AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Liam comes and stands next to me at the bar. He orders a scotch, tapping his fingers in a frustrated pattern as he waits. I stand there silently, teetering a bit on my heels.
"She was my fiancé," he finally says.
I was so right.
"I broke up with her about a year ago. It's been...difficult," he says.
I'm obviously intoxicated because I blurt out, "Did you bring me here to make her jealous?"
He looks at me with shock, and then quickly shakes his head.
"I didn't even know she was going to be here," he says, and I'm suddenly much happier than I've been since he left with her.
"She's had a habit of showing up wherever she thinks I'm going to be. We dated for three years though. It's hard to fully sever the ties since our lives were so connected."
I take a sip of my drink to try and quell my curiosity, knowing that it's none of my business. I can't stop myself though from asking more questions.
"Why did you break up?" I ask.
Liam leans against the bar, his eyes focused on some far-off memory.
"Miranda checks all the boxes of the girl I thought I wanted. I worked so hard to escape my upbringing and belong in this crowd," he says, gesturing to the room full of people that all look as beautiful and wealthy as he and Miranda do. "She's Yale educated. Her father is a state senator and her mother is a cousin of one of the Kennedy's. I'm pretty sure she once told me that her family could trace its lineage directly to the Mayflower," he says, chuckling from the memory.
"I realized two weeks before the wedding that I was dreadfully unhappy every time I was with her," he says, grimacing at the statement and looking at me quickly like he's afraid I'm going to run from the room.
"Wow," I say. "Not many people can say that they literally left someone at the altar."
He looks at me incredulously until he sees that I'm trying to hide a smile.
Feeling brave thanks to the alcohol, I place my hand on his and smile at him gently.
"Marriage should never be forced. It betrays the sacred nature of the vows when it happens. If you knew it wasn't love, then you did the right thing. Both of you will be better off for it in the long run."
What I don't tell him is that I've been married or engaged four times. That I've experienced the beauty of what true love can bring to one's life. That I know firsthand what it feels like to be so in love that you feel like they are a part of you.
I don't tell him how utterly terrible true love is when it ends.
"Do you mind if we leave?" he asks.
I laugh. I've been wanting to leave since we got here.
"It's probably best if you get me away from the open bar," I tell him, and he blesses me with an answering grin.
We grab our coats, and we walk towards the exit, his hand once again burning a hole on my lower back. Feeling prickles along my spine, I look behind me as we walk. Miranda is standing there against a wall, an empty wine glass in her hand, staring at us forlornly. I want to walk over, give her a hug, and tell her that everything will be alright. But I know firsthand that it won't be, and so I don't.
The air feels chilly after the stuffy humidity of the party, and I welcome it as we walk to the car. We're both quiet as he drives me home, lost in our own thoughts. He stops the car in front of my shitty apartment and it hits me how out of place the car looks in front of the complex, how out of place Liam is in the world that I'm currently stuck in. I wonder what he would have thought of me had he seen me betrothed to a prince.
I am so much more than who I have become.
I look back at where Liam is getting out of his beautiful, shiny black car that I know probably costs more than I will make in ten years at the diner. He wants to save me I can tell. He's going to be so disappointed when it proves impossible.
We walk to my door, still not saying anything. I pull my key out of my pocket and clear my throat.
Whatever I was going to say disappears from my mind as soon as I open the door, and I'm faced with my reality that comes in the form of threadbare, dirty carpet, and scuffed walls with peeling paint. In this life, I am alone. I'm long past the point of a prince riding in on his white horse to save me. Or at least I'm past the point of letting a prince save me.
"Can I come in?" asks Liam hesitantly.
"I don't think it's a good idea," I answer. "It's been a complicated night for both of us."
