The Wedding Date

Chapter Twenty

Amelia

I had about an hour to get ready to go dancing, after Lizzie and I had gone to dinner. We had spent the entire meal talking as we stuffed our faces. Mostly we gossiped about the wedding party, something we had used to do frequently to the girls in our sorority. In the middle of the night we used to meet and sit and chat for hour about the lives of others. Part of it felt therapeutic to me now. Everyone at this wedding had something to say about me it seemed.

"The Anns seem to be on one this trip." She commented taking a bite of her salad. I knodded in agreement. She had been calling Ann and Cheyene the Anns since she had met them. She also frequently got the two confused. An image of Ann in her white miniskirt trying to hightail it up a mountain came to mind. I decided to keep that to myself. It was hard for me to even believe that little snob had climbed through those trees, it was even harder for me to believe she had been doing it to listen to Jack's call. Someone put her up to it, I knew.

"Yeah, I agree." I replied cutting into my steak.

"What that's it?" She asked cracking a smirk at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"You just usually have some much more to say. Especially since Ann has been trying to accomplish whatever it is that she is trying to accomplish by trying to humiliate you infront of the other guests." Lizzie replied. I knew it probably did seem odd to her I didn't have much else to say, I just didn't want to waste any more of my brain power worrying about what motivated Annabelle Something to insult me. They are two desperate girls with no foreseeable career paths. The rest of their pathetic lives would be spent scrambling and fighting for daddy's money, if that is, they didn't find a new source of income. Jack Preist and Skyler Ames are two of the most eligible bachelors at this wedding. As the weekend rolls around and more of the other wedding guests begin to arrive, the more women they would have to contend with.

I had seen it first hand at my cousin's wedding in Sao Paulo. I must have been twenty-one at the time because I remember my mother giving me permission to drink. Abbey and I had got absolutely hammered. We were drunkenly mingling with the party goers when my aunt Elisa had found us stumbling around in the dresses Amber had chosen for us. Back then the most eligible bachelor had been Ricky Acosta. I had always had a crush on Ricky but, because I was three years younger than him, he never paid me any attention.

"I have to go see Ricky," I told my aunt that night slurring my words. I'll never forget what she had said to me that night.

"If you wanna be just another notch on that boys bed post, you go right ahead. But, just know that's all you'll ever be. Even if he did decide to marry you it would only be because your an Anderson. And I assure you, that's all you'll ever be to a man like that. You'd be his wife in name only. You'd just be a name and a face he'd use to furthet his career. And he will continue to sleep with other women no matter what you do." Elisa had told me. If I'm being completely honest, even in my drunken state her words had effected me deeply. I had already given my virginity to a boy who had basically begged for it, just to run as soon as he had taken it.

She walked away to take Abbey to the bathroom and I had gone looking for Ricky's room. After about an hour of asking around I had found out he was staying in one of the suites on the second floor. For two more hours I sobered up and wandered the halls of the second floor determined to find Ricky and see if what my aunt had said were true. Not all men could be like Adam afterall.

I had found him an hour later. I stood in the hallway outside his suite so I heard them coming long before I had seen them. Ricky and the girl he was with, were having a very good time together. They would walk a few feet laughing and chatting loudly only to stop and exchage a passionate kiss right there in the middle of the hallway. Groping and moaning and exchaging sloppy wet sounding kisses. At one point, as I hid behind some planted shrubbery, he had her pressed up against the wall. I could hear their moans and the wet lapping sounds of their kissing. I listened as his bedroom door opened and they went in their laughter fading behind the door. Crestfallen, I wrapped my arms around my knees and burried my head.

I sat there for awhile just contemplating what I was going to do about men. It wasn't hard to keep up an image at school. I was what many women would call a 'lip slut' meaning, I kissed a lot of boys but, had never had s*x with them. Most of them, were to afraid to tell their friends they hadn't been able to get lucky so they would do all the lying for me. I just never denied it when it came down to it.

"Amelia? What are you doing out here?" a voice asked. I looked up to see Ricky standing on the other side of the plant in the hallway looking confused. I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks hoping he didn't see. I didn't even know that Ricky knew who I was.

"Oh hey, Ricky." I said trying to sound casual. I didn't move to stand. I could still feel the alcohol in my system and at the moment I could have cared less what Ricky Acosta thought of me.

"I was just... uh... admiring the interior design." I told him lamely.

"I'm so glad I found you, I was actually just looking for you." he told me. I couldn't help but, laugh. Looking for me? After he had just taken another women into his room.

"I wasn't down that girls throat." I had told him.

"HELLO! Earth to Amelia! Amelia, are you there?" Lizzie shouted breaking me from my thoughts. I shook myself. So strange, why was I thinking about that after so long?

"Sorry, my brain seems to be all over the place." I told her leaning forward in my chair to return my focus to my meal.

"So do you think your gonna sleep with him?" She asked me suddenly making my eyes snap from my plate up to her.

"Sleep with who?" I asked.

"Sleep with Priest." she replied casually. I nearly choked on the piece of baked potato I had just popped into my mouth.

"Why would I do that?" I asked her, taking a sip of water to clear my throat.

"Because your obviously attracted to him. And he's attracted to you." she replied. Lizzie is the only person who knows about the issues I have had over the years with men. She didn't know anything about what had happened with Skyler but, she knew literally everything else.

"Is that enough?" I asked her pushing my food around my plate.

"Why not? The way he was looking at you after that hike, Amelia. He wants you." she told me. My cheeks began to heat at the thought of the subject. Jack Priest towering over me as he pulled his shirt up over his had in one sooth motion revealing his finely sculpted abs. I shook myself trying to erase the illustration my mind had so kindly conjured for me. "He already told you he isn't interested in anything serious. This could be your chance to get this out of your system!"

I had an inkling that Jack was interested in me already but, to hear an outside observer say it affirmed it in my mind. I felt my cheeks flame and I hid my face in my hands for a few seconds.

"What is it!?" Lizzie practically shouted excitement evident in her tone.

"I just remembered I asked him to go dancing tonight." I replied. Lizzie screeched and giggled with excitement.

"Oh my gosh that is so perfect! You're such an amazing dancer you're gonna knock his f*****g socks off." her smile was so huge and genuine that it made me want to smile. "He's not going to be able to keep his hands off you!"