Chapter Twenty: Blaze
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
I stagger to a stop in front of Aiden, then suddenly realize I’ve walked a good distance since I was last aware of what I was doing. I crossed the dance floor to get here, which is weird, because I don’t remember doing that at all.
“Hi,” Aiden laughs, taking in my baffled facial expression. “You lost, Keane?”
“No, I just didn’t realize I was going anywhere!”
Aiden huffs out another laugh, then narrows his eyes searchingly as he looks down at me. “Is this drunk Jamie, or did you just get confused about where you were because it’s a fucking carnival out here?”
Aiden isn’t wrong about it being a carnival. The party is in full, wild swing around us.
The lights have gotten lower, the dancing wilder, the smoke hanging in misty layers through the backyard. Energy is running through the place in bright, electric, invisible currents. Every room I step into is ablaze with warm, intoxicated laughter and shouting. The music seems to seep from the walls, following me everywhere.
The flower ceiling inside is letting a few petals go. Every now and then they flutter and sprinkle down onto the crowd, so there are more than a few people walking around with little bits of flowers in their hair.
The soft lights outside are twinkling, and also starting to look slightly fuzzy to my eyes.
“What?” I ask Aiden, realizing that I’ve forgotten what he asked me.
“Oh, shit!” Aiden lets out a victorious laugh, turning to catch Kasey’s eye. “He emerges!”
“I’ve been waiting for this, too,” she giggles, her eyes on my cheeks and nose, which are a burning shade of scarlet. “I’m gonna head out with Will soon, since this has been a lot of time in a crowd for him. I’m only really sticking around to see my beloved drunk Jamie before I go.”
“What happens?” Aiden asks her, instantly and eagerly.
“He just gets a lot more-” Kasey grins widely, gestures to all of me. “Jamie.”
“What?” Aiden laughs, as I stick my tongue out at Kasey. “What’s that mean?”
“He’s like - himself, but turbocharged. Turbocharged Jamie. You’ll see what I mea-”
“Hey!” I cut in excitedly, suddenly remembering why I came over here. “Have you guys seen Noah? I need to find him! I’ve been given an - an immmmportant mission that I need to execute - Mel gave me a mission. Did you guys get a mission, too? Yours aren’t as good as mine, if you did. I’m not saying that in a shady way, though. That’s just the objective fact, because mine is - oh, no, did that sound mean? I’m sorry! I take it back! Are you mad at me? I love you!”
“Oh, wow,” Aiden sighs happily, staring down at me with very wide, adoring eyes.
“Hey!” Raj stumbles to a stop by my side, then seizes my elbow for balance, nearly sending both of us toppling. “Did you guys get a mission, too? I already failed mine.”
“Oh no!” I wrap an arm around Raj to help hold him up, which he immediately misinterprets as an invitation for a hug. I automatically hug him back, patting his shoulder. “What happened, dude? You want to talk about it? I’ll fix - fix it for you, if I can!”
“Too late to fix it, brother.” Raj draws back, closes his eyes, and lets out an aggrieved sigh. “I was s’pposed to prevent Noah from taking a bite out of the wedding cake before we had the chance to cut it.”
“What-? And he already did?”
“I turned my back for two seconds, dude. And I literally slide-tackled him when I saw what he was doing, but he already had a mouthful.”
“I saw that happen,” Ripley laughs, squeezing through the crowd to stop beside Raj. “Noah folded instantly, but somehow it was still like he won.”
“Hopefully Mel won’t notice,” Raj groans. “I turned the cake around so that the part with the bite is facing the wall. It was hard as hell, that thing weighs a ton. Jamie, don’t you know all this already? You saw me do it.”
“I mean - I saw you struggling with the cake, but I didn’t know what you were doing.”
“What did you think I was doing?”
