Chapter 18: Kyle - Very, Very Special Friends

A chapter that’s been a long time coming. Hope you like it.

“You want to dance?” I asked Lexi, mostly jokingly, as another 90’s classic came on. The only times I’d ever seen Lexi dance were five drinks deep at weddings. Like me, she was not a good dancer.

“The only dance I want to do right now is the no pants dance,” Lexi said. Her mischievous smirk was back.

“We’re under no obligation to stick around and chaperone if you want to head back,” I pointed out.

“Not yet, I’m kind of curious where this Reed-Allie thing leads to be honest, plus this is some great people watching and it’s not that late yet,” Lexi said.

“That it is,” I agreed, surveying the masses. There were basically three types of people in the bar: women from bachelorette parties, guys from bachelor parties, and single or pairs of guys trying to peel off drunk members of bachelorette parties. It was some of the best people watching I could remember. I put my arm around Lexi as we noted different interesting looking people. I had shed my pullover in the heat of the bar and Lexi had done the same with her sweatshirt. I rubbed her bare shoulder with my hand and even teased under the edge of her tank top a little, tracing the outline of her bra strap. Lexi was not the only one starting to get in the mood.

“We should hit the bathroom, before we do anything stupid,” I suggested.

“I don’t foresee us doing anything stupid tonight, Ky. Nothing but top tier quality decision making,” Lexi said and giggled to herself.

We made our way across the bar to the bathrooms. I briefly caught sight of Reed on the dancefloor. He was dancing with a tall brunette girl rather than Allie. I was surprised by that, it seemed like he and Allie had really hit it off, but at times he could be a bit capricious about women if they started showing an attitude he didn’t care for.

I waited for Lexi to finish doing her business and put my arm around her shoulder as we walked back to the lounge. We had missed a visit from our companions, it appeared. The Champagne bottle was nearly empty and two glasses had disappeared.

Our server arrived with a fresh bottle of Dom in an ice bucket, presumably ordered while we had been in the restroom. We decided to avail ourselves of some of the Champagne, but requested waters from our server. I had a great buzz going and wanted to stay on the right side of the line between having a good time and having too good of a time.

Reed sidled up to the lounge, looking punch drunk. He was definitely a little bit plastered, but this went beyond that. He was feeling something, presumably for Allie, I guessed. He poured four glasses of Champagne, killing the bottle, which caused me to raise my eyebrow.

“You want to dance?” he asked and laughed. We shook our heads.

“We don’t want to crowd your style,” Lexi shouted over the music.

“Order another bottle when the server swings by,” he directed, then raised his glass in salute before he trotted back towards the dance floor.

“Four glasses? Guess he and Allie are double fisting now,” Lexi observed.

“Perhaps, or maybe they made new friends,” I theorized, recalling seeing Reed’s new dancing partner.

Lexi cuddled back into me and we resumed our survey of the eclectic crowd, although our commentary was increasingly tinged with sexual banter.

Before our canoodling could go any further, Reed returned to the lounge. Alone, to our surprise, but he was smirking.

“Sup bro, Allie finally ditch you?” I asked.

“Hardly, we made a couple of new friends and they decided to hit the ladies’ room again to powder their noses,” Reed said confidently. “These two girls were part of a bachelorette party that basically fell apart, but they still want to party.”

“What do you mean ‘fell apart’?” Lexi asked.

“I mean, they’re pretty drunk, but I guess the basics are that it came out this evening that one of these girls’ boyfriends had a threeway and cheated on her with the bachelorette and her fiance. Words were had, friendships likely ended. Hence why she and a friend are out here partying and the bachelorette, her sister and another friend have retreated to their hotel suite,” Reed explained.

“Shit man, that sounds not so great,” I said.

“Not so great for the poor bachelorette’s friendship. For me? Not so bad. I have many new friends now,” Reed said, smiling.

Before we could continue the discussion, Allie and the ‘friends’ arrived back at our lounge.

“Hey y’all, these are my new friends Brandi and Jack!” Allie said. She was even louder and more energetic. Definitely high. Both of the women accompanying her were certainly leaning into the Nashville stereotype: cowboy boots, tight jeans, low cut tops. One was short, only slightly taller than Lexi and very curvy with long black hair and tanned skin. The other was tall and model skinny with highlighted light brown hair that fell past her shoulders. The pair also had clearly indulged in Reed’s coke based on the way they had artificially high energy and kept pressing at their noses.

