A/N: Please don't mind any mistakes or the shortness of the chapter :)


Chapter 14: The bitch was right.

Luke and I give each other exasperated glances. "Are you kidding me?" Luke groaned as we stared at the mess before us.

"Are we seriously the only ones sober?" I asked in annoyance, furrowing my eyebrows.

Together, we watched Molly, Mark, and their friends stumble around like headless chickens, alternating between giggling and complaining about a sore stomach.

"I suppose that answers it," I sighed. "What do we do? We can't just leave them here."

Luke grinned evilly. "Oh yes we can." He grabbed my hands and pulled quickly. "Come on, let's get out of here."

***

Eight Hours Previously:

"Danny, you have to come," Molly pleaded, following me around like a puppy.

I glanced at her over my shoulder as I walked through my house. "Who let you in?" I asked stiffly. I didn't want any company right now. Dad just had his most explosive argument yet with Mum only an hour ago, and I'd been locked in my room, forced to listen to them put each other down.

It was horrible. Despite what Dad may have thought of us kids, he loved Mum with his whole heart, and hearing him scream like that at her tore me apart. I couldn't even imagine what Mum was going through. An hour ago, Dad had left in a whirlwind of anger and Mum had followed soon after to cry to Rita.

Molly grinned mischievously. "Does it matter?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course it does."

She dangled my keys in front of my eyes and I felt my jeans' pocket. Of course, she'd stolen my keys. I snatched them from her hand and stuffed them in my bra.

"Now will you leave?" I asked politely.

She pouted and flopped down on the sofa. "Danny, don't use that tone on me! I'm your cousin!"

I shrugged. "What tone?" But I knew what she meant. She was talking about the detached voice I used whenever I shut somebody out, the tone that was so cold that no one could melt it. It always came up when I was stressed or upset.

She shot me an unamused look. "Look, Wolfe, you and Luke have helped Mark and I so much these past few months. You deserve a break."

I threw my hands in the air. "Molly, I'm relaxing at home, I don't need to go to some brothel to calm down!"

Molly looked affronted, which gratified me slightly. "I am not having my bachelorette party at a brothel!"

I narrowed my eyes at her persistence. I bet a hundred quid that this party would just end up with everyone drunk and me taking care of them. That was what happened when Marie was getting married to Seth. "What about Marie?" I asked, perking up when I realised I had an excuse.

"What about her?"

"Her and Seth are coming later - I bet you anything that Seth will want to go out with Mark, so I need to take care of Marie!"

Molly simply rolled her eyes [A/N: just realised how many M names there are]. "Marie's a grown woman," she scolded me. "Plus I already talked to your mum - the pregnant women are gonna take care of each other."

I stared at her in frustration. I was running out of excuses, but I really, really didn't want to go to some stupid bachelorette party. "You're going to leave two pregnant woman by themselves?"

"It's not like they're gonna pop the babies right then and there!" Molly exclaimed, starting to get exasperated. Well, good. That's what she get. "Marie still has three months and your mum has six! So calm the hell down and just come with us! Please?"

I crossed my arms and tapped my foot angrily. Her puppy-dog eyes were going to be the death of me. Just then, my phone rang, and I sighed in relief. "Hello?" I answered. Molly looked sullen, so I stuck my tongue out at her. She flipped me off.

"Jordy, go with Molly," Luke commanded without a greeting.

"What the fuck," I muttered, pulling the phone back to stare at the screen. Sure enough, Luke's number was flashing in bolded numbers. Idiot, why didn't I check the caller ID?

"C'mon Jordy," he pleaded. I bit my lip to keep myself from crumbling to the ground at how adorable he made himself sound. "Take a break and go with her."

"Why does everyone think I need a break?" I snapped. "I don't! I'm fine, and if I did, it would be more relaxing for me to just stay at home."

"You should go out and have some fun," he persuaded. I could just picture his face as he spoke, and it didn't do much for my resolve.

"I don't see how drinking away my life and having a migraine at the wedding is fun," I deadpanned.

"That's because you have too many responsibilities for a teenager. Just let go this once and try something new, yeah?"

