic smile, "Mother of the bride? We've got this in the bag, don't we, Claire?"
Courtney looked over at the best man, clearly unimpressed with his theatrics and unaffected by his words that oozed confidence. Claire, on the other hand, seemed to be enamored with his charm as she laughed, "Look at that, a man who's handsome and funny. Are you married, Duncan?"
The man named Duncan let out a light chuckle as he shook his head, "No, no, but I'm trying. I just, you know, haven't really found the right girl for me yet."
"Ok, so remember how I told Bridgette that I would keep everything on the down-low tonight?" Heather swayed a bit as the mix of alcohol and cocaine caught up to her system.
Gwen nodded hesitantly as she gnawed away on her straw, while Heather gleefully smiled, "I may or may not have gotten us a stripper for the party tonight."
"Stop lying, no way in hell you know any strippers," Gwen gasped quietly, eyes wide, as she was currently experiencing a similar sensation to Heather.
"Hell yeah I do, I know a freelance stripper, and he's coming to the party."
"That's sick," Gwen, once again, looked around the room, but then her eyes caught the side profile of someone she could recognize from a mile away. Time seemed to slow as her eyes landed upon him, as he turned to the side to pick up a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.
"What's going on?" Heather waved her hand in front of her friend's face, but it did nothing to snap Gwen out of her stupor, so Heather resigned to continuing to talk, hoping her friend was paying attention.
Even from across the room, Gwen could see his classic five o'clock shadow, and she stood frozen in time. She resisted the urge to run across the room, shove all these people out her way, and just jump him right then and there. She was still unsure whether she wanted to take her pale hands and strangle him or grab his face and kiss him like there was no tomorrow.
"I just, I don't know how I'd do it, like with a rope, or in a bathtub, I just—"
"Uh-huh, yeah, look I gotta go do something," Gwen, clearly not listening to Heather, placed down her drink and slowly walked to where her ex was standing, deciding that she had to see him.
Heather watched as Gwen stepped away from her, and nodded, her reflexes slowed by her inebriation, "Yeah, um, please don't leave me alone," she weakly whimpered out, desperation lacing her voice, but it was too late. Her friend had left.
Claire smiled, as she gingerly placed her hand on Courtney's shoulder over her purple dress, "Sweetie, why can't you find a nice man like Duncan?" Duncan smiled, and took another sip of his champagne, while Claire continued.
"You know Scott's never going to settle down and commit to you," Courtney placed her hand over Claire's and rolled her eyes, not listening to the complaints about her absent partner.
Duncan suddenly perked up, now intrigued by the mention of another man, "Scott? Who's Scott?"
"Her boyfriend," Bridgette's mom sighed and shook her head in disapproval. Courtney had heard the same ramblings about her fickle, and oftentimes unreliable, boyfriend. Quite frankly, she was used to it at this point, but the insinuation that this man with fading green hair was a better alternative to a man preparing to be a doctor almost made Courtney laugh.
"He's coming tomorrow, he's just doing his residency," Courtney tried to clear Scott's name, but she only half-believed what she was saying, "You know how demanding it is."
"Mhm, yeah, wow. I bet he's busy a lot, right? Makes it tough to commit," Duncan confidently smirked, and Courtney hated the way she felt butterflies in her stomach simply from his gaze. She felt him eyeing her up and down, taking a moment to linger on her legs and chest.
Her patience was wearing thin, and she wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible to escape from this…ogre.
"Oh look, there's Aunt Becky. Let's go say hi, we wouldn't want to be rude," Courtney ushered the woman standing next to her towards the aforementioned aunt. But before she could completely leave, Duncan managed to catch her eye.
"I'll be right here if you get bored, Princess," he suggestively wiggled his eyebrows and winked at the flustered brunette. With a huff, she turned on her heels and stalked away to carry out her duties, ignoring how the sudden nickname made her blood boil, but also the blush she now wore.
Heather was taking sips of what was probably her third margarita of the night, she hadn't been keeping track when a man leaned against the bar next to her. The bartender asked the newcomer if he wanted anything, but he politely declined.
"Hey," the man spoke, and Heather glanced over almost choking on her drink.
