I walk to the rehearsal dinner feeling like I’m walking on a cloud. We got home from the dolphin excursion around two o’clock and Ethan and I fucked for three hours, napped for twenty minutes, I took a quick, ten-minute shower and then we left.

Only the wedding party was invited tonight so Ethan made plans to eat dinner with his aunt and uncle. He’s been ignoring them all week to be with me and he feels bad.

The private dinner is set up on the beach. Just a few tables in the sand with some music playing, drinks and food. This is where the reception will be tomorrow and Megan just wants to go over everything and have a little party afterward.

Mr. and Mrs. Carson are the first ones I see when I walk over. “Excited for the wedding?” I ask them.

“Oh yes,” Megan’s dad says. “You two were always so close that we thought you’d marry each other.”

Her mom slaps her dad. “Frank!” she says. “Don’t say that.”

“What?” he asks, with his palms out. “You thought that too.”

Her mother looks at me and smiles. “He’s kidding dear.”

Mr. Carson shakes his head. “No, I’m not.”

“Well,” I say, “we did have over a hundred pretend weddings where we married each other.”

“I thought you two were lesbians for sure,” he says.

“Frank!” Mrs. Carson says, grabbing her husband’s arms and pulling him away. “Leave the poor girl alone.”

“What?” he says with a shrug. “I love lesbians.”

“Frank!”

Cynthia and Julia come over looking as hot as ever. They skipped the dolphin excursion today to work on their tans for the wedding. And they look great.

“New dress?” I ask Julia.

“Of course,” Cynthia says, answering for her.

Julia thrusts her chin in the air. “It was on sale for your information.”

“How much?” Cynthia asks.

“Only four hundred,” Julia says with pride.

“Only?” Cynthia asks.

“It was ten dollars off,” Julia answers.

“What a deal,” I say, nodding.

She looks at me and smiles. “Thanks.”

My sarcasm flew right over her head.

“So what are we supposed to be doing tonight?” I ask, looking around. Lucas, Aaron and two of Lucas’ other friends are by the bar with Stephanie. Megan is talking with the wedding coordinator. She’s moving her hands around like crazy like she always does when she’s really excited.

“We’re supposed to stand beside that bitch Stephanie and smile,” Cynthia says.

“Here comes the bride,” Julia says.

“You girls look gorgeous!” Megan says as she rushes over. She takes a minute to look each one of us up and down, throwing out compliments about our hair, figures, outfits and makeup like a Gatling gun. She looks so happy. I’m so excited for her.

I can see Aaron out of the corner of my eye, watching us. He was friends with Lucas in high school and they became close again when Aaron and I started dating again. I think it was Megan who convinced Lucas to ask him to be a groomsman so that my boyfriend would be in the wedding party. Talk about a backfire.

“I love your hair,” Julia says, touching Megan’s curls.

“Thanks,” she says with a beaming smile.

Aaron is walking over with a beer in one hand and a strawberry daiquiri in the other. Shit.

“I got you this,” he says, handing me the pink slushy drink.

“She’s not thirsty Aaron,” Cynthia snaps.

“Yeah, why don’t you give it to Stephanie?” Megan says, glaring at him.

“Or pour it over your head,” Julia adds.

He looks around the circle of lionesses and gulps. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks me in a tiny whisper.

“Fine,” I say, walking away from the group of snarling women. “What is it?”

He tries to hand me the drink again. “Strawberry daiquiri. Your favorite.”

I cross my arms over my chest, leaving the cold drink melting in his hand. “You’re five days late,” I say coldly. “I asked you for that when we first got here. Remember? You ditched me in line and went to the bar instead.”

“Look, Tanya,” he says, hunching his shoulders. “I fucked up.”

“Big time.”

“Can you give me a second chance?”

I almost laugh until I see that he’s not joking. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” he says, his chin dropping to his chest.

“Why do you want to get back together?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. “Because you see me with Ethan and you’re jealous?”

“No,” he says, sighing heavily. “I love you. I’ve made a mistake.”

I’m not buying it. He only acted interested when Ethan came sniffing around. Before that, he acted like he hated me.

“You know when we started dating you were fun and cool,” I say. “In high school, it was exciting being with a guy in a band. You had so much passion and drive. That was back when you liked me.”

“I still like you,” he says.

“No, you don’t. We were just together over the last year because I was lonely and you needed someone to take care of you. I think we stopped liking each other a long time ago. I don’t know why I kept trying to make it work. It’s so clear now that we are all wrong for each other.”

He looks at me with sad eyes. “You really believe that?”

I nod. “Aaron, you were fun in high school. But you’ve become miserable and depressed. I think you hate yourself because you didn’t make it big as a rock star. And the worst part is that you probably could have if you put some actual effort into it. You’re really talented but your laziness outweighs your talent. I think you’re depressed Aaron and I’m done letting you take it out on me.”

