Planning Your Future

Tonight Belongs To You

July 22, 1992

Veronica's POV

All of the bridesmaids gather at Jill's. I told them all to dress nice. Jill comes downstairs in a dress. I've never seen her in a dress that goes above her knees. I'm not opposed, it's just odd. I grab the sash that says "Bride To Be" and put it around her. "Is this really necessary?" She looks down at it. "Come on. Tonight belongs to you, you should go big." Heather says. "Yeah." I adjust it.

We drive to the club. The bouncer inspects our IDs. "You can go in." Heather and I celebrate internally as we go inside. It isn't super busy considering it is a Wednesday. But it's also not empty. We all sit at a table. Alice, the younger of the bridesmaids that I don't really know, brings drinks to the table. I push mine away, "I'm the designated driver so I'm sober tonight." I didn't want to drink since I have a lot to do tomorrow and a hangover would make that a lot harder.

"What exactly are you supposed to do at clubs?" Jill asks. "Have you never been to one?" Alice laughs. "No. I got married at eighteen and had Jason when I was nineteen. I didn't really have time to party." I knew Jill was pretty young but I didn't realize she was that young. "Well you're just supposed to dance, drink, and just have fun." Heather tells her.

So that's what she does. Everyone is having fun as I sit down, watching them dance. I'm drinking a virgin drink. It's pretty good. I'm looking through my list, making sure I have everything done to be able to set up tomorrow. Then I start doing something that my dad would do with me when we were waiting for my mother at the store. He'd point out what someone walking by was doing. He called it people-watching. I notice the girl with blonde hair in the green dress, doing more shots than she probably should be. I see two people who, based on how awkward they are, I'd say they're on a date. The final person I go to look at is clearly doing the same. He seems to be in his mid-twenties, with blonde hair. He has a leather jacket and jeans. We lock eyes. He starts to walk over to me. "So are you the designated driver too?" He sits beside me. "Yeah." I nod. "Do you not drink? Or did you just not want to tonight?" He asks. "I drink but I don't have time to be hungover." I say. "Oh okay. My name's Justin by the way." He sticks out his hand. "I'm Veronica." I shake his hand. "So is that group over there yours?" He points to the girls. "Yep. That's them." They're having fun, which I'm glad or else I didn't do a good job as Maid of Honor. "So is tonight the bachelorette party? Since the one lady is wearing a sash." He's clearly a very observant person. "Yeah, it is." He takes a drink from his glass, "I'm going to guess that you're the Maid of Honor." Wow. He's good. "I am. What gave it away?"

"I've been watching you for a while. You were staring at your notebook pretty intensely." He motions to my notebook. "I hope that doesn't sound creepy." I laugh, "Don't worry, it's fine. I was looking at you too. But I was also looking at everyone." How do you explain that you were "people watching" to someone without sounding creepy? "Yeah, I was too. People here are pretty interesting. Also that one girl that's with you, the blonde one in yellow, is really pretty." I know he's talking about Heather, who is now getting drinks at the bar. "You should go talk to her. She's single. She also doesn't drink a lot. So she won't be hammered when you talk to her." Heather drinks but she only drinks a little. She told me that the first time she drank a lot, she woke up on Kurt's front lawn, in a pool of her own vomit. I understand why. That sounds like a nightmare.

Justin gets up and approaches Heather at the bar. I watch them talk. They talk for a while before a song comes on that Heather likes. We make eye-contact so Heather comes over and drags me to the dance floor. "Don't you remember this song? I think it played at our senior prom." It probably did. But if I'm honest, my senior prom is kind of a blur. I dance with her, then sit down as soon as it's over.

JD's POV

We all drive up to the bowling alley. I was trying to think of something we all could do that wouldn't exclude Oliver, who's only sixteen. Apparently he's Hank's nephew. He seems like a pretty cool kid. He reminds me of how I was at sixteen. But since he's underaged, we don't have as many options. Ted, who is Hank's coworker, tried to get me to bring all of them to a strip club. But there are many problems with that. The first is Oliver wouldn't be allowed in, which isn't fair to him. The second is that I will never step foot in one of those places, as well as it feels like borderline cheating. Zoe's flight lands in Sherwood tomorrow morning, so I would not want that on my conscience when I see her tomorrow. The third and most important problem is that Hank would just be miserable if I took him there. So I told Ted no and asked Hank what he wanted to do. He gave me a few options and bowling was one of them.