Her Maid of Honor (gxg)

Jess

"See ya James!" I called back to him as the other valet pulled my car around the corner.

"Take care Jess!" He shouted back.

The younger valet brought the blood red customized Shelby GT500 to an abrupt halt at my feet.

"Hey Jess!" He said playfully as he stepped out of the car, tossing me the keys.

"Drew, hey! Long time no see. How's it going?" The vibrant 21 year old smiled back in response, running his fingers through the blond curly locks that sat above his head.

"Not bad, not bad. Hey look, there's a party at Greg's later, you in?" I opened my mouth reflexively to respond, but then paused for a brief moment as I thought about it carefully.

"Is your sister going to be there?" There was an - almost- awkward pause immediately following my - I almost unexpected - question.

"You haven't called her back, have you?"

"No...?" Whoops...

"Jess!" He sighed in exasperation, looking at me with that tired expression of his every time this happened to another poor, unfortunate girl.

"Look, I've been really busy. You know how it is..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you have," he sighed. "Whatever. I warned her about you," he said reassuringly. "And for the record, I don't know if she's coming or not but last I heard, she was seeing some next chick anyway so you're probably in the clear."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said, "maybe." He added in teasingly.

He still had the face of a mischievous teenager when he joked around like that. Deceiving, witty, and with just a hint dry, inappropriately sarcastic humor all rolled into one. I couldn't help but see a bit of myself in him when I was his age, we had far too much in common not to.

"Hey," I called out quickly before I got into the driver's seat, "I got a few errands to run but if you want to meet up later, we can pre-game and you can hitch a ride with me."

"Yeah, sounds cool. Link me." His smile was dazzling with a body to suit as he waved goodbye and dashed up the stairs.

It was no surprise that I had yet to see him with the same girl twice in all of the four years that I had known him. I couldn't help but smile at the mere thought that had we both been the same age in high school, all hell would've broken loose between the two of us. We would've probably - and very much so literally - set the school on fire. Now that I thought about it, it was probably for the best that we were 5 years apart.

I started the car and revved the engine pulling out quickly into the street as the classy bystanders of the hotel stared at me in utter shock and disapproval, so I cranked up the bass as I waved to them goodbye. The drive to my parents' house was roughly 30 minutes - give or take - and by using the back roads which I always did to save myself the road rage, the traffic was only half as bad. It was impossible to avoid it altogether unless you had a private jet, but thanks to my dad's new clients in LA, the private jet was off limits. I grunted at the thought.

The lights were barely on as I pulled into the circle driveway lined with evenly trimmed bushes leading right up to the front steps. I couldn't make out any shadows moving throughout the elegantly tall 4 story glass house as I slowed my car to a halt and put in into park. The keys to my parent's house still hung on the faded out Berklee College keychain that I had kept as a momentum from my glory days. The smooth click of the lock settled into place instantly as I pressed down on the handle and pushed my way inside the dimly lit foyer.