He pulls a little blue box out of his pocket. “But I bought a ring.”

“Oh Aaron,” I say, shaking my head. “Good luck with everything.”

I leave him staring at the ring that he bought in the resort jewelry store. I hope for his sake that they have a good return policy but if I were him I wouldn’t hold my breath.

My three lionesses are watching me as I walk back to them. “That was fun.”

Right on cue, Stephanie walks over. “Hi bestie!” she says.

Megan turns her back to her and grits her teeth.

Stephanie doesn’t take the hint and grabs Megan’s arm. “Come dance with me,” she says, pulling her.

Megan yanks her arm back. “I’m talking to my friends,” she snaps.

“Okay,” Stephanie says, shrugging it off. “I saved you a seat beside me at dinner.”

Megan slides her arm around mine. “Actually,” she says, turning to Stephanie, “I’m going to sit with Tanya at dinner.”

“With Yawn-ya?” she asks, rolling her eyes. “Boooorrrriiinng. I want to talk to you about how I’m doing my hair tomorrow. I’m thinking up.” She grabs two handfuls of her blond hair and holds it up over her head.

“Yeah, whatever,” Megan says, turning away. She’s never been one who could hide her anger and right now it’s coming through loud and clear. Stephanie gives me the stink eye and storms off back to the bar.

We eat dinner and I have a great time sitting beside Megan with Julia and Cynthia on my opposite side. At one point Megan makes me laugh so hard that I almost snort wine out of my nose. It’s like we’re back to how we were before and all of the tension that’s been weighing me down for the past few weeks has been released. I feel so light that I’m almost giddy.

Stephanie keeps eying us angrily from the other table. This isn’t even about Megan anymore. I can tell. She just doesn’t like to lose.

Lucas gives a corny but sweet speech that has Megan beaming and after that, the music starts playing. After talking to the DJ, Megan grabs Julia, Cynthia and me and drags us to the sandy dance floor.

Stephanie jumps up and joins us. “What are we doing?” she asks.

Megan waves her away. “You don’t know the dance. Go sit down.”

She lines us up in front of the two tables and smiles at her husband to be as Stephanie sits back down, sulking.

Cynthia, Julia and I aren’t in on the secret but we can guess what’s about to play over the speakers. In grade seven we did a synchronized dance to Everybody by The Backstreet Boys in the school talent show. I think we’re about to recreate it here. I’m just happy that Ethan isn’t here to see me embarrass myself.

“When I was a teenager I was sure I was going to marry Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys,” Megan says to Lucas. “Well, Brian doesn’t have a thing on my man.” She turns and points to the DJ. “Hit it Mr. DJ.”

He’s talking on the phone, not paying attention.

“Hellooooooo?” she says, waving at him. “Mr. DJ!”

He glances over at us standing awkwardly in front of everyone watching, talks for another ten seconds and then hits the play button.

The music comes on and we all take our places, dancing and moving even more clumsy and awkward than when we were going through puberty. The sand isn’t helping and we all take turns falling on our ass at one or more points in the song. Cynthia wins at four slips and eight falls.

When the song finally finishes the tables are cheering and clapping. Lucas stands on his chair and whistles, never taking his eyes off his sweating and heavily breathing bride.

Stephanie is on her phone ignoring us the whole time.

It was a little too hot to do that in the Caribbean and I’m worried that I’m going to be a little too sweaty for Ethan later. I walk down to the water to get some of that nice ocean breeze to cool me off.

“Shit,” I mutter when I see Stephanie walking over. “When will you just admit that you lost?” she asks, crossing her arms in front of me. “I stole your best friend and your man. Why don’t you just go swim away in the ocean and drown?”

I step up to her with my chin in the air. I’m done taking her shit.

“You did me a favor by sleeping with Aaron,” I say, getting in her face. “It showed me what a shitty piece of shit that he really is. So thank you. As for Megan,” I say, squeezing my hands into fists. “She is my best friend. She has always been my best friend. And she will always be my best friend no matter how many self-centered, stuck up, attention whoring bitches try to wedge their slutty, disgusting bodies between us.”

We’re nose to nose.

Stephanie steps back and she drops her eyes to the sand. She does what any bully does when they’re confronted: she backs off.

“Whatever,” she says, shrugging as she walks away. “She’s getting boring anyway and she’s dorkier than I thought. I mean look at you nerds and that ridiculous choreographed song.”

Megan comes rushing over when she sees us together. “What’s going on over here?”

“Well,” Stephanie says, crossing her arms. “Your friend just threatened me.”

“Oh yeah?” Megan says. She steps up to Stephanie with the same fire that was in her eyes when she first found out about the cheating this afternoon. “Well let me add something to that. If you ever treat my best friend like that again I’ll break your nose.”

