A New Allison

"Yeah, they were both really good to me on the ship. If I had fun this past week, it's because they convinced me to stop sulking and make my own vacation what I wanted. Although their friendship seemed a little weirdly close."

"Yeah, I don't disagree with you there. I'm convinced that she's secretly in love with him," Lena said quietly.

"I got that vibe from her too, though she'd never admit it. But they were awesome anyway. I owe them a lot."

We sat silently for a moment as I thought back to the cruise. I decided I could trust Lena.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?"

Lena's eyes lit up. "I love secrets." She leaned in, expectantly.

"Sean and Lauren helped me cheat on the scavenger hunt." I quickly related the story of that night on the cruise that had ended with Oliver and I hooking up for the first time. When I finished, Lena was laughing.

"Serves them all right," she finally said. "I didn't ever want to do something that skanky. This whole week has been about me going along with stuff to keep the peace. It should have just been Hannah and Olivia competing. But it led to me meeting Sean, so it worked out for me in the end."

"It was worth it for the shocked look on Andie's face when I didn't come last," I agreed. "Meeting Oliver was a bonus. And that score-tallying night was also the first time I realized you and Brianna weren't like the other girls. I was still convinced I'd be last. I just didn't want to score a zero. But you guys scored basically the same as I did."

"Can I tell Brianna what you did?" Lena pleaded. "She'll think it's a riot. You'll remember she finished last, but she wasn't even trying. All she did was go to the girl on the ship she was hooking up with and score easy points with her and her two friends, then they went drinking until the scores were tallied."

"You can tell her, as long as she doesn't tell anyone else, either."

"Bri wouldn't. You can trust her."

Just then, we pulled into the church parking lot. It was a nondescript 1970's brown brick Episcopalian church I could have driven by a dozen times previously without ever noticing it. The parking lot was empty apart from Andie's gleaming silver Audi, a gift from her wealthy fiancé.

Lena and I dragged the flowers into the church, where Andie quickly, politely, told us where they were to go. Andie occasionally had long periods of seeming almost like a human being, so her niceness didn't faze me. I was sure the other shoe would drop eventually.

It took the six of us about forty-five minutes to get the church decorated to Andie's specifications. Time was flying, and it was nearly lunch by the time we were finished. Andie sent Hannah and Olivia to go buy food for everyone, and once we'd eaten, the photographers showed up.

We moved into a private meeting room in the church hall, and the cameras started snapping as Andie started putting on the lacy white lingerie that she'd be wearing under her wedding dress. When we were growing up, I used to be envious of her body. I thought that she was 'the pretty one' just because she was thin. She took after my Dad's side of the family, where all the women were tall and slender, whereas my figure came from my Mom's side, where all the women had hips and boobs and fought a lifelong battle with weight gain. But the years of chain-smoking, non-stop party lifestyle, and frowning had aged Andie's face prematurely. She was still thin, but she was no longer the obvious choice for 'the hot sister.'

We helped Andie get into the elaborate, fairy-tale wedding dress she'd chosen, then we all started putting on our own dresses. As we dressed, I couldn't help but check out the other bridesmaids. Lena was tiny, petite and slim, and her Filipina heritage leant her skin a caramel-coloured tone I found beautiful. Brianna was athletic and muscular with a flat stomach to die for. Hannah and Olivia both had the tight bodies you might see scrolling through Instagram influencer accounts. I was the largest girl in the group, and for a fleeting moment I was self-conscious about that fact. Being the one of the bigger girls had been a regular occurrence throughout my adolescence, and with Andie to compare myself to every day, I grew up without a lot of confidence. In my mind I accepted my position as the younger, uglier, fatter sister and hid my body under baggy t-shirts and jeans.

It wasn't until she went away for university and I was relieved from that constant comparison that I realized I wasn't quite the ugly whale that I had assumed I was. In fact, many people would say I was downright average in size, and I started to appreciate my curves and features. Once I finally started dating my first boyfriend, I was surprised to find that he was attracted to me just the way I was, and he never noticed any of the flaws on my body. I had tried hard to start seeing myself the way that he saw me, not always with success, but having attention from him and from other men was a definite boost to my confidence.

