Nick couldn’t believe he was going to be marrying Charlie Spring tomorrow. He still got butterflies in his stomach every time he thought that he was going to get to spend the rest of his life with his Charlie. They’d been together for so long now, and everyone always told him they were ‘End Game’ but Nick never completely believed it. But it was finally dawning on him that tomorrow would be the start of their forever, their happily ever after.
If Nick made it through tonight that is, he had no idea what his friends had planned for him but Sai, Christian and Otis told him to ‘dress nice’. Nick had made all three of them his best men because he couldn’t pick just one of them, not without worrying about hurting the others. They were all his oldest friends; he’d known them all since primary school. When Charlie had seen his fiancé struggling, he simply said, “Why not pick all of them?” Relieving Nick of the nightmare of his impossible decision that he’d been agonising over for weeks.
Now Nick found himself back in his childhood bedroom, getting ready for a mysterious night out with his best friends. Although he and Charlie had been living together for years, they decided it would be romantic to spend the night before their wedding apart. Well, Charlie thought it would be romantic, Nick was already missing having Charlie by his side. They’d barely been apart since Nick finished Uni and Nick hoped this would be the last time they ever would be again.
Just as Nick was putting on his favourite after shave, the one he knew Charlie loved the most, the doorbell chimed downstairs. He heard his Mum answer the door, and after one final check in the mirror, Nick headed down to meet his friends who were chatting with Sarah in the hall.
“Take it easy tonight and don’t forget to eat something before going drinking boys, we can’t have the groom missing his own wedding because he’s too hungover,” Sarah gently warned the boys with a smile on her face.
“We will Mrs Nelson,” Christian replied.
“How many times have I told you Christian? Call me Sarah,” she reminded him, giggling at the fact that the boy had been calling her Mrs Nelson since he was 6 years old, despite always reminding him to call her Sarah.
Nick grabbed his shoes from the pile by the door to slip on. When he was ready to leave he hugged his Mum goodbye, telling her, “Don’t wait up Mum, love you.”
Sarah hugged him back, “Love you too Nicky,” dropping a kiss to his forehead before letting him leave with his friends.
“Is it just us?” Nick asked as they were walking to the cab waiting outside.
“Yeah, we thought it would be best to keep it a little low key, since someone decided they wanted it literally the night before their wedding,” Sai told him sarcastically. Another tradition that Charlie had wanted to observe, Nick really would agree to anything that he asked for.
The group of boys didn’t tell Nick what they had planned for the night, it was a miracle really that even Christian had managed to keep the plans a secret, though Nick suspected that perhaps Sai and Otis had kept him in the dark too. So, when they arrived at Frankie & Benny’s as their first destination, Nick was confused as he was expecting them to go to a pub or a club.
“Erm, are we at the right place guys?” Nick asked as they were climbing out of the taxi.
Otis explained, “This was the first proper place we came to for Sai’s birthday back when we were 7,”
“We thought it would be a nice way to end this chapter of your life, at a place where our friendship began,” Sai continued.
“Technically it began at primary school, but they don’t exactly do food,” Christian added, “or booze!”
“Aww, guys,” Nick cooed before wrapping his arms around his best friends. If they continued like this Nick thought he was going to be a blubbering mess by the end of the night.
The four of them had a nice meal together to line their stomachs, filled with lots of joking about childhood memories. Every time Nick got all misty eyed over Charlie, the boys would tease him mercilessly. Nick could tell it was all in jest, the boys loved Charlie almost as much as he did.
After they’d all stuffed their faces, and got the first few drinks under their belts, they got another cab to their next stop of the night. Apparently, it was Christian’s idea to go to The Stag pub for drinks, but when they arrived there was a sign outside the entrance saying,
‘NO STAG PARTIES’
“Bro, didn’t you think to check first?” Sai asked Christian, playfully hitting him in the arm.
“I thought it was like made for stag dos,” Christian said earnestly.
Nick found this hilarious, and guessed the owners didn’t appreciate the irony of their pubs name as much as they did. The boys took a selfie of their group in front of both the pub sign, and the sign, to post to Insta before they decided to find somewhere else that would let them in.
