The Wedding Guest

Cake

An hour and a half later, Ethan and I are still sat on his balcony drinking the last of the beer, while exchanging embarrassing stories and talking about well, nothing serious really; And I don't know about him but my stomach hurts from laughing so much.

Surprisingly, in all that time nobody has been back up to check on him since his parents.

I haven't even heard from Ian.

Oh wait, I left my phone in my room. Oops.

I must have jinxed it because Ethan's hotel room phone bursts to life causing both of us to huff.

    "Suppose I better get that" He grunts and gets up to answer it.

I sit enjoying the heat from the summer sun on my face, while my stomach muscles take a moment to recover.

    "The hotel wants to know if I'm still going ahead with dinner or what" Ethan tells me, holding his hand over the phone mic. "What do you think?"

    "Well If it's paid for and everyone's still around, I don't see the point in wasting it. Let everyone enjoy themselves" I turn to face him, pulling my hair to one side.

I know, It's surprising that I haven't tied it up yet, but then again I don't have a bobbin. Ian wouldn't let me wear one on my wrist.

Moments later, after instructing them to go ahead, Ethan returns to his chair and gazes out at the lake. I watch him as he barely takes his eyes from the view to sip his beer.

    "Thanks Nikki" He says suddenly, breaking the silence between us.

    "For what?" I question with uncertainty.

No really, what is he thanking me for? Hijacking his room and giving him beer? Hell if that's the case I know a lot of friends who owe me thanks.

He turns to face me and smiles at my puzzled expression. "For making me laugh and brightening this shitty day up" He says genuinely.

    "Pretty ironic really; The girl wearing black in the middle of summer, brightening up the day" I look down at my dress that's covering my crossed legs and Ethan laughs. "I don't know about you but I'm getting peckish. How about we go down and get some cake?" I suggest, wiggling my eyebrows at him.

    "Four tiers. All different and I've no idea what they are but it cost me over five hundred euro" Ethan informs me.

    "What!" I exclaim in shock. "In that case we're going to eat it all. Can't let that five hundred go to waste"

    "But everyone is eating dinner"

    "Good. We won't have to share" I grab my room key from the floor next to me and stand up. "Are you coming or am I doing this alone?"

    "What about your shoes?" He questions, looking at my bare feet.

    "Ya don't need shoes to eat cake" I grin and walk towards the door.

I barely reach the door when Ethan appears next to me. "I'm in" He smiles down at me, his hazel eyes glisten with mischievousness.

    "What about your shoes?" I imitate him, glancing at his socked feet.

    "Ya don't need shoes to eat cake" He imitates me back and holds opens the door, while shoving his room key in his trouser pocket.

Leaving the cravat, waistcoat and jacket abandoned in the room, he no longer resembles the groom but instead my partner in crime.

Maybe my friends are right, I am a bad influence.

But hell, they can't call me boring.

We stroll down the corridor to the lifts giggling like children and all the way down in the lift until the doors open in the lobby and Ethan spots the hotel wedding coordinator standing talking to another couple.

    "What are we going to do?" He whispers.

    "Come on" I giggle, linking my arm through his, leading him quickly and subtly past the reception desk and the coordinator.

    "Ethan?" His best man appears from around a corner, startling us. "Where are you going? and who's this?" Glen questions, looking me up and down suspiciously.

A pretty red haired girl joins, linking her arm through Glen's.

    "This is Nikki, Ian's date and my new friend" Ethan asserts, deliberately avoiding his first question. "Nikki, this is my oldest friend and best man Glen and his beautiful fiancé Rose"

    "Nice to meet you" Glen finally smiles at me before turning back to Ethan. "Where are you going?" He repeats his question making it unavoidable.

    "We're going for some cake but don't tell anyone" Ethan admits quietly, as though it's a huge secret. Glen looks momentarily baffled. "And before you ask, no I'm not drunk. We've only had four cans" He adds quickly.

Releasing my grip on Ethan's arm I take a few steps back to see the coordinator, making sure she's not coming towards us.

    "Shit. She's finished talking" I inform Ethan.

    "If you want cake, come quickly" Ethan tells them and grabs my hand, pulling me in the direction of the function room.

We're closely followed by Glen and Rose who are now giggling at our childish mischievousness.

    "Are we really doing this?" Glen asks as we approach the white, floral, four tier cake in the corner of the function room.

    "Of course" I grin, "Cut your cake Mr Gibbons" I tell him sweetly, holding out the knife to him.

    "Why thank you" He chuckles taking it from me.

    "Wait, we need to photograph this" Rose says and takes out her phone.

We stand laughing as Ethan poses; but instead of a nice pose with the cake, he's stabbing it with an angry face.

He cuts a slice and places it nicely on a serviette.

    "Oh my god, come on" I whine impatiently and take a fork to the top layer of the cake. "This is amazing" I say with a mouthful of cake.

Rose takes a photo of me before taking a fork and digging into the bottom layer, Glen tries the third layer and Ethan takes the second layer.

We take a few more photos with the cake, including a selfie of the four of us, before cutting a few slices off each and sitting around a table to eat it properly.