Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 111: Bride To Be

Courtney's bachelorette party starts in the large hotel suite the six girls will be sharing that night. There's a 'master' bedroom in the form of an interconnected hotel room – Courtney gets that one, Olivia claiming the second space in the King-size bed with her – and two other twin bedrooms, but they stay in the large living area for their pre-going out activities. Kari has managed to invent a drinking game out of Exploding Kittens, and Courtney doesn't pretend she isn't totally impressed by the fact she somehow managed to work her favourite card game into her bachelorette without it being out of place. They order in food for dinner to eat amongst their game-playing and enthusiastic chatting, Olivia supplying a playlist in the background and a high-quality Bluetooth speaker to get them hyped up for their night out.

"So, Courtney, before we do go out... we got a couple things to sort out," Kari grins, when they start talking about leaving the hotel room and calling Ubers to take them out to the first club they plan on hitting. Everyone else in the room laughs at Courtney's raised eyebrow – even Julie, who Courtney guesses must have been clued in by someone about what was going to happen – as Kari ducks back into the bedroom she and Julie will be sharing, returning with two bags.

"What are you planning?" Courtney asks, sceptical, although the buzz she has – they all have – from their pre-drinking keeps her tone lighter than it might be otherwise.

"Well, given you're a pin fiend... I have bachelorette party pins for all of us," she emphasises, grinning and reaching into the smaller bag to bring out a handful of light pink, wineglass-shaped enamel pins.

"Oh they turned out so cool!" Hannah enthuses, bouncing on her feet, and Courtney can't help her own curiosity as she moves closer to Kari to have a look, seeing each pin has a different title written on it in dark red cursive.

"Okay, that's- yes, that's fucking cool," Courtney grins, happily accepting the pin Kari hands over to her, turning it in her hands a few times. Her own reads 'bride-to-be', of course, and she quickly glances around at everyone else's, laughing in particular at Olivia's designation as 'work wife' and Julie's '(almost) sister-in-law'. Kari, for her part, has 'favourite sister', to which Courtney rolls her eyes before admitting that yeah, it's not totally inaccurate. Hannah gets 'queen of tables', based on both her well-known penchant for getting up high on whatever she can when drunk and the keen eye she'd brought to their seating layout planning. Rachel's saying references her and Courtney's own friendship, having met during Courtney's very brief stint at college (Rachel had actually stayed with it and graduated).

"Okay, so... I've already told you about the next one, but..." Kari trails off, reaching into the second bag to pull out a novelty tiara, also featuring looping text of 'Bride To Be' as its front. Courtney gives a sigh, holding out her hand to take it from Kari to examine it. It's not cheap plastic – it is actually a proper-quality hair accessory – and the shimmer-effect silver is adorned with clear diamantes, although not enough to make it look trashy.

"Okay... Fine. I'll wear it," Courtney relents, Olivia squealing happily in response as the others express their own excitement and Kari reaches for the tiara again to move towards Courtney and affix it on her head.

"Okay, that actually looks really fucking pretty," Rachel enthuses, Courtney bowing to the buzz coursing through her and pushing away her shyness to instead pose a little, leaning into everyone complimenting how she looks dressed up and wearing a goddamn tiara. They take photos, but for now, they keep them away from social media, safe on each of their own phones.

"Okay, party time?" Kari prompts, everyone more than happy to do their final preparations and makeup touch-ups before they step out of the room to head to their first destination.

The first club they visit is very much a club. There are no tables free, but the music is pumping and the playlist is more than sufficient, so they very quickly move into the crowded dancefloor to make a space for themselves. They dance with each other, for the most part, occasional half-shouted comments mixed with loud laughter as they fake-grind on each other. Kari briefly entertains a boy that approaches her, but he is soon pushed away by careful movement and ignorance, the group clear they are there for a girls' night only.