“Dani!” Lucy said. “It’s definitely inappropriate for my little sister to be draping me in penises.”
Dani, a slightly wilder version of her older conservative sister, cleared a mass of her brown, glossy ringlets from her shoulder. “It isperfectlyappropriate.”
I picked up a green gummy penis and popped it into my mouth before scrunching up my nose. “Sour apple,” I said and picked up a napkin. “Yuck.”
“Oh, don’t you dare spit that out, Olivia Germaine,” Gretchen scolded, waving a finger at me. “Youwillswallow that penis.”
I laughed and gulped the candy down with exaggeration before chasing it with my Cosmo.
I sat between Lucy and Gretchen as Dani, maid of honor and official party planner, stood to raise her glass. “There will be no toast tonight because between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, I’m running out of material. Lucy is too well-behaved, and there aren’t enough naughty stories to go around. There’s only one decent one from high school, involving her bedroom window and a football jock named Jack, but I’m saving that for the big night.”
“Dani, no!” Lucy cried, her face a veritable bright red. “Youwouldn’t.”
“I’m teasing, sis. That story isn’t nearly exciting enough for a wedding toast anyway.” Dani laughed and turned to us. “Please raise your glasses for my non-toast, and let’s get this party underway.”
“I can’t believe you’re getting married in two days,” Gretchen said to Lucy, leaning over my lap.
“Me neither,” she replied. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll be glad when it’s over. It’s been so much work.”
“Yes, it has, but you’ve done an amazing job in only a few months,” I reassured her. “Sunday’s going to be beautiful.”
“It’d better be,” Lucy said. “What are you doing about a date, Gretch? You RSVP’d plus one, so you must bring a plus one.”
“Actually, I’m just going to bring my brother,” Gretchen said. “Is that cool?”
“Why don’t you have a date?” I asked skeptically.
“No reason,” Gretchen responded with a shrug.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard Gretchen talk about her love life in a while. Not since . . . three months ago. “Hey, whatever happened with Brian Ayers?” I said, embarrassed I’d forgotten to ask.
“Who?” Gretchen asked.
“Brian, the bachelor photographer I introduced you to at the magazine’s Meet and Greet at the Gryphon Hotel.”
Dani exchanged a glance with Lucy, then whispered something in her ear. I thought I picked up the wordGryphon.
“Oh, that guy?” Gretchen fake-gagged. “No. Yuck.”
“Yuck?” I frowned. “Brian ishot. He’s, like, freaking Hemsworth hot, if you’re into blonds—which you are.”
“Agreed,” she said, “but he’s a pretentious prick.”
“Oh,” I said with surprise. “I don’t think so at all.”
She shrugged. “Thenyoufuck him.”
Gretchen’s roommates, Ava and Bethany, giggled from across the table, but I could only look into my drink to hide my reddening face.
“Who are you bringing, Dani?” Ava asked.
“This guy I’ve just started seeing,” Lucy’s sister replied with a half-smile.
“You live in Milwaukee, right?” Bethany asked. “Is this guy driving in tomorrow?”
“Actually, he lives here,” Lucy interjected. “Weirdly, of all places—at the Gryphon.”
I lifted my head as the world slowed around me. I only knew one man who lived in a hotel. At the top. A man whose presence could barely be contained by a penthouse.
