Friday Fiction - The Ring Toss Pt. 7

A last-minute change lands Mack in a long white dress, but can she commit?

This week's installment gets a little hot, but it'll be hotter if you read the other bits first. Check out Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 -  Part 5 - Part 6 to catch up. 

Mack's been cast to play a bridesmaid in an equity-waiver production of "Something Borrowed, Something Blue", but at the last minute she's upgraded to the role of Brittney, The Bride. It's a tough gig for a woman with a wedding phobia, especially since her boyfriend Joe's not around to talk her off the ledge. In the last snippet, Mack had a little I-miss-Joe moment, gearing up for some bump & grind with Salvatore the Stripper...

The Play – Something Borrowed, Something Blue: A Bachelorette’s Adventure

Director: Dusty Squires

Assistant to the Director: Donald Loudemilk

Cast:

Brittney (the bride): Mackenzie Reed

Mara (the maid of honor): Geneva Louise

Kenley (the bride’s sister): Dusty Squires

Caitlyn (the bridesmaid): Cheyenne Miller

Salvatore (the stripper): Julio Lorenze

Pete (the groom): Julio Lorenze

From the light board, Donald flipped a switch, lowering the disco ball and starting the pulsing techno beat. The stage was done up like the private party room of a nightclub, with black walls, a fat couch, and several low ottomans scattered around. One section of the back wall had a large frame that held sheer, black fabric with flashing lights behind it. That was the window that looked onto the dance floor. Mara and Caitlyn were sitting side by side on the couch while Kenley and I were posed on either side of the window.

“Woot! We are ready to par-tay!” Mara bounced up off the couch and started to dance.

Caitlyn raised her glass in my direction. “Hey Brittney, you took your veil off.”

“Not okay, Britt. Where is it?” Mara scolded me.

I picked up the oversized clump of white tulle threaded with little flashing white lights from where I'd stuck it on the floor between two of the ottomans, and made a show of putting it back on my head.

“It sucks to be the bride, don’t it?” Kenley laughed as she spoke.

“Yeah… No. It’s cool. Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to take it off. It’s just hot in here.” It was easy to put energy behind that idea, with sweat washing the heavy make-up off my face and running between my breasts. I kept dancing until Mara and Kenley threw significant glances at each other.

Mara came over and put her arm around me. “You’ll be fine, you know.”

“What? The music’s too loud.” I pulled away from her and reached for my drink.

Mara shook her head. “Our buddy Salvatore will be here any minute. He’ll take your mind off your nerves.”

The lights overhead started to strobe, which made Kenley’s reach for my arm look like more of a jerk. She swung me back and forth until we were both doing a weird robotic dance under the flashing lights. 

“Got a meetin’ in the ladies’ room…” Mara sang along with the music.

I had to laugh. “I swear you know the words to every song, Mara.”

 “…think you better watch your man…”

Thankfully the strobe lights stopped, which was our cue Salvatore had walked onstage. When we turned in his direction, he whipped off his black leather trench coat and threw it over the back of the couch. Mara approached him to shake his hand, passing him a small white envelope. He kissed her cheek.

“I’m so glad this worked into your schedule,” she said. “Come meet Brittney.”

Salvatore flipped his long blond hair over his shoulders and gave her a hundred-watt smile. 

“Ta, luv. Happy to be here. Let’s go see the bridey.” They came over to where the rest of us were dancing. “She’s a flasher, ain’t she? Hey, bridey!”

He pulled me close and kissed me on the cheek, a move that definitely wasn't in the script. I stood there, shocked, while he started to rock to the beat. The other girls crowded around us. With a grin, he grabbed Kenley and started rubbing his belly against her. For just a second, I saw Dusty freaking out behind Kenley’s mascara, but then his head came up and he started rubbing back. Salvatore unbuttoned the top of his shirt, his diamond-blue eyes laughing in a way the script hadn’t called for. He'd clearly been holding back in our previous rehearsals.

The girls made a half-circle around Salvatore. When he got his shirt open, he grabbed Caitlyn’s hands. She screamed, sounding a little hysterical as they danced together.

“Oh my God, he’s so handsome.” I was laughing so hard I could barely get the words out. 

Beside me, Mara giggled.

“I knew he’d be your type.”

