CARTER'S DUTY: WILLIAM CARTER
III
Chapter 13 - By Christopher Patrick Lydon
Will should have realized something was wrong when he had pulled
up to the bench where he normally met Andrew, only to find he wasn't waiting
for him. On any other day, Will would have written it off as just Andrew running
late, but not that day, though. That day, Will knew all too well why Andrew
was late.
He waited, watching as the clock on his dashboard counted away
the minutes, slowly creeping closer to an hour. And he watched as the world
seemed set to pass him by, people coming to and fro from the student buildings,
meeting their own loved ones, going on with their lives. And yet there he
sat, the two tickets in his pocket, a futile gesture now.
Again he regretted not buying Andrew a cell phone, at least
then he could call him and find out what was happening. But that wouldn't
change the fact that Will's phone was sitting in its cradle on the dashboard.
Andrew hadn't even bothered to call to let him know he was going to be late,
that alone said something.
Finally giving up, Will gunned the engine and threw the car
into gear as he headed for home. At least there he could be productive. Jeff
would be getting everyone together for the rehearsal dinner a few hours away,
and since there was no point now to dodging it for a hockey game, Will might
as well fulfil his obligations as the best man.
By the time he arrived at home he found that his once peaceful
haven of solitude had been converted into a staging ground for an invasion;
there were cars everywhere, including on his front lawn. And he recognized
Jared's Jeep Grand Cherokee blocking his driveway. It looked set that the
fun of the night was only just about to begin. He quickly found a parking
space, stealing one at the retirement home across the road from his house,
and headed into the midst of the madness.
Jared intercepted him at the door before he had so much as stepped
a foot across his threshold. "Will!" he called grabbing his arm
and dragging him back towards the door. "Come on, we have to get moving."
Will blinked as he set down his brief case, "I just got
home, can't I at least..." he looked longingly towards his couch.
"Oh no," Jared replied as he shook his head, "You're
the one who said you wanted to be a part of this whole wedding thing, and
weddings take more than a day. Jeff's got a list of things that need doing,
and now you're stuck with all of us doing what we do so if I don't get to
relax, neither do you."
"Wonderful." Will wasn't in the best of tempers to
begin with, now he was becoming grumpy.
"Come on, rehearsal's tonight and then there is the bachelor
party; we're all going to dinner at the Keg..."
"And after that?" At least, Will thought, there would
be some fun tonight.
"Nothing else, just dinner," Jared replied.
"Just a dinner?" Will looked confused, "What
the hell's with that?"
"Oh, come off it Will!" Jared rolled his eyes, "You
know what a bachelor party is. It's the night before the wedding; the groom
needs to go out and his buddies throw him this big dinner. All his male relatives
should be there, and us."
"Slow down," Will said shrugging his arm out of Jared's
grip, "you said dinner, Jared. That's a bachelor party? I mean a dinner?
What about the drinking? Aren't there supposed to be strippers and dirty movies?"
He loosened his tie.
"You don't drink, and I know you don't want to watch the
dirty movies. Much less Jeff, and I don't think the rest of us are going to
be into your taste in strippers."
"But that's not a bachelor party. Does Jeff know he's just
having a dinner? If I was getting married, I would expect a party." Will
grabbed his leather bomber jacket as Jared pushed him back out onto the street.
"But you're not the one marrying Lisa, and she specifically
said no bachelor party."
"She requested it?" Will asked, pulling his jacket
on and looking at Jared in confusion. "Since when does the bride get
to decide that?"
He nodded, "Yeah, and I don't think Jeff wants to start
out his married life with Lisa mad at him, so he said okay." Jared shrugged,
"I mean we never went out to drink and see strippers anyway. So what's
the point of doing it now?"
"Never?" Will asked as he leaned on the side of the
Jeep. "What was her name... Bambi... Candi... Sandi...-"
Jared cut Will off quickly, "Yeah, but that was a long
time ago, and it has nothing to do with right now." He opened the passenger
door, "Now get in `cause we have to go pick up Brody at the airport."
"Oh," Will said, as he climbed up into the mammoth
vehicle, immediately wishing they had taken his car.
He knew should have been stressed about Andrew, the doubts and
fears that went along with the day, but he was beginning to cheer up; there
was something about the chaos of a wedding... an energy, Will couldn't help
but be sucked up by it. It gave him a way to avoid dealing with his own problems.
