The buck’s night had been a quiet affair for me. Dan got drunk and I was able to convince him it was much later than it was and drag him back to his hotel room after visiting one strip club. I was in bed by midnight. It wasn’t that any of the women at the club weren’t gorgeous, but they did nothing for me. I’d been with so many so-called beautiful women, and I had decided that I had different ideas of what beauty was compared to others.
Dan loved the idea of strippers, but they did nothing for me. The power imbalance of clothed men and naked women never sat right in my mind. In Minneapolis I’d found a group of friends who were naturists, and we’d often camp up at the Lakes, wearing nothing but sunblock and insect repellent.
It was never sexual, despite me being introduced to the lifestyle by my girlfriend at the time. I’d yet to source out any similar groups near home now, but still preferred to be naked behind closed doors in my apartment, even if Ivan sometimes forgot about his claws.
“I’ll have the quiche and salad and just a black coffee please.” I had stopped at a small café on the edge of the city for lunch enroute to the winery they were holding the wedding at. It was a quaint place with plastic tablecloths and craft items for sale. The table I sat at wasn’t designed for my six-and-a-half-foot frame, but it gave me a chance to look at the other patrons.
There was an older couple laughing as they shared a pot of tea. I liked to think they’d been married for fifty years or even that they were both experiencing a second chance after their spouses had died. At one stage, he simply placed his hand over hers as they sat and drank their tea. She leant over and brushed a crumb from his chin with a laugh. They seemed so happy together, simply enjoying tea and cake on a Friday.
At a table against the window, there was a woman who was engrossed in her phone. I figured she was messaging friends, perhaps a lover even, as she’d type away and then wait for a response before laughing and shaking her head. She had the most stunning dark hair that framed her face in waves. Dressed in jeans and a V-neck top that showed off a wonderful hint of cleavage, her effervescence at her conversation made me smile.
Our eyes locked just before the waitress brought my lunch, and when I looked up, she was gone. I won’t lie. There was a hint of something about her that grabbed me and drew me in, and if it had been at a bar near home, I would have been at her table like that, offering to buy her a drink and get to know her better. But for all I knew, she was texting her partner and someone else got to enjoy her smiles on a regular basis.
It had been ages since I’d been with anyone. It’s not like I never had the opportunity, and I knew that lots of women would jump at getting into bed with me, but I’d learnt early on that sex without a connection was just as fulfilling as my hand in the shower each evening. Perhaps after the wedding, I’d have to look into online dating again as the romantic in me believed there was someone out there who would brush crumbs from my face when I was in my seventies.
~*~*~*~*~
Davina
The drive to the winery was pleasant enough, but I felt my anxiety rising with each passing kilometre. Stopping at an old-fashioned little café on the edge of town for a quick bite, I carried on a humorous conversation with Marnie, who was sending photos of a bra she’d managed to attach the straps to upside down that morning.
Me: I can’t see what the heck you were doing, I mean, you must have known it was wrong before you sewed it?
Marnie: Yeah, probably, but if I just cut that one there and attach a length of chain…
Me: Bloody hell, you just want chains with everything!
Marnie: Don’t knock it ’til you tried it! So, did Daniel have any hunky friends growing up?
Me: Just Scott. He was always following Daniel around and making questionable decisions. I think he’s best man.
Marnie: I can only imagine the calibre of man your brother would attract. Sleezy McSleezeballs, who wouldn’t dream of going anywhere near their mate’s younger sister!
Me: Forget sleezy, Hunky McHunkballs has just arrived! He is fine with a capital F! I mean, oh, fuck, they just sat him at a small table, and he looks like he has to fold him half. He’s well over six feet tall and has this auburn wavy hair that just sort of glides past his ears.
Marnie: Go and say hello!
Marnie’s suggestion was tempting, but as I was replying to her I made eye contact with the stranger, only to discover it was Scott. All the memories of my childhood years came rushing back and I told Marnie I had to rush. Of all the places to stop and grab a bit to eat, I had to choose this one.
Leaving cash to cover my soup and coffee, I slid out of the booth and made my way outside back to my car. Scott had always hung around with us as kids. As an only child, I think he relished the time with other young folk away from his parents. He was also a follower, and if Daniel asked him to jump, he would simply ask how high.
I’ve got no idea what became of him. I heard he went to uni, but the plan was for him to return and run their family real estate business. He wasn’t dressed like that though, wearing dark jeans and a black Henley shirt. The dark-rimmed glasses that framed his eyes made him look like a professor or artist and not a real estate agent.
At least I was able to escape before he called me out on whatever Daniel, or my parents, had been complaining about me to him. Meh. I’d also have some eye candy to look at throughout the ceremony, and it was probably best I had no idea what his personality was really like. In my dreams, he could be someone who didn’t associate with my brother or parents. But then again, in my dreams, I could be too.
“That top’s a bit tight, isn’t it, Dumpy?” Yes, a typical greeting from my mother as I walked into the reception area of the winery. She was standing with Debbie’s mother. “Priscilla, you’ve met Davina, no? She’s my younger child and chose not to follow us into business.”
“Hi, Mum. How’s things?” How’s things? How could I ask such an open-ended question?
Mum went into great detail to describe the mistake in the order of service that the printer refused to reprint, how the table linen was cream instead of oyster and that the florist had misjudged the number of roses she would need and there were far too many, and she refused to take any back.
“Now we put you in one of the back cottages, Davina. Figured you could get your steps up. Excuse me?” Mum was signalling to the receptionist to get me a key, no doubt forgetting the young woman’s name, despite Barbara being emblazoned across her lapel name badge.
“Thanks, Mum. I’ll see you for dinner at seven.”
I was regretting coming. I’d always given my family the benefit of the doubt and thought that I could be the bigger person, however being the bigger person, literally, made me the brunt of their jokes. As much as I hated to think about it, my family were horrible, horrible people who enjoyed their feelings of superiority over me because they saw me as being the fat one. If Aunt B hadn’t promised me she’d be at the wedding, I would have turned around and gone home. Fuck the consequences.