“Honestly, I - guess I just didn’t question it? Seemed normal and fine. Although, oh-” I stare at Raj in dismay. “I should have helped! It straight up didn’t occur to me, because I’m not good at, um, lifting things, but I could have gone and gotten - Aiden, you can probably lift a cake, right? We’ll help next time, Raj! But I’m sure that Mel won’t be mad, so I wouldn’t worry about it, everything’s gonna be okay!”
Everyone stares at me with raised eyebrows, Raj with a relieved smile on his face.
“How can you talk that much and that fast without breathing, dude?” Ripley asks, wide-eyed.
“I feel so much better,” Raj says brightly.
“Drunk!Jamie has arrived,” Aiden laughs, ruffling my hair. “I’ve got intel that he’s basically Jamie, but turbocharged.”
“We can see that,” Ripley laughs, and Raj tips his head back.
“So good already,” he groans happily.
“All jokes aside, yes.” Aiden huffs out another laugh, folds his arms around me. “Yes, it is.”
“Alright, I’m gonna roll.” Kasey gets up from her chair and stretches her arms up over her head. “Aiden, see you later. Jamie, you’re a mess, and I love you. Bye!”
“I am not a mess,” I protest as she disappears, realizing seconds too late that Aiden is the only other person who heard her.
“Super good sign of not being a mess,” Ripley laughs. “To just announce that you aren’t. Unprompted.”
“No, I was talking to one of the ghosts - I’m not a mess, okay? I just need to find Noah, because-”
“Excuse me!” a very loud voice interrupts.
We all whip around to see Noah standing on a chair near the dance floor, the megaphone up to his mouth. With his other hand, he holds up a set of car keys attached to a rainbow flag keychain.
“Excuse me,” he says again, showing the keys to the people on the dance floor. “Which one of you homosexuals lost your car keys? We have found a homosexual’s car keys, so if that person could please get their gay ass up here to retrieve them-”
“Oh, my god!” I let out a burst of indignant laughter, then rush across the dance floor to snatch my car keys out of Noah’s hand. “Noah, get down from there, you fucking imbecile!”
Raj, Ripley, and Aiden are all laughing so hard that they’re sagging into each other behind me. I try to ignore them and scowl at Noah, but it’s difficult.
“Am I the imbecile, dude?” Noah hops lightly down from the chair. “I’m not the one who already lost my car keys.”
“No, but you have frosting on your face, and I know for a fact that your husband already had to tackle you tonight. Out of necessity. Because of buffoonery.”
“Shhh.” Noah drunkenly presses a finger over my mouth, shaking his head with unconvincing innocence. “No no no. Never happened. Ne dites pas ça.”
“Oh, I know all the deets, believe me! And give me that megaphone, for fuck’s sake - how no one has confiscated this from you yet, I’ll never know - talking about my gay ass - which one of us married another man today, dude?”
Noah looks surprised. “Oh, is that gay?”
“What-? I mean, you’re not gay, you’re panromantic, but - yeah, I’d say that being a man and marrying another man is kind of a - gay thing to do?”
“Huh.” Noah takes in this information like it’s a neat, surprising science fact. “Never thought about it like that.”
I stare at Noah with wide eyes for a second, then drop my head.
“Oh, honey,” I say beneath my breath, pressing my fingertips to my temple.
“What’d you say?”
“Nothing, just - you already fell in love with and married another man, so I keep forgetting that you’re new here.”
Noah stares down at me, smiling but baffled. “New where?”
“Alright, just-” I struggle to pull my thoughts into something more coherent. “Come on, come to the table, I - I have a mission. So you have to come with me. Am I being clear?”
“No? But whatever this is, I’m game.”
“That ought to be your life motto, dude,” I laugh, catching his wrist and pulling him through the crowd.
He smiles brightly at me, taps the vow inked into his wrist. “This is my life motto now.”
Ralph has joined the group by the time we get back. He’s standing a little off from everyone, smoking a cigarette, swaying slightly on his feet.
