Maid of Honor Ch. 03

Jen held her friend by her shoulders and turned her so they were face to face.

"Even if it is," she paused, "Fuck him. You're awesome, Lexie, and amazing, and kind, and hot, and have had a rough couple of months. Hell, if I were gay, you know you'd be the only chick for me."

In a sweet, platonic gesture, Jen kissed her best friend quickly and directly on the lips, saying, with a big smile, "Forget Victor too; sisters before misters. You and I are forever, ok?"

"I love you; you know that, right?" Alexis said, dabbing at tears threatening to wash away her theoretically-waterproof mascara. "Let's go get you married."

Her fears that Matt might just be playing the field with her receded; she decided to trust her instincts and see how the day panned out. More importantly, she resolved to focus on her duties as maid of honor and make sure that Jen's special day came off without a flaw.

"Let's go," she said, "Poor Molly is probably having kittens by now, worrying about the timing of everything."

Getting down to the ground floor, with the other bridesmaids already forming up to begin walking down the aisle, Alexis looked out at the crowd as they took their seats in response to the second trumpet volley. She watched as Matt took two flutes of champagne to Amy, then walked with her to take a pair of connected seats.

The ceremony was flawless, and after several years of a fairy-tale courtship and engagement, Jen and Victor were married. To the surprise and slight distress of both sets of parents, a long-haired, tattooed college friend of the couple performed the ceremony, having gotten himself "ordained" on the internet to do so. His officiating included readings from Shakespeare, the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and even the couple's favorite Carrie Underwood song. Alexis had tears welling up in her eyes nearly the whole time, yet held herself together.

"No thanks to Ms. DuPrie," she thought, scowling at a mental image of the skank who had attached herself to Matt.

Alexis replayed the image of the two she'd seen from the window of the bride's dressing room, with Matt and Amy appearing to be engaged in interesting conversation, before she'd become irritated when the two headed off to be seated before the ceremony.

Alexis continued to tell herself that she shouldn't feel this kind of jealously—she and Matt had only spent one night together.

"Yeah, only one night," she thought to herself, "but one amazing night you wouldn't mind repeating again and again."

It's not like they were dating, yet it irritated her to see Amy's hand on Matt's thigh. It was even more irritating that Matt didn't seem to brush off any of Amy's advances. The younger woman was a charming little snake, spewing gossip and rumors to anyone not privy to the real story.

The bridal party made their way to a private area after the vows were exchanged; the guests enjoyed the mansion's grounds while making their way to the reception seating in the ballroom. Everyone involved in the wedding's planning breathed a sigh of relief now that the most formal part of it was over. Victor and Jen hugged everyone in the bridal party, before Jen specifically took Alexis by the hand.

"You have to meet Victor's friend Ryan."

She practically pulled Alexis off her feet as they moved toward a tall blonde man standing in the corner, with a drink already in hand. He was handsome, and seemed sophisticated, standing at ease in a tux that looked like it was made only for him. Alexis had seen him briefly during the ceremony, standing in line with Victor's groomsmen, all of whom were handsome bachelors.

"Ryan!"

Ryan turned to look in the direction of Jen's call; at the sight of Alexis, his eyes seemed to twinkle as he formed a charming smile that would make any woman's heart race.

Jen could see the smile spread across Alexis's lips as well. Now it was time to have some fun.

"Ryan, haaaave you met Alexis?" She made the quick introduction before stepping away to once again kiss her new husband, then took Victor's arm and moved out a side door with him in tow.

____________

On the other side of the mansion, Molly checked her watch for the third time before peering left and right, then once again looking up the stairs at the door of the bridal suite. She realized for the first time that it wasn't entirely closed. Jen and Victor had hurried through it in such a rush that the old door's latch must have failed to catch, allowing it to drift open slightly.

"This has to be the weirdest damn thing I've ever been asked to do in planning a wedding," Molly thought.

The couple had been insistent that she send the guests off toward the reception in the mansion's main ballroom, while diverting the wedding party with a 'surprise' assignment of writing captions for old photos of the couple that would be projected during the toasts. Molly was to stand guard outside this suite to give them 10-15 minutes of privacy, and it needed to happen as close to 10:50 AM as possible.

