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In an instant, my whole mood lightens and I spin around to find Julia standing there. “Oh my god! You’re here! You’re actually here!”
She chuckles. “Of course, I am. Couldn’t miss the wedding of the century, could I?”
When my smile falters, it doesn’t go without being noticed. After all, we spent four years in the same cramped space. I don’t think there is much I could do that she wouldn’t pick up on. My every expression, every nervous habit, every thought process – she knows it like the back of her hand.
“Okay, spill.” She says as she takes up the seat next to me.
“Spill what?”
“Don’t give me that. I can see it all over your face, something’s up.” Julia looks at Ivy and Tatum who are being unusally quiet right now. “Oh my god, did he cheat on you?! Do I have to kick some English ass?!”
I look down at the table. “If you’re going to hit anyone for cheating, it’d have to be me.”
Her jaw drops. “McKenna Rae Taylor, you little minx.” As if the lightbulb finally comes on, she gasps. “Don’t tell me it was with-”
“If you say his name, there’s a good chance she’ll be the one hitting you.” Tatum cuts her off, still rubbing the place where I punched her in the arm after she wouldn’t stop talking about the bomb he dropped on Maverick tonight.
Julia moves back an inch playfully. “Alright, tell me everything.”
And that’s exactly what I do. We spend the next hour going over all of it – how he came onto me while helping me move, the kiss in my childhood bedroom, the almost-sex in a stingy bathroom. Ivy gets a death glare from Tatum when I mention that it was her idea for me to see things through with Colton, but Julia seems to be on her side.
“Eh, if I had known how it would turn out, I probably wouldn’t have given the same advice.” Ivy explains when Jules goes to give her a high five.
“Oh god, what happened?”
That’s when the story takes a turn for the worst. I tell her about Roman’s party and my eventual humiliation when I slept with him again after my bridal shower – only for him to send me back to Parker in the end. By the time I’m done explaining everything, or at least enough for her to understand the whole affair, I’m a mess of emotions; hurt, confused, nostalgic, exhausted.
“You need to talk to him.” Julia announces.
My eyebrows furrow. “Parker?”
“Colton.”
I shake my head. “I can’t do that. For one, I don’t even know what to say to him. And two, Parker would be so pissed. He’d prefer we just forget this summer all together.”
“Yeah, well, in a perfect world, that could happen. Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect world. You need to get your feelings in order and your thoughts in line before you walk down that aisle. Otherwise, you’ll just end up another statistic in the ‘divorced in under a year’ category.”
Ivy beams from the other side of the table. “I like her.”
Julia chuckles but becomes serious as she places her hand over mine. “I’m serious, Mac. You may not be able to have them both, but if you lose Colton from your life entirely, you’re going to end up resenting Parker for it – and that’s no way to start a marriage.”
I feel like I want to scream, tell her she’s wrong, and lock myself away from the world, but I know she’s not. When Maverick showed me that text and I found out Colton is moving across the country, I wanted to throw up. Then, I wanted to take all my anger out on everyone around me. On Parker, for keeping me from choosing Colton months ago. On my brother, for stopping me from leaving with Colton the day of Rome’s party. On Colton himself, for pushing me away after we finally made a breakthrough. However, I couldn’t do any of that, not because I was at my rehearsal dinner, but because I’m more hurt than angry. It’s four years later, and once again, I’m in pieces over a boy I’ve loved since I was seven.
“Okay.” I all but whisper. “I’ll try talking to him tomorrow.”
Tatum crosses her arms and pouts. “Oh sure, she can say his name and get through to you, but I say it and I get punched.”
The three of us laugh at her while Ivy slides Tatum’s glass of wine into the center of the table. Just as I’m about to go get another drink, my phone starts ringing on the table. Avery Brooks.
“Uh oh.” Tatum says drunkenly. “Someone’s in trouble.”
I roll my eyes and answer it. “Hello?”
“McKenna!” She slurs. “How are you?”
“Avery? Are you drunk?”
“No.” The one word is interrupted by a hiccup. “Okay, maybe a little. I need your help. My friend wants to drive me back to her house, but she’s drunk too. Can you come get me?”
