Chapter 25 | Didn't You Hear? I'm Pretty Badass
(unedited bc it's 1:30 a.m., I'm super tired, and I wrote about 85% of this like four hours, so don't mind any typos please)
“All of our young lives we search for someone to love, someone to make us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, someone is perfect for us.” ― The Wonder Years
“You’re gonna get me in so much trouble,” I sleepily tell Graham, rolling over in his bed to face him.
“I didn’t make you stay over,” He reminds me with a chuckle. “But I’m really glad that you did,” He adds, leaning over and kissing my cheek.
“Me too,” I admit, glancing up at him with a small smile. “Even though my mother is probably going to murder me if she finds out that I did.”
Last night, I stayed over at Graham’s house because…well, because I just wanted to and so I did. It’s not like I had anything better to do, so I mean, why not? The funny thing though is that whenever Graham and I hang out by ourselves, we really don’t do much of anything, but I still always have so much with him.
Take last night, for example. Basically, all we did was make out (a lot), eat pizza (a bunch), listen to a Nirvana album (or maybe it was a Black Sabbath or Queen album—I don’t remember), eat ice cream, watch Red Band Society (which just so happens to be my new favorite show and Graham wouldn’t admit it, but I think that he likes it too) make out some more and then we went to sleep. So, it’s not like we do particularly fun stuff when we hang out (except for the making out, because that’s always super fun) but when we do it together, it’s fun. Or maybe I just really love being around him, I don’t know.
Anyways though, as far as Beckett and my mom know, I’m at Piper’s house right now, because Piper, Sienna, and I had a sleepover there last night. Aspen’s sick—I think that she’s got mono or something (but then again, I’m no doctor), but she has this really weird fear of going to the doctor whenever she’s sick because she always thinks that they’re gonna give her a shot, so she hasn’t been yet, but she’s in pretty terrible shape, so I think that she’ll probably be going anytime soon. But yeah, she’s feeling pretty terrible, which is why I decided not to drag her into my little lie. Because had I done that, she would’ve had to leave the house and stay gone until morning and I didn’t want her to have to do that while she’s all deathly sick and whatnot, just to help me lie to my mom.
I hate lying to my mom, I really do, but it’s not like I could help it. I mean, she’s definitely not one of those lax parents that doesn’t mind letting her teenage daughter sleep over at her boyfriend’s house, so it’s not like I could outright ask for her permission to spend the night. So, really, you see, I had no other choice but to lie.
In the event that she does find out that I lied to her and wasn’t actually at Piper’s house last night, I’ve already concocted up a good back-up lie. I’m just going to tell her that yesterday afternoon, after therapy was over, I came to Graham’s house with him to tutor him in Theology, just like I always do. That part isn’t the lie though.
The lie is that after I finished tutoring him, I was going to leave and come home, but it started snowing and icing and the roads were way too slick for me to drive on, so I was forced to spend the night. She’ll be a little annoyed by it, I’m sure, but I’m pretty positive she’ll buy it.
“I think that you’re just being dramatic, as usual,” Graham teases.
“I am not—my mom is actually pretty ruthless and mean when she wants to be,” I reason. “Anyways, are you excited about today?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” He shrugs indifferently before sitting up in his bed. “I mean, not so much about the ceremony because it’s gonna be really boring, but you being there is gonna make it a lot more bearable though, I think,” Graham tells me. “But I am happy for Cass and Tucker.”
“Do you practice being such a cheeseball or does it just come naturally?” I ask Graham with a small laugh as a blush creeps across my face.
Today is Saturday, February 8, aka, Cassidy and Tucker’s Wedding Day. Even though I haven’t known Tucker all that long at all (only like four months) and I’ve known Cassidy for an even shorter amount of time, I’m actually pretty excited for the wedding. Well, not so much the wedding itself, because those things are boring, I would think, unless you’re the bride or the groom, but more so the reception, I guess.
But ever since Cassidy asked me to be a bridesmaid, I (and the other three bridesmaids) have had a lot to do with the planning of the wedding and working a lot of the last minute details out, so seeing it finally come together is going to be really amazing.
“It just comes naturally, I guess,” He replies with a laugh and another shrug. He’s very shrug-y today. “I’m pretty sure you love it though.”
“I do,” I agree, sitting up in his bed and climbing over on his lap, straddling him. “I love everything about you,” I tell Graham matter-of-factly.
“I love everything about you too,” He states, loosely wrapping his arms around my waist and leaning down, placing his lips to mine for a kiss.
I have no idea what time it is right now but we’ve both been up for at least an hour or so—we’ve just been too lazy to get out of bed to do anything other than brush our teeth and shower (separately, which I’m sure you could have guessed, but I just wanted to make that clear).
The wedding is supposed to start at 12 o’clock (which is weird because from what I’ve seen on TV, weddings usually happen around the late afternoon and not the morning) so I guess we’ll have to stop making out pretty soon and get ready to go.
“Graham!” Jackson exclaims from outside of the closed bedroom door a couple of minutes later, just as Graham moves his lips away from mine and to my neck, sucking gently on the skin. I know that he’s leaving a hickey—he likes to do that, I guess, because he’s left at least three of them on me since we first got together. I don’t really mind it at all though, because it feels really good whenever he does it—it’s just kind of heart trying to hide them from my brother, who I’m pretty sure would murder Graham in cold blood if he saw a hickey on me.
“If we ignore him, I’m sure he’ll go away,” Graham murmurs in a low voice, making no move at all to go and see what his baby brother wants.
“We can’t just ignore him,” I giggle, hesitantly pulling away. “We can have an amazingly hot make out session later— I promise,” I swear.
“I’m holding you to that, just so you know,” Graham tells me matter-of-factly as I climb off of his lap and grab the remote, turning the TV on.
