Maid of Honour (The Wedding Series #1)

Five

Sorry about how late on in the day it is, but it's still Saturday! Which is a win in my book! (And it's a bit of a longer chapter, so enjoy!)

***

"First round is on me, ladies," Jared announced as we sat down at our table at the local cocktail bar. It was a cheap and cheerful chained restaurant, somewhere I enjoyed frequenting in my youth. But I hadn't stepped foot in one of these places for quite some time, but it didn't mean I didn't miss the fruity cocktails and cheap meals. I shrugged off my jacket and placed it on the back of the chair. The table we had chosen was high, and the stools had some height to them. This, of course, caused a joke about me needing help to sit on the stool, as it was such a trek for me to get up there. I refrained from elbowing Jared in the stomach at that. After all, I was now the perfect height to do some damage. "What are we having?"

Gloria and Jennifer were quick to put in their orders off the 2-4-1 cocktail menu. Jennifer didn't seem too put off by the fact that we were in this budget bar and not in some fancy establishment. She didn't seem as picky as her brother because I knew, for a fact, that James would have turned up his nose at this place. But, I guess, she flew under the radar a little, as she was younger than James and also not the one currently training to run the business. Therefore, it would appear that James had more of a reputation to uphold. My inner feminist screamed at the thought of Jennifer standing lower down on the pecking order, perhaps because she was female. But I was also too scared to bring it up. That was a flaw I knew I possessed.

Jared's expectant eyes looked at me, waiting for my order. I had to fight my first instinct of denying his offer of buying me a drink. I didn't want Jared to have anything over me. But it would cause more of an argument if I were insistent on buying my own.

"I'll just have a coke, please," I said. He didn't say it had to be an alcoholic drink.

"Are you serious?" He eyed me.

"Yes," I replied, straight-faced, but he had raised my haunches with that comment. "It's a little early for me to carry on drinking, and I've had a couple of glasses of champagne, haven't I? I might have one later." I only said that last bit to appease him.

Jared looked like he was about to argue, but instead, he thought better of it. He shrugged, turned on his heel and headed towards the bar. Well, that was painless enough.

That left me and my bridesmaids sitting around the table. It wasn't as awkward as I had first expected.

"So, any reason you're not joining us with a drink yet?" Jennifer asked. It wasn't accusatory. She asked it with genuine curiosity. "From what James has told me, you quite enjoy a drink. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

She was quick to cover her tracks, but I was quick to let out a breezy laugh to let her know it didn't offend me. It also didn't surprise me that James was exaggerating about my drinking habits to his family. He was always very prim and proper and worried about unnecessary things like that.

I shrugged. "Well, your brother always hated it when I got too drunk. And because I'm such a lightweight, I only need to sniff the stuff, and then I'm on my arse." I laughed, assuming that the answer didn't incriminate either of us too much.

"I was the same at uni," Gloria joined in with the conversation, with a flush of pink on her ebony cheeks. "It made for cheaper nights out."

"Exactly!" I laughed. "At uni it was fine. There were clear positives to it. But - as I'm sure Jennifer can tell you - it's not great at a charity dinner with plenty of rich, important people around. Especially if you're giggling at stupid stuff because you've had one too many glasses of champagne. All the while, your husband-to-be is in a deep conversation about important business topics."