I sighed. I had given in, and judging by Molly's expression, she knew that I had too. "Okay, Luke, but how the hell did you know about this?"

I could practically hear his smirk. "That's because I know you, baby." And with that, he hung up on me. I stared at the phone for a minute, glaring intensely. He knew me? To hell with that! I couldn't believe I'd let him persuade me so easily! What was wrong with me?

Molly whooped and clapped her hands together. "Who knew that cutie-pie Luke could make stoic Miss Wolfe agree to something like this?" she teased me.

"Shove it," I grumbled. "I'll only go if Randy can come."

She smirked. "Of course Miranda can come. But you do know that I'm telling Mark about this, right?"

I scowled harshly. "Don't make me change my mind."

"You won't!" she sang. "Now that Luke asked you, you wouldn't dare!"

And you know what was the worst part? The bitch was right.

***

I stared at myself in the mirror. "I look like a slag," I growled. "Molly, I told you to keep it conservative!"

She pinched my side. "Jordan, you look like a fourteen year old with that height, of course I had to add more glamour to you."

"Are you fucking with me? Do fourteen year olds have these boobs?" I gestured to my decent rack, which was definitely large in proportion to my five foot height.

"Some do."

I bit my lip to keep from saying something rude, and instead looked at Randy, who had an amused expression on her face. "Do you agree with this hag?" I demanded.

"Excuse me, this hag is getting married tomorrow, you should be nice to me!"

I ignored her and glared expectantly at my best friend. Because of her five foot seven inch frame, the thigh-length dress on her body made her look sexy. On me, it didn't. "You look fit," she offered with a shrug.

I groaned and slouched down. "How are you even going to sneak me into this club? I'm still seventeen."

Molly simply winked. "It's called girl power, babe."

"Does Mum know?"

"No, and she doesn't need to."

I narrowed my eyes. "What if I tell her?"

"Then I'll tell Luke you're in love with him!" she blurted.

My eyes narrowed further. "You wouldn't dare," I said lowly.

"I would," she replied with a firm nod.

"He won't believe you," I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Do you really believe that?"

I stared her down for a moment, but then slumped back onto my bed. She'd basically forced me into a skin-tight, ice-blue dress that matched my eyes, which had a halter neck on the top and was virtually backless. It barely allowed me room to breath, much less walk around. I wasn't used to wearing clothes like this, and I didn't like it one bit.

Randy had then twirled my long hair into a complicated braid that was pinned to the top of my head, and added a small amount of makeup, but a large amount of lipstick. Then she sprayed me with glitter. Glitter! I could've been a bloody disco ball with how much I sparkled. I sat up with a weary sigh. I was already tired and it wasn't even eight o'clock.

"Danny, you look hot," Molly prodded, swatting my bare back.

I scoffed. "I do not," I argued. 

"Come on. Molly's friends are waiting for us at the club," she urged, taking me by the arm and pulling me along.

I sighed again, knowing I was already in too deep to get out. "Mum, we're leaving!" I called to her. "Marie should be here in half an hour."

She looked up from the TV and flashed me a tired smile. "You three look gorgeous," she said wistfully. I scoffed in my head. Next to the two tall, willowy beauties next to me, I probably looked like a dumpy little doll.

"Thanks Auntie," Molly said softly, giving my mum a kiss on the cheek. "We should be back sometime around one or so." Ugh, one in the morning? The wedding was tomorrow, for Chrissakes.

"Be safe, girls." Randy and I hugged Mum, and Molly then dragged us to her blue Prius, literally shoving me into the backseat.

"The least you could've done was let me have shotgun," I grumbled.

"This is what you get for whining the whole time," Molly replied remorselessly, even going as far as to stick her tongue out at me. I slowly raised my hand, pretending to scratch my nose with my middle finger while I actually flipped her off.

When we finally reached the dark club full of strobe lights and grinding bodies, I realised what Molly meant by "girl power." She and Randy were all over the bouncer, running their hands over his thick body, making such a big deal over their ID's that he didn't even make a move to check for me.

I rolled my eyes as we walked in. Nice security they had here.

