Blank - Love is in the air - 5

Love is in the air - Five

We got to the hotel and Elizabeth was already checking in. I was a little surprised that I was actually happy to see her. We all went to the front desk. Of course no one wanted to miss anything anymore.
 
“Hey.” We all said.
 
“Hi.” She said touching my arm and kissing me on the cheek. I smiled.
 
“Elizabeth Gregory!” Ryan said, sarcasm all over him.
 
“Ryan Meyer.” She answered reaching to shake his hand. “I heard you’re getting married. Congratulations.”
 
“Thank you.” He introduced her to Brigitte and continued “I heard you’re gay now and there’s something about a tattoo…?” He said looking at me. I knew he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to tease her now that he knew her secrets and he no longer worked for her.
 
She went with it. “Always been gay and tattoo is not recent.” She said calmly. I was still astonished by how polite she was. In the old days Ryan would be out the door crying.
 
“Oh. Where is it? Can I see it?” he said approaching her.

 
“Don’t push it.” She said holding her hand up to stop him.
 
“Ry.” I gave him a dirty look.
 
“Yeah. OK. I’ll behave.” He laughed.
 
“Ryan, when do the other guests get here?” Stew asked trying to break the tension.
 
“ Um, later today. My folks are coming with my brother in an hour or two from L.A. Brigitte’s parents are flying in with her sister and her brother today. And some of my friends and family will get here tomorrow.” He told Stew. “It’s gonna be you and Cami, and Julia and my brother and Molly and my cousin and Brigitte’s sister will carry the rings.”
 
“For what?” I interrupted him.
 
“The pairs. In the wedding. You’re my groomsgirls.” he smiled.
 
“Really? You didn’t say anything.” Molly said.
 
“Did I have to? You’re family. You have to be in my wedding.” He said looking at me, Cami and Molly.
 
“Aw. I didn’t know you could be this sweet.” Cami said.
 
“Remember this moment, ‘cause it doesn’t happen often” he said ironically.
 
“Wait. We don’t need bridesmaid’s dresses, do we?” I asked worried.
 
“No. You’re not bridesmaid. You’re groomsgirl. Just wear your charm.” He smiled.
We shook our heads, rolled our eyes and laughed. Gregory had finished checking in and we were all walking to the elevator.
 
“We can still go to the beach for a bit before everyone gets here. Anyone up to it?” Brigitte said with her enchanting accent. We all agreed. I went to my room with Molly to get ready.
 
She was tying her bikini top when she turned to me “what was Ryan talking about at lunch?” she asked me.
 
“What do you mean?” I asked even though I new what she meant.
 
“When he said you’re gonna have to tell your parents.” She looked at me.
 
I could try to fool her, but Molly was too sly to let anything escape her. Still, I tried “Well, he knows how my relationship with my parents is. He’s just worried.”
 
“Julia, that’s not what he was going to say. He was gonna say something about…” I didn’t let her finish.
 
“Molly, I don’t wanna talk about it. Not now. It’s Ryan’s wedding and there’s too much going on, OK? We’ll talk about that later.” I was honest.
 
“You can’t run from it forever.” She said putting on her beach dress.
 
“Well, I’ll run as long as I can.” I said zipping my shorts.
 
She didn’t insist on it. We were the first ones downstairs. We sat down to wait for the others. She said a thing or two about the wedding. Cami and Stew came down first, followed by Gregory and then Ryan and Brigitte. We walked out the hotel all together. Gregory walked between Molly and me. Her and Molly seemed like old friends. We talked all the way to the beach. Occasionally she would touch my arm, or my hair. It gave me chills, in a good way, in a great way.
 
We got to the beach and picked a spot to sit down. I wanted to go in the water, but no one wanted to go with me, except for Stew. I was glad that he was the only one because I didn’t have the chance to talk to him and hear what he had to say in the middle of everything. He was always the one who’d agree to do stuff with me like go in the water when we went to the beach, try snowboarding when we went skiing, playing video games, even we went out he’d agree with me where we should eat. I needed to know what he was thinking about everything.
 
We got in and swam a little away from the beach. The water was freezing, still we liked it. We stopped and just drifted a little while.
 
“So, what do you think?” I asked him.
 
“About what?” he answered.
 
“Stew.” I said. He knew what I was talking about.
 
He pointed his head to the sand “I think mine is hotter that yours.” He laughed.
 
I rolled my eyes and threw water at him. “Stew. Seriously!”
 