He’s turned out to be a completely different type of drunk, now that he’s not so filled with anger.
“Jamie!” he says brightly and enthusiastically, as soon as I stop before him.
“What - what happened?” I ask, startled and alarmed by the warm reception from Ralph. Without thinking, I point to the drink sitting on the nearby high-top table. “Is that me?”
Everyone looks at the drink, then at me, bewildered.
“I mean - that’s mine!” I rush to amend, my cheeks burning. “Or not mine, but I need it, um - someone just hand it to me, it’s for - wait, nobody drank any of it, right? Because-”
“Oh, the fumfering,” Aiden sighs, his deep voice heavy with happiness. “I didn’t even think about the fumfering. The gesturing, too. Mint.”
“Ooh, Jamie’s drunk,” Ripley laughs.
“Look who’s talking, dude! Didn’t I see you lying fully stretched out on the kitchen floor like fifteen minutes ago?”
Ripley shrugs, grinning widely, then hands me a burning joint. “Was just recharging for a sec, that’s all.”
“Oh, my god.” I hit the joint, pass it off to Noah, then hastily snatch the drink up from the table. “Can you guys chill for one sec, so I can give Noah his drink before it melts?”
“My drink?” Noah asks in warm surprise, puffs of smoke coming from his mouth with every word.
“Mhm. Melanie asked me to bring this to you.” I press the glass into his inky hands. “There we go. Mission complete.”
“Aw.” He takes it from me, smiling. “Man, she’s so-”
Noah breaks off abruptly, staring down at the icy, caramel-colored drink in his hands. His face goes blank, and his grey eyes blink very fast for a moment.
Then he looks up from the Jack and Coke slushie and lets his eyes rove over the crowd, searching until they find Mel.
She’s watching him from the bar with a small, nervous smile on her face, a rosy blush in her round cheeks. She’s holding a glass of the Jack and Coke slushie, too, and she takes a little sip of it as she gazes back at Noah.
Noah locks eyes with her. Stares at her with a thousand words and a lot of radiant silver swimming around in his gaze.
“God,” he breathes softly, without breaking his eyes away from Mel. “Jesus Christ. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that girl right there. I would kill all of you guys for her, if I had to. No offense. Except you, Raj.”
“Uh oh.” Ripley lets out a drunken little laugh. “We’re all in danger. Except for Raj. Wait - which one of us is Raj?”
There’s a silence as we all look around at each other, and then Raj gives a start and lifts his head.
“Oh - s’me, right?”
“Oh, man.” Aiden lets out a rumbling laugh, catching me by the back of my dress shirt as I tip too far forward to accept the joint from Ralph. “I can’t wait to tell you guys about this tomorrow.”
“Jamie, d’you get one too?” Noah asks, holding up his slushie.
I pick up my glass from the table. “Right here!”
“Sweet, let’s chug them!”
Sober Jamie has much better impulse control than Drunk!Jamie. “Sure, okay!”
We both start to chug the slushies, then gasp and lower them sharply.
“Oh, shit,” Noah gasps, cringing hard. “Fucking - brain freeze - oh my god-”
“You’re not supposed to chug these, I think,” I stammer, pressing a hand to my forehead.
I see Melanie collapse onto the bar with laughter, dropping her face into her arms. Aiden looks like he’s trying to hold it back, too. He’s standing there with his eyes closed, silently shaking, his fingers pressed over his mouth.
“Either of you guys ever thought about applying for a genius grant?” Ralph laughs, taking a drag of his cigarette.
“Hey!” Noah whips around to face Ralph, tugs on his sleeve. “The pointless violence I just did to myself just reminded me - we wanted to see if Drunk!Jamie was capable of being aggressive, remember?”
“Oh, yeah!” Ralph takes the cigarette from his mouth and turns to me. “Hey, Keane. Can you do me a favor and give me a punch on the shoulder? A hard one, like Calla gave Noah earlier.”