She smiled with professional pride when a glance at her watch showed she'd gotten them here at 10:48, and no one seemed the wiser about what was going on.

"That includes me too, though," she thought, as she heard first giggling, and then what sounded like furniture being dragged around in the room above.

Silence followed the initial commotion, and she strained her ears to hear what was happening, even though she felt bad about eavesdropping. Her curiosity about the significance of this timing, which seemed to have driven much of the wedding planning, led her to climb several stairs toward the room until she could see a sliver of it through the cracked door.

She saw the couple from behind and a bit to their left, with Jen closest to the door; Victor was next to her. They were both sitting in heavy wooden chairs, facing the same direction and slid under a rectangular table. Victor's head was tilted back, and his eyes were closed; Molly's view of him was mostly blocked by Jen, whose torso seemed to be moving slowly but rhythmically.

"Jen, what are you doing?! The professor will see us." Victor's voice was hushed, but also had an odd quality to it that Molly couldn't quite place.

"Am I doing it wrong? Doesn't it feel good?" Jen's voice conveyed a coy uncertainty but also had the same odd tone as Victor's. "I'm not ready to go all the way quite yet, but want to reward you for being so patient...and maybe surprise you a little by doing this here." Molly could hear the smile in Jen's voice. "Don't worry, sweetie, this part of the auditorium is really dark and most of the people have left already anyway. The next class doesn't start until 11:00; can you finish by then?"

Victor's eyes squinted in a pleasurable grimace, and he took a sharp breath, moving his arm to place a grip on his bride's bicep, before gently stroking the side of her throat and chin, then tucking an errant strand of hair back behind her ear.

"I'll take that as a yes," she chuckled, "But let me help you along a bit more."

Keeping her eyes on her groom's, she brought her hand up from under the table and licked it slowly with her tongue, which in this erotically charged scene seemed a mile long. Its pinkness stood in sharp contrast to the tan tone of her skin and the white of her dress, as she coated her hand with a thick layer of saliva before moving it back under the table.

Jen's movements continued, and Victor responded immediately with a shudder and a long moan, and he smiled with heavy eyelids as he took in the knowing look from Jen. It finally struck Molly that they must be reenacting a scene of their first sexual encounter in college, and their voices reflected the play-acting.

To her immense surprise, Molly realized that her own hand had slid behind her belt and pushed aside the silk underwear covering her smooth mons. She didn't remember beginning this, but already felt tingles emanating from the skin being caressed by her fingertips.

With a startled glance, realizing suddenly that she might be discovered, she surveyed the room at the bottom of the stairs and relaxed at the sight of the isolated foyer leading up to the bridal suite. The marble tiles of the flooring made walking loud enough that she would be aware of anyone approaching, long before they could see her. Sliding a finger of one hand between her folds and moving its thumb to the top of her lips, she turned again to the scene in the room.

Jen had moved somewhat, giving Molly a view of one hand as it moved lovingly up and down Victor's shaft, while the other alternated between teasing pulls at his curls, and cupping or kneading his sack. Jen leaned forward, her mouth close to his tip, and gently spit more saliva into her hand as it continued its movements; Victor groaned aloud and leaned back further with closed eyes.

Molly added a second finger, whimpering slightly, and closed her eyes as well; it was a long time since she'd been with a man. She simply worked too much, and, by definition, her job filled the weekends, the best days of the week to meet someone. She slid down one stair further from where she'd been sitting and pressed her clit harder with her thumb.

"I might have to use that 'emergency' tampon in my purse after this," she thought, smiling, "Just to avoid having a visible stain in my skirt during the reception."

After several minutes of Jen's attention, Victor's breathing had increased noticeably before he gave a sudden sharp gasp. Moving back up one step and peering through the crack of the door, Molly could see that Jen had turned her hand upside down. As her strokes moved up Victor's length, her thumb moved back and forth before her palm made a cup at the top of the stroke, circling his head briefly before her hand descended again. Victor gave short gasps with each repetition of this.

"Goddamn, babe, that feels fucking amazing, but I don't remember you doing that back in the class."

Jen smiled. "Maybe I've learned a couple of things since then. And stop breaking character! We didn't say any of this that first time."

"Mmmmmm" was Victor's only reply, as he felt himself getting close.