“Graham!” Jackson shouts from outside of the door and then he literally starts banging on it with his little fist. “Let me in! Please!” He pleads.
“Okay, okay—calm down, I’m coming,” Graham calls to his little brother. He gets up from his bed and then walks over to the door, unlocking it and swinging it open. “What’s up?” He asks, glancing down at Jackson.
“I spilled milk on my tux!” He exclaims, walking past Graham and into the bedroom with a sad look on his face.
“Why were you drinking milk with your tux on?” Graham asks, crossing the room and picking his t-shirt up from the floor and pulling it on.
“Because,” Jackson huffs, walking over to the bed and climbing up in my lap. I’m pretty sure he’s starting to love me just as much as I love him. I mean really, I am obsessed with this kid—I don’t know if I’ll have kids when I grow up but if I do and they don’t turn out to be like Jackson, I’m gonna be pretty angry because he’s just so dang adorable. “I was hungry, but Mommy and Tucker and Cassidy all left to go do stuff for the wedding and I thought that you were sleep, so I made myself some cereal. But then when I was eating it, Noelle ran in the kitchen and she bumped into the table and the bowl fell and the milk got all over me!” He cries, looking incredibly close to tears as he glances down at the black tuxedo that he’s wearing—I’m guessing it’s for the wedding.
“It’s okay, bud,” Graham assures his little brother, who is basically freaking out and he looks so sad and it’s kind of breaking my heart.
“It’s not okay, Graham,” Jackson grumbles with a sniffle. “Cassidy and Tucker are gonna be really mad at me.”
“They aren’t gonna be mad at you,” Graham says, shaking his head. “Just take it off, go take a bath, and I’ll take the suit to the dry cleaners.”
“Can you get it back before the wedding?” Jackson asks hopefully.
“I can get it back before the wedding,” Graham confirms with a nod.
“Okay,” Jackson replies with a relieved sigh, his spirts instantly lifted. “Can you make me real food before I take a bath? I’m still hungry.”
“If you’re in the mood for macaroni and cheese, then sure,” Graham laughs.
“Why can’t you make real food?” Jackson grumbles, climbing out of my lap and out of the bed.
“Why can’t you eat cereal without flipping the bowl over and spilling it all over yourself?” Graham wonders, ruffling his brother’s hair up.
“I told you that that was Noelle’s fault!” Jackson exclaims.
Noelle, by the way, is the Cambridges' new puppy. On Graham’s birthday, when Jackson asked if they could get a puppy as a girlfriend for Bono and Graham said that they could if Tucker agreed, I didn’t believe him. Evidently, I was wrong though because just a few days ago, Graham and Tucker took Jackson to the local animal shelter and they adopted Noelle.
She’s probably the most adorable puppy I’ve ever seen in my whole entire life—she’s a coffee-colored pug and she’s a little bit younger than Bono, I think. I’m even more jealous of the Cambridge boys now than ever because now they’ve got two puppies and I still don’t have even one. Then again though, I guess you could kind of count Zoe as my puppy. She’s technically Aspen’s, but I play with her a lot and take her out for walks and such. Well, walks around my backyard anyway.
“Okay, sure, blame everything on the new puppy,” Graham teases. “Tell you what—I’ll make a deal with you. If you can get in and out of the tub in the next twenty minutes, I’ll take you to McDonalds or Burger King or somewhere for breakfast,” He bribes, picking up his iPhone from his dresser and glancing down at it. “The wedding starts in three hours and if you and I aren’t at the Country Club in the next forty-five minutes or so, forget about there being a wedding today—there’s gonna be two funerals, because Cassidy’s gonna murder us.”
“Now who’s being dramatic?” I scoff, averting my gaze from the TV and over at Graham with a playful smirk.
“Not me—seriously, Cass will kill us if we’re late,” Graham defends. “And you,” He says, looking down at his brother. “Come on, get a move on.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going,” Jackson agrees before taking off out of the room at full speed.
“Aren’t you gonna be super sad when you go to college and can’t see that adorable kid every day?” I randomly ask Graham.
“Yeah,” He responds, going over to his closet and pulling it open. “He’s dramatic and hyperactive, but yeah, I really am gonna miss him.”
Graham and I still haven’t talked all that much at all about what exactly is going to happen to us when he goes away to college in the fall. I try my best to not think about it though, because the thought of having to break up with Graham makes me so incredibly sad. And I have spent way too much of my time this past year being said and I am just so over it.
Seeing as how it’s February though, I’m fairly positive Graham has gotten at a couple of his acceptance letters. We just haven’t talked about them yet and I’m not going to be the one to bring it up. We’re both basically just pretending that everything isn’t gonna change for us in a few months, even though we both know that that’s not the truth at all.
I open my mouth to reply, but before I can get a word out, my phone starts buzzing loudly on Graham’s bedside table. With a small sigh, I reach over and grab it, glancing down at the display. It’s Beckett and I’m tempted to just ignore his call because I’m pretty sure he’s just going to badger me about coming back home now that it’s morning.
He’s weird like that. After a few seconds though, he still hasn’t hung the phone up and I realize then that it might be important. Usually when he calls me, he only lets the phone ring a few times and then hangs up. So, I’d imagine that whatever it is he’s calling about must be important if he’s still on the line, so I guess I should probably answer it.
“Hey Beck,” I greet.
“Sawyer,” He says and I crinkle my forehead in confusion when I notice how different his voice sounds and that’s how I know something’s wrong.
“What is it?” I ask, starting to feel kind of nervous. “Beckett, what’s wrong?”
“Something’s wrong with Aspen,” Beckett vaguely tells me with a small sigh.
