Carter's Duty - 14. Chapter 14

Jeff couldn't be mad at Will if someone paid him for it. Maybe he could if someone gave him a brand new car, but Will seriously doubted it.

In the past, Jeff and Will had some serious run-ins. Mostly they were about how much their personalities clashed. When people lived togetherWill was the oldest, and Jeff was the youngest. Will was always busy, and Jeff was always bored. Will was always serious, and Jeff was always clowning around. He was always so controlled, and Jeff was so emotional.

That was until Jeff had began to date Lisa, he grew up, and Will had relaxed. They had finally found a median upon which they could both relate.

It was cool in Will's mind to have him around then, because Will had been dating Andrew for nearly seven years, and when Jeff and Lisa had become a couple they finally had things in common. The one thing they didn't have in common, once again, was family. Whenever things went wrong for Jeff, that's where he went. When they went wrong for Will, he...

Well, he had nowhere to go, really. But someone always seemed to find him and give him a direction to go in. Like a few years back, when things had fallen apart between Will's father and him. Brody had been the one to fly into full-protective mode. Will had moved in to Brody's place because he had no clue where else to go. And Brody had been really cool about just letting him stay. He knew that Will just needed to find his feet. After years of living at home in the midst of a war zone, all he had to do was feed the fish and Brody was happy.

Brody didn't offer any unwanted advice. He never questioned Will. He didn't try to make peace with Will's family, or try to make them understand Will's choice. He didn't try to make Will work out his frustrations, or help him drink them away. He was just there.

All of his friends were. And now it was his turn to be there for one of them. Jeff wouldn't get mad, they were too close for that. Friends were supposed to piss each other off when it served the common good.

"Will!" Jeff yelled from the front of the church. "'Bout time. Get yourself up here."

Churches still intimidated Will; he felt that since he was dammed anyway, it was better to avoid them altogether. And when Jeff bellowed across one at him, he flinched, feeling the full attention of the Almighty zeroed directly upon him.

Jared had dropped Brody off at the hotel while he joined the rest of the wedding party. Will quickly made his way down the long aisle. The whole wedding party was there. Jeff, his brother Jerry, Jared and some other cousin whose name Will couldn't remember. Lisa was deep in conversation with her girls. Or whatever they were called.

"Bridesmaids," Jeff said when saw Will staring at them. "They're called bridesmaids."

Will nodded at him. "What? What do you need? Why are you yelling at me across the church?"

He smiled. "I want you to see something. C'mere."

Will felt as though he was already too close to the altar, but Jeff pulled him closer.

"What? What's there to see over there?" Will asked in confusion.

"Jeff, don't," Will heard Jared warn. That was never good.

"C'mon," Jeff said. "Just stand here. Watch. Right here."

And he stood Will in his spot, all the way up in front, just at the foot of the altar. Will looked around at the awe-inspiring building with its colourful glass windows.

"What?" Will whispered, feeling the hush all over.

Someone laughed.

"Shh, stand there and look. Look up at the front," he said from behind Will.

Will did, and instantly, his hands were wet. It was worse than standing in front of a huge crowd at a concert. It was like standing with God and having to promise something. The thought of being the one standing before God to swear eternal fidelity and love to one person was enough to--.

He heard Jeff start laughing.

He turned around and moved away from them. "What?"

"See, I told you, Jared. It freaks everyone out to stand there. How are you gonna be ready to do it?" he was asking.

Jared shrugged. "I'm ready now, buddy. Leave Will alone."

Will stepped around them. "Yeah, let's leave Will alone, shall we? You son of a bitch. Why'd you do that?"

"He who goes first," he said. "Remember?"

That was true. That was their agreement. He who did anything monumental first had to share with the rest of them. But Will wasn't ready to start pretending about marriage.

He was met by a sympathetic smile from Lisa.

"Stop scaring the guys, Jeff," she said. "They'll never want to get married at this rate."

He looked at Jared. "Well, you don't have a choice. And you," he said looking at Will now, "you'd just better not."

"Cut it out," she told him. "I swear, instead of helping, sometimes you make things worse. Will, let me introduce you."

I heard the guys chuckling as Lisa introduced Will to three similar-looking girls. All thin, tall and blonde.

"Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you," Will said.

And he waited for the answer, but these girls were a little lost. He smiled and nodded and nothing still.

Jared and Jeff laughed in the background.

"Girls?" Jerry asked. "Hello?"

"He didn't bring a date," Lisa said with a smile.

"Uh sorry," the less-blonde looking one said finally looking over at Jerry before turning back to Will. "It's nice to meet you."

Will smiled and tried to make sure that he remembered her face. Maybe at least, he'd have someone to dance with.

"Sorry I'm late. Traffic's a mess," the minister called as he entered the church.

