JILTED || tom blyth

three

. now .

"You're going to have to tell him at some point." Vivienne states. I pretend not to hear her as I continue to rifle through the rack of dresses in front of me. I, out of hope that I wouldn't be attending the party tonight, decided that I wasn't going to be buying a dress. I suckered my sister into coming with me as she has always had an eye for events like this. "Don't ignore me, the least you can do is tell Josh."

"The way I see it is if I do my best to avoid Tom tonight, I won't ever have to talk to him again." I shrug my shoulders and turn to the next rack. "That means I won't have to tell him either. He doesn't deserve it anymore."

"What exactly happened that night? I feel like I haven't heard the whole story." Vi questions. I figured I would have to talk about it eventually. In reality, if I could have run away from more than just the wedding I would have. Having to face everyone after inviting them to a party that didn't happen was the last thing I wanted to do. I have successfully ignored and avoided everyone, including our father.

"Help me find a dress first and then I will tell you." I say. She joins me in my search. Almost immediately she pulls out a beautiful, deep green satin slip dress. It was very similar to the green that the bridesmaids were supposed to wear.

"Absolutely not." I say and continue to search.

"You know this is the dress." She pushes it onto my chest and starts to shuffle me toward the fitting room. I hate this. She rushes me into the first empty room and takes a seat on the bench across from the mirror. "Well try it, then try and tell me this isn't the one."

There is no use in trying to get out of it now. I start removing my clothes and remove the dress from the hanger. I slip it on. Great. It fits. Vi stands and fixes the cowl neck and rests her hands on my shoulders. "You look so good." She laughs. She moves behind me so that I can get a better look now that it has been adjusted.

She's right. "What are you wearing?" I ask. For as long as I can remember, Vi was the one that dressed both of us when there was something important to go to. She would even dress Josh, but now he has people for that.

"Well, Josh told me he will be wearing a burgundy coat, and you're wearing green; I have the perfect black dress and that way we'll all kind of match." She says. I nod my head and put my clothes back on. "You can wear those gold shoes that I bought you for your birthday, that you've never worn before now that I think about it."

"Vi, it's not often that I go places that call for gold heels" They are strappy heels that wrap around the ankle, but she's right, she's always right. I would not have any sense of style if it wasn't for Vi. She has always been there to tell me what does and doesn't look good and has always bought me the most beautiful clothes, despite me not always knowing how exactly to wear them. I am a bit disappointed that she didn't pursue a career in fashion in one way or another. Instead, she runs a fairly popular food blog.

"Well, now that you are a single woman, without any outstanding responsibilities or ties to your ex, it is time we get you back out there. No reason for you to wait, seeing as how he who shall not be named hasn't." Vi has always been the sibling that was the most 'no bullshit' attitude of the three of us. This makes sense as she is the oldest.

"How do you know about that?" I question. I open the door of the fitting room and step out. She follows.

"Josh asked me if I thought it would be wrong of him to tell you about what's his name and his rebound. I told him of course you should know, especially since we're probably going to see him tonight and I didn't want you to feel like you were walking into an ambush. And look at you now, you're preparing yourself." Ever since that day, Vi has refused to say Tom's name out loud. She doesn't even know the full extent of what happened, so I can only imagine what she's going to do after I tell her about what happened the night before. "Let's hurry. There's a new restaurant near by that I have been dying to try."

...

"I'll just share with her." I say, handing the menu to the waiter. Vi had ordered four separate dishes and I'm not sure if there would be enough space between all of the plates and her notebook. She is writing down the menu descriptions of all of the items.

"I'll just need another minute with this." She says as she smiles up at him. He nods and walks off. "Why didn't you order what you wanted?"

"There's no way that you're going to finish all of that food by yourself." I say. I grab my glass of water to take a sip.

"You're right. Anyway," she says, putting her pen down and folding her hands over her notebook. "Spill." I was hoping she had forgotten.

I let out a sigh and shift in my seat. Knowing that Vi has already drastically changed her view of Tom, I want to be careful with just how I share what happened. "So, I hadn't seen Tom all day and I just wanted to see how he was doing. I walked to the house they had rented since it was just a little way down the beach. I don't remember who let me in, but once I was in, I could already hear Tom's voice. He was telling someone that he was making a mistake getting married so young and that it was probably going to be the end of his career. So, I left before he could see me and before I could hear more. That's why I left, that and the-"

"The doctor." She says. "Honestly, any reason you would have given me would have been enough, I'm just sorry it happened that way." I didn't want to admit to Vi that mine and Tom's relationship felt like it had been falling apart for months by then. I didn't want to tell her that I was surprised that the wedding was still taking place before it wasn't. Most of all, I didn't want to tell her that I regretted leaving that day.

...

Despite having previously attended cast parties with Josh, my nerves allowed me to forget that there is a big spectacle made with the number of photographers trying to get their celebrity pictures. Great. There is a small area that people are taking pictures in front of but none of them seem to be taking pictures with their extra guests.

"I'm sure they'll let us all go up together if you want to take some pictures." Josh says looking toward Vi and I. We shake out heads in unison.

"You go with Rachel; I think we're going to go find the bar. We'll meet you inside." Vi says as she grabs my hand and starts looking for a way into the venue. I give Josh a small smile before I am pulled away through the crowd. I can't stop looking, searching for Tom. I wonder if he already took his photos. I wonder who his new girlfriend is.

Vi walks us straight to the bar and orders us mojitos. Personally, I would have liked something a little bit stronger. I take a big sip, hoping that the alcohol sets in fast. The bar is located on a small platform that is only slightly taller than the floor. It makes for a great vantage point. I quickly survey the room and can't find Tom. I finish the drink in my hand.

I turn around. "Can I get another one of these please." I tell the bartender. He nods and whips together another drink.

"You two must be Josh's sisters." A beautiful blonde says in a very perky tone as she walks toward us. "I'm Lily, it's so great to meet you." She reaches out her hand to shake ours. Vi shakes it and introduces herself as Vivienne.

"Amelia," I say simply and offer her a smile. She moves in closer to shake my hand and I oblige. There were a lot more people here than I initially thought would be. I turned my attention back to looking for Tom. I can hear Vi making conversation with Lily. "Excuse me I am going to use the restroom."

I make my way toward the restrooms and can't help but look around like a paranoid woman. I shouldn't have come. I figured it would be like this but not this bad. I need to focus. I am about to turn my attention from the floor as I notice that I am just centimeters away from bumping into someone. They grab my arms and I look up ready to apologize profusely, only to be me by piercing blue eyes and an all too familiar stare.