Reed invited the two new girls to join us in the lounge and waved the server over for another magnum of Dom. Allie and the new girls dominated the fast-moving conversation, talking with their hands and downing fancy Champagne. From what I could piece together the shorter woman - Jack’s - boyfriend had been the one cheating. Brandi, the tall one, reassured Jackie that she could do better and that the bachelorette - a girl named Marg - would never be part of their friend group again. Allie nodded along and expressed her agreement.

“What’s so stupid is, Brandi knows this, I wouldn’t have even minded if he asked nicely, heck I probably would have wanted to join! But noooo, they had to be sneaky little shits about it!” Jack lamented. I did a double take at that, these girls were something else. Reed’s smile just widened.

“Rosé!!!” Brandi shouted, noticing a woman approaching our lounge. She hopped up to hug her then introduced our little group.

It took a few minutes to work out the group dynamics, but apparently, since she was the maid of honor, Rosé had volunteered to help make sure Marg got back to the hotel, along with Marg’s sister, after their fight earlier. I gathered that Marg, Jack, and Brandi had started drinking when they left Cincinnati that morning while Rosé and the sister did the driving.

By dinner Marg was wrecked, made her confession, and had been distraught Jack and Brandi were so angry with her. Once Rosé was sure the sisters were settled back at the hotel, she was feeling like she needed a drink after all the drama and had come back out to meet her friends. The server was promptly dispatched to get her a gin and tonic.

Allie, Brandi and Jack got bored of the back and forth after a few minutes and decided to go dance some more. Reed eagerly joined them. Rosé declined saying she wanted to relax for a few minutes with her drink.

“So, Rosé, it sounds like you had a hell of a day,” Lexi said. It was half an observation, half a question.

“You can just call me Rose, we’ve done the drinking name bit since college, it’s kind of goofy. Marge becomes Marg, Jackie becomes Jack, I become Rosé. Brandi stays the same because she likes to claim the party never stops with her,” Rose explained. She was half bemused, half annoyed, it seemed like to me.

“So you guys have been friends a long time then, I guess?” Lexi asked.

“Yeah, since we were freshman at Kentucky. We were all sorority sisters, then moved to Cincinnati after we graduated. I’m sure y’all know how it is. Graduate, move to big city, get an apartment with friends, try to find your way in life,” Rose said, a bit wistfully.

“I guess it probably kind of sucks to have all that blow up like this,” Lexi said.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t even know the half of it,” Rose said.

“I don’t mind listening, sometimes it helps to talk,” Lexi offered.

Rose hesitated. “It’s kind of a long story, I don’t want to kill your evening whining,” she said.

“Lexi loves to hear about drama, plus she’s right - it will probably help to get it off your chest. Honestly we were just hanging out people watching, we don’t party quite as hard as Reed normally,” I said.

That seemed to convince Rose and she launched into their tale. The four girls had always been pretty big on sharing when it came to guys over the years - they called themselves the ‘Sigma Sluts’ after the name of their sorority. Different girls had different takes on if they shared boyfriends, but particularly when they were younger it was common for them to refer each other if they found guys who were good in bed. The one rule they had always had though was no sneaking around. No going behind each other’s backs or lying about having slept with a guy.

Marge had violated that rule, and when she got drunk that afternoon had felt the need to confess. Jack had gotten mad, a drunken screaming match ensued, they got kicked out of the restaurant where they were having dinner, and here they were. In addition to the likely implosion of their friend group, Rose was doubly hurt because a boyfriend had recently broken up with her as a result of her being honest about the dynamics with her friends. Marge, in particular, had consoled her that she had done the right thing. It felt like a betrayal.

Lexi had listened carefully throughout, saying the right sympathetic words when needed.

By the time Rose was done telling us her story it was nearly midnight and the bar was starting to clear out. The hurricane of energy - Allie, Reed, Jack and Brandi - returned to our lounge area and downed the last of the Champagne and announced they were taking the party back to our rental to continue.

“Why don’t you come with?” Lexi suggested to Rose.

“It’s a big place, plenty of room to chat and plenty of places to sleep. That way you don’t have to go back to your hotel and deal with Marge,” I added.

Rose was unsure for a moment, but ultimately agreed. Reed had to order two rideshares this time to fit our entire group.

I had expected the three sorority friends to take one car, while Reed, Lexi and I took the other with it up in the air which group Allie joined. I was surprised then, when Rose followed Lexi and I to one vehicle. Reed noticed this and pivoted to join the three revelers he’d been spending time with on the dance floor. Rose also surprised me by following Lexi and I into the backseat rather than taking the front seat next to the driver. It meant Lexi was squeezed in the middle a bit, but being pressed up against her was never something I was going to complain about.