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“Oh, um, hey!” I bumble around my words, nervous as all get out. “I’m good! I finally graduated Princeton with a finance degree this year.”
“That’s amazing,” Archer responds, his voice a deep rumble that makes my insides quake with remnants of my past love. “You always were a genius with numbers.”
He remembers my love of math. That feels important to me for some reason. It feels like he’s thought about me in the eight years since we last interacted. I know I missed all of them, I just never considered that any of them may have had similar thoughts. I’m about to answer when someone else speaks instead.
“Hey! You’re the maid of honour, right?” A random guy interrupts to ask.
This pulls me out of my love sick stare down of Archer as I look over at the man talking to me. To be honest, I forgot that there were other people around us. This is what happens to me around these guys, I forget the world exists and focus my every attention on them. Putting on my polite smile, I nod to the guy speaking to me. I don’t recognize him so he must be one of Josh’s college buddies.
“That’s me,” I exclaim with a small wave. “My name is Brayleigh.”
“I’m Kit. I’m one of the groomsmen.” He smiles brightly at me. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Kit is a very attractive guy, no doubt about it. I want to say yes to him because a fling is what I need this summer to relax and have fun. Kit is giving me a flirty smile that tells me that is exactly what he would be up for, which is perfect. Or, it would have been perfect if tall, dark and handsome beside me wasn’t already taking up my thoughts. Grayson is also mixed into my thoughts, along with what all the others are up to. I’ve been back in this town for a few hours and seeing two of the Wild boys has already screwed with all the progress I made while I was away.
Piper and Josh’s entrance music starts up, saving me from having to answer Kit. I sneak a side glance at Archer when everyone turns to watch the happy couple strut into the room. I fully expect his eyes to be on the door with everyone else, but those eyes are still staring at me with an intensity that I don’t know how to decipher. The only other time I’ve seen this look on his face was when we had our last heart to heart and I thought he was going to kiss me. I was very, very wrong that time which was definitely for the best. He ended up never speaking to me again after that time though so I really don’t want to get my hopes up.
Hopes that should die a painful death. I don’t need to be thinking about ANY of them this way. It’s too dangerous for my fragile heart.
Piper steps onto the stage to make her welcoming speech to everyone. Josh is staring at her with so much love that it makes my eyes tear up. If there’s a couple out there that can make even the most sceptical of people believe in love, it’s them. I hate that I’ve been away from them for so long. School took up so much of my time when I started doing summer school to add some extra courses onto my degree and my relationships came second. Thankfully, Piper is the best friend ever so she supported me through all of it and kept being my friend even when I was an awful friend back to her.
“Thank you all for coming tonight,” Piper starts speaking with the most beautiful smile on her face. “It feels like yesterday that I agreed to go out on a date with this doink. Four years later and we’re about to be married in just a few short months. I can hardly believe we’re here or that I get to marry the man of my dreams. Our love is so strong and so pure, we decided we needed to share it with someone else. That’s why in November we’ll be adding one more to our family. Surprise!”
Josh holds up a framed ultrasound picture of their unborn baby and I gasp along with the rest of the crowd.They’re having a baby! A freaking baby!!That’s why she was pushing so hard for me to be home for this party. Piper’s eyes find mine through the party goers and she laughs as I wipe tears from my cheeks. Pushing forward, I make my way over to where they are. My mom grabs me before I can reach Piper and Josh to hug the crap out of me. She’s so excited as she throws a million questions my way that I don’t have the answer to.
“We can ask Piper these things together at a later date,” I assure my mom. “Right now, I want to congratulate my bestie. I’ll find you after.”
“Tell her we say congratulations too!”
“You got it!” I yell back as I push through the group of people crowding around Piper and Josh.
When I finally make it to the front, Piper grabs me in a bear hug so tight I can't breathe. My eyes fill up with tears as she sniffles with her own happy tears. We hold each other for a while, laughing and whispering back and forth about her becoming a mom.
"You're going to be an amazing mother to this little one." I sniffle, pulling back to touch her belly softly. "I couldn't be happier for you guys."
"Where's my hug? I'm going to be a parent too!" Josh jokes as he pulls both of us into a group hug.
"Don't let him teach your child his awful sense of humour," I warn Piper with a mock stern voice. Turning, I point at Josh, "The baby is already stuck being half you, they don't need your bad jokes too."
Josh gasps, holding a hand over his heart as he dramatically whines about how much I just broke his heart. Laughing, Piper pushes him backwards and promises she won't subject their child to that. I congratulate them again for both me and my mom before I step away to let the rest of the party goers congratulate and chat with them.
The fact that they're having a baby and getting married has my heart twisted in knots. I want that life as well. I'm so unbelievably happy for them and their level of love is what I'm looking for. I refuse to settle for anything less than the all-consuming, weak in the knees kind of love that they have. My one problem - no one compares to the boys who stole my heart all those years ago.
Drink, that's what I need. It's time to get a little tipsy and flirt with one of the sexy single men here. I'm still super young, I can have fun for a little while longer before love needs to come a knocking. I need to save a horse and go home with one of the sexy cowboys here tonight. Kit seemed happy to get me a drink, maybe I should take him up on that.
Archer looks fine as hell but he is majorly off the table. My heart is too involved in how incredibly hot I find him. That's a damn disaster waiting to happen. My gut tells me I need to stay as far away from those forbidden five as I can. They are trouble with a capital T. My heart of course disagrees so it was dis-invited to this conversation. My heart has been getting me into trouble for years considering it REFUSES to give up the five boys that should have just been crushes.Learn what a crush is heart! You can't love five guys at once, it's not what's done in normal society.
I definitely need that drink. I can't think straight so I might as well throw my inhibitions to the wind. This is a party after all. I'll drink for Piper while I'm at it since she can't drink anymore. Celebration drinks for both of us! Walking up to the bar, I signal the bartender to let her know I'm ready to order.
When she approaches I order two shots of tequila and a sex on the beach for the road. I'll absolutely regret it later yet I can't seem to care at this moment. The bartender looks like she wants to ask who hurt me or if I need to talk about anything. I just still want to screw at least two of the five Wild brothers, I'm psyched my best friend is pregnant, and I deserve to let loose a little bit. This is not a heartbreak get drunk, this is strictly a happy get drunk.
"Here you go, hun. Maybe nurse that sex on the beach," she says with a wink.
Blushing, I nod with a little laugh. I feel a touch self conscious about doing these shots, luckily I know the remedy to that. If you guessed that it would be doing the shots, you are correct. Throwing my embarrassment to the wind, I shoot back that tequila like my roommate taught me in college. The burn of the first one is amplified by the second one before I soothe it with my mixed drink. I hate limes so I avoid using them with tequila and salt will just make me drunker faster, something I do not need help with.
"Damn, girl. What are you trying to forget?" I hear Piper say behind me. "I've never seen you throw them back like that before."
"I'm celebrating! Ella taught me how to properly do shots," I giggle, already feeling the effects. "She said I couldn't be considered an adult until I could take shots like a pro. I can even do it with no hands now!"