Will was happy to finally move away from the centre of attention and took his place next to Jeff at the altar.

Brody hadn't let Will in on the whole plan, but he knew most of it. They were going to go along with the bachelor dinner. Male members of Lisa's family, Jeff's brothers and the guys went to eat and to have a few drinks. They made a lot of jokes, and Lisa's father gave Jeff lots of advice most of which Jeff just smiled through. Some of it, he downright laughed to, but everything was very tame. It took all the control Will had not to yawn.

But here's where the big and fast Jeep Cherokee came into play. Because they had lots of room, they offered to take Jeff and Jerry back home. Jared was driving, while Brody took shotgun. Rafik and Jerry sat in the seats right behind them, with Will and Jeff behind them.

They drove up to Will's home and let Jeff's brother off. That was Will's cue.

"Jeff?"

He was about to start climbing off. "What is it Will?"

"Hmm," Will began. "Hmm, do you think that maybe, maybe..."

"What?"

Will made himself sound confused which really wasn't that hard. "Well, do you think that.. I mean, is it okay if...?"

"Spit it out already."

Will didn't answer, so Jeff finally stopped and looked at him. Will saw Brody reach over from the front seat and shut the door on him.

"Step on it," he instructed Jared.

"Guys?" Jeff asked, knocked off balance by the moving truck.

"Hey!" Rafik protested. "What the...?"

But Jared kept driving, and Will was the one in the back. So Will received all the questions and the hitting.

"What are you guys doing?" Jeff asked as he settled in next to Rafik. He reached over and smacked Will. "Huh? Will? Hello?"

"Where are we going?" Rafik asked.

"Will?" Jeff asked.

"We're going to the... the... the...," Will didn't know whether to tell him the truth yet. "Well, we're going to the, the... Where are we going, Brody?"

Brody cackled a wicked Brody laugh and glanced back at the passengers. "We're just going. Relax back there, and be quiet."

Jeff sat up and grabbed a handful of his shirt. "Brody, you tell me where we're going right now. You tell me or I'll--."

"I'd like to know too," Jared said, hitting the highway.

"Okay, okay," Brody said. "We're going to your bachelor party."

There was a general silence in the truck, and Will wondered if he was going to be really mad and make them turn around. Jeff looked at Will, then over at Rafik who raised his hands as if to show that he didn't know anything, then to the front at Brody and Jared. Jared kept glancing at him through the rear-view as if trying to make sure that everything was okay.

"It'll be fun," Will said sitting forward to them. "C'mon. I mean, that wasn't a bachelor party right now."

"That was a tea party," Brody spat. "We need to have a real party."

"It would be cool to do something just us," Jared said. "Like for the last time."

"Something fun," Brody added. "Something big."

"Something memorable," Will said. "C'mon."

Jared peeled his eyes at him through the mirror one last time. "Say the word, Jeff. And I'll turn around."

Rafik looked from one to the other and shook his head, "Oh no...no no no, Farah may own my ass, but not tonight; I need this!"

He sighed deeply. "Fine. Fine, yeah. Okay. Let's go."

"That-a-boy," Brody said.

Jeff turned around and gave Will another stout blow. "Pull the innocent act on me, Willy." he said mocking Will in a high voice.

Will laughed and settled against the backrest.

Hull. Will had been there all of twice in all the years he had spent in Ottawa, he just didn't bother.

When he found he simply couldn't avoid going there, he tried to make his visits as short as possible. Taking the trip north of the bridge, away from civilisation into Quebec, was dicey when someone spoke with such a heavy English accent.

On the Ottawa city map he was staring at, it was the beige area up at the top that lacked any details at all. It was as if they had done it deliberately, a desperate hope by Ottawa city officials that tourists would take the hint and avoid visiting such a strangely exotic place. And it was exotic; no one bothered to speak English, you could buy liquor at a convenience store and you could even smoke in a bar. He was sure it was because once citizens realized how much they were missing they'd never go south again.

Under Brody's careful instruction, Jared passed up a million bars.

"Not that one," Brody said over and over. "Definitely not that one," he said as they passed up Hooters.

"It's getting late," Jeff noted. "I have to be up early tomorrow. God, Lisa's going to kill me when she finds out."

"Who's going to tell her?" Will asked.

"I'm getting married, Will. I'm not going to start lying to her on my wedding day," he said as the truck came to a stop in front of a dark, big building that looked more like a dance club than a strip bar.

"Right here," Brody said.

"What's this?" Rafik blinked up at the blank marquee.

"It's a show, not really a bar. I didn't want to offend your sensitive sides, guys," Brody explained. "We can have a few drinks, check out the show. Have a few laughs?"

"Let's go then," Jeff said. "Move it."