Page 57 of Somewhere Only We Know
“Better question is what was in those drinks?” Nate asks.
“100 proof alcohol that’s for sure. So we’re married,” I conclude. My heart races at the thought of being married to Nate. This was always where the road would lead us. So why does it feel wrong?
“It appears so,” Nate starts, “I would suggest a quickie divorce or an annulment. But even suggesting those makes me wanna hurl.”
At least we’re in the same boat with that. It’s not that either of us are against divorce. It was one of the things we talked about in college. But a divorce from each other would put the final nail in the coffin for us. I nod and blink hard as tears threaten to expose me.
“Hey. Come here.” Nate holds his arm out and I slide over, burying my face in his shirt. “I’m not taking offense because I know this is not the road we were even close to driving on. Hell, we’re still in the shop. And while I was hoping that one day we would get to this place, I wanted us to remember it.”
His words are a comfort and the tears pour out. I always dreamed that my wedding day would be one of the most memorable days of my life. With the white dress, my dad walking me down the aisle, the man I love waiting for me at the altar, and the vows–the promise that the life we’re promising to spend together is one full of laughter and love. And to find out that neither of us even remembers what happened last night is crushing.
“So what do we do now?” I ask through my tears.
“We date. I assume you don’t want to live together right away?”
I snort and I’m pretty sure a snot bubble is smeared into his hoodie. “You'd be correct.”
“I’m a great roommate,” he says as he begins to plead his case for us to live together.
“I’m aware.” Slowly the tears stop and I wipe the remnants away.
He places a kiss on the top of my head and I feel that all the way to my toes. “We’ll fight because the past is our painful reminder. But we’ll stay because this time I’m not letting you go.”
I nod and wrap my arms around his waist. Those walls I had up around Nate are completely gone now. Well, not completely. They’re still up, but I can walk back and forth if need be until I can finally take a sledgehammer and knock it down for good.
“So we date?” I ask for more clarification.
“Yep.”
“You haven’t asked me.”
His chest rumbles with a silent laugh and I smile against his chest. “Jaclyn Marie Rawlins, will you go out with me?”
I make him wait longer than necessary. “I guess.”
“Okay. What do you say we go find some food? Because I’m starving.”
At that my stomach rumbles and we both laugh. “Will you text the guys and see what they’re up to?”
“Mm hmm. Go get your shoes on.”
Our drinks are droppedoff along with baskets of fries long before the sunshine couple joins us.
“You guys look like you had a long night,” I say to Sophie and Chance when they finally join us at the burger place across from the hotel. Our hostess set us up at a table on the patio. We almost immediately balked at the idea until just walking through the restaurant made us all gag. Thankfully the table is big enough for the six of us. Nate sits at one end of the table and I’m on his left, Bryce is across from me and Kamryn is sitting next to me. My foot is hooked around Nate’s leg and it’s thrilling to have a secret that no one is aware of.
“We didn’t go to sleep until almost four.” Sophie tells us as they take the only two empty chairs. They both have sunglasses pasted on their faces and look like they threw on whatever they could find.
“Did you two even shower?” Bryce asks with a wince and leans away from them.
As soon as he says that a breeze pushes their scents towards the rest of us.
“Fuck off, Bryce. The alcohol has decided to ooze out of our bodies.” Chance scolds.
“Ew,” Kamryn says and decides to take mercy on them and pour them both glasses of water and shoves over the other basket of fries that was delivered their way. We all watch on in amusement as they take tentative bites of the salty potato.
“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Bryce asks. We leave tomorrow and after last night I doubt anyone wants to go as hard as we did. I for one want a chill night, but in Vegas anything is possible.
Sophie and Chance look at each other before swinging their gazes to us. “Probably just dinner and then call it a night.”
