It didn’t happen like she had seen in countless movies where the lead actress looks across a crowded room to find a handsome mysterious man with eyes trained on her. No, Allison should be so lucky. She was the plain, shy best girlfriend of the bride who was so shy she refused to be the maid of honor.
Allison had told Becky she’d regret not standing in but it would be best to spare her the embarrassment of having to pick her off the floor after having fainted. It was sure to happen, Allison assured her. They enjoyed a good laugh. Allison was always good for a laugh.
So, Allison sat there on the steps, alone, outside the reception hall drinking her glass of wine that she swore was her last, two glasses before, when he appeared. Granted, Charlie wasn’t alone and he didn’t leave the reception willingly but he was charming and polite to the burly man shoving him out the door.
He skittered down the first few steps before falling on his bum two steps above where Allison was sitting. Charlie was drunk but not wasted enough to not notice the beautiful woman, a red head in the pale blue gown.
The awkward silence was swallowed up by the cool night speckled with brilliant stars, at least that’s where Allison’s mind rushed to. She could feel his eyes on her. Any moment he would speak to her and she would have to say something.
“Hello there,” Charlie called out to her. She could hear him smiling.
Allison finished her last bit of bravery and nervously looked over her shoulder and smiled, “Hello.”
“I’m not drunk. The groom,” Charlie pointed over his shoulder, “he doesn’t like me.”
“Oh?” Allison pivoted to the left to get a better look at Charlie. She was shy, not rude.
He was the Best Man, Jerry’s childhood friend. Charlie was the one with the great smile and thick hair she wanted to rake her fingers through, something she would never admit to another soul. The very thought made her blush.
“I thought you were his best friend?”
Charlie chuckled and scratched the nape of his neck, “Yeah, I was until he realized his new bride thought I was funnier.”
Allison laughed half heartedly merely to make him feel better.
“I’m funnier when I’m drunk,” Charlie confessed in a big sigh.
“I’m braver.”
What a great way to introduce a character: showing him being thrown out of a wedding! This was a lot of fun to read — I would like to keep reading about these characters.
I took an instant liking to both these two characters. They both seem so lost and at the same time, charming. What happens next??