I hopped up onto one of the ottomans for a little dance fever of my own. The other girls fanned out on either side of me like I was JLo or Madonna onstage with a troop of dancing girls. Salvatore moved into the open space in front of us and started to really go to work. White leather straps crossed his bare chest and slipped down under his jeans. I knew from the tech rehearsal that once the chaps came off, the jeans would come off too, and those leather straps would be the only things holding up a certain white silk bag.

The music shifted to a slower song and, holding his arms above his head, he swung his hips and danced closer to the girls. The sheen of sweat on his chest picked up the colored lights overhead, accenting the hard swell of his pectorals and the curve of his biceps. Gazing out into the room, I smiled because some of our audience members were dancing in the aisles along with us.

“Okay Mara, it’s your turn.” Kenley pushed Mara toward Salvatore.

Mara started a surprisingly risqué dance which Salvatore picked right up on. He planted one leg between her knees and they rocked in time, working lower and lower till she was more-or-less riding his thigh. The rest of us shrieked and hollered and egged them on. At one point Salvatore reached up and brushed his fingertips down my thigh, starting with the bare skin right under the hem of my very-short skirt. The bold suggestion in his gesture lit up the nerve that started in my head and traveled down south of my navel. Things had gotten way out of control. I was glad when the song changed to something a lot faster.

“Now where’s the flashin’ bridey? Ah, there ya are. C’mere and give me a dance.” He reached up for my hand.

“Oh. I don’t think…”

“Get down from there, little sister.” Kenley grabbed my other hand and yanked me off the ottoman.

I followed Salvatore toward the far end of the stage. He started to strip just for me, slowly unbuckling his chaps and throwing them toward the other girls. They screamed and scattered. The song changed again and the beat increased. Salvatore started to move more aggressively.

I pretended to hesitate, watching his hips before moving in synch with him. Salvatore unbuttoned his jeans, deliberately teasing me with each gesture. 

I was onstage and people were watching. Caitlyn and Mara were holding onto each other and squealing, and behind them Kenley was shaking her head as she moved to the beat. Julio was an actor and the action wasn't real, but when that last button popped free, the bottom dropped out of my belly. I'm only human and this guy was a pro.

The script said I was supposed to flirt with him, so I tried. “Hey, handsome. That’s some…um…nice…”

“You’re awful pretty yourself, bridey.” His eyes sparkled and his grin told me he was picking up exactly what I was putting down.

Caitlyn shrieked behind me. “She’s totally grinding him.”

“It’s okay. He’s still got his jeans on.” Mara, acting as the voice of reason.

Salvatore pushed his jeans down farther and rubbed himself against me. I tried to keep my response within the confines of the script, but it was hard not to show too much enthusiasm. The heavy bass beat slowed and he moved back to step out of his jeans. My eyes widened, even though I knew what was coming next.

“You’re just wearing a little baggie.” My voice dropped even lower than normal.

He laughed. “It's a big baggie, luv.”

“Let’s dance.” I tugged off the veil and threw my arms in the air. He came up behind me, close enough for his “baggie” to press against my butt. We were following the script. Mostly.

“You probably do this with all the brides.” As I spoke, a lock of his blond wig stuck to my cheek where I was sweating a little.

“Only the cute ones.”

“I have a thing for blond men.”

“It’s your lucky day, sweets, cuz I have a thing for you.” He pulled me across the stage, farther away from the girls—who were more-or-less dancing with each other.

I dug in my heels as if I was fighting to keep us onstage. “I can’t believe I’m dancing with a naked man.”

“We could stop.”

I shook my head and put a hand on his chest. When Candi had rehearsed the scene, she'd grabbed Salvatore around the waist and just about forced him to kiss her. In real life, she was a single girl between boyfriends. In the back of my mind, a little voice was asking what Joe would think of all of this.

Despite my attempt at restraint, Salvatore still had that wild fire in his eyes, that “oh yeah baby, I'm going to kiss you good” look. I swallowed hard and let him pull me closer, keeping my gaze locked on his. He was hot and buffed and nearly naked. Wow. He leaned in for the kiss.

“No. Oh my God, no.”

I shoved him away and ran offstage.

How can something imaginary cause so much consternation? Mack's got trouble on her hands with this one. Jump HERE to see what happens next...
Thanks so much for reading along!
Liv