“W-what?” I stutter, sitting all the way up in Graham’s bed. “Something like what? Is she okay? What’s going on?” I demand, curious as to know what’s going on with my best friend. Like I said before, I think that she has mono (or maybe some other kind of grossly infectious disease), so I bet it has something to do with that. I told her to go to the doctor. I ever tried to have our family doctor make a house call to see her, but Aspen refused to cooperate. And now something’s wrong and I, being the dramatic girl I am, start thinking of all the worst possible scenarios.
“I-I don’t know,” He replies, sighing again. “I just know that something’s not right. Like, you know how on Saturday mornings, we usually go to IHOP for breakfast, Aspen and me? Well, this morning, she didn’t wanna go for some reason. I went to her room at the same time that I do every Saturday morning, but the door was locked, which is weird because she never locks it. So, I knocked on it for a good half hour at least and I texted her and I called her a few times too, but she’s completely ignoring me, so I know something’s wrong with her,” Beckett explains.
“Well, did you do something to piss her off?” I ask.
“No,” He quickly denies. “Well, at least, I don’t think I did. I mean, she was fine last night,” He tells me.
“And you haven’t seen or spoken to her all day?” I wonder, trying to think of a reason as to why Aspen would randomly just shut him out. We don’t talk about their relationship, Aspen and me, because it’d be pretty weird, I think. I’m really not interested in listening to her go on and on about how good of a kisser she thinks my brother is. I think that if he did something to make her mad though, she would probably tell me. Then again though, she knew that I was with Graham last night, so if something happened, I can see why she wouldn’t have called and told me.
“No, not at all,” Beckett responds. “I know that she’s been feeling sick these past few days, so maybe she’s just sleeping. I just wanted to call you and tell you though because I thought that maybe you could get her to open the door and talk since you’re her best friend,” He reasons.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, suddenly remembering—how could I forget? I know exactly what’s wrong with Aspen and my heart kind of shatters into a million little pieces in my chest when I realize how terrible a best friend I actually am. I mean, best friends are supposed to remember this kind of stuff and they’re supposed to be there for their best friends when these kinds of days roll around.
“What?” Beckett asks.
“Today’s February 8th, isn’t it?” I ask him, even though I already know that to be true. In all of the excitement I had built up today for the wedding, I totally forgot why else February 8th is important. But poor Aspen can’t forget. She can try but I’m pretty positive she never will.
“Yeah, so what?” Beckett replies. “I’m pretty sure her birthday isn’t until like, October, right?”
“Yeah, it’s not her birthday today,” I assure my brother. “You’re pretty close though—it’s Elliot’s birthday,” I inform him.
“Elliot as in her ex-boyfriend? That Elliot?” He asks, sounding super uncomfortable with the topic. Makes sense though—if Graham had a dead girlfriend (he doesn’t, as far as I know), I wouldn’t want to talk about her wither. “You really think that’s what’s wrong with her?” He asks.
“I know it is,” I reply with a small sigh, tiredly running my fingers through my hair. “I know that Aspen seems like the strongest, happiest girl in the whole wide world, but she really isn’t at all, Beckett. She’s sad—she’s so sad all the time and she tries her best to hide it, but I’m her best friend and I see right through it. I know you and her didn’t really talk that much before Elliot passed away but she was so in love with him. Like, she loved him so, so much—I can’t even describe to you how much love she had and still has in her heart for that boy.”
“Well, why didn’t she just tell me that?” Beckett grumbles.
“I don’t know, Beck,” I truthfully respond. “She probably just doesn’t want you to know that after almost a year, she’s still in so much pain.”
“Now I feel bad,” He sighs. “What should I do?”
“Don’t do anything,” I suggest. “I’m on my way home right now—I’ll be there in ten minutes and I’ll talk to her,” I assure my brother then.
“Wait, I thought you were at Piper’s house?”
“I am at Piper’s house,” I state, keeping up my lie.
“Piper doesn’t live ten minutes away from here,” He reminds me. “She lives like, at least half an hour away,” Beckett says, sounding suspicious.
“Yeah, but I left like fifteen minutes ago,” I explain.
“So, you’re driving and talking at the same time?” He asks in a disapproving tone. “That’s really dangerous, you know.”
“Beckett, I’ve literally seen you text and drive at the same time on multiple occasions, so don’t be a hypocrite,” I scoff.
“I’m not being a hypocrite—I’m just saying, it’s dangerous and I’m pretty sure it’s illegal since you’re only seventeen.”
“We’re not even talking about me right now—we’re talking about your girlfriend and my best friend,” I remind my dumb brother.
“Right, so I should do nothing?” Beckett wonders, sounding confused.
“You should do nothing,” I confirm, standing up from Graham’s bed and crossing the room to slip my black Uggs on. “I’ll see you later,” I add before hanging the phone up and tossing it across the room so that it lands squarely on the bed.
“Is everything alright?” Graham asks curiously from his closet. I think that he’s looking for his tuxedo for the wedding, since he said that they have to be there in the next forty-five minutes. I still have to go home and get dressed, so I know that I can’t be there by then, which is fine, because last night when Courtney, Blaire, Phoebe, (Cassidy’s other three bridesmaids), Cassidy and I were getting our nails done, she informed us that we don’t technically have to be at the Country Club until 10:30. Seemed awfully early to me, seeing as how the wedding isn’t supposed to start until 12 o’clock, but when she said we’d all be getting our hair and make-up done there at Sepal Ridge, so it makes sense, I suppose.
“No,” I sigh, shaking my head as I search the room for my car keys. “Aspen’s ex-boyfriend, Elliot, died about a year ago and today’s what would have been his eighteenth birthday and she’s kind of not okay,” I explain.
I find my car keys on the floor near the foot of the bed and pick them up and then pull my black North Face on. I’m wearing a red t-shirt that belongs to Graham (I stole it from his dresser this morning while he was in the shower) and a pair of black yoga pants but hopefully Beckett will be too busy worrying about Aspen to notice my choice of clothing.