I looked back at myself in the mirror and pulled the dress up over my hips, up to my soft stomach. I ran my hands back up the sides of my body and up to my full breasts, reaching behind to undo my bra. I used to be so embarrassed by my chest, but now as I replaced my normal bra with a strapless one, I admired my ample cleavage. I glanced up and caught Hannah and Brianna ogling at my impressive tits, and I tried not to smile as they quickly looked away.

Once we all got our dresses on, I checked myself out in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction. The dresses were purple, short and sexy without being too revealing. I had been pleasantly surprised that the dress had fit me well and flattered my curves. It was more of a testament to the dress shop and their tailoring skills than any effort on the part of my sister to accommodate the various body shapes and sizes of her bridesmaids. We posed for pictures for a while, and as we finished, I heard the guests starting to show up. I texted Lauren another selfie, and sat quietly, waiting for the moment we'd be summoned.

The wedding itself was surprisingly beautiful, and if I hadn't known the couple involved, I would have thought they had a wonderful future ahead of them. The minister was clever without being obnoxious, the groomsmen behaved, and nothing went wrong. I smiled watching our parents in the front row as the ceremony went on, beaming with pride at seeing their eldest daughter married. I almost felt happy for Andie when Connor kissed her at the end of the ceremony, and I had to force myself not to tear up at the proclamation of Mr. and Mrs. Connor and Andrea Vandenberg.

Hold it in, I ordered myself, gripping my bouquet. You know who this is.

We followed the newly married couple out of the church in a recessional to a waiting limo as the cameras snapped. We were going to a local botanical garden for wedding pictures before moving on to the hall where the reception would be held. The church had given us permission to leave our cars overnight, and I'd have to go back tomorrow to pick mine up.

The limo was probably too small into which to cram a twelve-person wedding party. I wound up squished between two of the groomsmen whose names I wasn't going to bother to learn, and I declined a hit from a flask of something that was being passed around. Connor and a couple of the groomsmen looked like they'd been overindulging since first thing that morning. I kept looking at my sister sitting with Connor in the back of the limo. For two people who'd just gotten married and supposedly were having the best day of their lives, neither of them seemed particularly happy to be together. Andie wore the same scowl she always did, whereas Connor was engaged in a lively conversation with the Best Man about the Baltimore Orioles' bullpen. He was actively ignoring his new bride.

Shortly we arrived at the botanical garden, and I saw my parents pulling up behind the limo as I got out. I went over to say hello.

"How's your day going, kiddo?" Dad asked as I gave him a big hug.

"Oh, fine."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow.

"She's been fine so far, honestly," I said. "She's evidently got better things to do than bully me on her wedding day."

"Oh, stop," Mom interrupted. "Your sister's not a bully."

I exchanged a knowing look with Dad. Sure, Mom.

"Are you having a good day?" I asked them.

"It's hard to believe my little princess is married," Mom said, choking up.

"One down, one to go," Dad added with a sly smile.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." I rolled my eyes as Dad snickered.

Just then, the photographers arrived and immediately took charge of the situation. Over the next hour, we posed in every conceivable grouping and pose, between the bridesmaids, groomsmen, both extended families, etc. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the groomsmen kept surreptitiously drinking from the flask every time that they had a chance. I knew Connor was a horrible drunk -- he'd gotten shitfaced every time we had a family get-together since he and Andie started dating, and Dad had started hiding his good liquor when Connor was coming over -- but clearly his friends were drinking buddies. I was mildly alarmed seeing how much liquor was going into all the groomsmen.

During one break when Connor's family were being photographed, I found myself next to Brianna.

"How's your day going?" I asked, trying to be friendly.

"It'll all be over soon," she answered wryly, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe the food will be good," I said hopefully.

We paused awkwardly.

"Lena's told me how you feel about all of this, but we haven't really had the chance to get to know each other. But if you feel the same way about Andie as Lena and I do, I like you just fine," I blurted.

Brianna smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm not good at small talk. I was always the quiet one in the group."

"I'm not great at it either, so don't worry."