"Hey," she softly responded, before taking another sip, needing some more liquid courage to get her through this conversation. Maybe she could pretend like she didn't remember him, and then he'd choose to leave her alone, but to be fair, she was already starting to forget about her surroundings. She'd managed to forget about his name before, with the assistance of illicit substances and a few shots of whatever she had on hand.
"It's me, Alejandro," he tried to regain the attention of the woman standing beside him, but she was intent to act like she had trouble recognizing him, so he tried again, "Alejandro Burromuerto?"
She stared at him as if he was speaking a foreign language, but nevertheless, he persisted in his attempt to jog her memory, "From high school."
She couldn't help but take note of his appearance, the years had certainly treated him kindly as his dress shirt fitted his toned body quite nicely. Shaking the thought from her head, she finally looked him in the eye, "Do you have a job?"
Alejandro looked a bit taken aback by the abrupt shift in the conversation, but nodded, "A job? Yeah, I'm into computer programming actually."
"Sort of like a Steve Jobs kind of deal?"
"Not really, as much as I wish I founded Apple, I did not," he took note of the glazed-over look in her eyes and sighed, "Are you sure you don't remember me?"
"The honeymoon is a total surprise, it's like, totally gonna blow her mind. I'm taking her down to Australia, and we're totally gonna catch some gnarly waves, dudes," Geoff animatedly explained his honeymoon plans to his little sister and one of his groomsmen. Before he could continue elaborating, the man next to him took notice of a face he hadn't seen in years.
"Gwen?" Trent called out before Gwen could run away, she certainly looked like she had been planning to. Reluctantly, Gwen took the straw out of her mouth and walked over to where the group had been talking. The way that Trent managed to look good in a green jacket and plain dress shirt was completely unfair in Gwen's eyes, he looked better than he had when she last saw him. The universe was so cruel.
"Hi," Trent managed to breathe out, taking in the sight of his old girlfriend.
"Hey, Trent," Gwen shifted uncomfortably and resumed biting down on her straw. She needed anything to keep her grounded to reality and looking into his green eyes was doing nothing to help her growing anxiety.
Trent ran his free hand through his black hair, before carefully choosing his next words, "I haven't seen you since, well, since—"
"That one thing," Gwen interjected before he could say anything incriminating, she was not mentally prepared to do this tonight with him.
Instead of putting up a fight, he slowly nodded in agreement, "Yeah, since that one thing."
"I grew up next to Bridgette, so every once in a while, I would hang around the group. But we kind of drifted apart after a misunderstanding, but we're all good now," Alejandro continued to try and spark some conversation from Heather, but she still looked dazed, "We were in Spanish together."
"I took Spanish?" Heather feigned confusion because she knew that they took Spanish together, but she still had trouble comprehending the fact that he claimed to have made up with Bridgette. After the incident, she still considered him to be on thin ice, pun intended, which only made her infatuation with him even more disorienting. She felt like she shouldn't be talking to him, but he seemed hell-bent on having this conversation.
"Sí, you even copied my homework a few times. But, no worries if you don't remember me, I just wanted to say hi," Al looked as if he was about to turn around and leave, but before he did, he made a last-ditch effort, "I sold you pot."
Heather's eyebrows shot up, and she mentally cursed herself for showing him any sign of acknowledgment, she had been doing such a good job of faking it up until he caught her off-guard. Knowing there was no way out of this one, she conceded, "Oh, Al! Your hair's a bit different now, did you grow it out?"
"I did, I did," he appeared to be relieved that she finally managed to conjure up a memory of him, even if it was just him being her dealer, as he reached up and played with the ends of his hair that now reached his shoulders.
She watched him fidget with his hair, and for once, Heather was at a loss of what to do. Right now, she had too many things bouncing around in her head, too many thoughts that were bubbling to the surface, and she wanted something to help suppress them. She felt her vision go hazy for a moment, so she did her best to steady herself against the bar, and smiled, "So, do you have any on you?"
"Remember when I told you about Bridgette's friends? The B-faces," Geoff asked his sister who nodded in response, "This is one of them, Gwen Ashwood."
Geoff's sister sported an angelic smile, and stuck her hand out to Gwen, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ashwood, I'm Jenny."