“Oh, okay then. Well, do you just want to meet up at Sepal Ridge?” He asks, stepping out of the closet with an expensive-looking black tuxedo.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I confirm with a nod, zipping the jacket all the way up and grabbing my phone from the bed, putting it in my pocket. “I’m gonna run home, talk to Aspen and make sure she’s okay, then I’m gonna get ready, leave my house, go pick up Sienna, and then I’ll be there.”
As you know, Sienna is a family friend of the Cambridge’s, so of course she’s invited to the wedding. I think that she’s bringing Vince with her—he’s the mayor’s son and the guy she’s been seeing the past three weeks or so. I still haven’t met him, but he seems like a pretty nice guy from what Sienna’s told me and I can tell she really likes him, so I’m sure I’ll be meeting him later today.
“Okay then, good luck with Aspen,” Graham replies, closing his closet and taking his tux off of the hanger before pulling his t-shirt off.
“Thanks,” I sigh, heading towards the door. If I wasn’t in such a hurry to get home and talk to Aspen, I would spend just a little bit more time admiring his beautifully bare abs, but I can’t really let my hormones distract me a time like this, so I avert my gaze away from them and up at his face. “So, I’ll see you later,” I add before pulling the bedroom door open and walking out.
I make it about halfway down the hallway though before I remember something and turn back around, going back to Graham’s bedroom. When I walk back in, he looks at me with a confused expression as he’s pulling on his white button down shirt. “Did you forget something?” He queries.
“I did,” I confirm, walking up to him and then going up on my tip-toes before putting my lips against his for a small kiss. “I love you,” I state.
“I love you too, Sawyer,” Graham replies with a small chuckle after I pull away.
“Okay, I’m leaving now,” I giggle before leaving the room again, closing the door shut behind me.
I go downstairs and I’m tempted to stop and play with Noelle and Bono for a second because they’re both just so lovely and adorable and they’re sitting on the couch together, each playing with their little chew toys. I decide against it though because if I start playing with them, then I’m not going to want to stop and I really need to get home.
I walk past them and to the front door, pulling it open and stepping out, closing the door behind me. I walk down the driveway and to my car, which is parked on the street, right in front of their house. When I get to my car, I get inside and quickly start it up, turning the heat on full blast and pulling my seatbelt on.
I’m so surprised by the fact that it isn’t snowing—it doesn’t look like it snowed overnight either, which is new. I know Cassidy’s happy about that too, because all day yesterday, she was talking about how worried she was that the wedding was going to get snowed out. I highly doubt that a little snow would have stopped her from marrying Tucker today though.
The thing is, the wedding is outside, on the Sepal Ridge Country Club golf course. Not the most glamorous place to have a wedding, I know, but I know that it’s going to be fabulous. Sepal Ridge is one of the most exclusive and expensive Country Clubs in all of Massachusetts, according to Mary Katherine, Tucker and Cassidy’s wedding planner. So, even though getting married on a golf course is pretty unconventional, it’s bound to be amazing, because the golf course at Sepal Ridge is pretty dang swanky.
Before pulling off from in front of Graham’s house, I pull my phone out of my pocket and send a quick text to Sienna, telling her that I’ll be at her house in an hour to pick her up. She texts me back instantly, asking if it’s okay if Vince rides with us (told you she was bringing him) and I tell her that it is. Then I put my car in gear and pull away from Graham’s house, cruising down the residential road.
Something like ten minutes later, I arrive at my house and park in the driveway, right behind Beckett’s Hummer. Thankfully, my mom’s car is gone (or it’s in the garage, but she usually doesn’t park it there, so I’m just assuming she’s gone), which is good because she probably still thinks I was at Piper’s house last night. If she had any doubt about where I was last night, I’m sure she’d be here, waiting to confront me.
Honestly though, ever since the trial took place five days ago, she’s been a lot more lenient than usual. I think she’s just trying to be nice to me while I get over the shock of the fact that Flynn is finally out of my life. Well, for the next six months, at least. It’s not long, I know, but when you think about what he was charged with, it’s a reasonable sentence. Do I wish it was longer? Yes. Can I do anything about it? No. Am I happy with the result? Absolutely.
I get out of my car then and push the button on the remote to lock the doors (twice). Ever since Flynn decided that it would be cool to just walk into my house, I’ve become pretty obsessive about making sure that my car doors are always locked, as well as every door and window that allows entry into my house.
I know that Flynn’s locked away in jail and that he can’t hurt me from there, but still. I need to be sure. When I get to the front door of my house, I unlock the door, go in, and then lock it behind me. I even deadbolt it, just because. Go ahead and call me paranoid if you want, that’s fine—I guess I am pretty paranoid.
“Hey Zoe,” I greet, walking into the living room and seeing Aspen’s puppy eating from her food bowl. When she hears me, she stops eating and runs over to me, jumping up on her hind legs and putting her front paws all over my Uggs. She’s clean though, so I don’t mind. I think she probably missed me, which is reasonable because I missed her. I’m telling you, if/when Aspen decides to go back home to her parents’ house, she isn’t taking Zoe with her. We’ve just developed such a close bond, Zoe and I have, so it really wouldn’t be fair for Aspen to rip us apart.
“It’s about time you got here,” Beckett announces, walking into the living room from the kitchen.
“I can only drive so fast, Beck,” I remind him, pulling my North Face off and throwing it at the couch. “She still won’t come out of her room?”
“No,” He sighs, shaking his head. “I tried to bribe her with take-out, but she still refused to leave.”
“I think it’s gonna take a bit more than underpriced Chinese food to make Aspen feel better, Beckett,” I tell my brother with a small laugh.
“Yeah, you’re probably right about that,” He sighs. “Okay, so I’ll just leave you two alone for a little while and take Zoe for a walk,” He adds.