To think, originally he had been dreading the thought of a wedding.
Lisa was one of those people he always assumed would want a high-fashion wedding,
something where everyone wore designer clothes. Naturally he would have starved,
being unable to eat anything he didn't recognize and couldn't readily identify.
Will had real issues with eating things that looked ready to crawl off the
plate and do the tango across the dance floor. When Farah and Rafik had gotten
married it had been like that; Farah had wanted a modern Islamic wedding,
filled with a mix of the traditional and western ideas. It had been uncomfortable,
uptight, and very typically Farah. Rafik had hated it.
But there was the difference between Farah and Lisa. Lisa actually
listened to what her husband-to-be wanted, and Jeff was more about family.
To Jeff, it was more important than being fashionable, and that meant that
the wedding would be a quiet, private event with real, `down-home' food. Jeff
had described the event as `two days of mothers, grandmothers, cousins, aunts
and uncles, other relatives and friends; those who pretended to be, and all
the good food they can cook. Plus there was supposed to be lots of singles
for all the bachelors out there, and you know how accommodating Italian-Canadian
girls could be.
Will had to admit he had no clue.
Well Maria was certainly out to give Andrew a crash course.
At least there were lots of people around, and lots of food.
A winning combination, Will thought.
All of Jeff's family liked to laugh, talk and eat, and Will
could relax into that environment. And as much as the imposition annoyed Will,
he had to admit Jeff's family was nice. Most of them were friendly, especially
Jeff's mother. But they all looked at him with a strange recognition in their
eyes. Will didn't know whether it was from things Jeff had told them about
his upbringing, or if it was just because he was a close friend to Jeff. Or
maybe they recognized something in his mannerisms. Whatever it was, it was
better than being stared at like he was an alien or worse, like he was about
to break.
The only reason Will could surmise they looked at him like that
was because they knew he didn't really have a family of his own. It was like
Jeff was letting him borrow his for a little while, because things like a
wedding just didn't happen in the Major's army. At least not without bloodshed.
And if they did, it was because Will stopped going.
Jared punched Will's arm, "Hey, wake up."
Will rubbed his shoulder, though it didn't hurt; he had been
staring out of the window at the cars and houses streaking by them, too focused
inwards to pay attention to anything else.
"Sorry, was just thinking," he murmured, watching
the big houses slip by as they drove.
"I saw the smoke," Jared replied. "Just kidding,
is something bugging you? Did you break up with Andrew?"
"No," Will replied, "nothing's wrong, I'm fine."
"You always were a lousy liar," Jared responded. "Well,
there's no hurry, right Will? I mean, take your time, eh? You never know what
might happen. You and Andrew will be okay."
Will finally turned to look at his friend; it was a strange
thing to say, like Jared knew something more than he was letting on. For him
not to come right out and say what he meant and be cryptic like that...well
that was strange.
"I heard Brody was coming stag," Jared changed the
topic, noticing Will looking at him strangely. "Not that it's a bad thing..."
"Brody is eternally stag," Will replied. "Is
there such a thing as a male spinster?"
"Will, he's just being choosy. He needs to find just the
right kind of woman. I mean, imagine what his mother would say if he ended
up with the wrong one."
"Couldn't be any worse than what the major said,"
Will retorted.
Jared met Will's look for a second before turning back to the
road ahead of the jeep.
"Is that what's bugging you?" Jared asked, and he
shrugged, "Just because your dad's a narrow-minded asshole..."
"I'm past it, Jared. Really." Will rubbed his temple
absently, "Really."
Jared nodded, "Okay, okay, I'll stop prying." He shrugged
again, "Not that I've made the best choices with who I date..."
"Bambi," Will supplied with a grin.
Jared reached out to smack Will again, but Will pushed his hand
away.
Brody's plane was on time, but there was no sign of the great
man himself. The trend-setting globe-trotter hadn't come through the arrival
gate yet. No doubt tied up in customs explaining various narcotic paraphernalia
he always seemed to have on hand.
Will had just begun to get impatient when his phone rang.
"Hello?"
Someone breathed hard, then Will heard a loud moan.
Will clicked it off. "Sick bastard."
