Chapter 1
Calla
“This is the best night ever!”
Laughing, I spin my best friend Carmen around in a circle; both of us wobbling in our heels.
“I’m glad you think so.” I grin, raising my champagne flute. “To the bride to be!”
“To Carmen!” our friends chant back, holding their drinks aloft.
We clink our glasses together, ignoring the overspill of alcohol as the liquid sloshes over the sides.
It’s taken Shelby and Imonthsto plan Carmen’s last outing as a fiancée before she becomes a wife.Whenever our schedules would align, we could be found with our heads together – brainstorming, making calls, finalizing plans – so, it’s safe to say, I’m more than glad to finally be able to let my hair down.
I swallow down the rest of the bubbles in my glass flute. The fizzy carbon tickles my nose, trickling into my veins, joining the mimosas that I’d knocked back at the spa this morning, in the pit of my stomach.
The bar we’re in, Myth, tilts around me; a kaleidoscope of colours, blues, greens and golds. Heat licks up and down my spine and sweat pools at my temples. The short skirt I’m wearing, made up of layers of tulle, as part of my princess Cinderella costume, scratches at the tops of my thighs. But when I’m offered an apple flavoured shot, complimentary from the bar, I take it from Princess Jasmine – Hannah – swallowing it back in a single mouthful.
Today’s a celebration! The biggest since our university graduation over a decade ago.
We’re moving into another chapter of our lives with our big girl jobs, homes that bear our names on monthly mortgage statements and not so empty ring fingers.
Soon, there will be babies attached to our hips, and I can’t wait for those milestones.
But tonight, while it’s just us girls, we’re going to celebrate.
I’ve got a feeling things are going to get messy…
“Gimme gimme.” I make grabby hands at the inflatable in Shelby’s grasp.
She throws the fake cock to me with a grin, her now free hands coming up to reposition the neckline of her short Snow White costume for the tenth time tonight.
Dressing up in princess themed costumes had been my idea. Only, I did stumble into a little bit of a hurdle, when the fancy dress shop had sold out of Shelby’s size online, so we had to size up. None of us thought it was that much of problem – it fit perfectly around her waist and hips – until werealized Shelby had to keep hoisting the neckline upwards unless she wanted to make a tit of herself.
Literally.
Laughing manically at my own joke, I position the inflatable between my legs and smile widely. The bright flash of a camera burns across my eyelids, and I blink the silver spots dancing in my vision away, snatching the phone out of Hannah’s hand, so I can get a good look at the picture she’s just snapped.
“I’m setting that as your new contact photo,” the beautiful bride to be, Carmen, dressed as Princess Ariel, giggles in my ear. She presses a kiss to my cheek, and then places the bottle of bubbly prosecco, the one she’s being swigging out of for the past half an hour, to my lips.
I swallow back a mouthful of bubbly, pressing the rest of the cool bottle back into her hand.
My head spins, but I’m not sure if that has to do with the alcohol in my bloodstream, or the way Carmen is twirling me around and around the bar.
Myth is a cool place; I must admit.
The building was once a church, the old stain glass windows facing out into the street beyond, while refracting the light from within and creating a myriad of colours. I like to think the people who created the space before us, wouldn’t mind so much that it’s been changed into an upscale bar. It’s still a joyous place people come to drink wine at, and sing, and get down on their knees to pray…
Although, I think there’s less getting on their knees to pray to God and more getting on their knees to suck somebody off in the toilets.
I giggle to myself as the sticky floor continues to sway beneath me, reaching my hands out to grab a hold of Shelby and steady myself.
Placing my gloss slicked lips to her ear, I say, “I can’t believe we pulled all of this off without Carm suspecting a thing.”
“Same,” she agrees with a cheeky grin. “Do you think she’s having a good time?”
“The best!” I answer.
