The girls were pushing and giggling in overexcitement to get to their positions.
‘Make way!’ screamed Stella. ‘Lady with a Baby coming through!’
They stampeded the dance floor, giddy with collective happiness, and, with the obvious exception of Ana, all pretty drunk. Dixie arrived last – she held her bouquet to her lips as Dolly began her solo.
Her free hand tried to pull Freddie into the circle of love, but his joyful grin was quickly replaced by fear, and he backed away laughing. Stella could feel Jake’s eyes on her and wondered for a second if he resented her being the centre of attention, and then realised he just really loved her. Then all three joined in.
Dixie had obviously forgotten the pricey, delicate nature of her bridal gown and fell to her knees. The bouquet was now a guitar and she was playing for the crowd as they gathered in a loose circle around the three girls. Some began to clap, others cheer.
Stella felt a hand pulling at her arm and she tried to shake it off. It was Jake and she saw that he was ushering them onto the dais and offering them the actual, live microphone.
Stella took it and tapped twice. There was a thick electrostatic crackle.
‘Testing! Testing!’
The girls congregated around the microphone and belted out the chorus.
Stella knew she was drunk, but still, she also knew they sounded and looked amazing. She pulled them all closer. What a group they made, she thought with a laugh. Pregnant Ana with her rock star baby daddy; bi-curious Stella with her boobs cascading onto Dixie, all of them looking just as they had in a thousand teenage Polaroids; the fiery gorgeousness of Dixie, whose curls flared in the wandering red and pink spotlights. Stella felt honoured to belong among them. She saw Jake’s smiling face and he picked up both the boys so they could see better. She waved.
Dixie was laughing with her. With a spasm of guilt that was gone before it was acknowledged, she realised that in a certain sense, these girls were her real family. Neither Jake, nor Rory, nor Tom would ever understand who she was, and how she often felt, as well as these girls did. This thought was quickly eclipsed by the communal joy of the chorus.
Together they were strong and they were a team, and, if nothing else, events had shown them over the last few months they were stronger together, and no one, not time, nor misfortune, not an ocean, could fracture the union of their friendship.
They screeched into the microphone, not one of them forgetting a single move of their dance routine. Three 12-year-olds temporarily transported into their 40-year-old bodies. Even the often uptight Ana was pelvic-thrusting like her life depended on it. Stella saw out of the corner of her eye that Joel seemed pretty excited about that too, his eyes shining with delight as he watched.
The girls were all shrieking like teenagers, oblivious to the crowd that had gathered around them cheering and laughing as they delivered the full rendition. And as the final chorus drew to a close, Joel approached Ana, strumming on his guitar, singing up to her.
Ana leaned down to kiss him, then teasingly pulled away, winked, and turned back to her girls shouting, ‘Hoes before Bros!’ and punching upwards, narrowly missed a lantern.
As the song played out and the crowd sang along, Dixie took the mic, and putting on a masculine voice she hammed it up.
‘Thank you very much! My name is Vince Vega, and I’m here all night.’
She held up her bouquet by the base and continued in her fake deep voice.
‘Some lucky lady’s gonna get herself a bouquet and as surely as winter follows autumn, that lucky little lady’s gonna get herself a man. Who wants a new man!?’ she shouted. ‘Now, I am going to turn my back, so get ready to hustle, ladies! This could be your crowning moment! And you lot, get down there. You too, Stella!’
‘Not this time, Dixie, I think I might already have my man!’ and she looked over towards Jake, who was looking so handsome and strong. And she knew right then that they were meant to be; they had just got a little bit lost along the way.
‘Aaaargh, you soppy old slag, Stella!’
Dixie had her back to the room and was winding up to launch the bouquet. Pearl and Ana were front and centre, leaping up and down like it was 1999. Stella cast another glimpse back at Jake who was grinning at her. In horror, she saw that Tom and Rory had clearly found and explored the chocolate fountain. Their white ruff-collared shirts were muddy with chocolate. Rory had rolled up his sleeves and was brown to the elbow. Tom had obviously taken a more strategic approach and appeared to have dipped his chin into the base and lapped. The lower half of his face was caked. She laughed out loud and pointed to the kids. Jake turned and when he saw the state of them, panicked, swooped them up into his arms and disappeared, quickly mouthing, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Everybody ready,’ Dixie singsonged with a cheeky glance behind her. ‘Not you, Freddie!’
He shuffled to the side with clownish goodwill.
‘3-2-1! Jenga!’
The bouquet was lofted high and fast, passing over the priceless chandelier, high over the heads of the gathered hats and fascinators, between the assorted hanging lanterns, and tumbled end over end towards Joel, who, head bowed, and with the concentration of a professional musician, was bent forward packing his Fender into its case. The bouquet of orange, red and yellow roses clipped the front of his Stetson and dropped into his guitar case. He froze.
The guests beneath the trajectory of the bouquet had parted and there was now a clear path between Dixie – and beside her an embarrassed, but stoked Ana, hand on her tummy, and blushing redder than Dixie’s roots – and Joel, who was reluctantly lifting the bouquet. He looked around helplessly.
‘I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me,’ he pleaded. ‘It just flew at me, came at me…’
He stood up, holding the bouquet like it might detonate, and made his way through the parted onlookers towards the girls. Halfway, he stopped, looked down at the bouquet, then lifted his eyes, and lobbed it gently to Ana. ‘I think that is where it was meant to go… all being right with the world…’
She caught it and clutched it to her throat, as she reddened further.
He watched her face as she shuffled in joy and embarrassment, and waited for the cheering to quieten. He took off his hat and held it to his chest.
‘So… are you ready to go find an island? I promise you won’t regret it.’