Bride to Be

21: Truth or Drink

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: TRUTH OR DRINK

June 28th, 2020

Despite being heavily intoxicated the night before, neither Gemma nor Marcie were hungover that next morning. From what Gemma could remember from the ride home, Olivia made the two drunk post-grads chug two bottles of water each before they got home. This helped, though Gemma's memories were still spotty from only twelve hours before.

She remembered drinking way too much in a short amount of time, almost kissing Wes, and fighting with Rowan. Everything else was a blur. Still not understanding why Rowan was acting so weird, Gemma decided not to dwell on it. She was drunk, and so was he. Alcohol made people do strange things, which Gemma convinced herself was the reason for Rowan's weird behavior.

So when Gemma clocked out of her shift at Target at 3:30 in the afternoon, she was surprised to see a text from Avery, reminding Gemma of plans to grab food that the two had made the night before.

Confused, Gemma immediately showed Marcie the text when she got home. 

"I remember that," Marcie did not sound surprised by the message as she pulled her Dunkin' tee shirt over her head. "You said yes just so Avery would walk away."

Gemma groaned, falling backwards on her bed in frustration. 

"Call off work and come with me?" Gemma begged.

"Not a chance," Marcie shook her head. "I'm working with my hot coworker tonight,"

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend?" Gemma asked, eyeing Marcie who seemed to be too excited about her 4:30pm shift at Dunkin'. All Marcie could talk about lately was Emmett, her coworker at Dunkin' who she was heavily attracted to. Marcie was convinced to have a summer fling with him, since she was not staying in Michigan for long. But after weeks of working with Emmett, she had no luck.

"They're on and off," Marcie shrugged it off like it was nothing. "Right now, they're off."

"You sure you can't miss one shift?" Gemma asked again hopefully, but knew that Marcie's answer was likely to be no.

"I'm sure," Marcie laughed. "Invite Wes, I'm sure he'd tag along."

"Yeah, because I'm sure he'd love to hangout with just Avery and I," Gemma sarcastically responded to her best friend's idea. She did not want to go, but wasn't sure how to get out of it. Even though her body likely needed a break from alcohol, Gemma figured she could order one drink, to help deal with the nerves of being alone with Avery. Ever since this wedding stuff began, this would be Gemma's first time alone with her old best friend. Every other time, there had always been someone else around. 

"You'll be fine," Marcie laughed as she finished getting ready. "I have to go. See you later!"

Marcie was out the door before Gemma had the chance to say goodbye. Just as she was changing out of her Target uniform, she received another text from the bride to be.

Avery: before we go to clementines, can you stop by my apartment? i want to go over some potential bridesmaid dress ideas with you :) xx

Gemma rolled her eyes. She was just a bridesmaid, so why was Avery tasking her with this job? This seemed like something for the maid of honor. 

In the duration of Avery and Gemma's friendship, she never did learn how to tell Avery no. She was the type of person who always got her way. Gemma was too, in most cases, but the difference between Avery and Gems was that Avery was more stubborn, and almost always ended up getting her way. So when Gemma responded sure, she sighed. Avery responded within seconds with the address to her apartment complex. The address was unfamiliar. It was not the same address Avery used to live at, with her family. As soon as Gemma became involved with the wedding, she was not surprised to see that Avery's parents were not involved. They were awful parents, which was part of the reason that Avery spent most of her time at the Perry household. Despite not liking her old friend, Gemma did always feel sorry for Avery, considering she did not have a true family.