“Sure, yeah.” I step forward and give Ralph a warm hug around his shoulders. “There we go. Wait, what? What did you want me to do? Hit you?”
I give Ralph such an alarmed, taken-aback look that it startles a laugh out of him.
“It’s not gonna happen,” Aiden laughs, as Ralph and Noah stare at me in disbelief. “That was probably just as good as his best attempt would be. I’m serious.”
“Dear god, Jamie,” Ralph says, his eyes huge and astounded. “You look like you want to cry, all I did was ask you to hit me, and you didn’t even do it-”
“But I pictured it for a sec!” I answer in a fragile voice, my eyes wide with dismay.
“Holy shit, man. How in the fuck did you turn into even more of a cupcake-?”
I cave and give Ralph one more unreciprocated hug. “I’m sorry!”
“What-?” Ralph casts Aiden a disbelieving look over the top of my head, then lets out a laugh that sounds almost - affectionate? “You didn’t even do it, Keane!”
“Oh!” Noah jumps in excitedly, as the music switches to a new song. “C’mon, Raj, we have to go dance! Right now!”
Raj cheerfully drops his drink onto the table and rushes off after Noah, lets him drag him by his wrist to the dance floor. Aiden, Ripley, Ralph, and I watch them as they join the crowd and start dancing to the deep bass beat.
“Why is it so mesmerizing,” Ralph slurs slowly, after a moment, “To watch those two dance together?”
“I think…” Ripley tries to stifle a laugh behind his hand. “I think it’s because - Noah is really good at it, and Raj is really bad at it, but they’re both shameless about it.”
There’s a brief silence, and then Aiden, Ralph, and I dissolve into laughter as it sinks in how exactly right Ripley is. Noah is smoothly gliding around, locking and unlocking his body, effortlessly spinning on his heels, all perfectly in time to the beat. Raj, meanwhile, is awkwardly and jerkily sort of hopping around him, his head tipped back and his arms in the air, his hands flapping around wildly.
But both he and Noah are at full energy, full enthusiasm, and full confidence.
“My god,” Aiden gasps, struggling to catch his breath through his laughter. “Ralph, could you please-?”
“Way ahead of you, A,” Ralph laughs, lifting his camera to his eye.
“What are you doing, Keane?” Aiden asks, arching an eyebrow at me.
I quickly retract my hand, blushing deeply. “Nothing!”
“Okay, let me add handsy to the list of Drunk!Jamie effects,” Aiden laughs. “Add it right after a lot of gesturing.”
“I’m not gesturing a lot!” I protest, then gasp as my hand smacks against the speaker set up next to us, accidentally turning the volume all the way up.
There’s a resounding, excited cheer from everyone on the dance floor, and the dancing kicks up in energy. The whole place feels alive in the low light, teeming with energy.
“Should I turn it back down?” I shout, and Aiden shakes his head, grabs my hand.
“No! You should dance with me! Ralph, Ripples, let’s go!”
Ralph shrugs, then downs his drink and drops the glass onto the table. Ripley tries to dig the heels of his dress shoes into the grass, so Aiden simply picks him up, and we all go bounding for the dance floor.
“No!” Ripley groans, as Aiden deposits him amidst the other people dancing. “Dude, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m not gonna-”
“Rip, come dance with me!” Alix says, rushing up to him and grabbing his hand.
“Yeah, definitely!” he answers instantly, then casts us a desperate look over his shoulder as Alix draws him further into the crowded dance floor.
I laugh as Noah comes up behind me, puts his shoulder blades against mine, and begins to shimmy. Raj is now doing his little hop around Mel, who keeps having to stop dancing to laugh.
Aiden and Ralph easily fall into rhythm together, which surprises me until I remember how much time these two have spent in bars and nightclubs and at parties together. They’re even sharing Ralph’s cigarette as they dance. Passing it back and forth without even having to look at each other, like they’ve done this hundreds of times before.
