The Consequence

The sweet sickly sounds of Taylor Swift was drifting through the speakers. The DJ had called up the bride and groom for their first dance together. Although this was far from their first dance, they’d danced all the time before they were married, often around their apartment to the top forty. But despite this fact, the crowd on the dance floor cleared, creating a circle of dreamy faces as Lianna lead Taylor out to the middle. The pair of them were slow, moving only their feet. They stared into one another’s eyes, before their lips met in the middle, connecting them in a sweet kiss. The crowd around them all cooed, and sighed.

Evie Vickers was the only person in the room that hadn’t joined the crowd. All her family were amongst them, as were some of her friends. She grabbed the bottle of chilled champagne sitting in the middle of the vast table, taking a long gulp straight from the bottle. No one was looking, so why not? The only way to get through her elder sister’s wedding would be to get happily drunk.

She took another gulp, before reaching into her satin clutch bag, reaching around for her phone. Retrieving it, she flipped it open, seeing she had no text messages, no missed calls. No saviour from the outside. She sighed heavily, as John Gomez flopped down in the cushioned seat beside her.

“You bored yet?” She asked, offering him the bottle.

He nodded. “There’s only so many times you can use the same pick up line on several girls, before you find out Abi is Francesca’s sister, who’s best friend is Charlotte, who’s very young looking aunt is Amanda, who’s fifteen year old sister is Kimberly, who looks older than she is, and then you find out that the last girl you try and make out with is Kimberly’s mom, who’s old enough to be my mom, but she’s had so much botox, you wouldn’t even realise that.” He took the bottle from Evie and swallowed a long gulp. He shook his head, placing it back down on the table. “And this place is full of nasty, horridly expensive and over rated champagne.”

“At least you had your little attempted pick up adventure. I can’t even do anything. Except sit here, wait for Justin to call and rescue me. Until then, I’m just planning on getting gracefully drunk.”

John chuckled, as Taylor and Lianna’s first dance came to a close, and the DJ began to play a more upbeat song. Everyone crowded the dance floor again, limbs flying off in all directions. “Is there a way to get gracefully drunk?”

“Probably not, but hey, we can try, right?” Evie grabbed the bottle and poured herself a glass, before pouring John one too. Now her mother was keeping a close, beady eye on her, she had better make use of the crystal champagne flutes, instead of being a rebel and drinking from the bottle. That was something her mother wouldn’t approve of. Especially not in such a public place.

“Cheers,” John clinked his glass against hers, the pair of them glugging the sour tasting alcohol, letting it burn their throats and warm their insides.

The pair of them watched as Taylor kissed Lianna on the cheek, before making his way over to them. His path was paved with words of congratulations and Lianna’s ex boyfriends, and wannabe ex boyfriends telling him how lucky he was. He smiled politely and finally got to them, standing on the opposite side of the round table.

“You two look extremely bored,” he announced.

“No offence, Juwig, but we are,” Evie informed him, picking at the piece of wedding cake she still had left on her plate.

He grinned. “Go then. I think Stephen said Justin was on his way, so go wait outside for him and escape while Lianna and your mom aren’t looking.”

Evie glanced past him to see her mother was twirling around with her father, the pair of them giggling like a pair of love struck teenagers. She looked to see that Lianna was surrounded by her best friends and other bridesmaids, all of them admiring the sparkling rings on her finger and gushing about the ceremony, the cake, the boy they had their eye on.

She took this as her chance, standing up quickly, she downed the last of the champagne in her glass and leaned across the table, grabbing Taylor’s face and kissing him hard on the cheek. “Thanks big brother,” she grinned, sending John a wave, before sneaking out of the grand hotel ballroom. She made her way through the corridors and into the lobby, where she spotted Justin walking through the revolving doors, the rest of the band in tow.

She smiled at them all, dressed head to toe in their formal, rented tuxes. Each one giving it their own special variation, a big flower pinned to their jacket, jeans instead of proper trousers, none of them in proper, polished shoes. All of them stared at her, eyebrows raised, poised and ready to fire questions at her left, right and centre.

“Turn around, we’re leaving while we can,” she announced, trying to spin them all around to go back through the revolving doors, out into the harsh Arizona heat.

Ryan gasped. “I came for cake and beer. So I’m getting my cake and beer.” He headed towards the grand ballroom, Josh and Tyler nodding in agreement and following him.

Evie looked between Justin and Logan. “So beer and cake or taking me home and watching girly films?”

Justin stared at Logan. A scowl seemed to take over his entire face. “Logan, go get cake and beer,” he said, through gritted teeth.

Logan shrugged, an innocent smirk gracing his angular features. “Nah, I think we should all go back to Evie’s, have a drink and watch girly films.”

Justin groaned, smacking his palm to his forehead. “Get the hint!”

“Oh, I got the hint alright. I just didn’t want to take it, and I love winding you up.”

“So you’re really going for the beer and cake then?”

“No.” He grinned and headed for the door.

“Oh good lord,” Justin grumbled, shaking his head. He loosened his tie and glowered after Logan, who was standing outside the glass window with his back to them.

“Awww,” Evie closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t be mad at Logan, we’ll get rid of him, I promise.”

Justin groaned again, his tense stance faltering, as he wrapped his arms around Evie. He picked up a lock of her hair and twisted it around his finger. “Do you think if we stand here long enough he’ll get bored and go for the beer and the cake?”

Evie chuckled. “We could only dream, babe. Come on, if we put one of Lianna’s really sappy films on, he might get bored and leave us to it.”

Justin kissed her lips quickly, the pair of them heading for the revolving doors and joining Logan outside. He squinted at them, his eyes roaming Evie’s clothed body. A smirk danced across his lips, as his eyes met hers. She stared at him, wide eyed, she swallowed hard, still staring at Logan. There was something there. The way he’d looked at her. Justin tugged on her hand, pulling her off towards his car, allowing her to shake all feelings of Logan off.

The only thing she could think about now was a way to get rid of him.