“Okay,” I reply, watching as Beckett hooks Zoe’s retractable leash up to her collar. “Don’t feel too bad, Beck—she’s not mad at you,” I tell him.
“I know, I just feel like there’s something I should be able to do to make her feel better, you know, as her boyfriend,” Beckett explains.
“Aspen’s a very complex person, which I’m sure you’ll come to realize very, very soon. She only lets a few in and it takes a lot of time.”
“She’s pretty lucky to have you—you’re a good friend to her,” Beckett randomly states.
“Well, she was there for me after the whole Flynn thing, so it’s the least I could do.”
“Yeah, but still,” Beckett replies with a shrug. “Anyway, we’ll be back soon,” He says, picking Zoe up and making his way to the front door.
After Beckett and Zoe leave, I make sure to lock the front door behind them (I leave the deadbolt off this time though, so they can get back in) and then I head upstairs. I walk down the hallway and stop when I reach the guest room that Aspen’s been staying in since she moved with us. Raising my hand, I lightly knock on the door and then twisted, not surprised by the fact that it’s locked.
“Aspen?” I call through the door.
She doesn’t reply.
“Hey, can I come in?” I try again.
No response again.
“Don’t forget, you taught me how to pick a lock with a bobby pin a few years back,” I remind her with a laugh, trying to lighten the situation.
It doesn’t work, obviously, because Aspen still doesn’t say anything. So, I take a bobby pin out of my hair and line it up with the keyhole in the door. I think she probably thinks I was just kidding about the bobby pin, but she knows me very well, and she knows that if there’s one thing I am not—it’s a quitter.
I push the bobby pin in the lock and twist it to the left a few times, then to the right a couple of times before I hear a little click sound. I put the bobby pin back in my hair and then twist the doorknob, pushing it open.
When I walk into the bedroom, my heart basically breaks at the sight of my poor best friend. She’s laying horizontally across the bed, curled up in the fetal position and she’s got a box of Kleenex next to her head and scrunched up balls of tissues littering the floor and the bed. The germaphobe in me makes me want to turn and run, but I decide against it and walk over to the bed, sitting down a few feet away from her.
“I want to be alone, Sawyer,” She informs me.
“Well, that’s too bad, because you’re sad and I’m not leaving you alone while you’re sad.”
“Do you know what today is?” She asks, sniffling.
“Of course I know what today is,” I reply then.
“I miss him,” Aspen sighs quietly. “I miss him so, so much and I know that I should get over it, but I can’t. He was my everything, Sawyer.”
“I know he was, Aspen,” I assure her, putting my hand on her back and patting it in what I hope is a comforting matter. “And no is asking you to just get over it. Elliot was a huge part of your life—we all know that. You two were so in love and the fact that he was ripped away from you so early is just so utterly unfair. I know I don’t know the bastard that ran into you guys that night, but I hate him. I hate him so much for taking Elliot away from you and making you so sad. But, Aspen, you have to believe me when I tell you that things will get better. I am not saying that one day you’ll wake up and not miss him anymore. I’m not saying that because it’s probably not true—you’ll probably miss him forever, but it’ll get easier and it’ll get better.”
“You told me on Thanksgiving that it’d get better,” She reminds me, referring to just a few months ago when she accompanied my brother, mom and me down to Worcester to my grandparents’ house, where we had Thanksgiving dinner. “And guess what?” She sniffles, starting to breathe a little bit heavier. “It hasn’t gotten better at all.”
“I didn’t say that it would be easy,” I remind her with a small smile. “It isn’t something that goes away that fast,” I explain. “But it does go away. Piece by piece and bit by bit, the pain subsides and eventually, it won’t hurt as much. I know you think I don’t understand, that I can’t relate and maybe you’re right, to some degree. I know I’ve never gone through anything like you and Elliot went through, but I definitely know how pain works. I was in a hell of a lot of pain after Flynn assaulted me that night at the party and it’s just now starting to lessen, a whole year and four months later. And you know who was there for me the whole time? Through the nightmares and the panic attacks and the suicide attempt? You. You were there for me, Aspen, and I’m gonna be here for you. So, whenever you need to cry, just know that you can come to me. You go to Piper and Sienna too because you know that they love you and you know that they’ll be there for you too. But I want you to promise me something—promise me you aren’t going to give up. I gave up after the Flynn thing when I swallowed all of those pills and you literally saved my life. I don’t want you to give up, aspen. I know it’s hard, but you have to promise me you’ll fight the pain.”
“I’ll fight the pain,” Aspen promises me through her tears. “I promise,” She adds.
“Good, because you’re my best friend and I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t talk to you every day,” I truthfully inform her, wiping away a few of my own tears. “And another thing,” I say, realizing something and I know it’s going to sound pretty blunt, but I’m going to tell her anyway because she needs to hear it. “Elliot’s gone, Aspen. I wish he wasn’t because he really was such an amazing person but he is and he isn’t coming back. You know that. But just because Elliot is gone, that doesn’t mean you should push away the people that are still here. The people that still care so much about you and want you to be okay. People like Beckett,” I state.
“Is he mad at me?” She wonders, sitting up in the bed and looking at me curiously.
“He’s not mad,” I tell her, shaking my head. “He’s just worried sick about you,” I say.
“I just didn’t want him to see me cry,” Aspen explains. “I didn’t want him to know that I’m still in love with my dead ex-boyfriend,” She says.
“Beckett understands,” I say, because it’s true. “He knows that you’re still sad about Elliot and he totally gets it. If you’re not ready for this, for a serious relationship, I’m sure he’ll get it. I know he’s annoying and overprotective and dramatic but he’s also very compassionate. And he doesn’t just love you as his girlfriend, you know. He loves you as his friend. So if the relationship thing is too much for you, he’ll understand.”