The music reaches a peak, and the energy rises with it, converging to a point of everyone jumping together, shouting along to the lyrics, holding onto each other, laughing. Ripley is even swept up in the wave of energy. He’s lost his shyness, and he’s eagerly holding Alix close to him, letting her do the dancing.
Aiden gathers me up to him, then holds me against his side - presumably so that I don’t get knocked over in the chaos - and I wind my arms around his neck, snuggling up close to him, laughing happily.
Tattooed fingers press a full shot glass into my hand.
I throw it back, and Drunk!Jamie officially takes the wheel.
~~~~
“Hi,” I laugh, blushing hard, playfully twisting a strand of Aiden’s chestnut hair between my fingers.
“Hi,” he rumbles, smiling warmly down at me.
“How did we end up like this?”
“I put you here. Had to pin you down into one spot for a second. You’ve been flying around like you’re on rollerskates.”
He does have me very firmly pinned in one spot. I’m sitting on the kitchen counter, and Aiden is standing between my knees. His huge, warm hands are keeping steady pressure on my thighs, holding me still.
“Quick question,” Aiden asks softly, nuzzling his nose into mine. “Have you been trying to drive me crazy?”
I have not, but I can see why he would think that. I did it by accident.
It’s been a long, full, warm night. All the memories I’m going to take from it are glowingly bright.
Laughing uncontrollably to the point I nearly collapsed onto Raj, who was roaring with laughter himself and unable to hold me up. Flying from room to room to see what everyone was doing, catching Noah arm-wrestling Calla. At one point Raj was dancing alone in the center of the living room, going wild to the music, wearing both leis. Destinee passed out in the upstairs bathtub and had to be carried out to the car in Rasheem’s arms, snuggled up against him with a happy, sleepy smile on her face.
The burst of sweet warmth that welled up in me when I caught Ripley going upstairs with Ralph’s camera in his hands, trying to move very slowly and carefully.
“Don’t want Ralph’s camera to get hurt,” he slurred, when I asked him what he was doing. “S’important to him, can’t you tell? M’gonna put it in Noah’s room, where it’s safe.”
Angie, who was very stoned, completely missed the blank poster that had been tacked up on the wall for people to write congratulatory messages to Raj, Noah, and Mel. She accidentally wrote her message directly on the wall beside the poster. Noah wrote a note of his own on the wall to make Ang feel less mortified, and after that, everyone thought they were supposed to write their messages on the wall. Someone even took down the actual poster to make more room.
Raj was brimming with delight when he found the slender wall near the back door covered completely in Sharpie messages.
“We can paint it over,” Noah said hastily, realizing all at once what he’d caused.
“Yeah, man!” Raj said enthusiastically, beaming at him. “We’ll get a clear topcoat, yeah? So we can keep the messages! Wall of love!”
I also have a clear memory of Mel taking a bite out of the other side of the wedding cake, saying it was all good because it’s symmetrical, now.
Did I take a bite of the cake, too, actually? I definitely have a light coating of frosting flavoring my lips. I might have, it’s very possible. My inhibition control goes sharply down when I’m drunk. Sober Jamie, for example, would not have so readily agreed to let Noah try to throw a Scorpion chip into his mouth.
But wherever I’ve been and whatever I’ve done tonight, I can’t stop coming back to Aiden. Some irresistible magnetic force keeps bringing me to him, putting me back into his hands.
Kasey might be right about me being turbocharged Jamie when I’m drunk. I know that I’ve been talking a lot and very fast all night. There’s been more than one instance where I’ve realized that all of the guys were just staring at me, watching me talk with giant, entertained grins on their faces. I kept stopping, getting embarrassed, but then all of them would enthusiastically encourage me to keep going.
