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Chapter Thirty Five

It was the longest minute of my life. I stood in the hallway listening to the phone ring. Once, twice, three times, four…finally the phone rolled over to the answering machine.

“Jane? Are you there? It’s Liv. Pick up.” I said, trying not to sound like I was in absolute panic. I hung up and waited a full minute. Then I dialed again. Once again I was directed to the answering machine.

I didn’t bother to leave a message the second time. Even though I felt crummy doing it, I called Nick’s cell phone. He answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Nick, I tried to call Jane and she’s not picking up the phone,” I said in one long breath. I gasped.

“That’s because she isn’t at the house.”

“What? But you told her that she wasn’t to leave the house with Brooke!”

“She didn’t. We got into a tiny little argument and I told her to get the hell out.”

“A fight about what?”

“It would be easier to list what we didn’t fight about.”

I sighed. “Well, where’s Brooke?”

“With me.”

“You took her along on your bachelor party?” I said in surprise. Nick laughed.

“Yeah. It’s kind of like The Hangover. I mean not really, but…”

“Nick, that’s not fair to you.”

“It’s fine. I called your mom. Her and Mike went to the movies and she’s swinging by Hooters and picking Brooklyn up before we continue the evening.”

I sighed in relief. “Oh good.” I paused. “Wait. You have Brooklyn at Hooters?”

Nick was absolutely quietly. When he finally replied, he sounded like a little boy that had gotten caught throwing a baseball through a window. “Yes?”

I laughed. “Well, thank you for taking her. And have fun.”

“I will. Hey I saw your tweet about butterbeer. Where are you?”

“Universal Studios. Harry Potter World”

It was Nick’s turn to laugh. “Have fun. Don’t cast too many spells.”

“I don’t have a wand,” I replied teasingly.

“I have one you can play with when we get home,” Nick said. I heard some noise in the background and a scuffle over the phone.

“Hi Liv. I’m cutting Nick off before he asks you what color panties you’re wearing.”

I laughed. “Thanks Bri. Take care of him.”

“You have nothing to worry about. Frick and Frack are hitting the town.”

“I think that’s something to worry about.”

Brian gave a maniacal laugh.

“Good niggggght,” he sang.

The phone went dead.

Pocketing my phone, I headed back to the table.

“Everything okay?” Angel asked.

“Yeah. Nick has Brooklyn. He got in a fight with your mom.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Nick’s a hot head and Jane knows how to press his buttons.”

“Didn’t Nick go with the guys?” Leighanne asked. I nodded.

“They’re at Hooters.”

“That so doesn’t surprise me,” Rochelle said with a grin.

Leighanne looked at her watch. “Okay, enough boy talk. We’re going to talk a little nighttime stroll and then go get pedi’s.”

We all thanked Tony and headed back out into the night. The amount of detail that the designers had put into the park rendered me speechless. I gazed around like an excited ten year old. At any moment I was waiting for Harry frickin’ Potter to jump out from around the corner. From the corner of my eye I saw a flash go off. Leighanne was snapping pictures like she was a paparazzo.

“You’re practically drooling,” she said with a laugh. I shook my head.

“I can’t help it. This is cool.”

We all stopped in front of Ollivander’s. The shop was closed up tight for the night but they had wands on display in the front window.

“That is one long wand,” Leigh said, tapping the glass with a perfectly manicured nail.

“I’ve seen bigger,” Rochelle said. I automatically thoguht of Nick's comment on the phone. She glanced at me and we grinned at the same time. Great, but dirty minds, think alike.

“Before this conversation goes farther, remember that you have Nick’s sisters in the group,” Angel said lightly. I looked at her and laughed. She wrinkled her nose.

Our next stop was Honeydukes. The shop was open and they had prepared a spread of goodies to eat. My sweet tooth was in heaven.

“Now before you get to taste these goodies, we’re going to play a game,” Leighanne announced. She sat down awkwardly in a chair, her hand resting on her belly. She pointed at the other chair. “Sit.”

I did as I was told. My eyes flicked over to the tray.

“We’re going to play a version of the Newlywed Game,” Leighanne said, pulling a piece of paper out of her bag. “I interviewed Nick personally with his answers. If your answers match, you get one of these yummy desserts.”

“What if I answer wrong?”

“You have to eat the booger or dirt flavor of those jellybeans.” She pointed at a jar in the far corner of the tray.

“Bertie Botts?” I said making a face.

“I guess so. I haven’t read the books,” Leighanne said apologetically. “The shop girl assured me that they are really gross though. So don’t miss too many.”

I shifted in my seat. When the jellybeans had first come out at the bookstores I had bought a bag. My mom thought that I had hid JellyBellys from her and reached into the bag and grabbed one when she was cleaning my room. She had gotten an earthworm flavor and puked for a good ten minutes.

“So question one,” Leighanne said. “Which comic book character does Nick say he most resembles?”

I smiled and relaxed.

“Spiderman.”

“Correct!”

I plucked a chocolate frog from the tray and bit off his head. The milk chocolate danced on my tongue. Leighanne passed the paper to Angel.

“Question two. If Nick had to be single again, temporarily, how long do you think he would last? 1 minute, 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year?”

I paused. It was a tossup between 1 minute and 1 day. I took another bite of chocolate frog.

“Do we need a timer?” Rochelle said. I swallowed and stuck out my tongue.