Rather than the expense of another cab to take them somewhere else, the boys grabbed a couple of a beers from a nearby off-licence to drink while they walked to a couple of pubs near the River Medway. Their walk was full of joking, teasing, and reminiscing about old times they’d spent together. It was so good that Nick didn’t mind the cock up with the pub. As they approached the river, they came to a pub called ‘The Ship Inn’ that looked nice. Nick had his hand on the door, about to push it open when Otis called out, “Wait, stop!”
Nick turned to his friend, “What?”
“We can’t go in there!”
Confused Nick asked, “Why not?”
Pausing briefly to consider what to say, Otis rushed out, “Because you can’t see your groom before the wedding!”
“Oh, OH…you mean,” Nick turned to look at the door, “My Charlie’s in there?” he felt like if anyone were to look at him right now, they’d see little hearts floating around his head, just like an emoji.
“Yes, your Charlie is in there,” Otis chuckled as he rolled his eyes, “Now come on, let’s find somewhere else.”
Taking one last look at the door, Nick turned and walked away with his mates to find the third pub of their evening, hopefully one they could actually make it inside. A couple of roads away they found ‘The Pier Bar’ to settle into for the night. The foursome spent a few hours drinking, never letting Nick buy a single drink, and all getting nicely buzzed. Someone made sure to get them all some water along with their drinks, to try and fight back against the almost inevitable hangover in the morning, but at this point Nick wasn’t exactly sure who.
They were squeezed into a booth together, Nick in the middle with the other boys rotating as they each took turns to buy drinks. When it was Christian’s turn to be next to Nick, he was slightly the worse for wear. Slinging his arm over Nick’s shoulder, Christian slurred, “Nick, Nick, Nicccckk, I’m sorry weee didn’t get you a strip-, a strip-, stripper,”
“What?” Nick giggled, himself more than a little tipsy.
“We was gonna get you a stripper, you know…” Christian continued before attempting to stage-whisper, “for your stag?” Nick was still giggling at his friend who added, “But we couldn’t decide if you’d want a man or a woman.” He quickly added, “We’d have been cool if you’d wanted a man! It’s your stag and all, but we couldn’t decide. Sorrrry.”.
From the other side of him, Otis added, “I think it’s time we got you home mate,” talking across Nick to their clearly drunk friend. Otis had stopped drinking a few hours ago to be the responsible one and make sure that Nick and the others got home safe. When Nick had drunkenly asked him why, Otis simply said, “Because Tori would kill us if you weren’t there to marry her brother tomorrow, and she’s scary man.”
Nick chuckled, “Yeah she would.”
Otis ordered them a cab, first dropping off Sai & Christian at Christian’s parents’ house, since neither of the boys lived that close to home anymore. Otis continued with Nick to Sarah’s house, where Otis was going to spend the night in David’s old bedroom, ready to help Nick in the morning.
All efforts to try and keep the noise down at the late time were for nothing as Otis was helping Nick inside. Nick was loudly slurring, “Charlie is soooo beautiful isn’t he? I love his eyes, I love his smile, I love his dimples. Isn’t he beautiful Otis?”
Giggling at his drunk, loved-up friend Otis replied, “Yeah mate, he’s beautiful,” smiling back at Nick.
“What if he doesn’t come tomorrow? What if he’s changed his mind? I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t show?” Nick was getting a little weepy now.
“Of course he’s going to show up, you literally both proposed to each other on the same night. There is nothing and no-one that will stop him getting to marry you tomorrow, Nick,” Otis tried to reassure his friend who was clearly going through an emotional rollercoaster right now thanks to all the drinks he’d consumed.
Hearing the commotion, Sarah stepped out from the living room where she’d been reading to see Nick draped over Otis’s shoulder, supporting his friend. She walked over to lift Nick’s other arm and take some of the weight of her youngest son, “Oh Otis, you are a good boy,” she praised.
“Hi Mum,” Nick cooed now she was by his side.
“Hi baby,” Sarah laughed.
Between them Otis and Sarah managed to get Nick up to his room, leaving him on top of the bed to sleep things off before his big day.