Page 76 of The Wedding Favor

It was three o’clock in the morning by the time we took a ride in a police car and got booked into the system and body searched (I don’t want to talk about it). But instead of jail, we were put in the sober tank… because alcohol.

By the time I got my phone call and help was on the way, Missy and I had sobered up some and reality was hitting us. We sat side by side on a bench in the small room, our shoes in a pile in front of us. Missy had passed out asleep on my shoulder earlier on. I’d tried to sleep, too, but didn’t have much luck.

“Hey, you two,” a guard said. “Let’s go. Your ride is here.”

Missy jerked and sat up, her eyes wide and panicked. “I didn’t do it, Officer. It was all Iris’s fault.”

“Thanks,” I said drily. “Why don’t you run me over again with that bus?”

Wiping a bit of drool off her face, she stood slowly. Both of us silently put on our shoes and quietly followed the guard.

Abe and Aidan were both waiting for us, hastily dressed in wrinkled t-shirts and shorts. Aidan rushed forward and for a half second, I thought he was coming for me, but it was Missy he grabbed and hugged.

“You’re okay,” he said, the relief evident in his voice. “When I heard, I was so worried.”

“It was so scary.” Missy sobbed.

“I know, honey, I know.” Aidan rubbed circles on her back. His head snapped up and he glared at me. “How could you do this?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Missy would never get in this kind of mess. This is all you.” He set Missy aside and stalked toward me. “You’re the one who caused all this.”

Who was this guy? Aidan never lost his cool. He was always, always in control of himself.

“I… no… it wasn’t all my fault.” My voice wobbled. “It just happened. We were drinking and having fun and then…” Suddenly Abe was at my back, a hand resting on my arm.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend.” Aidan shoved his fingers through his hair, his whole body vibrating with anger and something else—hurt.

I snapped straight up and stared at him. Suddenly, he felt like a stranger with that wild look in his eyes. For the first time, I didn’t find myself wanting to make excuses for his behavior. For the way he treated me. For the way he was speaking to me right now. Maybe, just maybe… enough was finally enough.

The moment of clarity crashed into me all at once, a wave of emotions. All those emotions, those opinions, that attitude, I’d stuffed away so that Aidan would love me. After all, he was the good guy, wasn’t he? Which made me, by default, the bad guy.

It wasn’t like he ever demanded anything. He wasn’t loud; he didn’t yell or give me the silent treatment. His ways were smaller, quieter. Little comments, a pointed look. They all added up after a while, though, wore a person down. Eventually, I just did what he wanted because it was easier. His opinion slowly became mine. Until I wasn’t sure where he ended and I began.

I guess that was how I started to lose myself.

The problem was that I wasn’t sure if I’d found myself yet.

But that stopped now.

“I don’t want to be your best friend.” I shoved a finger in his chest. “I think you even know that. You… you just kept stringing me along, making me think that maybe, one day… I have spent three years waiting for you to realize you made a mistake when, all this time, I should be thanking you. It would have been a disaster if we’d ever married. Can you even imagine?”

Something like shock flitted across Aidan’s face.

“Keep going,” Abe said quietly.

I was tired of lying, tired of hiding. “And… and I don’t want to talk to you at three in the morning when you can’t sleep. I don’t want your texts about how you miss me. And you know what else? I hate pink roses. Hate them. And I think… I think I might hate you, too.”

Aidan jerked back like he’d been punched. “Don’t say that.”

“I’m tired of pretending,” I said. “Tired of how you always treated me like something you could change and mold to exactly what you wanted. And the one time, the one time I said no, you decided we were through. And you’re still trying to change me! No more, Aidan. No more.” I grabbed Abe’s hand and dragged him toward the door. “Let’s go.”

Behind us, Missy said, “Pink roses? You always get me pink roses.”

“I thought you liked pink roses,” Aidan said.

Missy’s voice cracked. “But I thought they were just for me.”