"The next class will be coming in soon, maybe this will help you finish."

Jen took his left hand and, folding the top of her strapless dress aside, placed it on her bare breast for what—back then—had been the first time. Just as had happened when they were students, Victor stiffened immediately and drew a sharp breath.

Molly watched as Jen quickly dropped from her chair to the floor and replaced her hand with her mouth, engulfing him nearly to the base in a single motion. Matt cried out loudly and held her head briefly with both hands; Molly watched the bride's throat move as she swallowed, two, three, four times.

Molly's own climax surged through her at the sight, and her legs crushed her hand between their juncture as she moaned louder than she had until now.

With her eyes closed, she didn't notice that Victor heard the noise and smiled briefly when he turned his head, looking through the cracked door to see her sitting there on the stairs. Although he could see only her head and shoulders, the expression on her face and the movement of her upper arm revealed clearly what was happening. He lay his head back, closing his eyes briefly to enjoy his bride's last movements with her tongue. When he glanced over again, Molly was gone.

Turning his attention to Jen as she rose to her feet, pulling the top of her dress back into place, he said playfully "Now who's breaking character? I don't remember it ending that way back in the day."

"I had to improvise. Jizzing all over the desk and your blue jeans is one thing in the McAllen Lecture Hall, but doing it all over this antique furniture and especially on my $2000 dress is another. I hope that our daughter or grand-daughter will wear it at her own wedding some day, and I don't want to have to answer 'what is this stain here on the boob, Nana?'. Now come on," she laughed, "We'd better get back to our guests. Besides, I'm sure Molly is tired of standing guard and wondering what we're doing up here."

"Somehow, I doubt she's wondering..."

"What do you mean?"

With a raised eyebrow, Victor tilted his head toward the partially open door, and watched Jen blush bright red as she realized that the noise of their tryst would have been easily audible outside of the room. Now it was his turn to laugh.

Taking her in his arms for a quick kiss and a hug, he said "That was the best Biology lecture EVER, especially the hands-on anatomy lab part at the end."

Now they could both laugh, as they moved together to leave the room.

"At least you remembered ONE of your lines from back then, you big doofus. Now, help me figure out what to say to Molly, I'm so embarrassed that she heard us."

"I bet it's not a problem; I'm guessing she's feeling kind of embarrassed by everything right now too. Just act as if nothing happened and we'll move on to the reception. Then...to the hotel," he said with a grin.

"Lech."

"Only for you, babe."

The couple walked down the stairs, arm in arm and grinning lovingly at each other until the bride and her wedding planner met at the bottom. Each woman tentatively raised her eyes to the other's, before blushing a deep scarlet and looking back at the floor. Victor burst into laughter so intense he had to wipe the tears from his eyes.

Oh...my...god..." he had to pause to catch his breath, as he continued laughing at their clear embarrassment; "You two should see your faces. For god's sake, we're all adults here, and we all know what happened..." again he paused momentarily, "At least two of us know what happened here." With this, he caught Molly's eye and winked quickly, knowing that Jen thought he meant herself and Victor while Molly thought that he must have caught a glimpse of her at the top of the stairs, before wiping his eyes again with another fit of laughter.

"Molly, thanks so much for helping us with such an oddball request. We'll remember this day always."

"That's for sure," Jen muttered under her breath, still flushing and looking at the floor, but with the turn of a smile now at the corner of her mouth.

"Now, if you don't mind, maybe help my wife and me find our way through this maze of a building and back to our guests?"

"Your wife," both women said, with a pleasant realization that it was the first time he'd said that. They finally looked at each other and held the gaze with shy smiles.

Just then, rapid footsteps sounded on the marble floor as Matt and Alexis burst into the foyer.

"Oh, hi," said five equally surprised people. "We were just, umm..."

"Going," said three of them; "Looking for my...uhhh...purse" said the maid of honor.

Molly's sense of professionalism and desire to keep the event moving forward finally asserted itself. "Lexi, the last I saw you with it was in the bridal suite up there," she said, gesturing, "Please just pull the door shut when you're done. You two," pointing toward the newlyweds, "Follow me." The group split, moving in opposite directions.

