We didn't have to walk for long to find a pizza place. After we ordered, we again fell into easy conversation while eating our pizza. When we were done, we decided to walk around London for a bit till we passed a hotel. At the door was this sign saying "Congratulations Mr and Mrs John and Lindsay Parker"
"No!" He said, crossing his arms.
"I didn't even say anything!" I threw my hands in the air.
"You don't have to. Your eyes are telling me enough."
"Ooh come on. Live a little! It'll be fun!" I tried to convince him.
"Yeah that's exactly what people say before it goes completely sideways." He countered.
"We'll be fine. I promise. Come on, let's crash a wedding!" I grabbed his hand and dragged him inside.
Okay crashing a wedding is way more fun than I thought. After I convinced Mason to go we instantly went to the bar, getting us some drinks. While he ordered, I took a look at my surroundings. A habit I picked up from when I was younger.
We had a lot of fun, drinking, eating, and dancing around until some people walked up to us. They started a conversation and asked how we knew the newlyweds. I saw Mason struggle to come up with a lie so I decided to step up.
I put my arm around him and leaned into him. "Well my boyfriend here and John are both Chelsea fans. They once met at a game and have been friends ever since. They go to every Chelsea game they can with some of the boys from highschool." I lied to the man in front of me.
"You're a Chelsea fan too?! I will never understand why John is a fan! They suck." The man said.
"See I've been telling Mase over here the exact same thing. London is red!" I agree with him.
"Wait, you're an Arsenal fan?!" He grinned.
"Once a gunner, always a gunner! You're Michael right? You and John are college buddies?"
"Yes I am and you are?" He held his hand out for me to shake.
"Eleanore." I shook his hand. "But you have to excuse us. We're gonna grab another drink and dance some more."
"Of course, it was nice meeting you both." The older man smiled at us and I dragged Mason to the bar again.
"Are you sure you've never met these people?" He looked at me shocked.
"Yeah, why?" I ordered 2 more beers for us and gave one to Mason.
"How did you know all of that stuff about him?!" He accepted the beer but still looked at me in complete shock.
"It's called being observant. Look, at the other side of the bar, where we first order our drinks, is a wall full of pictures and messages." I pointed out. "While you were ordering, I was looking at them. I saw a picture of the guy and the message Michael wrote to his college friend. In the picture the groom, John was wearing a Chelsea shirt, while Michael was wearing an Arsenal one. Beside that wall with pictures, there at the table with all the gifts is a Chelsea shirt which looks to be signed by all the players. And that Michael guy dropped his keys earlier and I saw his Arsenal keychain. I have the same one." I smiled proudly at him, showing my Arsenal keychain.
"Okay, I don't call that observant, I call that a stalker." He looked at me with a blank expression.
"Hey!" I jokingly pushed him, making him laugh.
"Okay no, that was really impressive. You got that all from just walking around here?"
"Uhm yeah, it's kind of weird but I like to be observant of my surroundings. I don't know how to explain it." I looked at him sheepishly.
After some more drinks, which we both definitely started to feel, and after we had joked around some more at the dance floor, an elderly couple walked up to us.
The older lady told us how cute we looked and that we were a beautiful couple. I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up. This time it was Mason who took a step closer to me to put his arm around my waist. He thanked the lady who then asked us how we knew the newlyweds.
Unlike earlier, Mason came up with a believable story of how me and the bride's sister were college friends. Eventually he excused the both of us and dragged us away again.
"Nicely done." I looked at him impressed.
"Learned from the best." He grinned at me.
"Hey! Excuse me, who are you two?" We both turned around and saw a confused looking bride walking up to the both of you.
"Time to go." Mason quickly told me and we both darted out of the room. Both of us, trying to grab one another to drag each other out the room.
We stumbled out the door to the lobby and ran out of the hotel down the street laughing. After running for a while, we stopped to catch our breath, still laughing uncontrollably.
We started making our way back to the bar, we're our adventure had started. During our walk, we were talking and joking around until Mason steered the conversation to a touchy subject.
"So you mentioned a boyfriend earlier, he's not going to kill me later on now is he?" He jokingly asked me.
For a moment I froze. He is not the one who's gonna get it. Me on the other hand, I'm going to be in a shitload of trouble. Mason must have caught my change in demeanor cause he was now completely focused on me. Okay Queen, time to put your game face on.
"No it's fine." Lie.
"He is not the jealous type." Another lie.
"Besides, he's too busy for me anyway so he won't mind." I smiled sadly at him.
"What do you mean?" He asked me with concern clearly written over his face.
"Well today was a big day for me. I asked him to show up for it but he couldn't make the time for it. But it's fine. I get it. He has things to do." I told him. He looked at me with sympathy in his eyes.
"Well for what it's worth, I had a good time. Who knew crashing a wedding was so much fun."
I chuckled and lightly punched his arm. We were almost at the bar again when I saw my distressed teammates.
"Ooh shit." I whispered.
"What? What's wrong?" Mason asked, confused, looking around.
"Run, hide, I don't care what you do but if you don't want to die, go. Now." I said in complete panic.
"Okay again, what? Why?" He looked at me confused.
"I may or may not unintentionally, ditched my friends, who may or may not be a little bit overprotective and seeing as I kind of forgot to tell them that I left to crash a wedding. I'm in a shitload of trouble, therefore you are in a shitload of trouble." Mason instantly quit his laughter.
"Ooh shit." He whispered.
"Ooh shit indeed." I sighed. "They're coming this way! Now go!" I panicked.
He was about to leave but before he did he handed me a piece of paper with a phone number. "Here. If you ever decide to crash a wedding again, call me." He smiled once more and left. I turned around, briefly thinking that maybe, just maybe they haven't seen me yet and I can sneak away unnoticed.
"Ooh my God, Eleanore Marie Queen! Where the fuck have you been?!" I heard Ali yell from a distance.
I guess not. Crap. Okay I have to come up with something quick otherwise she's going to kill me.
"Hey Aliiii!" I say in the sweetest voice that I can.
"Don't hey Ali me! We were worried sick! Even Kelley and Emily didn't know where you were!" She pulled me in a bone crushing hug.
"Ali, relax I was just out here in London." I lightly pushed her off. "It's not the first time I've been here."
She looked shocked that I pushed her off but recovered immediately. "It's 1 o'clock in the morning, Eleanore. It's dangerous walking around in the middle of the night all by yourself!"
More of my teammates started the crowd around us. They all had a look of relief on their faces.
"Oh my God, Ali!" I groaned. "Stop treating me like a kid. I'm not a kid anymore and you're not my mom!" I yelled at her.
Everyone gasped. It got insanely quiet. Shock written all over their faces except for Ali's. Hers just held a look of hurt. I don't know what came over me. Why would I say such a thing? Maybe it was the alcohol, I don't know.
"Ali, i-"
"No you're right. You're not a kid anymore and I'm not your mother." And with that she turned around and walked away. I stood there frozen. Completely defeated. Crap. I need to fix this. I need to fix this like yesterday.