Page 38 of Little Gray Dress

“Come on Lil…” Jack is slurring his words, which is a rare occasion and I’m sure is only happening because absolutely no one from his family or job is even in the same country as us right now. “Evan has always had a way with the ladies, you know that.” The perverted tone coming from my boyfriend is somewhat disturbing. “It’s not like he forces them to have sex with him. They just do.”

“Nice.” She glances at Jack with a glare. “It’s good to know you lost your gentleman status at my wedding.”

“I didn’t lose anything. I’m just sworn to the truth right now because I’ve had way too much to drink today.”

“Don’t fight! Let’s just go find Josh and Evan,” I say, trying to sound as motherly as possible. Wrangling a couple drunks to get along is about as effective as herding a flock of seagulls.

“And Corinne,” Lily adds, like I had forgotten her.

“Yes, Corinne too.”

“There are at least five bars between here and our hotel, so we’re gonna go search them all?”

“That’s right. And no more to drink for you.” Lily points directly at Jack.

“Or for me,” I say, hoping that the acid bubbling in my throat is just heartburn and not the attempted reappearance of the previously mentioned burrito.

The first bar we walk into appears to be a dirty dive bar. It’s so dark you can hardly see a few people ahead of you, and there is a band playing with strobe lights so the thirty minutes we search is completely pointless. I couldn’t even find the bathroom in that place, let alone a person.

“I think this is an after-hours bar.” Jack glances around the next one, his eyes as big as saucers. On the bar are three mostly-naked women (I’m not sure if sequined barely-there underwear count as clothing) dancing in heels so high it hurts me just to look at them.

“Do you see them?” Lily yells over the swanky music playing overhead. I shake my head, trying to avoid eye contact with every woman walking around in nothing but a bikini bottom. “I’m going to ask the bartender,” she shouts.

“Jack and I will wait outside.” I turn to grab Jack but he’s nowhere to be seen. “Shit.” Maybe he already went outside? It is packed in here, and he’s not exactly thinking straight this evening. Of all the places to lose him, why did it have to be at the topless bar?

I shove my way through the crowd and reach the sidewalk only to see Jack sitting on a bench out front. A nearly-naked, definitely topless woman is sitting next to him and giggling at whatever it is he’s just said to her. Jack is sitting as far from her as possible, while not falling off the bench completely.

“Jack!”

“Ems, I was just asking this lady if she’d seen them.” He jumps up, as fast as one can when they are drunk, and grabs my hand. “I founnd hher,” he slurs to the lady, who is now looking at the two of us and being less giggly than she was a moment earlier.

“They haven’t seen them.” Lily comes up behind us looking more than frazzled. “This is the worst party ever!” Her voice quivers when she says it, cuing me to what is coming next.

“Please don’t cry,” I say, as tears start to roll down her cheeks. “Maybe they got confused and went back to the hotel?”

“Lessh go check,” Jack slurs into my face, causing me to fan the beer smell away from me.

“How about we don’t breathe directly onto one another?”

“Deal.” He reaches down and grabs my hand, pulling it up to kiss it, missing on the first try but nailing it on the second. “Sssee… Shtill a gentleman.”

“Come on.” I lead him down the street by his hand, my shoes in my other hand. “I’m sure they’re at the hotel,” I say to Lily, but she’s no longer standing next to me. “Lil?” I call out. “For Christ’s sake, can we stop losing people, already?” I turn to Jack who is pointing just past me.

“Ssshe went that way.”

I turn to follow his finger but she’s not there.

“Great. How did I end up the soberest out of all of us?” I look over at Jack’s goofy smile.

“I know, normally that’sh me.”

“I like it better that way.” I frown at my grown man-child stumbling along next to me, staring at the sky instead of where he’s walking.

“I need to ssssit,” Jack announces suddenly, lurching towards a giant palm bush and retching all that he’s drank in the last hour.

I drop my head back and sigh. “Let’s lie down for a few.” I help him to the beach just a few feet away, steering him towards a lounger and making sure he’s not going to fall off before settling myself in the one next to him.

The sky in Mexico really is gorgeous at night. The moon reflects off the ocean in a way that almost makes it so bright you feel like it’s not night time at all. The breeze is nice, and I can’t help but fall in love with the whole tropical atmosphere. Even though I’m babysitting my drunken boyfriend and all my friends are missing, there is something romantic about this spot.

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