wedding date | miniminter

xxiii

— Eve

Club music often reminded me of a heartbeat. It was often slow and low, you could hear it in your ears and feel it in your throat and despite whether people liked it or not, it kept people alive. The bar tender soon returned to our little booth, holding a tray filled with various alcoholic beverages and a collection of Tequila shots.

"Just put it on my tab." I shouted over the music and he nodded, leaving our little party group with our drinks. There were seven of us in total, all dressed up and slightly tipsy from our pre-party drinks at the restaurant about an hour before. Sarah reached for her cocktail, adjusting her baby pink sash which was lettered with "Bride to Be" in a cursive font, and brought the straw to her lips. I reached for a shot glass, watching as the others all reached for their shots. Sarah gasped, placing down her cocktail and grabbing the shot glass in her fingertips.

"To Sarah and Cal!" I shouted and all of us lifted the shot glasses up to our mouths and drank them in one. I shivered as the Tequila burnt my throat and bubbled in my stomach. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand, reaching for my go-to drink of Vodka and Coke. I fiddled with the straw as I brought it to my mouth, this drink was sort of nostalgic for me. The smell of the Vodka and the fizzing of the coke brought back bittersweet memories, the sweet memories of drunk polaroids pictures that Sarah and I had taken when we were younger or the times I had spent partying at Uni instead of studying but the bitter part was the affect it had on me, I often talked shit or rambled about something stupid and always woke up with one Hell of a headache.

But still I sipped the drink through the straw, looking over at Sarah who was sipping her cocktail happily as she bobbed her head to the beat of the music. I smiled at her, I loved seeing her happy and I hoped that tonight would be a joyful experience for her.

Sarah placed her drink down then, getting to her feet and stepping out of the booth "I'm going to dance, any of you's coming?"

Freya, Katie, Gee and Emily all got up and followed Sarah on to the dance floor. This just left our party's newest addition, Maddie, and I. Maddie and I hadn't known each other long, all I knew is her and I were the only single people of the bridal party but after getting her slightly tipsy at dinner, we all learnt about her undying crush on the one and only Vik.

"Vik hasn't text me since we left the restaurant and now I'm sad." Maddie sighed, looking over at me as she reached for her own drink and took another sip of it.

"He's probably editing." I responded after I took another sip, "Give him time, love."

Maddie pouted, it was obvious that she was helplessly in love with him and I didn't blame her. Vik was generous and sweet, he always put others first and that was something I had always admired about him. If I thought about it really hard, I think I could remember Vik telling me he liked someone and I hoped it was Maddie because I don't think I could stand to see the poor girl heartbroken.

"I saw him yesterday, the house was nearly empty and it was so weird! But Simon was there so it was fine." Maddie rambled, running her fingers through her dyed-red hair.

I raised a brow, "I'm not surprised Simon was there, he never leaves the house or his room for that matter."

"That's not true!" Maddie defended, poking my thigh "And don't be mean to Simon, he's lovely."

I snorted with laughter, pulling the straw out of my drink and instead drinking it straight from the glass. To me, it seemed like everyone expect me was under some sort of "Simon Minter is Great" spell and I hadn't succumb to it.

"Ohh, you're that Eve!" Maddie said, her voice raising slightly as she looked me over.

"What do you mean, that Eve?" I asked, scooting a little closer to her as I took another gulp of my drink. I crinkled my nose a little as I drank this time, the Vodka was starting to become stronger as I reached the bottom of my glass.