“It’s not too much for me,” She replies, shaking her head. “I like him a lot and I want to be with him but isn’t it kind of unfair for me to be with him when I’m still in love with Elliot?”
“I don’t think so,” I respond. “I’d like to think that I knew Elliot pretty well and I think that he’d be okay with you moving on. In fact, I think he’d be pretty happy about it. He wouldn’t want you to be sad all the time. He would want you to move on with your life and fall in and out of love. He would want you to just be happy.”
“He would, wouldn’t he?” Aspen sniffles with a small smile.
“He most definitely would,” I confirm, blinking away a few more tears. Aspen is just such a good person and seeing her so sad makes me sad.
“You’re right,” She sniffles again. “He’d probably be pretty upset with me if he knew that I spent the majority of my time crying over him.”
“Exactly,” I agree, pushing a lock of my hair behind my ear. “So, are you okay now?”
“Not exactly,” Aspen replies, shaking her head. “I think that it’ll probably be a while before I’m alright, but I’ll work really hard on it.”
“Okay,” I smile, leaning over and pulling her in for a hug. “As long as you work on being happy again, I’m happy.”
“You are seriously the most amazing person in the world and I’m really glad you’re my best friend,” Aspen replies, returning my hug.
“I’m definitely not the most amazing person in the world—I’m just trying to repay you for everything you did for me. But, for the record, I’m really glad you’re my best friend too,” I tell her truthfully.
“Oh man,” She gasps, like she is suddenly just remembering something. “You’ve got that wedding to go to today, don’t you?”
“I do,” I nod, glancing over at the cable box on top of the television and reading the time—9:30. “But not for a few hours.”
“But you still have to get ready and stuff,” Aspen states. “And I don’t want you to be late because of me—I’m better now, I promise.”
“If you’re sure,” I say, not wanting to leave her unless she’s not feeling at least a little better. “I can call Pipes over, if you want.”
“That’d be nice,” She replies. “As long as she doesn’t bring her bitch of a boyfriend,” She mumbles under her breath.
“I’ll tell her that you don’t want her to bring her bitch of a boyfriend,” I assure her, mimicking her with a chuckle.
“Good,” Aspen laughs, getting up off of the bed and starting to pick up all of the balled up Kleenex. “Do you know where Beckett is?” She asks.
“He went to take Zoe on a walk,” I inform her, taking my phone out and texting Piper. “He said that he would be back in a little while,” I add.
“Okay, good,” Aspen says, breathing a sigh of relief. “That gives me a little time to shower and get cleaned up because I’m sure I look a mess.”
“You look a little like a mess,” I jokingly inform her. “And Pipes just texted me back—she said that she’s on her way with pizza and ice cream.”
“She’s such a nice person,” Aspen states. “Now, go get ready for the wedding and you better tell me all about it when you get back.”
“I most definitely will, I promise,” I agree before giving her another hug and then leaving the room, closing the door shut behind me.
After leaving Aspen’s room, I go to my own room and immediately head towards the closet. I swing the door open and reach in, taking my bridesmaid dress out. Just a couple of days ago, Cassidy, her mom, Phoebe, Blaire, Courtney (she’s her older sister, by the way), and I drove two hours out of town to this really posh and expensive bridal store called Emily’s Bridal and picked out the dresses.
Usually, bridesmaids’ dresses are ugly, I think, so that the attention of the guests is solely on the bride and not her bridesmaids. The dresses she decided on are actually really beautiful though. But then again, Cassidy’s pretty drop dead gorgeous, so I think that the only way the guests would be fixated on us and not her would be if we were literally all standing there naked.
The dresses are floor-length and an insanely gorgeous aquamarine color. So, yeah, she decided to go with aquamarine as the color scheme, which I was happy to hear about because that’s the one I was hoping for.
The only thing I’m not too fond about though is the fact that the sleeves are long. I don’t know, long sleeves on things that aren’t jackets or coats or sweaters or blazers are just kinda weird to me. But then again, it’s an outdoor wedding in the middle of Massachusetts in the winter—long sleeves are probably a good idea. Still though, the dresses are beautiful.
Apparently, Cassidy got her wedding dress tailor-made a couple of months ago and she’s been hiding it out at her parents’ house in Australia since then so that Tucker would have no chance of seeing it. That’s another thing I learned about her—she’s Australian. I mean, I knew she wasn’t from Massachusetts because she doesn’t have the same kind of dialect that we do, but I didn’t think that she was all the way from the outback. She told me that she was born in some place called Perth and lived there for fifteen years.
Then as a sixteenth birthday present, she got to come to the States and live with her aunt. She said that that’s what she wanted most as a kid, to live in the United States and her mom and dad eventually agreed to let her. I don’t know exactly how old she is now—I’d assume she’s twenty-one like Tucker though, so she doesn’t really have much of an accent, which explains why I thought that she was an American native.
Thankfully, I took a shower this morning at Graham’s house, so I obviously don’t need to again, which is great because I’ve got a little under an hour before I need to be Sepal Ridge. I take the plastic wrap off of the dress and then remove it from its hanger before getting undressed. I pull the dress on then and reach around back, zipping it up.
Then I go back over to my closet and pull out the new shoes Cassidy insisted on all of the bridesmaids having. I don’t really know why she wanted us to spend an extra $300 on shoes though because the dresses are floor-length, so it’s not like anyone else is even going to see them.
It is Cassidy’s wedding though and she didn’t have to ask me to be a bridesmaid—she just wanted to, so I decided not to question her motives. Besides, if I ever get married, I can do things how I want, but until then, I have to go by what the bride wants.
The shoes are super cute though, so buying them wasn’t such a bad thing. They match the color of the dress but they’re pretty high—five inches—so I’m hoping and praying that I don’t fall on my face when I’m walking down the aisle with Graham. That’d basically be the most embarrassing thing ever.
