“Don’t listen to him!” Kate shouted.
“Shoot!” Dana said after she placed her kiss. “I wasn’t even on the poster.”
Wes laughed. Dana shot him the patented older-sister death glare, and he gulped.
Mark had brought darts, and Finn and Carter were throwing them at the target. Finn threw one at the Chris Evans poster. The bridesmaids all shrieked as the dart went right through his nose.
“You put a hole in the wall!” I yelled at him.
“Sorry. Charge my credit card,” Finn said, not seeming at all apologetic.
“I feel like having a joint party was not the best idea,” Kate said to me.
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “Wes won’t leave Liz alone.”
“She might have the baby any minute,” Wes called over the blue line on the floor.
“Don’t say that,” Liz said, tottering over to the line. She took out a token. “I should get a punch card or something so I can earn a free trip after every ten.”
I had games planned for the next hour, though it was far from a wholesome feminine evening. The guys had abandoned whatever bullshit games Mark had cooked up and were instead standing right on the blue line and cheering as we played the bridal games. Along with all of Mark’s relatives, he’d also invited Jack and Owen Frost, who he was friends with. Wes had also invited several of the Svensson brothers, and they were taking bets on which of the girls was going to win the toilet paper wedding dress contest.
“It’s five-to-one odds that Brea is winning this contest!” one of the blond Svensson brothers shouted. “Bets start at twenty dollars.”
“Shoot!” Grant said. “I didn’t bring any cash. Kate. Kate!”
His wife raised an eyebrow.
“Baby, can you please…”
“It costs a token,” Kate said with a smirk.
Grant handed her a token, and she gave him some cash.
“I’m betting on Kate!” he announced, running back to his side of the room to place his bet.
I was teamed up with Liz.
“I’m just going to eat snacks and give you words of encouragement,” she said, plopping down on a soft ottoman. “Do me proud.”
We earned whoops and hollers from all the guys on the sidelines as we paraded our finished dresses. I had done a gown inspired by Ariana Grande’s Met gala dress, complete with the oversized bow. Dana was my fashion model.
“All right,” I said after the catwalk. “Write your vote on one of these slips and put it in the box.”
The guys shifted. “Allie!” Carter yelled, “can you just like nudge the box over here?”
“You want to vote? It’s a token,” Allie replied.
The guys paid their tokens. After the votes were tallied, Kate won.
“What?” I squawked.
Carter and Grant high-fived.
“Sorry, Brea,” Grant said. “I rigged the voting. I won a thousand dollars though!”
Mark was laughing silently. He leaned over the line to press a kiss to my mouth. “I bet on your dress,” he whispered.
I realized halfway through the next game that I really should have taken the other side of the room. I had drunk a lot of alcoholic beverages, and people had to use the bathroom. The guys had amassed quite the collection of tokens by the time I finally gave in and crossed the room.