20 minutes earlier

"Ryan, haaaave you met Alexis?" Jen made the quick introduction, accomplishing her twin goals of playing matchmaker and, especially, distracting Alexis long enough that she and Victor could steal away for their long-planned classroom reenactment in the bridal suite.

Alexis and Ryan barely noticed them leaving, each instead taking a long, approving look at the other. Ryan's eyes seemed to be defined and enhanced by smile lines almost as distinctly as most women were able to achieve with carefully applied mascara. He exuded a quiet confidence that gave Alexis a thrill of butterflies low in her belly. Ryan liked the subtle class of Alexis's simple pearl earrings, and the way her dress molded perfectly to her body; a body that made him inwardly say "wow!" as his eyes traced first downward and then returned toward her flawless white smile. Lingering at her breasts as he looked back up, he saw her nipples become erect as his glance passed over them. He smiled, his eyes continuing their trip back to meet hers; she seemed unaware that her body was betraying her arousal.

Alexis searched for something to say, some interesting topic of conversation to engage him; her mind seemed suddenly blank, so she grasped at the obvious. "So, Ryan, how exactly do you know Victor?"

"We were roommates for a semester back in college, but I know him mostly because we had a handful of classes together—in the Honors College—before he switched out of the finance major we had in common. What a surprise that was to everyone, someone as smart as Victor bailing out on the golden ticket. I went on to be the youngest associate ever at my firm, he went on to become a high school math teacher. Such a waste," he chuckled.

"I love these earrings of yours," he continued, moving subtly closer to her and raising his hand to tuck a stray lock of her hair behind her ear as he leaned in to look more closely at one of the gems. "My grandmother was a real connoisseur of them and would tell me all about them. These are real saltwater pearls, aren't they? Rather than some lame freshwater, or even cultured ones?"

For her part, Alexis was a bit bewildered with conflicting emotions. The warm, moist feel of his breath on her ear, when he leaned in to examine her earring, along with the touch as he stroked her hair, sent electric tingles straight to her core. At the same time, the very first words out of his mouth had seemed bragging; even worse, her favorite aunt was a high school math teacher. "What the hell did he mean, 'such a waste'?" Now he was rambling on, something pretentious about her pearls... She finally heard him clearly again when he took her right hand in his left and raised it as if to dance.

"Sounds like the band is starting up out on the lawn; can I have this dance with the maid of honor?" His right hand moved down her back and settled with a squeeze on her ass, breaking any fog of attraction she'd been feeling.

"Good lord," she thought, "This guy has gone from dreamboat to asshole to octopus in less than two minutes. That's gotta be some kind of a record."

As she quickly looked around, hoping to make eye contact with Jen to come rescue her, she saw Matt come through the door with Amy DuPrie close behind. Alexis's face lit up at the sight of him, an emotion Ryan misinterpreted as approval of his actions; he trailed the palm of his hand along the bottom of her curve.

"Wow, she has a nice ass," he thought, "Victor was right, she's hot as fire. Tonight could be legendary."

The look of surprise on his face was priceless when her left arm broke their contact, pushing him away while she used the hold he'd initiated with her right hand to pull him toward the door.

"Amy! Thank you so much for helping Matt find me," she said, before dropping Ryan's hand to reach up and pull a thoroughly confused Matt down for a kiss.

Sliding her arm possessively around his waist, she told him "There's something out here in the garden you'll love," before beginning to pull him in that direction.

She paused to send the very briefest of withering looks at Amy before smiling again and saying "Ryan, haaaave you met Amy?"

"And you, let's go out to the garden. Now."

"Oh shit," Matt thought, "What is going on here?" Nonetheless, he followed along, his mind racing as he tried to analyze the personal dynamics of what had just happened, but also unable to resist a quick glance down at the perfect ass that some other guy—one of the groomsmen, apparently—had been fondling just moments before. It was irrational, he realized, having known this woman such a short time, but that thought of another man touching Alexis so intimately stung him with a brief pang of jealousy.

Back in the room, Ryan and Amy watched in surprise at the sudden turn of events, before each shrugged inwardly and turned an appraising glance at the other. They were talking before the door had fully shut behind the departing couple, and within five minutes he was pushing a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, commenting on the necklace dangling between her near-perfect breasts, and pouring her some bourbon from the flask he had hidden within a pocket of his tux.