“What? She is!” he laughed again. “No, seriously. Differently from Ryan, I had no clue you were gay or bi or whatever, but honestly I really don’t care. I mean, if you’re happy then that’s what matters. But if you want my advice…”
 
“…yes?” I wanted his advice. I was hoping it was one of the good ones.
 
“…you need to go to Florida.” He said it very sincerely.
 
It was the first time I’d stopped to really think about it and the first thing that anyone told me at the time that I was actually analyzing. I was quiet for a bit and then turned to him “I do, don’t I?”
 
“Yep.”
 
“Tell me why again.” I knew why. I just needed someone to say it and validate it to me.
 
“Ryan is right. You need to talk to your parents, tell them about this and work on all the other crap that you have unsolved with them that clearly also includes you being gay and not talking to anyone about it. And you can’t do that by the phone like you’ve been trying to do for years.” All he said was true. I knew that I had to go there. It just scared me.
 
“How do you do that?” I was amazed.
 
“Do what?” he asked.
 
“Say everything I need to hear when no one does.”
 
“Ha ha.” He laughed, “I’m just that good.”
 
“And that cocky” we laughed. If I had known my friends would be so OK with this I would probably have acted on it a lot sooner, I thought. But then a rush of thoughts and feelings came to me and I knew that I couldn’t have.
 
We swam back and got to where the others were. He sat next to Cami and I sat next to Gregory. I called her Gregory a couple of times. She corrected me, insisting to call her Liz. Apparently everybody else was used to it except for me. Even Ryan was calling her Liz. We were there for about an hour, in which Liz made it clear that she was very OK with public display of affection.
 
We got back to the hotel just in time to welcome Ryan’s parents and his brother. His mother was very elegant and beautiful I’m guessing it’s a family thing because his father was extremely good-looking and charming. Ryan’s brother, Alex, followed family tradition. He looked just like Ryan, except a little younger. We’ve met them before when they went to visit Ryan in New York a few times. Of all of us, Ryan was the closest to his family. His brother lived in Los Angeles, but they were from Seattle, and that's where his parents lived. He went home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and whenever he had some time. If he couldn’t make it for some reason, they’d go visit him. None of the others, including me made that big an effort to stay close to family. Neither did our families. Maybe Ryan just had a good childhood and loving parents.
 
They got settled in and Alex, as I was his pair in the wedding, asked me to stop by his room to help him with deciding on a tie for the rehearsal dinner. I new it was just an excuse so that he could ask me about Molly and Roger and why he was not here. He’s always had a thing for Molly. Since the first time we met him. I left Molly and Gregory in my room, they were getting along surprisingly well. Couldn’t say the same for Cami, but then again I didn’t expect any different. I mean, we never liked Gregory, but Cami loathed her. I knocked on Alex’s door and he opened. He was too much like Ryan. Not only in the looks, but his voice, the way he walked and his personality was all Ryan.
 
“Hey, come in.” he said, and I did.
 
“So, what’s this tie emergency?” I laughed.
 
“What color is your dress for tonight?”
 
“Red.”
 
“OK then. Red one it is.” He said putting a red tie on the bed. “How about tomorrow? I know Ryan’s doing this non traditional dress code free wedding on the beach, but he did say we had to match our shirt color to your dresses.” He said rolling his eyes.
 
“Right.” I chuckled. “It’s light blue. Almost like that shirt.” I pointed to a shirt that was still in his suitcase. The color was very similar to my dress.
 
“Oh, perfect then. It’s decided.” He said unpacking the shirt.
 
“Anything else I can help you with?”
 
“Well, since you asked.” He gave me a smile.
 
“Molly. Right.” I said smiling. I knew that was the reason I was there from the beginning. “What do you wanna know?”
 
“She left Roger yet?”
 
“Ha ha. Sorry, Alex. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
 
“Well, he’s not here, that’s a start.”
 
“He had family stuff to deal with. I wouldn’t make much out of it.”
 
“Well, didn’t you guys get wasted last night because he was with his ex-wife? That’s saying something.”
 
“Ryan really can’t keep his mouth shut, can him?”
 
“No, and hot girlfriend, by the way.”
 
“Not my girlfriend.”
 
“OK.” He said laughing.
 
“He told you that too?”
 
“Kinda hard to miss the gorgeous blonde that can’t keep her hands off you.”
 
“Right.” I chuckled
 
“Back to the point?”
 
“Yeah, um, Alex really, I’m sorry but last night was nothing out of the ordinary for Molly and Roger.”
 
“They always get in a fight that ends with her sleeping at the beach because of his ex?”
 
