Drunken decisions

Edith’s POV

“So,” I slurred, hand wound tightly around the glass as I looked at Caruso, “How do you know Murphy? Did you two attend the same college?”

I was wrecked, with a wild mix of vodka, tequila, and other liquors whose names had slipped out of my head, sitting warm inside my abdomen.

However, I had no plans to stop yet or soon even.

Drinking made my head fuzzy, causing me to feel like I was standing on a ball of cloud, with zero worries.

Now, my heart no longer ached as I thought about my pathetic reality, which involved the love of my life becoming my brother-in-law.

“We do business together,” Caruso replied, a half empty glass of whisky sitting in his hand. His fifth glass that evening, and yet, he looked unaffected by the alcohol.

Caruso still seemed and sounded sober, unlike me.

The man surely knew how to hold his alcohol.

If someone had slapped me right then, I wouldn't have even felt the pain.

That was how deeply inebriated I was.

“Oh,” I drawled, patting Caruso's coat which I was now wearing properly, albeit I was practically swimming in it, “You are business partners and friends then.”

“You could say that,” Caruso responded then gestured to my empty glass, “Need that filled?”

My response was a fervent, alcohol-induced head bop.

“I want to get married someday,” I blurted out as Caruso motioned the bartender over, “But, that will never happen.”

“Really?” Caruso prodded, an amused lilt to his husky voice.

“Yes,” I continued without a care in the world before closing my mouth halfway and leaning in to whisper, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Certainly.” He replied.

“I am in love with Murphy,” I divulged, and to my utter surprise, Caruso didn't even show the slightest bit of reaction.

Was my revelation not shocking enough to him?

Right there and then, it dawned on me that I'd spilled the secret I had carefully guarded for the past four years to a stranger.

Then again, it didn't exactly matter.

By this time tomorrow, I would have returned to New Jersey, and would never encounter Caruso again.

“I know,” He replied, and my eyes became so wide, I feared they would pop out of their sockets.

“How do you know?” I gasped, as the bartender returned with my drink and set it on the table.

“I saw how unhappy you were at the wedding.” Caruso replied, and I tutted

That meant my secret hadn't even been one in the first place.

“Were you staring at me during the ceremony?” I asked, swishing the golden liquid in my glass cup around.

“Yes,” Caruso said, a smirk tugging on the left corner of his lips, “You are quite intriguing.”

“I am?” I slurred, his piercing grey eyes stirring a weird heat between my legs, as they stayed on me.

“You are.” He affirmed, bringing the glass cup to his lips.

“Thanks for finding me intriguing, I guess.” I mumbled, my mind straying to my family and Murphy.

Given the stupendous amount of joy simmering through all of them, they wouldn't even notice my absence for the rest of that night.

And honestly, I preferred things that way.

My cheekbones had turned sore from the multiple fake grins I had to wear the entire time.

Piteous me couldn’t even force myself to be happy for my sister.

“You are welcome,” Caruso replied, then held out his glass, “Cheers?”

“To being a heartbroken mess on my sister's wedding day!” I cheered, ignoring the unpleasant weight forming in my throat.

I had thought the alcohol in my system had numbed the unsolicited sadness, so why could I feel something all of a sudden?

“Cheers.” Caruso replied with a low chuckle, which shot straight into the unexplored garden of my thighs.

Not even Murphy had ever made me feel like this.

Deciding not to pay the unsolicited delicious tinge any mind, I drank my alcohol, wincing in satisfaction as my throat burned.

After another glass containing an indecipherable mix of liquor and two more on Caruso's part, he paid the bill, and we exited the bar.

Well, I staggered out of the bar, with his hand ghosting over my waist, as I tilted from side to side like an alien occupying a human’s body for the first time.

In that very moment, my eyes landed on the building across the street.

Mainly the large, shiny lettered inscriptions placed atop it;

Julie's drive-thru wedding chapel.

As I stared at the blinking lights on the name, I couldn't help but envision a different reality, where Murphy and I had ended up together.

Truly, I couldn’t get any more than I weirder already was.

“You are staring at the chapel intently,” Caruso cut into my drunken reverie, “Do you want to get married, Edith?”

Where on earth had that even come from?

Stumbling on my feet, I turned to Caruso to refuse his haphazard proposal.

By some weird force powered by the excessive alcohol in my system, my brain short-circuited and I nodded.

“Yes, I do.”

Caruso seemed half tickled and half taken aback that I’d agreed so fast.

However, he didn’t know about my brilliant plan.

Since I couldn’t marry Murphy like I wanted, I had decided to pretend that Caruso was him. That way, I would finally marry the love of my life, revel in the sweet sensation, then get an annulment afterwards.

Totally easy.

Several minutes later, a middle-aged female officiant pronounced Caruso as Murphy, and I husband and wife.

“You may now kiss your bride.” She said, her smile warm.

Caruso brushed his lips against mine, then drew back to peer into my eyes, his darkened with lust, sending a wanton jolt through me.

Then, he cupped my head and kissed me with cruel passion, devouring my will to resist.

Just like that, I had my first kiss with my accidental husband at a drive thru wedding chapel, on the early hours after my sister's wedding day.