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“Do you think a single one of them will be joining us?” Xaden muses, leaning back against the back of the booth seating, draping his arm around the back of Violet’s –his wife Violet– still shimmering shoulders. His left hand skims over the top of her shoulder, the cool golden metal now adorning his hand an unfamiliar but welcome weight against her skin.
“Mira will make it. Dain, too. Sloane, absolutely not. I don’t even know if Ridoc is still alive… oh and Garrick will come because he won’t pass up breakfast.” Violet leans her head on his upper arm, snaking her own left hand up to caress his chin. She directs him to look down her direction, thumbing her lip just over the plumpest part of his bottom lip. “Our friends are the nosiest people alive, do you really think they’d miss–”
“There’s the fucking Riorsons!” Garrick all but screams as the doors to the little private room fly open, a small crowd of Xaden’s friends trailing in closely behind.
Immediately behind him comes Imogen, soft pink hair still pinned up from the night before, albeit with significant frizz framing her face in little curls.
“Hey, don’t yell.” Imogen shushes him, and when she brings her sleeve up to wipe at her eyes, the white dress shirt comes back with smudges of mascara and glitter eyeshadow from the night before. “Not this early in the morning,”
“It’s eleven am..” Xaden points out, casually swirling a cup of black coffee in his right hand. “Nice shirt you’ve got, Imogen.”
“It was the easiest one to throw on.” Imogen rolls her eyes, pulling out a chair and sitting directly across from Violet, waiting for Garrick to take his spot beside her. “Make fun of him. Garrick forgot to pack clothes for today, aren’t those formal dress pants perfect for brunch?”
“You were screaming earlier this morning if I remember correctly, Immie. And oh I remember correctly.” Garrick taunts, plopping down into the seat across from Xaden with a million dollar smile plastered across his face. He looks so smug with those deep dimples that it will be a shock if Imogen doesn’t kick him straight in the leg under the table.
“Yeah well, at least I actually made it to bed last night.” She murmurs, reaching forward to take a piece of the toast that was already set out on the large diner table. “Garebear here fell asleep on the bathroom floor after a shower.”
“What can I say, I had a good time.” Garrick shrugs, shooting Xaden a grin. “What about you, Xaddykins, get any sleep with Mrs. Riorson?”
“Why are you so fucking gross?” Xaden gives his best friend a shake of his head as Violet squeezes his leg affectionately.
“I enjoyed my new husband very much, thank you for asking Garrick.” Violet raises her eyebrows playfully, before directing her attention to the next member of the group, toddling in and taking the spare space beside Imogen.
Sloane.
Sloane Mairi, still in her dress and heels from the night before, wide awake and looking around with a hazed kind of attention that could only be–
“Fuck, Sloane are you still drunk?” Xaden leans in, whispering as if they are not the only people present in the rented space. “How much did you drink?”
“Yeah, maybe I am, what about it?” Sloane slurs out, looking around the room in a way that allows her to avoid eye contact with any one particular person. “It’s not my fault, you had an open bar, I was bored because my brother and my boyfriend and ALL of my friends were in your wedding, you took pictures for three hours, and I had to hang out with your brother in law. Really it’s your fault and his fault and–”
“My brother-in-law? Brennan? He was taking pictures too–”
“Noooo,” Sloane shakes her head slowly before nodding towards Violet. “Your brother in law. He’s actually a lot of fun, after like…seven drinks or something.”
“My brother in law?” Violet cocks an eyebrow, “Do you mean Dain? You usually don’t complain about him,”
“Noooooo, Gods, I mean Drake, Mira’s little lover boy.”
“Oh! Oh, that’s..” Violet stifles a smile, leaning down to take a drink of her own coffee. “How exactly was that, Sloane?”
“Sloaney did come in clutch with the chicken nuggets though.” Garrick gets out around a mouth of bacon, “that was a good call.”
“There were chicken nuggets?” Xaden looks between the three of them, nothing short of amusement on his face. “I don’t remember selecting that as one of the dinner options, do you love?”
“I’d say maybe as a kids meal but there were no kids invited.”
“I door dashed them, okay? After the ceremony, in hour one million of your pictures!” Sloane rolls her eyes, opening a little packet of jelly before digging directly into it with a spoon. “I was hungry and drunk.”
