Cherisse agreed—not quite in the same way her mother meant, at least not anymore—because she couldn’t wait for her mother to leave so she could reply to his silly meme. Trouble. So much trouble.

“You should invite Jerome to the wedding,” her mother continued.

Cherisse rubbed her forehead. That was not happening. She could envision how terrible an idea that was. Bring the cousin of the man she was currently having sex with to the wedding? As a date? Absolutely not. Not that she planned to still be having sex with Keiran by then. He’d given her the power to end their arrangement whenever she wanted. So why hadn’t she done that yet?

“The guest list is all set. I’m not going to upset Ava and Eric’s carefully laid plans.” Ava hadn’t shown any Bridezilla tendencies, but Cherisse had seen her sister and Eric poring over the guest list and seating chart intensely. No way in hell was she messing with that. “Anyways, I got shit...uh, stuff to catch up on, so.”

Her mother didn’t call her on that slip of profanity. A miracle. But she did release an exasperated sigh before she tapped the jar of dark liquid and rose to her feet. “Take this for the lingering cough. It’ll be gone in no time. Just don’t let it touch your tongue because the taste is awful.”

Arguing was pointless. It was easier to just let her mother have her way. Nod and smile until she left. As soon as she was gone, Cherisse checked her phone. Another meme from Keiran and a couple of new messages in the bridesmaids’ chat group. She replied to Keiran first.

Cherisse: don’t you have work to do?

Keiran: it’s called multitasking

Cherisse: looks like playing de fool to me.

Keiran: much needed stress reliever more like it. How you feeling?

Cherisse: better. Thanks for the soup. And I guess the memes too

Keiran: just trying to be a good friend.

Cherisse paused. Friend? She wasn’t certain she’d call them that. Fuck buddies? FWBs? She didn’t know. It was something people did all the time, but she didn’t like blurring the lines, didn’t know how not to. She and Sean hadn’t exactly been friends prior to them becoming a couple. They’d met randomly at an event, sparks flew. They’d hung out, and things had gotten serious pretty quickly. Sex had come after they’d been together a few months. This thing with Keiran was new territory for her.

Before she could respond, her phone chimed with another message from Ava, which turned out to be a notification that she’d been added to another group chat with the other bridesmaids.

Ava: hi my lovelies! Please meet me at the address below at 4pm and wear something nice!

Julia: ...

Cherisse: what’s happening?

Ava: no questions, just be there!

Cherisse: this is sketchy as hell

Ava: omg it’s nothing bad I swear

Remi: k

Cherisse: you’re not even gonna ask what’s going on?

Remi: nope

Ava: and that’s why I love you. Ok mwah! See you all at the address k byeee!