I’ve also been very cuddly, in general, to Raj and Aiden’s tremendous delight. Noah, Ripley, and Ralph keep having to dodge my outstretched arms, like we’re playing a particularly dumb game of tag. For some reason I’ve also taken on the responsibility of making sure that everyone has eaten something, that no one gets drunk enough to feel sick. I’ve been running around handing out leftover food from the potluck, asking people if they’ve had enough water.
All of this I’m used to - and I knew to expect - from drinking before. What I didn’t realize was that there’s a new thing at the very core of my being now. Another thing that would get exceptionally charged up if I got drunk.
My love for Aiden.
The flames are always there in my heart, but they’re blazing like a wildfire, tonight.
I’ve felt Aiden with every point of my nerves all night long, been hyperaware of him, even when we weren’t in the same room. Every word he says to me in his deep, husky voice, I feel all over my body like a warm embrace.
I hear my heartbeat thrumming wildly in my ears whenever he gets close, immense heat pouring through me, electricity snapping in my chest. Every time he turns his striking blue eyes on me, I have a sense of falling into them. The slightest brush of his body against mine sets me reeling, steals my breath right out of my lungs.
Everything he does only makes the craving more intense. When I sit down next to him, he starts gently stroking the inside of my wrist with his fingertips beneath the table. If I can’t keep myself back from him and I press my nose into his arm or give his back an affectionate scratch, he lets out a low, deep, contented purr. Everything, even the easy way he leans back against the wall, his big body lax and inviting - it all makes me desperately wish we could sneak off back to our place for a minute.
So I get why he thinks I’m trying to drive him crazy. I’ve been ready to pounce on him all night, but I keep catching myself just in time to stop.
I’ll whisper something in Aiden’s ear, or wrench him up against me for a few breathless seconds alone in the upstairs hallway, or covertly walk my fingertips up his spine, press our bodies together as we dance - then realize what I’m doing and quickly rush off to go find someone else to hang out with, before I can lose what remains of my self-control.
The unintended result is that Aiden has been slowly and subtly teased all night long. The last time I broke off a kiss with him, the look he gave me was almost frantic.
But now it’s late enough in the night that the music has been turned down, and we’re the only ones left in the kitchen. I don’t even think anyone’s in the living room.
No wonder Aiden saw fit to finally pin me down, after a night of me flying out of his hands over and over again.
“You’re not gonna get away with this, Keane.” His nose is still pressed against mine, and his lips brush against my lips with his soft-spoken words. “You know that?”
“Good,” I laugh happily, my cheeks burning. “Like, it wasn’t on purpose, but good.”
“The fuck do you mean, it wasn’t on purpose? How was all of that not on purpose?”
“I don’t know. It just happened.” I take two handfuls of Aiden’s dress shirt, press my nose harder against his. “It’s ‘cause I love you so much. Way more than I’ve been able to show you, or tell you. Haven’t even been able to - to even come close.”
Aiden holds very still, then huffs out a quiet laugh. “You - jumped off of a cliff for me, Jamie.”
“Mhm, I know.” I drag the tip of my nose up the bridge of his. “But still.”
There’s a short silence.
Aiden suddenly makes a thin, pained little sound, dropping his head.
“Shit, man. Even knowing that you’re drunk, hearing you say that - it’s-”
“But I mean it, Aiden! I can’t lie, even when I’m drunk. Think I get worse at it, actually.”
Aiden nibbles his lip, then looks up at me with wide, warm blue eyes. “That’s… true, you do.”
“I’m sorry.” I take his stubbled, iron-hard jaw in my hands, concern rising in my chest. “Has it been annoying? Me saying this stuff, and - that I couldn’t keep my hands off of you all n-?”
“Annoying?” Aiden drops his head again, lets out a helpless laugh. “God, Jamie, if you had any idea how I’m feeling right now… you think you have trouble telling me how much you…”
He fades off, sudden shyness filling up his blue eyes. He thinks for a long moment, then slowly leans forward again, nuzzles his nose into mine.
“Want to know something I would probably never admit if I didn’t know there was a possibility that you’re drunk enough to forget about it?”