“Looks like you’re still hungry and drunk.” Imogen remarks, gently patting her friend’s leg. “You need to eat real food.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. That' s all anyone wants to do! Tell me what to do. Sloane, you should eat something. Sloane, you need to drink water. Sloane you should ask your boyfriend why he won’t marry you. Sloane you should have another shot– well that one I did!” She huffs, leaning back in the chair and stretching her arms out behind her and over her head. She looks, if only for a moment, at the empty space beside her. "In fact I think we should have mimosas.”
“Can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.” Garrick agrees, reaching over Imogen and holding his hand open for a high five which Sloane grants him.
“You need to elaborate on..all of that.. actually.” Imogen decides, reaching over across Sloane to snag a waffle from a plate in front of her. “Where’s Bodhi? Did anyone see him last night?”
“Ew, yeah! Him and Liam and Ridoc all left together, like, together together.” Sloane’s face scrunches into actual disgust, which she quickly masks with another spoonful of strawberry jelly. “They snuck out of the coat closet at like…I dunno, eleven pm and I saw them all get in the elevator to go upstairs.”
The look of abject horror on Xaden’s face is only rivaled by the one on Garrick’s, which is only matched by the wide, blank stare of Imogen.
Violet, however, gives just an amused smile, leaning forward to rest her arm on the table with rapt attention. “Oh do go on.”
“Yeah, and your sister? Drake had to literally carry her upstairs and she was crying because she loves you soooo much, I bet she isn’t even awake. He’s funny. He loves her a lot. Like, a lot a lot. She should keep him” Sloane launches into detailing the night.
“Don’t you just hate these things?” The thick accent fills her ears as someone joins her in leaning against the bar, holding out his glass to her in the offer of a playful toast.
They had met at the rehearsal the night before, though she was peripherally aware of Drake Cordella from the close familial proximity of Dain to the Sorrengail siblings. “I can only have so many conversations with Mira’s Grandma Niara before I want to jump off the top of this very nice rooftop bar.”
“You’re telling me,” Sloane clinks the glass with his, throwing her head back to finish the rest of her champagne. “I need something stronger than this before yet another person asks me when I’m getting married. It’s like I need a ring and a man and a big wedding to matter to these people. Who, by the way, wouldn’t even be invited.”
“You think that conversation’s bad for you here? I’m dating the other Sorrengail sister– who is adamantly opposed to the institution of marriage, by the way, which she said about twenty six times while writing her maid of honor speech. Not that I was counting. “ Drake flashes a smile, a genuine one that seems to reach even the corner of his eyes. “Weddings are no fun when everyone is all coupled up. It takes out the fun of watching the drunk makeouts and unexpected hookups.”
“Don’t worry, give Imogen and Garrick a few hours, they’ll be borderline fucking on the dance floor after the bouquet toss.” Sloane muses, turning around to ask the bartenders for something stronger. Something that tastes like fruit and forgetting that this won’t be her future. “I’m sure Ridoc has some hookups up his sleeve, that's sort of his thing.”
“Who do you think is most likely to cry? I think it’s going to be Mira, she’ll deny that she’s emotional, but she loves her sister honestly more than anything in the world. She’s going to cry sometime between the first dance and the cake cutting. She’ll need three drinks in her first.”
“Dain already got teary before she walked down the aisle. Does that count?” Sloane shrugs, thanking the bartender with a genuine smile before rotating to look around the room with Drake once again. “If not, then it’ll be Bodhi or Liam. Bodhi, because he’s his last living relative, or Liam because they got really close after our parents died. Sometimes it seems like he’s more his brother than mine.” She takes another long drink, and the way the sweetness goes down she realizes it’s dangerously good. “Do you have a big family? Are you used to all the prying questions?”
“Yeah, kind of.” He nods, taking a casual sip of his own whiskey. At least Riorson sprung for the top shelf, he had to give him that much. “It can be challenging with Mira, because of Vi and Xaden. My cousin and Xaden had this really messy thing and–”
“Yikes.” Sloane grimaces, staring down at the purple tinted drink in her left hand. “I don’t. I’m not used to all the nosiness. My family’s all pretty much dead other than Liam, and Dain’s family hates me so. They want me nowhere near him. His dad especially, and if you don’t look too fast he’s standing by the other corner of the rooftop looking at me like he wants to throw me off.”