“Okay, okay. 1 minute?”

Angel smiled. “Correct.”

I picked up a sugar quill and nibbled on the top. Angel passed the paper to Leigh. She read the question and smiled.

“How do you think Nick described how you look in a bikini using one of these titles – June is busting out all over, body and soul, or the most beautiful girl in the world.”

I laughed. I had this one hands down. “June is busting out all over.”

Leigh made a loud buzzer sound. My eyes widened in surprise.

“What? Really? What was the answer?”

“He said the answer was that you were the most beautiful girl in the world.”

I felt tears spring foolishly to my eyes. A loud collaborative ‘aww’ filled the room.

“That’s a bean,” Leighanne said. She couldn’t be distracted.

Taking another bite of the sugary quill in hopes that I could block the taste, I picked up a bean. It was a disgusting shade of green.

“And you’ve got to chew it,” Leighanne added.

Closing my eyes I stuck the bean in my mouth and chewed. Disgusting was putting it mildly. I swallowed hard and blanched. Leigh passed the paper to BJ.

“According to Nick, what movie star is he most like? Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, or Johnny Depp?”

I didn’t want to screw up again. I scrunched up my face in concentration. It was a toss-up between Brad Pitt and Johnny…

“Johnny Depp?” I said hopefully. BJ smiled. “Yup!”

She passed the paper to Rochelle. I grabbed a little bite of crystallized pineapple.

“Okay. If Nick came home from the studio for lunch, what do you think he would most like to have?”

“Extra cheese pizza,” I said automatically. Rochelle’s grin widened. I smiled and began to reach for the tray.

“Hey, not so fast. You’re wrong.”

“I’m wrong?”

“If Nick came home from the studio for lunch, he said he would most like to have you.”

I think I turned four shades of red.

“That blush isn’t going to get you off the hook. Grab that bean.”

A little chant of ‘bean, bean, bean!’ echoed around the room. I picked a murky brown bean and chomped it. The gritty flavor of dirt filled my mouth.

“Oh that’s disgusting,” I gasped, covering my mouth to resist the urge to spit it out. Rochelle passed the paper to Leslie.

“Okay, last question. How many children does Nick want to have?”

“I don’t know that he can have any children,” I said. "I don't think he has the hips for it." Leslie rolled her eyes.

“You know what we mean.”

I cracked my knuckles. This was the difference between getting another piece of candy or having to eat another bean. I really didn’t want to eat another bean.

“Three?” I said hopefully. Leslie glanced at the paper. The look on her face made my heart plummet. Reluctantly I reached over and grabbed a bean.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “You’re right!”

“Oh thank god,” I said. I picked out some fizzing whizzbees.

“Four out of six,” Leighanne said. “Not bad. You ready for our pedicures?”

I smiled. “Absolutely. I need some cute beach feet.”

We walked out into the night and strolled through Hogsmeade until we got to Dervish and Bangs. Leighanne lead the way.

Seven chairs were set up in a circle in the middle of the store and seven girls stood at the ready. We each took a seat.

“Now, because we were traveling, we decided to get gifts that were easy to carry. Which brings us to our next game.”

Leighanne opened her purse again. I swear she was like Mary Poppins with that thing. It didn’t seem to have a bottom. She pulled out six identically wrapped packages and handed them to me.

“We decided to add to your panty collection,” Rochelle said. “You’ve got to guess by looking at the pair who gave it to you.”

I laughed. “Do I have to eat any beans if I get it wrong?”

Angel grinned. “Not this time.”

I ripped open each package one at a time. The first pair that I unwrapped was a pretty lace number. It was sweet and sexy at the same time.

“Leighanne?” I guessed. She smiled and nodded.

I wasn’t sure that the second pair I unwrapped was even underwear. It looked like a confusing jumble of leather strings with just a thin strip of black cloth. I had no doubt who had gotten me this pair.

“Rochelle.” I said.

“How’d you guess?”

“Because, you’re the only one that could wear something like this. How the hell do you put these on?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks, trust me.”

I’d take her word for it.

The only other pair that I identified corrected was the one Leigh had bought. It was a little red number that screamed 'caliente!'

The panties from the Carter sisters were all pretty tame. I had a feeling that the thought of me wearing underwear they had bought for any sexual purpose regarding their brother was kinda gross. We all had a good laugh about it.

“So, Liv,” Angel said as we all settled into a pampered relaxation. “Are you nervous about the wedding?”

I smiled. “You know, it’s weird. I was petrified for my first wedding. But I don’t have any jitters. I feel like I’ve waited all my life to marry Nick.”

“I never thought he’d walk down the aisle,” Leslie said. “The word commitment always had him running.”

“Yeah, but he’s never looked at anyone like he’s looked at you,” Angel pointed out.

“The man’s whipped,” Rochelle said, making a whipping motion. “Ka-swish!”

“Of course, I never pictured him as a dad either,” BJ said. I smiled.

“He was born to be a dad. He’s a natural.”

“That’s because he still acts like he’s five,” Leighanne said. “Like Brian.”

We spent the rest of the night gabbing about our boys. By the time we left Dervish and Bangs, my toes were a beautiful shade of turquoise and I felt completely relaxed. My bachelorette party had been fun, clean, and drama-free.

I just hoped Nick’s night had gone as well as mine.