After I have the shoes on, I grab my phone and keys and then leave my room. I don’t need to do my hair or make-up or anything like that because like I said, Cassidy’s got hair stylists and make-up artists coming to the Country Club for that kind of stuff.
Wow, so this is like an everyday thing for guys, getting dressed and ready to go somewhere in less than ten minutes. It must be great not having to worry about putting on your make-up and doing your hair before leaving the house. They literally don’t even realize how wonderfully they have things.
“Hey, did you talk to her?” Beckett asks me, walking in through the front door just as I’m about to walk out of it.
“I did and I think that she’s feeling better now,” I state. “Piper’s on her way here now with pizza and ice cream, so they’re gonna hang out.”
“Well, that’s good,” Beckett replies with a relieved expression on his face. “And you’re sure she’s not mad at me for anything?” He asks then.
“She’s definitely not mad at you for anything, Beck,” I assure him, shaking my head. “She just didn’t want you to see her crying,” I inform him.
“That’s ridiculous,” Beckett scoffs, taking Zoe’s leash off and putting her down on the carpeted floor. “I’ve seen her cry more than a few times.”
“But that was before you were her boyfriend,” I remind him. “Girls don’t like crying in front of their boyfriends—at least, I don’t, and evidently she doesn’t either. Anyway, thanks for calling me. I gotta go though because the wedding starts at 12 and I have to be there by 10:30,” I state.
“Okay, well, have fun then,” My brother says. “You’re coming home tonight, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” I reply with a small nod, wondering what he’s insinuating.
“Then I’ll see you then,” Beck says. “I like the dress by the way—if only you wore stuff like that when you went out with Cambridge,” He sighs.
“You act like I go out with him wearing just my underwear,” I mutter, rolling my eyes at him and his ridiculous overprotectiveness. “I’ll see you tonight,” I add before walking out of the front door and pulling it closed behind me. I make my way to my car and get inside and that’s when I realize how difficult it actually is to drive with high heels on.
So, I reach down and pull the heels off, placing them in the backseat of my car. My mom says that it’s illegal—driving barefoot, but I don’t think it really is and even if it is, it’s a dumb rule and should be changed. Before I start my car, I text Sienna and tell her I’m on way and then I pull my seatbelt on and start the car, backing out of the driveway.
✿✿✿✿✿✿
“You look really nervous,” Graham whispers to me a couple of hours later at precisely 11:59.
“I am really nervous,” I mumble. “I feel like I’m the one that’s about to get married,” I say.
“There you go again, being all dramatic and whatnot,” He laughs, holding his arm up so that I can loop my arm through it—that’s the way that we (and the other bridesmaids have to walk with the other groomsmen and the maid of honor and best man) have to walk the aisle together.
I ended up getting here to Sepal Ridge with Sienna and Vince at 10:15, fifteen whole minutes before Cassidy said we had to be here. From then, I was whisked away to hair and make-up, which took a scary long time. After that was over, the bridesmaids and groomsmen had to practice walking down the practice aisle a bunch of times until Mary Katherine and Cassidy said it was perfect.
Speaking of Cassidy, she’s actually doing pretty well. It’s just that usually on the movies and in the books, the bride-to-be is always freaking out right before her wedding and being a mega-bitch but not Cassidy—she’s being as sweet as ever. I haven’t seen Tucker yet, but Graham says that he’s really nervous, but he’s doing his best not to show it.
“I think you would be pretty nervous too, if you were about to walk down a golf course in five inch heels,” I reply, giving him a pointed look.
“Touché,” He agrees, chuckling. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great,” Graham assures me. “And if you don’t, that’s okay—I won’t let you fall,” He adds.
Before I can say anything in response though, the instrumentals from A Thousand Years, Pt. 2 by Christina Perri and Steve Kazee start. That’s our cue to walk, which means it’s finally noon. Man, if I’m this nervous just by walking in my boyfriend’s brother’s wedding, I can only imagine how it’s going to be at my own wedding. Well, assuming I get married someday in the future. I’ll probably have a heart attack and run away.
The two ushers at the doors in front of us pull the doors open in unison and then the first pair, Courtney and Logan, start to walk. Two steps behind them is the next pair, Blaire and Alex. Following them, there’s Phoebe and Julian and finally after then, there’s me and Graham. When we start walking, I kind of clutch onto him for dear life. I’m just so deathly afraid of falling and ruining this wedding. Also, everyone’s staring at us and I’m so awkward that I just start blushing while clenching onto my bouquet of assorted flowers of blue hues.
Thankfully though, I reach the end of the aisle without causing a disaster. Graham and I part ways then like the other three couples did and I walk to the right, standing beside the other bridesmaids and Graham walks to the left, standing next to the other groomsmen.
After the eight of us are in place, Ellie (Cassidy’s best friend and maid of honor) walks down the aisle with Zack (Tucker’s best friend and best man) and they join us at the end of the aisle. I think that maids of honor and best men don’t usually walk down the aisle together, but Graham told me that Ellie and Zack have been dating for the past two years, so Cassidy thought it’d be cute to let them walk together.
Following a few steps behind Zack and Ellie is Jackson. He’s the ring bearer and he looks so incredibly adorable in his little tuxedo—I’m guessing Graham was able to drop it off at the dry cleaners and pick it up in time. When Jackson reaches the end of the aisle, he sits down on the first row on the right, next to his mother, just like he was told to do in the countless amounts of wedding rehearsals we went through.
As soon as Jackson sits down, the instrumental music fades out and is replaced by the traditional Here Comes the Bride March music. The guests all stand up then and turn their gazes towards the doors we just came through as they swing open again. Cassidy and her father—Graham told me his name, but I forgot—begin to slowly walk down the aisle together in step with music and my jaw almost drops at how perfect how wedding dress is. No wonder she’s been hiding it for so long—I’d want to keep a dress that beautiful my little secret for as long as I possibly could too.
