The Best Man {h.s.}

23

"Okay, okay! Enough!" Her cheeks redden as my eyebrows raise and my smile widens. "Don't you have guests to entertain?"

Chloe sighs with a smile. "I do, and so do you. Don't be too long." Her expression changes as she gives Emma a stern look before turning around to walk towards the party. Once she disappears behind the massive flower display, I turn to look at Emma with a smirk.

"I swear, whenever she's not treating me like a child, she's embarrassing me." She shakes her head. "I can't freaking win with her."

I smile and nudge her arm. "That's what sisters are for. But hey, if you ever want to relive those memories and put on another fashion show, just make sure I'm in the audience." I wink and her eyes widen before she covers her face with her hands.

"Oh my god." She chuckles as she shakes her head. "Enough of this, let's go."

We walk through a few rows of flowers before getting to an open area with a few high tables and a large number of guests. Emma weaves through the scattered groups of people and I follow until we eventually reach her parents.

"There's my girl," Emma's dad says, holding his arms out to wrap them around her. Emma's mom immediately runs up to me and gives me a hug.

"So nice to see you again, Harry." She smiles as she keeps her hands on my arms.

"Very nice to see you as well, Mrs. Stevens." She lets go and walks over to Emma, pulling her in for a hug while I turn to Emma's dad.

"Mr. Stevens, good to see you." I hold my hand out to shake his.

"You too, son. I hope you two have behaved yourselves since we last saw you." I cant quite read the look on his face to tell if he's kidding or serious, but thankfully, Emma is quick to interject.

"Dad," Emma warns as he chuckles.

"I'm just messin' around, Emmy. Actually, I'm glad you two are here." He leans in. "Hopefully you can distract me again from all this wedding shit."

Emma and I laugh as her mom swats his arm.

"What?" He asks her, our laughing getting louder.

Emma and I make our way around the party, making small talk with a few acquaintances and even more strangers. Every once in a while, she flips her hair away from her eyes and turns around to look at me with a smile, almost as if to make sure I'm still there. I don't say anything, but I hope she knows that I'm not going anywhere.

Eventually, we make it over to Ben and a few members of the wedding party. Ben immediately runs over and pulls us both into a hug.

"Thank god you guys are here. Seriously, I don't recognize anyone at this damn thing."

Emma and I both laugh as we pull away.

"I'm not kidding. This is the fucking worst."

"Ben, don't you know by now?" Emma asks with a grin. "That's why they have alcohol at these things."

Ben groans. "Don't even get me started. I swear Chloe's got like hidden cameras in this place. The second I tried to take a glass from one of those people walking around with drink trays, she swatted my hand away like I was about to grab a fucking grenade."

"Do you remember that time in school when she caught you smoking behind the garage?" I ask as Ben starts to laugh and Emma looks surprised.

"You actually did something that my sister didn't approve of," she says, lifting her eyebrows. "I'm so proud of you!" She chuckles and playfully punches his arm.

"Trust me when I say that wasn't the only time," I say with a smirk. "Remember when we snuck into that pub and we--"

"I remember that night," a feminine voice interrupts. I would turn around, but the fury in Emma's eyes already tell me who it is.

"That was the night we met, wasn't it, Harry?" Jane snakes her way around me so she can look me in the eyes.

"Ben?" Chloe calls in the distance. Ben pats my shoulder before disappearing. I watch him walk away, thinking briefly about following him, but there's no way in hell I'm leaving these two alone.

"Uh, yeah. It was." I say dryly, hoping that she will get the hint to leave this conversation. I watch her look at Emma vindictively before looking back at me.

"We have a lot of history. Don't we, Harry?" I don't know where she's going here, but the more she opens her mouth, the more my irritation grows.

"You could say that."

"Where is this going, Jane?" Emma asks, inching closer to me. Jane tilts her head and her grin widens.

"Has Harry ever told you about us?" She takes a step toward me and I feel my body tensing. "Did he tell you about how we met?"

"Enough, Jane." I warn.

I look down to see Emma tightening her fists as Jane steps even closer.

"Did he tell you about how much fun we used to have with each other?" Her eyes stay focused on me, enjoying every second of this. I can feel my heart in my throat and my lungs working harder than ever.

"I said, that's enough, Jane."

She takes a step closer to me and I feel like I'm about to explode.

"Has he ever told you about how he was madly in love with me?"

She places her hands on my suit jacket, straightening it and smoothing it out while the fire inside me grows and grows. I think for a second about ripping her hands off of me, but causing a scene right now would not only make things bad for me, but they would make things even worse for Emma. This is her sister that's getting married and this is her family that is surrounding me right now. But I need to stop thinking about them. All I care about is Emma, and this is definitely not what Emma wants, needs or deserves. Jane looks next to me, then her smile widens as she looks back at me.

"Oops," she pats my chest before stepping back. "Looks like we scared her off."

I immediately snap out of my rage and look next to me, noticing the empty spot where Emma was just standing.

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I am SO sorry that this took so long, but I hope you like it :)

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and I can't wait to write more for you this year! <3

xxx