"I'm not. I just don't expect we'll ever see each other again after the brunch tomorrow, so I haven't made the effort." She shrugged. "Nothing personal. Lena told me you're not like your sister."

"I'm not, and you're probably right we'll never see each other again."

Another awkward moment passed before we moved on.

A few hours later, we were back at the reception hall, and I was finally starting to relax. I was two glasses of wine in after dinner, and I was amazed at how little had gone wrong. The bridesmaids were getting along, Olivia and Andie had been subdued, and the boys had all behaved themselves. The dinner tasted as good as I'd expected considering what my sister and her husband were paying for it, and the speeches went off well. Maybe, just maybe, this day would go off without a hitch.

I should have known better.

The first sign of anything amiss was right after the father-daughter dance, when Andie summoned all of us to come to the bathroom with her. Her wedding dress was long and flowing and hard to move around in, and she'd bought a second dress to wear for the party. It was just as virginal white, but it was form-fitting and short enough to barely cover her ass, and so low-cut that her tits were practically spilling out the top of it. But I wasn't there to judge... that, anyway.

"There, girls, do I look fuckable?" Andie asked, adjusting her breasts to maximize her cleavage.

"I don't think you'll have any problem finding a man on your wedding night," I blurted, surprised.

"I wasn't talking about Connor," Andie declared airily.

I exchanged a look with Lena.

"Um... what the fuck?" Lena finally asked.

"Connor won't be able to get it up by the end of the night," Olivia explained. "He'll have a bad case of whiskey dick. And my girl here didn't get laid properly on the cruise, so tonight's her last chance before she's a married woman."

"I saw you pronounced man and wife a couple of hours ago," I argued. "That ship kind of sailed already."

"It's not official until you consummate the marriage," Andie said breezily. "That's not happening until tomorrow. And if Connor really loves me, he'll want me to be happy."

"I want no part of this," Brianna spoke up. "This is crazy, even by your standards."

"Don't judge," Hannah interjected, ever the peacemaker.

Lena shook her head and stormed out of the bathroom. Brianna and I followed after her. Lena's face was red, and she looked like she was barely holding in simmering anger.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I want to go home," she said softly. "I'm so over this group of girls. Not you two, obviously."

"I knew she was a narcissist with an entitlement complex, but I never thought she'd be trying to pick up guys on her own wedding night," Brianna said. "There's a way to be an ethical slut-"

"You'd know," Lena interjected with a smirk.

"...and none of those three girls are doing it right," Brianna continued, ignoring her friend. "Hannah has no decorum, Olivia has no standards, and Andie is entitled to whatever she wants and doesn't care who gets hurt in the process."

Lena gestured over to the bathroom, where Hannah, Olivia and Andie were making their grand re-entrance. Their dresses had been hiked up and their cleavages boosted. They looked like three lionesses on the hunt, lust in their eyes, sizing up the men on the dance floor. If I'd been a man looking to score, I'd have made a beeline straight for them, and sure enough, a couple of guys with prowling eyes immediately started dancing with the group.

"They haven't changed since we were in school," Lena piped up as we watched them. "I look at them right now and I cringe, because it reminds me of what I used to be. I've grown up, and I don't want to hang around people who remind me of a past I'd rather leave in the past."

"Well, at least let us three try to have a good night," I shrugged.

"I need another drink." Lena gestured at the bar. "You girls do shots?"

"You know I'm down," Brianna agreed.

"Sure." I wasn't usually much of a drinker, but hey, it was an open bar.

We went up to the bar, where a group of groomsmen were hanging around. I recognized Clayton from walking down the aisle together, and I deliberately avoided making eye contact with him.

"What are you ladies having?" the bartender asked.

"Tequila?" Lena asked us.

"We'll join you!" Clayton spoke up.

The bartender poured shots of tequila for all of us, and we all toasted the married couple, some more enthusiastically than others. I downed my tequila in one shot, then bit the lime with the rest of the wedding party, feeling burning warmth making its way down my throat.

"Do you want to dance?" Clayton asked me once I'd put my glass down.

I didn't, but I didn't see a way out of it. A slow song was just starting, and it looked like the wedding party was pairing off with each other.

