Just for Now

Chapter Thirteen

Day Five
Night

Cole had a few, obvious expectations for the night.

1: They would all probably get too drunk and regret it in the morning.

2: The bar would play at least one of Nate's songs and they could embarrass him.

3: Scarlett would yell at them for getting too drunk.

What he didn't expect... was, well, how the night actually went.

Cole was four tequila shots and three beers in when he started to feel it, and his brother singing nonstop karaoke was only making him feel drunker. The boys decided on taking over the karaoke bar at the resort while the girls headed over to the bar that had a dance floor in the middle. They were just down the hall from each other at the resort, really. Everything was going smoothly— they were taking shots, singing bad karaoke, and Nate looked on top of the world. Cole even got to sing one karaoke song before his brother decided it was time to take over.

Nate's brother, James, was sat quietly at the bar with the rest of them. Going out wasn't entirely enjoyable for the boy, but nonetheless, he came out to spend time with Nate. The two were often engaged in their own conversation, which the others all did their best to respect. Cole hadn't had too many interactions with James, but he seemed nice enough. Cole was a bit reserved at first considering he heard from Scarlett that the boy had given her a bit of a hard time at first, but Scarlett assured him that James had grown considerably since then.

"Can't believe you're getting married, dude," James said with a bit of disbelief in his voice.

Nate nudged him with a laugh. "Try to sound less shocked when you give the Best Man speech."

"I just mean it's wild that you groveled for two years about this girl you met once and then actually found her," James explained, leaning against the bar. "And she turned out to be pretty cool, too. Not too bad of a story."

"Her family's not too bad either, right?" Cole jumped in jokingly.

James fought a smirk as he shrugged. "To be determined."

"Don't lie," Nate interjected with a smile, "you were more excited than I was for tonight."

His brother shot him a warning look, but didn't really look too bothered about the reveal. He shrugged and said, "Just an excuse to see someone other than you, for once."

"Ouch," Nate bellowed as he wrapped an arm around James' head and rubbed his fist against the boy's hair. James shoved him away with a laugh. "Gotta think about replacing you as Best Man."

"Please, you don't have any other friends," James shot at him and dove away before Nate could attack him again. "Drama queen."

"I am not a drama queen!" Nate argued, affronted.

"Yeah? Maybe I should crash your wedding with a song," Cole teased, knowing exactly how the boy would react.

Nate snapped his head over to him, defending himself with, "You said it was fine!"

"Yeah, I did! But... fair's fair, man."

He sighed dramatically, leaning against the bar as he glanced up at the karaoke stage where Sam was. "One thing I know for sure, your brother won't be getting anywhere near a microphone at my wedding."

"Tell him that," Cole challenged, nodding his head at his brother who was waiting eagerly by the stage.

"And... for a sixth time tonight," the DJ stressed in frustration, "because apparently I can't deny anyone from singing karaoke no matter how many times they've butchered American classics, we have Sam Alvarez singing some new Nate Cameron song. Which luckily, I already hate."