“That’s too bad, Sloane. For what it’s worth, Violet hates him. I was at the house when her and her mom had a massive fight about inviting him. He apparently doesn’t like Xaden either.”
“He hates all of us, because of our parents. Me, Xaden, Bodhi, Ims, Garrick…they were all politically involved and then there was the accident and he’s awful and I hate him and he hates me and…yeah.” Sloane looks up, blinking back furiously before throwing her drink back with alarming speed. “Whatever. It’s not about my orphan ass today! I’m glad that there are so many people here who love Violet and Xaden. I’ll leave it at that.”
“I’m sorry about your parents. They were on the right side of history, if it matters.” Drake offers in condolence, nodding to the bartender behind Sloane to make another of whatever she had in her hand and now in her body. He tries, graciously, to change the subject. “Do you think the food will be good?”
“It’s Xaden, of course it’ll be good. I just can’t keep waiting on it, this is my sixth drink and it’s only five o’clock. I was too busy doing Imogen’s hair to eat this morning. The charcuterie board is delicious but if I don’t eat something real soon I'm going to end up under a table.” Sloane shifts her weight to one foot, before crossing her ankles. “It matters. Thank you.”
“Do you mean on the table?”
“No, under it, I get kind of slutty when I'm drunk.” Sloane admits with the first glimpse of a genuine smile this evening. She’s overjoyed for Xaden, really. She had grown almost fond of the girl she once hated in his now wife, but it didn’t numb the diffuse sense of loss these events always seemed to have on her. There were always people missing, always would be, and it would only ever get worse. “Slutty or mean. I haven’t decided what it’ll be tonight.”
“....you know what we could do?” Drake leans in with a whisper, holding up his phone to show the most recent set of texts from Mira.
Broccoli’s Mother: I love my sister but I can’t keep watching her and Riorson suck face for pictures. At least the pictures from this morning in the thunderstorm will look cool I guess.
Broccoli’s Mother: fuck I guess she’s Riorson now too
Broccoli’s Mother: we haven’t even started group shots, it’s going to be another solid hour, Brennan and Mom are arguing over the best place to stand
“Broccoli’s mother?”
“He’s our son. She loves it.” Drake explains briefly, gesturing to the picture of the orange tabby as his lock screen photo. “But see that? An hour. That’s plenty of time for me to avoid another lecture from great uncle daxton, you to get out of the line of sight of Daddy Aetos, and us to door dash something so good and so fried and hide it from everyone else.”
“Garrick can smell fried food like a blood hound, he’ll find us.” Sloane smirks, but gives an accepting nod. “Think they’ll care?”
“I’ll buy Mira’s silence with a kiss and a double cheeseburger with no pickles.”
“Why were you in cohorts with Drake?” Imogen runs a tired hand down her face, squinting as the door opens and some additional light runs into the room.
“Because everyone else was in the wedding!!! I kept drinking this cranberry vodka lemon thing and thinking about how no one loves me this much, not the way they love Violet and Xaden.” Sloane slams a hand down on the table. “And Dain’s dad was there and just looking at me like I ruined his perfect son and it was too much and I needed to drink and it’s embarrassing to drink alone!”
“Did that asshole say something to you Sloane, I swear to the Gods I’ll fucking kill him. We didn’t want him there and my mom pushed and pushed-“ Violet starts, but Sloane shakes her head quickly.
“He didn’t say anything. Just gave me the look he always does. He left before cocktail hour was over, I don’t think Dain even saw him.” Sloane shrugs half heartedly. “It’s fine. Thanks for the open bar, that made it bearable.”
“….how much did you have Sloane?” Xaden quirks an eyebrow, sliding a glass of water her direction slyly.
“Um…” She starts counting, a finger popping up with each change in her expression. “More than I have fingers..”
“Fuck, Sloane.” Garrick gives an impressed nod. “Thats like…so many. Were you Slutty Sloane or Mean Sloane?”
“She slept on our floor, what do you think?” Imogen rolls her eyes so aggressively it’s nearly audible. “Slutty Sloane would not have been in our room.”
