Page 19 of Holiday Unscripted
Turning back to him, so as not to let him have the last word, I snap, “You better not bring anyone home so I have to hear you doing the nasty, which will in fact make me throw up.” I pick my beer back up trying to change the taste in my mouth from the vile tequila I just drank.
He doesn’t have a chance to say anything to me since Joshua and Macy come up to us. Joshua is wearing the “I’m the Groom” shirt while Macy wears “I’m the Bride.”
“It’s a good thing you have those shirts.” I motion to Joshua with a chin up. “I’d be confused on who is who.”
“Yeah,” Nate interjects, “she gets confused often.” He motions towards me with his head. “Your sister got married on her way here.”
I roll my eyes. “Wait, you’re dating someone?” Joshua doesn’t get the sarcasm. “Why didn’t you bring him to meet the family?”
“I’m not dating anyone,” I deny. “Nate is just being pissy because he can’t bring anyone home tonight since I’m staying with him. Where are all our cousins?” I ask looking around.
“They get here in two days,” he informs us. “The hockey season only ends the twenty-third, so a couple of the wives are coming down and then everyone else is coming when the games are over, since the last games are played on the twenty-second.”
“What song do you want to sing with me?” Evie asks me when she comes up to my side. “It’s between ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ and ‘Dancing Queen.’”
“Oh, I would love ‘Dancing Queen,’” Macy says to us.
“I guess that’s our answer.” I look at Evie, who nods at me.
“What are you two going to sing for us?” Joshua looks at Jack and Nate.
“Yeah,” I push, “what are you two going to sing for them?”
“Um,” Jack starts mumbling.
“I think you guys should sing ‘Shallow.’” I point my bottle of beer at them.
“I think they should do ‘All The Single Ladies.’” Evie gets in with me.
“I think you need to stop talking,” Jack tells her as we hear someone tapping the microphone.
“Okay, everyone,” one of the waitresses starts, “we are ready to kick off karaoke night with soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Morrow.” She points at them and Joshua raises his hands in the air. “Let’s kick it off with them singing ‘You’re the One that I Want.’”
We cheer for them as they walk over to the stage. Joshua is limping as he follows her up on the stairs. I can’t help but burst out laughing at them as they get up there and try to do their John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John impressions. Most of the time, Joshua is falling to the side since he can’t put too much weight on his foot.
Everyone cheers them on as they finish with him grabbing her around the waist and dipping her for a kiss at the end. “Try to top that.” I push Nate’s shoulder. “I think you need to just grab Jack and lay one on him.”
“As hot as I think you are,” Jack says to Nate, “you’re like a little brother to me, so that would be eeew.”
All of us burst out laughing as the girl now calls Evie and me to the stage. “Here we go,” I say, grabbing a shot on the way to the stage. “This is going to be fun.”
“You should introduce yourself,” Macy yells from her table and I look over at Evie.
“My name is Elizabeth,” I start, “not Lizzy. Don’t call me Lizzy, I will throat punch you.” I point to everyone, and they laugh. “I’m the groom’s favorite sister. I’m also his only sister, so there’s that.” I point to Joshua. “And this is my favorite sister-in-law”—I point to Evie—“for now.” I wink at Macy, who holds up her hand and points to her finger. “She’s also my favorite because she didn’t force me to do karaoke when she was getting married.”
The two of us start to sing and go off-key as soon as the chorus starts, making me laugh so hard I’m crying by the end of the song. Evie holds up her hand for me to give her a high five. I look back over to where we left Jack and Nate and see Jack on his feet standing and clapping, while Nate is leaning on the top of the bar, talking to the maid of honor. Saying something that makes her laugh, she puts her hand on top of his arm, which I know is fake because he’s not funny at all.
I shake my head and try not to let seeing him with her bother me. It’s been almost seven years since we had one night together. I walk down the steps and look around. “I’m going to the bathroom,” I tell Evie, and she nods at me as I walk to the back of the bar.
I push open the door and walk to the sink to rinse my hands, looking down at the water and I’m taken back to that one night, the one night that will forever be one of the best and one of the worst nights of my life. More so the best than the worst, even though we haven’t been the same since.
Nate and Joshua had just gotten home for winter break after beating the number one team to move up in the standings. Nate wasn’t even supposed to be at the bar that night. He had plans to go with Joshua and Jack to join our cousins at the hockey rink that night for a pick-up game. But now here he was with a couple of his friends from high school just sitting on a barstool laughing. It was the first time I’d seen him since he was back.
“Hey.” I walked up to him and smiled big. My heart hammering in my chest as I walked into the middle of his legs and leaned in to kiss his cheek. It was something that I don’t think I’ve ever done before. I mean when he’d come into the house and seen me after a couple of days, he would always give me a side hug or sometimes hold up his hand so I could give him a high five. This was very different and for the life of me I don’t know why I did it. I just did.
“Hey,” he said smiling at me, “this is a surprise.” He hadn’t seen me since he headed back to school at the beginning of August.
“You can say that.” I looked at the guys next to them remembering them from coming to my house a couple of times, but whose names I was blanking on. It could be that it was because I was still in the middle of Nate’s legs and my hand was on his thigh. It was an intimate gesture that I’d never done before.