"What?" Jared asked.
Will didn't get a chance to answer before it rang again.
"Yeah?"
"I want you," a deep, male voice said. "I want
you to--."
Will clicked it off again, and Jared was staring at him, confused.
"I don't know," Will said. "Maybe someone got
a hold of my number and--."
It rang again.
"Hello!" Will yelled into the phone. A few passers-by
turned to look at them.
"I know, I know. I know what you did last summer, William
Carter. I know--."
Will turned the phone off completely then, knowing that no one
important was going to call him anyway. He wasn't even sure why he had brought
it with him.
"That was odd," Jared observed, "has that happened
before? Maybe you should--," Jared was cut off by his own ringing phone.
"Uh-oh."
"Don't answer it," Will cautioned.
Jared pulled it out and clicked it on. "Hello?" He
was quiet, eyeing Will seriously for a very long time, then he started laughing.
"It's for you," he said, handing it over.
"Great," Will murmured. "Hello?"
The breathing and the moaning started up again. Will listened
this time, knowing that it was a Jared-approved call.
The moaning stopped and was followed by a satisfied sigh.
"Now wipe your hand, you dirty bastard," Will said.
There was laughter. Brody laughter.
"Hey, Brody," Will said.
"Hey, how'd you know it was me?"
"Who else gets off to the sound of my voice? Where are
you?"
"Across the concourse at the bar, I arrived early."
Will looked around and didn't see him. "Yeah? Where?"
"Here. Look. Look harder. C'mon. A stylish, handsome guy
like me in an airport full of honeys can't be that hard to spot, Billy-boy"
Will simply followed the cutest women in sight back to a large
group of them, and the one guy standing in the midst of them. Sure enough,
Brody lifted his hand from the bar and waved, his head turning back to the
super-model-in-training he was chatting up.
"Yeah, I see you." Will nudged Jared, and the two
headed across to join their old friend.
"Hey, William!" Brody said, dropping low and throwing
his arms around them both.
"Hey, ya'ol'dawg," Will replied, wondering at Brody's
ability to attract so many girls at the same time.
"Hey, Brody buddy," Jared said, clapping a hand on
Brody's shoulder, "glad you made it."
"Hey, Jared; Jeff get cold feet yet?" Brody's eyes
flashed over his sunglasses, "I could have a jet standing by and we could
all fly down to Tijuana... you know there's no extradition treaty there."
"Lisa would find us," Jared said as he grabbed Brody's
bags. "Come on, let's get moving."
Brody took a moment to say goodbye to the girls, getting more
than his share of kisses and promises from them, always playing the game.
They hurried to the parking lot.
"So what's the plan, boys?" Brody asked, spreading
out across one of the Jeep's rear seats. And Will realized the Cherokee was
perfect for the idea forming in his mind.
Will glanced at the pair of them, "Gentlemen, we have a
mission."
Jared looked worried for a moment. "Mission? What mission?"
he swallowed. "We're not going to screw up Jeff's wedding, Will. This
is one thing we all have to take seriously and..."
Will cut Jared off, "No, no, hear me out. Jeff's not having
a bachelor party. He's having a bachelor dinner."
Jared started the truck silently, but Will could see the idea
sat with Brody about as well as it had sat with him.
"How come?" Brody asked as they approached the highway.
"Lisa told him not to. And I understand that, you know?
But I don't think it's especially right." Will said.
"Well everyone looks at things differently," Jared
began.
Brody chuckled, "Oh no, hell no. What do you mean no bachelor
party? What is that about? Who gets married without a bachelor party? Your
marriage'll be annulled if you don't have one? Right?" He took a moment
to look over his sunglasses at a pretty young woman who flashed him a smile,
"Besides I didn't fly all the way here not to have a night of nefarious
pleasures that we all will vow never to mention to Lisa."
Typical Brody reaction.
Will shrugged.
"I don't think it's that serious," Jared said, trying
to be cautious.
Brody shook his head, "No. We are having a bachelor party,
and we are having it tonight. I don't care what Lisa says. He's not hers yet
and we need to have something to mark the event. Something that we will remember,
right Will?"
"Dang skippy," Will replied.
"Just watch what you guys plan," Jared warned them.
"Don't go making Lisa mad on her wedding day, or Jeff either!"
