Chapter Text
The whole thing had been something of a comedy of errors. Sure to be funny later, not fun at the time. The day had started by Keira being late to pick up Narla, just a little, just enough to make clear she was still narked at being uninvited to the wedding. She’d been unapologetic and unhelpful and Lucy had had to bite her lip to prevent herself from rising to it. They were doing alright, all things considered, and she didn't need to piss Keira off right before Christmas break and screw things up for the team again.
The trip to the airport had then been a mad dash, only for the flight to be delayed by two hours when she got there. When she got on the plane she put her headphones on and hoped to zone out til she arrived. She mostly succeeds until they hit turbulence and she ends up with her lunch all over her top. Great.
When she finally arrives she's stressed, tired and smells like tomato and basil sauce. She zips her jacket over the top to hide the stains but it does nothing for the smell. She's not brought much with her, her mum's bringing everything she needs for the wedding, and she doesn't have any spares.
***
“You're late,” her best friend looks even more stressed than she feels.
They aren't friends that hug, having been through their awkward teenage years together, and she had been especially awkward and uncomfortable in her own skin. But the years since had softened that and the last few months in Spain had shifted her perception of normal physical contact. So she pulls her into a hug. “I know, sorry. Flight was delayed. What can I do to help?”
Lucy Staniforth melts into her hug, just for a moment. It's unexpected and breaks through her haze of stress. “I'm so glad you're here.”
It's sweet for a second, then Jordan jumps on the pair of them. “Fucking finally Bronzey, she's been losing her mind waiting for you. God you stink.”
“Don't start, plane was a nightmare. Have you got a top I can borrow?”
Jordan does have a top, too small and not to Lucy's taste, a sparkly and low cut blouse that had been a Christmas present from Jordan's mum, who had guilted her into bringing it to the wedding. Lucy hates it, but it'll have to do.
The next few hours are a blur of being organised into tasks that she's not really sure need doing, but if it helps her friend settle then she's up for it. Guests start arriving in the early evening for an informal meal in the courtyard, the venue is out of the way enough that most were staying the night before. She's tasked with greeting and directing the arrivals, which at least is better than fussing with flowers and chair covers.
What seems like half the Manchester United team pours out of a tiny Fiat 500, all girls that Lucy knows to varying degrees.
“Jesus Christ Bronzey, you trying to take someone's eye out with those?” Tooney gestures at Lucy's chest, which is spilling out of Jordan's top.
“Fuck off,” Lucy says as she hastily pulls it up.
“What? You look hot.” Tooney pulls her into a hug, followed by Alessia and Millie. She doesn't know either of the Spanish girls well, Lucia or Ona, but being Spanish they both exchange hugs too.
She has an arm wrapped around Ona when Ella says, “Wait, you're single now, we can hook you up with someone.”
She stiffens, just for a second, before she lets it wash over her. “You volunteering?”
“I'd be first in line if you had a cock Luce.”
“I definitely have a couple of those. Still don't think I'm your type though.”
It's at this point that she realises that she still has an arm wrapped around Ona, and that somehow she has pulled the poor girl's face into her chest. “Shit, sorry.” She steps back quickly, catching a waft of her perfume as she does. The girl smells absolutely delicious. Jesus, she needs to get laid.
“Don't be, I was enjoying the view.”
She doesn't know whether to rise to it and flirt back or whether it would be better if the earth just opened up and swallowed her whole. She can feel the blush everywhere. The United girls are falling about with laughter.
Fortunately Stan’s grandparents chose that moment to turn up and she's able to usher them into the hotel without any further embarrassment.
The rest of the guests turn up without incident, although she does get comments from Mary about the ridiculous blouse. The meal goes off without a hitch as well, which is good as Stan is stressed as hell again.
She offers to be helpful, although really everything that could be done has been done. She's tasked with babysitting the United girls, as if a group of adult women can't be trusted to have a few quiet drinks in a bar. Having said that this group does contain Tooney and Mary.
They're in the lobby already when she gets there and she's met with shouts of “Bronzey,” and one of, “nice tits,” from Tooney. She rolls her eyes and sits herself down next to Mary.
“Right, so who are we setting you up with?” asks Millie, and Lucy can see how the evening is going to go.
“I'm going to be a bit busy being a bridesmaid for that, have you seen how stressed Stan is?”
“Nah, once she's said the ‘I Do’s’ she'll be a pussycat. Besides, it's a wedding, everyone wants to shag a bridesmaid,” says Mary.