"Oh, no. I'm not married," Gwen had to hold back an eye-roll at the overtly cheerful nature of the young girl, "And I'm not really an adult either, so."
Geoff sensed the tension between the three surrounding him, so he quickly thought of a quick getaway, "Sorry dudes, I have to go check on my cousin, she's looking a bit sick. I'll totally catch y'all later though."
He made his exit, and with only the three of them left, Jenny tried to make awkward small talk, "So how do you guys know each other?"
Trent smiled towards the young girl, something that Gwen took note of, and answered, "High school."
"Yeah, met him when I was your age," Gwen retorted, effectively silencing the girl and making her feel like she should be anywhere but within a twenty-mile radius of Gwen.
Knowing that she wasn't wanted, at least by one person, Jenny turned to Trent and sent him a flirty grin, "I'm going to go take my seat, but can you come sit next to me?"
Gwen felt like gagging at the desperation of the blonde but waited to hear Trent's response, "Um, we'll see, whatever those little cards say. Gotta sit wherever I'm assigned."
Jenny nodded in understanding, before waving goodbye, and sauntering off. When Trent turned around, he was met with a judgmental stare and what he could only describe as a smug, almost disbelieving, smirk.
"What?" he said, curious to know what could be running through her head after that hostile exchange.
"What do you mean 'what?' I didn't even say anything," Gwen maintained her knowing smirk, while she eyed Trent up and down. She knew he was familiar with how she worked, and she also knew that this was the beginning of the game that they always played. Every time they ran into each other, even back in school, it was always a matter of who was going to cave first.
Trent returned the once-over that Gwen had given him, and took in her eccentric attire, "Is that supposed to be a dress?"
"Nope," Gwen looked down as she tugged at the end of her shirt, "This is actually a t-shirt."
"Glad to know you're still fighting the good fight against the tyranny of pants," he quipped sarcastically, knowing this was only the beginning of many one-liners to come that night.
She mischievously grinned before shrugging, as if she couldn't care less, "Well I thought maybe I would help you out tonight, ya know? Give you a head start."
"You know what, Gwen?" He took a step closer to her, rising to the occasion, "Maybe I'm trying to look for a challenge for a change."
Gwen almost lost her composure right then and there, a challenge? He had to be kidding, which is why she felt no remorse when she responded, "Oh? Really? Is that why you're currently trying to fuck a small child?"
Trent's eyebrows slightly raised as he faked a laugh, "Wow, such impeccable wit. Maybe you should save all that, for the speeches tonight, Gwen-y."
She sucked in a breath while he turned around and walked off without sparing her another look. He knew that she despised when he called her that, although it used to be a nickname that became commonplace in his vernacular in high school, it only left a bitter taste in her mouth to hear him say it now. Gwen knew she wasn't the same naïve teenager that she once was, and it pissed her off that all he had to do was say one little word, one little pet name, and suddenly it felt like she was back in her sophomore year. This was going to be a long night.
A/N: Hey, remember when I started working on this fic and then I died? Fun times! But I'm back now, and hopefully, I won't take another year to update. Things got super hectic and I lost my motivation, but, I think I'm ready to give this fic another shot. Thank you so much to everyone who left reviews, followed, and favorited. It actually meant a lot to me knowing even one person enjoyed what I wrote. Also, I apologize for my lack of trigger warnings before the chapter, but I plan to keep issuing them throughout when necessary. Thank you so much and I'm excited to pick this up again! Luna, out! Now to respond to some reviews:
queeniecourtney: I'm glad the group of friends rings you joy! It's a bit of an odd group but it definitely works for the way I want to write this story. Thank you for your excitement!
Guest 1: Thank you! I was worried people would think it would be off to a slow start, but it's good to know you thought the dialogue and characters were spot on!
Guest 2: Surprise, I am, in fact, continuing!
Guest 3: Thank you for your insight, I personally believe having comedy makes the deeper and more serious moments of the story more impactful. I'm so honored to hear that it felt like you were watching it on TV, since this is inspired by a movie, it's good to know that it comes across kind of like a show or movie. But you flatter me, this review made my day.
GidgetteLover: Surprise! It took a while, but here's more!