"Here, Danny, I see Vicky, Paulina and Georgia!" Molly squealed, latching onto my wrist and forcibly pulling me over to her best friends, the bridesmaids.

When we reached them, I squinted in confusion. "What are the guys doing here?" I whispered to Randy.

She looked as confused as I did. "I don't know, we never told them where we were going. Hey, it's Leo! Leo!" She called to her boyfriend, leaving me standing awkwardly in a sweaty club, losing sight of the only people I knew.

Soon, everyone around me was chugging drinks like dying men, getting drunk way too early on the night. Thankfully, that meant they weren't taking notice of me, which was fine in my books. But where was Luke? Shouldn't he have been here with the guys?

A half hour or so later, I stared at Mark and Molly as they drunkenly made out. "Isn't the point of a bachelorette party to avoid your fiancé?" I asked myself in confusion.

I jumped as I heard a deep chuckle next to me, swivelling my head around to see Luke. Seeing him made me feel safer and more comfortable than before, for some reason.

And that was how we came to the point where we were the only ones sober, when Luke got the brilliant, note sarcasm, idea to ditch the drunken imbeciles. Not his brightest idea, but my judgment slightly clouded, I went along with it. And maybe also because I kind of wanted to hang out with him, just the two of us.

But if you tell him that, I will kill you.

***

Inside Luke's beautiful truck, he glanced at me, a smile tugging on his lips as he scanned the length of my body. I squirmed self-consciously, glad that it was dark so that he couldn't see me blush.

"I'm glad I got you out of there," he commented casually.

I raised an eyebrow delicately. "Really? Why?"

He paused before answering, "There were a lot of guys staring at you."

I laughed nervously. "Probably they were just wondering what a little girl like me was doing there."

He snickered softly. "Probably."

"Yeah," I agreed, not knowing what else to say. A comfortable silence descended us, but it was weird. Luke was always chattering away to me, but this was nice too.

"I was just kidding," he said at last.

I looked at him curiously. He glanced back at me, and I swear, I saw a light pink colour his cheeks. "About what?" I prompted.

"You look beautiful. I could just see those guys mind-fucking you," he replied, sounding like his teeth were clenched.

My face coloured at his compliment. He was just teasing, don't take it to heart, Jordan. "Aw, were you jealous?" I cooed, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Yes," he admitted. I stared at him in surprise, not knowing what to say. I never imagined he'd admit to something like that. He looked at me and smirked. "I mean, my cute little Jordan looks like an angel, I needed to steal you away for myself."

I laughed, the nerves clear in the sound, struggling not to look too deeply into his words. He's a womaniser, Jordan, he knows how to make a girl feel special. You're not any different from any of the other girls he's rejected. "Where are we going?" I asked softly.

"Surprise," he said instantly.

I couldn't help the pout that formed on my face as he said the 's' word. It wasn't like I hated surprises, I just wanted to be aware of what was going on.

Luke chuckled. "Don't scowl, Jordy, we're almost there. In fact..." He made a sharp right turn and pulled up on a bed of grass. "We're here."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as he helped me out of the truck and took my hand, leading me through the dark. I had to concentrate on not tripping in my heels in order to keep my heart calm from the feeling of how my small, soft hand felt being completely enclosed in his large, rough one.

"Where are we?" I asked, not able to see very far in the dark. All I knew was that we were climbing a slightly steep, grassy hill.

"You'll see," came his cryptic answer.

When I realised where exactly we were, I smiled largely at the tall boy next to me. He returned it with a tender smile of his own. "You are such a sweetheart, you really do know me," I laughed, tightening me grip on his hand.

He bent down to my height, leaning his forehead against mine. "I told you," he whispered.

My breath came out in stutters as he gripped my by the waist and tugged me flush against his chest, pushing me against the trunk of our tree.

And under the starlight on the eve of our cousins' wedding, Lucas Dane Tarrone kissed me.

On the cheek.

___________________

I AM NOT SORRY I DID THAT. but I am sorry for torturing you guys :) Give those two some time, they need it.

Btw, the tree she was talking about is in the intro if you don't remember.