I freeze, then nod eagerly, already feeling very sure that I’m not going to forget a single word of what he says.
“That first night of us being together,” Aiden murmurs softly, after a moment of nervous silence. “When you came over to my place, and we fooled around and snuggled in my bed until I fell asleep?”
“That was a good night,” I sigh happily.
“Yeah, well - I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but I was so comfy with you, and I - had barely slept since you kissed me at the Guardian Tree. Couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I couldn’t sleep. I’d probably gotten a grand total of like, eight hours in the two days and nights since you’d kissed me.”
I stare at Aiden, caught by surprise.
“Anyways, I woke up right after you went home,” he goes on slowly, his cheeks coloring up. “And I - honestly got worried that I had somehow imagined or dreamed the whole thing. So I - I walked to your place. The light was on in your window, so I stood there until it went out. Then I went back to my place and re-read all of our texts from that night over and over again until I fell back asleep.”
I stare at Aiden, my face burning, my fingers pressed over my mouth. Then I exhale a sharp, punched-out sound, taking Aiden’s face in my hands.
“I - can’t - deal - with - you,” I groan, in between the fast kisses I’m brushing all over his nose and burning cheeks. “Stop it! I’m gonna need my inhaler!”
“Really? Are you? Because - I brought it with me, it’s in the car. Should I go get-?”
“Oh, my god, Aiden! You’re doing it more!” I twist to look desperately at Noah as he stumbles into the kitchen with three full bags of marshmallows in his arms. “Noah! Your brother is literally gonna kill me.”
“Oh, word?” Noah braces himself on the wall, working hard to get his blurred eyes to focus on us. “I’ll kill you first, Aiden.”
“Feel like there’s been a lot of murder talk at this wedding,” Raj observes, coming up behind Noah and folding his elbows onto his shoulders.
“Yeah, save it for tomorrow!” Noah tells us, as if he wasn’t the one talking about it. Both times. “No one’s allowed to get murdered until the afterparty is over.”
“What afterparty?” Raj asks hazily.
Noah beckons to me and Aiden, then takes Raj’s hand and tosses his head at the door. “C’mon, everyone’s in the driveway.”
Raj casts Noah a baffled look, but happily follows after him. Aiden lifts me down from the counter, and I weave my fingers through his, walking good and close to him.
We all go out into the driveway to find Ripley and Alix sitting on the open back of Raj’s truck. Ralph and Calla are standing near them, talking to Mel.
“Hey!” Mel says brightly, turning around with a glowing smile as Noah leads us down the driveway. “You guys ready to go? Dahlia was gonna come, but she passed out. I left her in your bed, Noah, hope that’s okay? That’s where she fell asleep, so.”
Noah shrugs his shoulders, dropping the bags of marshmallows in the back of the truck. “No worries.”
“Where are we going?” Raj asks, with mounting confusion on his face.
“Everyone else went home,” Noah tells Raj, then gestures around those of us gathered in the driveway. “We’re down to our tightest people, so. Afterparty time, baby.”
“Yay!” Mel bounces on her feet excitedly, then takes Raj’s hand. “Let’s roll!”
“Where are we going?” Raj asks again, now completely bewildered.
“Have to end our wedding on a high note, right?” Mel smiles, leans up to give Raj a soft kiss on his mouth. “You know we had a surprise planned for you, too, baby.”
“Course we did.” Noah bends to affectionately rest his chin on Raj’s shoulder. “We’re going to the beach.”
Raj blinks in surprise, staring at Noah, his dark eyes wide. He drops his volume to a near-whisper.
“Our beach?” he murmurs, his eyes slowly lighting up. “The - treasure beach? We’re going? Right now?”
Noah breaks into a bright smile, kisses Raj’s cheek, and tosses Aiden the keys to the truck.
Want to leave a comment? I would love it if you did, and you can do so on the Tapas episode!