[26 years later, Present day]
"Jeremy!"
"Bro!"
Jeremy Manx came back to reality with a start as his friends called to him
"Yeah, what's up?" he asked turning to his friends and colleagues, taking the last sip of brandy from the glass he had forgotten he was holding.
"'What's up?' dude really?" Bradley, the groom to be asked, "We should be the ones asking you that, we have been calling your name for minutes now, you completely zoned off, everything okay?"
"Yeah, sure" he replied, nodding his head as his tongue peeked out of his mouth to lick at the brandy that rested above his lips, it tasted good; Bradley sure knew his drinks.
The funny one of the group, Anderson, laughs, "How are you the one getting wedding jitters when Brad is the one getting married?"
The four guys other than Jeremy laugh, adding more jokes and laughing even more wildly, Jeremy wasn't feeling like partaking in their wild jokes at the moment.
"I will be right back guys, I want to get a refill" he said, already at his feet
"Wanna go shake off the jitters with the ladies, mate?" Bradley joked, causing the guys to laugh again beginning another round of grilling each other and laughing wildly
"Whatever" he said as he walked to the kitchen with his glass in hand. He had zoned out, going back to the day his mother left them once the guys had started talking about their mothers. Said conversation having been started by the groom, Bradley, centering on how his mother have been his greatest support and soon all the guys started contributing with positive stories about their own mothers. He could never contribute to such conversations; there is nothing positive about Erin, the woman who left them.
The scene that greeted him in the kitchen was not what he expected at all; but then again he wasn't expecting anything, so.
Aurora was bent over at the kitchen table, with her back to the kitchen entrance (giving him a nice view of her rounded backside, not that he was complaining), as she consoled Kim who was sat at the kitchen table crying her eyes out, while the third lady in the kitchen; the petite Blue, was dancing wildly like a crazed person, her strawberry blonde long hair waving every which way as she screamed the song that was playing, the music wafting in from the music player in the living room, tunelessly into the…microwave?
What is going on?
"Should I maybe come back later?" he asked no one in particular, taking tentative steps into the kitchen
"Oh no, you can totally come in" replied Aurora who seemed to be the only normal lady in the kitchen at the moment, as she moved away the used tissue papers on the kitchen table. Most likely used to clean Kim's tears.
"Okay. I would be out of your hair soon, just came for a refill" he said raising his glass, headed straight for the drink cabinet. Blue was still, for some reason, screaming into Bradley's microwave. Jeremy pitied the poor thing, if it had ears it would definitely be deaf by now, they in the kitchen even had to raise their voices to hear each other over her screams.
"Hey, Jeremy" Kim greeted as she dried her tears some more with some tissue, her sobs slowly ceasing.
He was going to reply to Kim's greeting when Blue's screams increased, her voice more off tune as she sang her own lyrics, not the song's lyrics.
"Excuse me" Aurora excused herself, going to tell Blue to cut it out, dragging her away from the microwave to get seated at the kitchen island.
"I don't want to sit down" Blue wined, Aurora forced her down to the chair anyway giving her a glass of water to help her sober up.
"Excuse her behavior, she is drunk" Aurora explained to Jeremy on behalf of Blue as she walked back to Kim at the kitchen table
Jeremy took a sip of the brandy he had poured in his glass, he had almost emptied the glass again; it's really good brandy, before he replied, "It's alright, we are at a party not work, Aurora"
"How ya doing, Kim?" Jeremy asked as he poured three glasses of brandy, one for him (he really should slow down on the bottle) and the others for the two ladies at the table.
Kim let out a loud wail as he took the glasses from the countertop to the kitchen table, completely stunning him that he froze momentarily.
"You sound just like him!" Kim's wails were getting louder, Aurora stood up to start consoling her again.
"What?" he mouthed to Aurora with his eyes wide as he dropped the glasses on the table, a bit away from Kim in case she decided to wildly move her hands again.
"Her boyfriend just broke up with her" she mouthed back as Kim hugged her waist, crying against her clothe
"Kim has a boyfriend?!" he whisper-yelled. Truly, he had no idea Kim was in a relationship, she doesn't even act like she is attracted to guys; or anyone for that matter really.
"Had" she whispered back
"I can't believe he left me, Aurora!" Kim bawled, "Didn't I mean anything to him? Didn't what we had, what we shared mean anything to him?" her voice went octaves higher as she raised her head now and shook Aurora's shoulder like she was the boyfriend who left.
"It's alright, Kim" Aurora was saying, "He didn't deserve you anyway"
"That's right!" Blue, who Jeremy had no idea was mentally here with them, shouted from the kitchen island, drawing all eyes to her, "She needs a man not a boy! Max is a boy!"
Max must be the boyfriend, Jeremy reasoned.
"You know what? Blue is right, Max is a boy who doesn't deserve you and you shouldn't be here crying your eyes out over him" Aurora firmly asserted, holding Kim's face as she looked into her eyes. "Dry your tears girl"
"Men are scum!" Blue shouted again, before letting her head fall back down on the kitchen island.
"Whoa! Don't attack the minority here" Jeremy said raising his hand like in surrender, "Not all of us are like Max, I'm guessing that's the boyfriend, right?"
"Yeah, that's the asshole's name alright" Kim said, drying the last tears on her face. Jeremy was grateful she took Aurora's advice; he was tired of hearing her cry and standing there doing nothing.
"Sorry, Jeremy, I am sure Blue wasn't referring to you, and the good fraction of your gender when she said that" Aurora apologized on Blue's behalf. While she was still speaking, Blue said another line that would require the rendering of another apology
"All men are nasty pigs, fuck them! Fuck the patriarchy!" Blue shouted. Jeremy laughed, they were apologizing on her behalf, and she was saying worse.
"All right that's enough, Blue, it's time to go" Aurora stood up and walked to Blue, having had enough of her drunken slurs.