She seriously looks like she’s going to hit her. I step forward ready to hold her back.

“And,” Megan continues, “I’m giving you the money back for the honeymoon.”

“Why?” Stephanie asks, looking insulted.

“Because nothing is worth not having Tanya by my side at my wedding. She is my bestie. Not you.”

Stephanie rolls her eyes and turns away. “Whatever.”

But Megan isn’t done. “You slept with her boyfriend and you’ve been shitty to her all week.”

Stephanie points at me. “She started it.”

“If you weren’t my fiancee’s sister than I would have you kicked off the resort,” she says, walking back to me and grabbing my arm. “She’s going to be my maid of honor. It should have been her from the start.”

I squeeze her arm, feeling so happy at finally hearing those words.

Stephanie stares at us with cold, hard eyes. “It’s better this way anyway. No one wants a maid of honor who is prettier than them.”

Megan’s jaw tightens. “That just got you downgraded to the last row.”

“What?” Stephanie asks.

Megan smiles at her. “You’re out of the wedding party.”

Stephanie cocks her head back and her eyes widen. “I’m the sister of the groom!” she says, sounding outraged.

Megan smirks. “The sister of the groom who listens to whatever I say and is madly in love with me? That groom?”

For the first time ever Stephanie is at a loss for words.

“You’re out,” Megan snaps.

“Hey Megan,” I say, turning to her. “Isn’t this dinner exclusively for the wedding party?”

Megan’s eyes are locked on her soon to be sister-in-law. “That’s right, Tanya, it is. Thank you for stopping by Stephanie but you’re no longer welcome here.”

Stephanie bares her teeth and thrusts her chin into the air. “You bitches,” she hisses. “You’ll both regret this.”

She storms off the beach, kicking up sand as she goes. She grabs Aaron’s shirt and pulls him with her. “Come with me,” she barks at him. “We’re leaving. By choice.”

Aaron follows her out like a sad little puppy.

Megan is smiling and looking proud. I start to sing to her from one of our favorite movies and she joins in, alternating verses:

I smile at her and let all of the hurt and anger wash away like the morning tide. “BFFFs?” I ask.

She nods. “Best Fucking Friends Forever!”

“Let’s go party,” I say, hooking my arm around hers and pulling her back to the dance floor. “It’s your last night single!”

N’Sync comes on over the speakers and we squeal like teenagers as we meet up with Cynthia and Julia to get our dance on.

* * *

Megan and the girls go to bed early to get their beauty sleep for the wedding tomorrow and I head to the cocktail lounge where Ethan said he would be.

He’s sitting at the bar, looking hot as he nurses a drink by himself. I stand back and watch him for a minute in his green shorts and white shirt that hugs his muscles. A flip-flop is hanging off his foot between his toes.

He smiles wide when he sees me. “I’ve been waiting for you all night.”

His voice still gives me the warm and fuzzies inside.

“I got here as fast as I could,” I say, sitting on the empty barstool beside him.

“It’s okay,” he says, grinning at me. “I would have waited forever.”

The bar is almost empty and the band seems to be packing their instruments away. I don’t feel like going to bed right now but I think the bar is closing. “What do we do now?”

“The night is still young,” he says, reaching over the bar when the bartender isn’t looking. He grabs a bottle of wine and two glasses from behind the bar. “Let’s go sit on the beach.”

We walk through the resort in silence, nodding at the other couples we pass. He slips his hand in mine and I get goosebumps as I take it. I really don’t want this week to end.

We find a quiet place in the sand near the dark ocean and sit. The muted music from one of the bars back on the resort mixes with the sound of the warm breeze and the lazy waves. Ethan fills the two glasses with wine and hands me one. “Cheers.”

I sit back and relax, looking up at the bright stars and enjoying the crappy wine and Ethan’s calming presence. “So many stars,” I say.

Ethan looks up and I sneak a peek at his jawline. “Which one is your favorite?” he asks.

They all look the same to me. “I wasn’t aware that they were different enough to have a favorite.”

“Are you kidding?” he asks with excitement on his handsome face. “Each one is another world.”

I didn’t know that he was into astronomy. I picture him as a little boy looking into a huge telescope and smile. There’s still a lot of stuff to discover about each other and it makes me sad that we won’t have the time to learn any of it. Tomorrow is our last full day.

“Which one is your favorite?” I ask.

“Uh, that one,” he says, pointing up.

“You just pointed at random didn’t you?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Busted.”

Still, I look at the star and memorize its location. I’ll think of him every time I see it.

I inch over towards him and rest my head on his shoulder.

I want to ask what’s going to happen next. What’s going to happen after the trip? Will there even be an after? Will we ever see each other again?

I take a deep breath and decide to just enjoy the moment. I have to stop living in the future and just enjoy the present for once.

I have to enjoy the moment.

Because I don’t know if we’ll get another.