Natasha:Nick …
Me:Fine. I'll see you in Reno tomorrow.
Each time Natasha booked me a flight to Reno, and then we would drive to Lake Tahoe together as though we were a real couple.
Natasha:Can't wait.
For the past three months,I had been torturing myself every time I opened my refrigerator. I was doing it on purpose because I wanted the wedding invitation on the fridge to steer me away from any bad foods.
You’re invited to the wedding of
Everleigh Marie James
and
Douglas Marcus Alexander
Since the night I had caught them fucking in Everleigh's back yard four years ago, I hadn't spoken to either of them, and I hadn't gone home to spend any holidays with my family in fear I would run into her, so my parents would switch between coming to Las Vegas to visit me and going to New York to see the lovebirds for Christmases and Thanksgivings.
After I graduated from Columbia, I got a job as a medical technologist in Las Vegas, and I had been living in Vegas ever since. My life was good despite the lack of love in it—and the wedding invitation staring me in my face.
The wedding that was fast approaching.
The wedding that was in Fiji.
The wedding I really didn't want to go to.
The wedding Ihadto go to.
"Fuck my life." I slammed the fridge.
When I received the wedding invitation, I was dumbfounded. I knew from my parents that Everleigh and Douglas were still dating, but I never imagined I would be invited to their wedding. And in Fiji of all places. If anything, it would be a tropical vacation because, let's be honest, it was still a trip to Fiji for a week.
I wasn't going to go, but when my parents came to visit me over Christmas, they convinced me that I should because Everleigh was my one and only sister, and I would regret it if I didn’t attend. I wasn't happy for either of them, but I had to be the bigger person. It didn't mean that I was going to speak to them, though. I hadn't picked up the phone or even sent an email to my sister. I did, however, RSVP, and my dumbass said I was bringing a guest, but I had no guest to bring. I had dated a few guys here and there, but I wasn't currently dating anyone.
My fridge torture was working, except it wasn't helping me find a date even though I had lost ten pounds since receiving the invitation."We just met, but I have this wedding to go to all the way in Fiji, so want to be my date?"I could never ask that because none of the men I had gone on dates with were up to par. I needed someone who would make the perfect Douglas Alexander look like a scrub.
Yes, perfect. That was what my parents thought of both him and my sister. They were theperfectcouple in their eyes, and it didn't matter that they had both broken my heart. My mother even had the nerve to tell me that Everleigh and Douglas were a better match. How and why she thought that was beyond me. I was educated like Douglas, but Everleigh was good-looking like him, and having a trophy wife was better in all of their eyes than having a smart, educated one. It was no wonder I felt like the outcast.
I was.
My cell phone buzzed with a text.
Adriane:Lunch?
My best friend was reading my mind.
Me:Yes!
I didn't want kale or carrots or any of the healthy crap I had in the fridge. I wanted a giant cheeseburger to give me the comfort I needed to feel better about myself. It would also make me gain five pounds, but what was the point? Everleigh and Douglas were getting married no matter what, and I was the one not good enough.
"So, I guess I'm going to the wedding alone," I stated around a mouthful of what I swore was the best cheeseburger I'd ever had. It wasn't, but since I had been dieting, it tasted like heaven on a bun.
"Just hook up with one of the groomsmen," Adriane replied around her own bite.
I choked slightly. "I'm not sleeping with any of Douglas's friends."
"Why not? He banged your sister, and now look."