“What about Jordan, she's single too,” asks Alessia and Lucy can't help the, “Christ, no,” which slips out in response. Bloody Jordan, she would rather be single forever.
“What about Ona,” asks Tooney.
“The smoking hot Spanish girl? How about someone I could actually pull?”
She sees it happen in slow motion, Tooney's face splitting into a grin, her eyes lifting to look beyond Lucy. Alessia falling into Tooney laughing, Millie bringing her hands to.cover her mouth as she dissolved into giggles. Mary, next to Lucy, spinning around and then slapping her on the shoulder. And then Ona appears, slipping into the space on the other side of her.
“Hi Lucy, I don't smoke.”
The rush of heat to her face is instant. She closes her eyes briefly, but no, they're all still there when she opens them.
“No, no. She means you make her…” Lucy claps her hand over Mary's mouth, fairly sure she knew the filth that was about to come out of it.
She glares at Mary, and then at Tooney, neither of whom are intimidated in the slightest. “Alright, alright, enough. I need a drink.” And then because she has no sense of self preservation whatsoever she turns to Ona, “Can I get you something?”
The smile she gets in return is dazzling, entirely worth the round of giggles it sets off. Ona follows her to the bar, leaning against it with one elbow propped up. She's a mesmerising mix of hard lines and soft edges, the sharp cut of her shirt softened by cascading waves of hair, the long line of her jaw fading into the gentle swell of her lips, the warm orange glow from the lamps on the bar making her lip gloss shimmer. Lucy fingers itch to touch so she clasps them behind her back like she would for a set piece, keeping them out of danger.
She's offered a distraction by the bartender taking their order. She orders a glass of red to try soften her own edges which feels very sharp all of a sudden. Ona gets the same.
“So… what was Mary about to say?”
Lucy chokes on the wine. “Uh.. well, you know… you're…”
“Smoking hot no?” Her voice is full of amusement.
“Well… wait, you know what that means?”
Ona nods in response, “You're cute when you're flustered.”
Lucy can't remember the last time she was called cute. It's strangely warming. “You're a nightmare, a cute nightmare.”
“No, I'm hot, you said so already.”
“Yeah I guess I did.” She lets her eyes wander, obviously and appreciatively, lingering where the sharp meets the soft, where she'd longed to touch earlier.
“Oi Bronzey, she wants you upstairs.”
Lucy looked up to see Stan’s brother calling her from across the room. She waves at him to signal that she's got the message, then turns to Ona with a wistful smile. “Guess I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure, see you tomorrow Lucy,” Ona purses her lips for a moment, then continues, “For the record, you could pull me, if you wanted to.” Then she leans in and presses a soft kiss into the corner of Lucy's mouth before walking off to join her teammates.
Lucy just watches her go, frozen in the sensation of soft lips pressed against her own. Ona doesn't glance back but Lucy can feel the smirk on her face in the way she walks.
***
She's still grinning like a lunatic when she makes it to Stan’s room, the rest of the bridesmaids already there and draped over every soft surface in the room. Normally she'd push her way into the midst of them, maybe kick Jordan to the bottom of the bed. Instead she just leans against the wall, her fingers tracing where Ona's lips had been.
“Right movie time,” Stan has the remote in hand. “Why are you standing there? Come sit down,” she shoves Jordan to make room, and Jordan, being used to it by now, slides to the bottom of the bed without comment. Lucy slots into the gap but is still distracted.
“What the fuck is the matter with you, why are you being weird?” Stan's patience for the day had evaporated before Lucy even arrived.
Lucy catches herself and forces her hands away from her mouth. “I’m good, just tired, put the film on.”
Stan looks at her for a second, then leans in closer for a good look. “Is that…? Oh my god it is? She's got lipgloss on her mouth?” And suddenly all four of them are in her face.
Once they've all had a good look, and Jordan has given her face a prod for good measure, they agree that yes there was definitely lip gloss on her mouth.
“So, who’ve you been snogging?” asked Jordan.
“I haven't been snogging anyone!”
“You were meant to be watching the United girls” Stan actually sounds a little outraged.
“I was watching the United girls.”
“Wait, was it one of the United girls?”
She tries to deny it, she really does, but she can still feel Ona's lips on her own and even as she says, “No,” she knows that her face is giving her away.
“It was! Who was it?”
Lucy just shakes her head.
“Stan, ask on the group chat.”
Lucy lunges for Stan's phone but Jordan gets in the middle, and then she finds herself pinned down by the three bridesmaids. She could probably shake them off, but not without doing some damage. “Come on, seriously.”