I let him lead me to the dance floor, where he pulled me in closer to him than I'd have wanted. I could smell the liquor radiating from his body, and I struggled to pull away just enough that I could breathe as I put my hands around his shoulders.

"Are you having fun tonight?" he asked.

"Fun enough," I allowed.

"The night is still young. Lots of time to get down and dirty." He smiled in a way that creeped me out a little.

I looked over at Olivia, the Maid of Honour, who was paired off with Jason, the Best Man. She was clinging to him like a dog clinging to a piece of meat, and his hand was firmly planted on her ass.

"They're getting it on later," Clayton observed.

"Obviously." I sighed.

"Weddings are a great place to hook up," he volunteered.

"I'm not really into that." I knew what he was getting at.

"That's a shame."

We kept dancing awkwardly.

"Do you want some coke?" he suddenly asked.

"Soda? No thanks."

"No, like... do you party?"

I suddenly realized what he meant. "No, thank you," I declined politely, praying for the song to end quickly. I let go of him as soon as I could and headed back to the bar for another drink. I noticed Clayton keeping an eye on me, and I shuddered a little as I drained a gin & tonic and tried to ignore him.

A few minutes later, the drinks had passed through me, and I headed for the bathroom. I made my way down the hall, and just as I was about to enter the room, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and Clayton was there.

"Hi," he slurred, then leaned down to try to kiss me. He pressed his body against me, and I could feel hardness pressed against my thigh.

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed, trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

"You know you want me," he insisted.

My heart started racing as I kept my lips clamped shut. I was so close to the relative safety of the ladies' room, but I was also scared that he'd follow me in. At least here we were visible. I felt his hands reach around me and grab my ass as I kept squirming, desperately trying to figure out a way out.

"Leave her alone!" I heard a strong female voice down the hall.

Clayton released me. "We were just making out," he said, with a calmness that chilled me to the bone. "Nothing to be alarmed about."

I turned to see Lena, glaring at us with the heat of a thousand suns. "Like fuck you were," she roared. "Back away and no one gets hurt."

Clayton was easily a foot taller than Lena and double her weight, but her fury seemed to deflate any sense of fight out of him. "Fine. Prudes."

He turned to head back to the wedding as Lena came up to me, pressing me into the ladies' room and then putting her arms around me. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine," I answered. My heart was racing, but I wasn't hurt. "I could have done without being felt up, but otherwise nothing happened. It's just scary. He wasn't going to take no for an answer."

"Girls have to look out for each other," she answered. "You'd have done the same for me. I watched him following you down that hallway and I could tell what was going to happen. He had that look in his eye. Do you want me to call the cops?"

I thought about it. "I don't think you should. I don't want the police raiding my sister's wedding. It means too much to my Dad to have today go well. And I don't think Clayton will try anything like that again, at least tonight."

Lena said nothing. She was still shaking with rage.

My heart rate finally started to slow down. "I still need to pee. Then can we get out of here?" I felt uneasy.

"Of course. Let's go get some air before I punch one of them."

After I was done in the bathroom, we headed for the door. I glanced over at the dance floor on our way out. Dad was cutting a rug with a group of young people and seemed to be having a great time. The old man always could dance. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin his night when I knew how much it meant to him. I'd have ruined Andie's night in a heartbeat, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt Dad.

As we left the room, I noticed Hannah sitting in the lap of a young guy in a badly tailored suit, making out with him in a quiet corner. I rolled my eyes. She worked fast, that girl.

We headed outside into the warm spring night. It was early May, and warm enough to be outside without jackets. A crowd of smokers were hanging out at the door, which we escaped, heading for the side of the building.

"Thanks." I turned to Lena as we got to a quiet but well-lit spot. "I owe you one."

"Like I said, girls have to look out for each other." She gave me another hug. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I just hate the idea he's probably done that to other girls."

Lena nodded. "Fucking rapist."

"This whole group has such messed up priorities when it comes to sex," I said quietly. "The guys and the girls, both. I don't fit in."

"Neither do I, anymore," Lena agreed. "Did you see the look on the girls' faces when they made their entrance?"