“Worse. I was sad Sloane. Mean, sad Sloane. I think.” She sighs, and once again glances at the empty chair that hopefully Dain would eventually occupy. “Why did I sleep in your room? What did I say?”
“Because you kept telling him to break up with you.” Imogen says simply, as easy as if she were reporting the weather.
“I what?” Sloane shrieks, whipping her head so quickly to her left she may as well continue turning it an entire 360 degrees. “What? No I’d never, what do you mean we broke up!”
“You didn’t break up. You just kept saying, and let me read the text I sent myself to be sure,” Garrick opens his phone, his eyes flashing wide as he quickly swipes away whatever was on his screen. He opens his texts, clearing his throat dramatically. “You said, and I quote ‘you love him too much to steal this all from him’ and also that you ‘can’t make his family hate him’ and most importantly that you were ‘deleting your baby name list from your phone because it was going to be too hard of a reminder’ and that you ‘didn’t want them with anyone else.’’ It was very very dramatic.”
“How did we miss this?” Violet whispers to Xaden, without tearing her eyes away from the wild look on Sloane’s face.
“We missed most things, love.”
Sloane frantically tries to unlock her phone, to confirm what she did or did not do, but her panicked fingers lock her out of her phone instead. “...so that's why he isn’t here? I broke up with him?”
“Gods, no, Sloane. One, you were begging him to be the one to do it because you couldn’t, but two he just..refused. It was sweet, he kept trying to tell you to drink water or get you to have some food and you kept telling him no that you were a big girl who could make her own bad decisions,” Imogen pats her knee comfortingly. “You were doing all this while sitting on his leg. It was really something. But no. He refused and said you’d feel different in the morning. He also said some other very very sweet things I won’t repeat because it makes me feel gross. You were the one who demanded you sleep in my room, and he is the one who carried you there after you fell asleep. Hell he actually warned us you were going to wake up still drunk and now that I think about it I think he left you clothes for today. Oops.”
“....well I miss him. And I can’t even send him a stupid text to tell him!” Sloane lays her head down on the table with a thud. Her voice is muffled when she asks, “do you think he still loves me? Do you think he went to fuck Liam to make me jealous– oh god or what if it’s Quinn–”
“No he is not fucking your brother.” Violet shakes her head quickly, reaching out to awkwardly tap the top of Sloane’s head. “I saw him running past the pool this morning.”
“Quinn would also absolutely never fucking your boyfriend. For a lot of reasons.” Imogen defends her best friend’s name, “mainly because she doesn’t fuck men.”
“I need to go find him.” Sloane pushes herself back from the table, the chair actually falling to the floor when she stands up.
“Sloane, I don't think that’s a good idea.” Xaden starts, before Sloane’s pointing her finger in his face.
“Fuck you. Congratulations, I love you and I’m thankful to have been at your wedding. It was lovely, but fuck you.” Sloane grabs the glass of water he had slid her way, and takes a single small sip of it. She pauses for a moment to slide off her heels, slipping her fingers through some of the straps. “And once again, thank you for the open bar.”
“...should someone go after her?” Xaden murmurs as Sloane nearly runs out the door, barefeet speeding up at the feeling of the hot pavement under her feet.
“Nah. Dain’s waiting for her in the room.” Violet flips her phone around, showing the confirmatory text with her longest friend. “How the hell did we miss everything?”
“We didn’t miss everything. I distinctly remember Bodhi taking a body shot off of Ridoc at nine in the morning.” Xaden admits, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He leans down, kissing his wife on the cheek softly. “In truth, you were the only thing I was really paying attention to, love. Nothing else mattered”
“I love you,” Violet coos, pushing up to grab him into a quick kiss.
“At least Sloane won’t remember the disgusting things I heard her begging Dain to do before this whole fight, but unfortunately, I have to live with that information.” Imogen groans, looking around the still empty room. “Are we seriously the only people coming? Did we crash the newlywed lovefest breakfast?”
“...did we really have sex with Sloane sleeping in the room?” Garrick half whispers to Imogen, trying to avoid looking at his equally in love, infatuated best friend.
“Yeah, more than once, babe.”
He chuckles once. “Haha…Nice.”