“Pretty much. Except for the beach part.”
 
“Hum.”
 
“But you know she gets wasted and talks shit about his ex and that’s it. She doesn’t look for someone else or even talk shit about him. She just trashes her.”
 
“Oh, come on. Give me something. You want me living in New York incredibly happy with Molly, don’t you?”
 
“Ha ha.” I laughed. Then I was serious. “Alex, you know I want you to be happy. It’s just that Molly and Roger is too complicated. She’s been putting up with his ex-wife’s crap for so long for a reason. She’s crazy about him and he’s crazy about her.” I felt bad for him, but it was the truth. “Look, I get upset and pissed for what she goes through, but he does make her happy. If she would let me know in any way that she wanted out if this relationship I’d be President of Team Alex.” He chuckled “but I really don’t see it happening. And I don't want you to get any hopes or en up hurt is this story” I had to be honest with him. He’s been after Molly for too long and - even with the evil bitch making a big effort - I really didn’t see Molly and Roger apart at all.
 
He was quiet for a while. “Is that why Ryan paired me with you and cousin Ed with her?”
 
“Yeah. Probably.”
 
“Hum.” He stopped for a second. “Well I guess I’ll be very alone for this wedding. Unless…” he put his hands on my waist. “Any chance of a threesome?” he laughed.
 
“Shut Up.” I laughed hitting him and pushing him away. That’s is something Ryan would say if he wasn’t getting married the next day. They were so much alike. Gross, but I learned to love them in their nonsense way.
 
I got back to my room. It was so much more crowded than when I left. Cami and Stew were sitting on my bed next to Elizabeth – I couldn’t call her Liz yet. Molly was sitting on her bed next to Brigitte and some other girl I didn’t know. She was brunette, tall and skinny and her eyes were fascinatingly hazel.
 
“Julia, hi. This is my sister Dominique.” Brigitte pointed to the girl.
I didn’t realize it was that late that her family had already arrived. And I would never guess that that was her sister. They had nothing in common.
 
“Oh. Hi. Nice to meet you.” I said reaching my hand out to shake hers.
 
She stood up “pleasure to meet you.” She said shaking my hand. Her accent was much heavier than Brigitte’s. I grabbed a chair that was on the corner and sat down. The beds were too packed.
 
“So what was Alex’s tie and shirt emergency?” Molly asked.
 
“You know that’s not what he wanted to talk about.” I said.
 
“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked a little concerned. Brigitte and Dominique looked confused. 
Everyone else knew what I was talking about.
 
“Alex has a crush on Molly since…Well, forever.” Cami clarified things.
 
“Still?” Molly asked surprised.
 
“Oh, come on, Molly. You know everything about everyone’s life. Can’t you see anything when it comes to yours?” Stew said laughing. It was true. She always knew exactly what was going on in everyone’s life, but she always ignored what was obvious in hers.
 
Molly ignored what Stew just said and kept talking to me “What did he say?”
 
“He wanted to know how serious was your fight last night.” I told her. Brigitte and her sister seemed very out of place.
 
“What did you tell him?” Molly asked.
 
“That, although, you and Roger fight a lot, he makes you happy, but if at one point you’d get tired of the relationship and the evil ex-wife I’d be on his team.” I was honest.
 
“Yeah, can we not talk about that?” Molly said trying to avoid the subject.
 
“We should probably get ready for the rehearsal.” Brigitte said getting up. It was an awkward moment. 

“Yeah right. It’s almost time.” I said.
 
“We’ll see you in a bit then” Brigitte said as she and Dominique left the room.
 
 “No need to discuss my personal life in front of them.” Molly said mad at me.
 
“You asked!” I said sitting on the bed, next to her.
 
“I should probably go. You guys talk and get ready for the rehearsal. Elizabeth said getting up.
 
“You don’t have to go. I mean. I do call you Liz now.” Molly said lightning up the mood.
 
“No, it’s ok. I should get ready.” Elizabeth said looking at Molly. Then she turned to me “I’ll see you at dinner, OK?” she leaned down and kissed me.
 
“Ok.” I said.
 
“See you guys later.” She said leaving the room.
 
“Julia!” Molly said.
 
“What? I just answered your questions.” I said ironically.
 
She was still mad, but she never stayed mad at me so I new it was a matter of seconds for her to let it go. Cami and Stew left to get ready for the rehearsal, by then she was over it already and talking too much about Elizabeth. I new it was just Molly’s way. She had to know everything about everyone.