Vegas Wedding

Mark

I should have waited for her to come out. I knew that. Everything in my head told me that was the right thing to do. Wait. What did my body do? Walk right into the women's bathroom, where Brooke happened to be as well. The last thing I wanted was for anyone else, especially Brooke to be dragged into this.
"Talk about what?" Brooke asked grinning at Colleen and I. "Stuff." I stared at Colleen, there were so many better answers to that question, and she chose 'stuff'. I guess it was my turn to dig us out of our hole. Even if I don't like her, this is half my fault. "It's just a wedding thing Brooke, nothing for you to think about." As soon as I spoke I wished I had gone with 'stuff' too. Brooke was making intense eye contact, so intense I could have swore I saw it on animal planet. "Is that true Colleen? Because you know I don't want any surprises... no matter what Toby says." I broke eye contact and looked at Colleen who was just shaking her head slowly, glaring at me "It's nothing, Mark here just has some basic things to catch up on since he didn't bother to attend any meetings or engagement parties..." I dropped my jaw "excuse you but I was told by Toby that it was ok. I apologized, I sent a very nice gift, unfortunately I was away on business." I watched as Brooke rolled her eyes "yeah sure, and it has nothing to do with the fact that you hate weddings, think marriage is an archaic ritual best left in the 19th and early 20th century?" I dropped my jaw again "I never.." Colleen scoffed at me "What?" Brooke and I both asked. I immediately regretted my question. "Nothing, its just that you know he's best man and hates weddings... I think it's funny." I sighed in relief, nothing lost, nothing revealed. The door swung open behind me, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Toby walk in.

"Really now? You guys are confronting this now? They just served the salads, I want to eat... Colleen you promised nothing would happen until we were on our honeymoon!" I stared at my best friend in horror, and didn't even notice as Colleen walked up to him and physically shook him "you idiot!" She muttered under her breath. "What the hell is going on?" Brooke asked, Toby's entire face dropped "Did I just?" He looked at me with regret "yes... yes you did." I patted him on the back and felt my life expectancy go down by about five years. "What is going on?" Brooke asked again, I glanced over at Colleen who's entire face had gone expressionless. "Well you see... in Vegas, Colleen and I got married." Both Toby and Brooke's jaws dropped "Married?" They shouted at the same time "I though you two just hooked up!" Toby whisper shouted at Colleen. "How did you know about that in the first place?" I asked crossing my arms and Colleen looked up at all of us "He saw me leaving." Brooke glared at all of us "Why am I the last person to know that?" I glanced at Colleen hoping she would move the subject along. "Look we all really need to get out, it will look bad if we aren't there." Back to business "I can't believe you had to get married before me." Brooke jabbed her in the arm with a finger "Brooke I was so drunk I had no idea what I was doing!" She crossed her arms "sure... just wait until mama and daddy hear." We all stuck an arm out, grabbing Brooke "Don't you dare say a word!" Colleen spoke through gritted teeth as Toby and I nodded along "and what's stopping me?" "Brooke this your wedding... Mark and I are resolving this behind closed doors... there is no reason to ruin your wedding." Brooke started nodding "well then Toby let's go, let the newlyweds sort their mess of life." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the bathroom. Colleen opened her clutch and pulled out a flask "I said I wouldn't drink tonight... boy was I wrong." "Colleen?"  "Yes Mark?" "When Brooke said mama and daddy... was she talking about..." "my parents?" "Yeah...." "yes Mark, my parents are called mama and daddy." I nodded "so is Brooke like a cousin or..." Colleen gave me a weird look "you're the best man and you don't know that I'm Brooke's sister?" I sighed reaching for my own flask "this day just keeps getting..." "worse?" She offered but I shook my head "more theatrical."

"Do you think I could squeeze out that window and leave?" My hand motioned towards the small window towards the top of the wall. Colleen slapped my arm taking another sip from her flask "there is no way I'm letting you escape... you're half the reason we're in this mess!" Smirking I took another swig, screwed the stopper in, and placed it back inside my jacket "then let's both go." I stood up and held my hand out to her "we can't just leave!" I shrugged looking around "why not? They know we're here, no one has come and got us in nearly thirty minutes, most of the courses will be through." "Mark they'd only be on the main..." "Colleen I saw the main, it's tiny, the size of an appetizer." She took my hand, but with a hurt look on her face "what?" "I picked out the main course" "thank god it's only the rehearsal dinner." "Well now you've just offended me." She brushed her dress off and tucked the flask back in her clutch "so what if I have? Are we going to ditch or not?" Her hand rested on the door handle as she shook her head "I don't think that would be a good way to make things better between Brooke and I..." I let out a groan "oh come on... just a little fun, let loose, be wild..." she took her hand off the handle and was about to say something when the door forcefully swung open and hit Colleen dead in the face.

"Oh my god Colleen I am so, so sorry, I so did not mean that... even though you kind of deserve it..." Brooke attempted to apologize as Colleen slunk down to the ground holding her nose "Colleen do you need to go to the hospital?" She asked going to the sink to wet a towel "no, I'll be fine..." the door swung open again, nailing her dead on the nose again "Brooke there you are, people are asking..." I dragged Toby away from the door before moving towards Colleen who had tears streaming down her face "do you need to go to the hospital?" She shook her head "no... no I'm fine." Her hands still covered her nose "then put your hands down." She shook her head again "I'm taking you to the hospital."