Stan just grins at her, “Sent.”
“Fuck my life. It wasn't even a bloody snog, she kissed my cheek goodnight.”
“Who?” Even as she asks, Stan's phone buzzes in her hand, and Lucy knows she's done for.
“Ona.”
Jordan whistles, which yeah, that was Lucy’s thoughts too. Stan just grins. “Well good for her. She's had a crush on you forever, used to get all giddy whenever your name was mentioned.”
“Wait what, really?”
“Yeah. Don't act so surprised Luce, you're hot stuff or something since you moved to Barcelona. Half of them have got a crush on you.”
“Don't be ridiculous.”
Stan and Jordan share a look, Lucy just rolls her eyes at the pair of them and grabs the remote to start the film.
They didn't even make it two minutes in before Stan whacked her round the head. “Lucy, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Ouch! What was that for?”
Stan had her phone in her hand and read from the screen, “It's definitely Ona. Bronzey called her smoking hot and dragged her off to a dark corner.”
“Way to go Luce,” called Jordan .
“Nope. Look here,’Ona’s still coming down from having her face in Bronzey's tits.’”
“You did what now?”
“Then look, ‘Don’t forget bragging about how many cocks she's got. Whilst Ona's face was in her tits’”
Lucy buried her face in her hands. “That wasn't my fault. Fucking Tooney was shit stirring.”
“Lucy! There's no way you can blame this on Tooney.”
“Oh god, Ona's hearted that.” Lucy leaned over to look at Stan’s phone. “Wait, she says she's never coming down from that. Luce, you might actually have pulled this off.”
“She said I could pull her, if I wanted to,” said Lucy quietly.
“Wow, she's really shooting her shot. Do you want to?”
The first thought is yes, she wants to get laid. The second thought is that Ona is funny, pretty and interested. The third thought is Stan is going to tease her forever if she picks someone up at her wedding. Still…worth it. “Yeah I think I do.”
“Right, well I guess we'll have to find Jordan somewhere else to sleep. I think the accessible room is still free, my great aunt cancelled last week.”
“Why do I have to sleep in the accessible room?” grumbled Jordan.
“Cos Lucy's getting laid for the first time since her breakup.”
The hum of disagreement comes out before she can stop it.
“What was that? Hang on, have you been sleeping with people and not telling me? That's not allowed, I'm your best friend.”
“Not everything needs to be shared.”
“Betrayal! And on the eve of her wedding too!” Jordan gasps and falls backwards against Lucy, miming a dagger stabbing her through the heart. Lucy gives her a hard shove off the bed.
Stan looks at her through narrowed eyes. “Come on, out with it, so I can decide if you're forgiven or not.”
Lucy shifts uncomfortably, this was not something that she'd intended on sharing.
“Oh no, what did you do?”
It was still a little raw, the memory of waking up the next morning to a heavy hangover and a ton of regrets. She tries to sound blasé but her voice comes out a little more vulnerable than she'd like. “You lot are the worst. I slept with someone in a club in Barcelona.”
“Sounds normal, why are you being awkward about it?” Lucy just looked at Stan, willing her to join the dots. “In the club? Please tell me you're joking?”
“It was really stupid. Kept waiting for it to show up on social media afterwards.” Something of the terror she'd felt every time she'd refreshed her feed seeps through.
“Oh Luce.” Sympathetic, but only for a second, “Was the sex good at least?”
“I fucked a stranger in a toilet, what do you think?”
“Alright, you're forgiven. You're also banned from the toilets tomorrow.”
“Fuck off.”
***
It's late when they finally leave Stan's room, late enough that the hotel feels asleep, enough to make them walk through the hallways in silence.
When they get into their room Jordan starts grumbling again. “I can't believe I'm getting kicked out so you can get laid. I'm sleeping here tonight though, so you can tell your pretty girl she can't come over.”
“It's 2am, she'll be sleeping. And she's not my pretty girl.”
Jordan gives her a long look as they get ready for bed. “Lucy, don't get in your head about it, you deserve to have some fun.”
After a pause Lucy accepts it.”Thanks. You too though. You deserve some happiness.”
Jordan flushes red for a moment. “I've…well, I've been seeing someone, actually. It's new, but it's good."
“After all the grief you lot gave me this evening, you've got a secret girlfriend? Happy for you mate, but really?”
Jordan laughs, “You brought that on yourself Luce.”
“Yeah I guess I kinda did. Today's been a disaster. Good, but still a disaster.” But perhaps those were the best sort of days.