The dress is floor-length and it has a sweetheart neckline kind of thing going with a band of expensive-looking beading around the torso. It’s also covered in a thin and intricate layer of white lace that’s decorated with flower patterns. It’s really not fair—Cassidy literally already looks like a supermodel just on the daily but in the dress and the jewelry (a diamond tennis bracelet and a pair of pearl earrings), she seriously looks too perfect to even be human.
Her make-up is perfect too and so is her hair, which has been done up in an elaborate up-do, pinned together with the long veil. I avert my gaze from Cassidy’s gorgeous wedding dress then and over at Tucker, who kind of looks like he’s about to start of crying. He doesn’t strike me as the emotional type but I mean, who doesn’t cry at their wedding? I’ll tell you who—no one.
“Who gives this woman to this man in marriage?” Father Petersburg, the clergyman or the minister, or priest or whatever you want to call him, asks once Cassidy and her father reach the end of the aisle.
“Her mother and I do,” Mr. Clayton announces, taking Cassidy’s right hand off his left arm and places it in Tucker’s hand before taking his seat.
Cassidy hands her bouquet of flowers off to Ellie then and then turns back to Tucker, placing her other hand in his with a wide grin.
“Do you, Mr. Cambridge, wish to marry this woman?” Father Petersburg asks—stupid question, I think. He obviously wouldn’t be here if not.
“I do,” Tucker confirms with a nod.
“Do you, Ms. Clayton, wish to marry this man?” He asks, turning and glancing at Cassidy, who looks like she might start bawling at any minute.
“I do,” Cassidy quickly states, nodding.
“Tucker and Cassidy—today you enter as individuals, but you will leave here as husband and wife, blending your lives, expanding your family ties, and embarking upon the grandest adventure of human interaction. The story of your life together is still yours to write. All those present have come to witness and celebrate your love and commitment this day—eager to be a part of the story not yet told,” Father Petersburg speaks as the Brides March music gradually fades out.
“True marriage,” He continues, once the music has faded completely, “begins well before the wedding day and the efforts of marriage continue well beyond the ceremony’s end. A brief moment in time and the stroke of the pen are all that is required to create the legal bond of marriage but it takes a lifetime of love, commitment, and compromise to make marriage durable and everlasting. Today you declare your commitment to each other before friends and family. Your yesterday were the path to this moment and your journey to a future of togetherness becomes a little clearer with each new day. And now we will have the vows, which Tucker and Cassidy wrote on their own. Tucker, if you will,” Father Petersburg says, inviting Tucker to go first.
“Um, well, first off, I’d just like to say that it took me five and a half months to write these vows, because I just love you so much, Cass. I could go on and on and on about why I love you so much and how much I love you but I know that all of these great people hear today don’t want to listen to me go on for hours on end, so I worked really hard on condensing it down,” Tucker explains and you can tell by how much he said just now how nervous he actually is.
“Words aren’t enough to begin to tell you how much I love you, Cass, or how much I care about you, because nothing comes even close to perfect when compared to you. I just want you to know that not a single day goes by that I don’t think myself the luckiest guy on earth that I met you. I always knew that one day an angel would come and steal my heart and here you are. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the world that I would rather spent forever with. There is no other girl that I love or will ever love even half as much as I love you, except for our future daughter—“ He stops then because there’s a few gasps that fill the air and I’m pretty sure I almost let one out, but I suppress it.
Did he just say that Cassidy’s pregnant? I’m pretty sure that’s what he just said. She doesn’t look pregnant at all but maybe it’s still early.
“Yeah,” Tucker laughs lightly and nervously. “Cassidy and I are having a baby. She’s only a few months along but we couldn’t think of a better place or time to tell everyone we love other than at our wedding. So, yeah. But where was I? Oh yeah. I will stand by you no matter what, I will always be there for you and there’s not a single thing you’ll have to go through alone. Before I met you, I never thought that I could be as happy in life as you make me. You brighten my darkest day, you make all my pain go away and before today, meeting you and falling in love with you was the best thing I have ever done, but now I can say I’ve done better. I can say that the best thing I ever did was marry the girl of my dreams. I promise to love you for the rest of forever and I promise to always support you in everything that you do, until my heart stops beating.”
At this moment, I kinda hate the fact that I’m a bridesmaid, because I can’t cry. I mean, tears are welling up in my eyes because that was just so beautiful and they’re threatening to spill over but I know I can’t stand up here and cry. I’m going to draw attention to myself and that’s definitely not what I want to happen. So I blink a lot and try to avoid sniffling, keeping my eyes trained on Tucker and Cassidy.
“And your vows, Ms. Clayton,” Father Petersburg urges.
“There’s absolutely no way I can one up that,” Cassidy jokes and there’s a few quiet laughs from the family members and friends sitting down. “Tucker, you are my best friend and today, I give myself to you. Using the love we share as a vessel, through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of our future, I can promise that you will always have my deepest love, my fullest devotion, and my most tender care. I promise to love you, to always strive to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when times become difficult, when our love is simple and when things become complicated. I promise to honor you and to always hold our love for each other in highest regard. These things I pledge to you to you today and all the days of our life together. I love you so, so much.”
“We now have the exchanging of rings,” The minister says and hearing his cue, Jackson stands up and brings the rings to Tucker and Cassidy.
“Cassidy,” Tucker says, grabbing Cassidy’s left hand and sliding a ring (I’m like, four feet from Cassidy and even from here, I can see how unbelievably gorgeous the ring is—it looks super pricey too, judging by the diamond adorning the center) on her ring finger. “Come health, happiness, and prosperity, I will stand with you; come illness, trouble, or poverty, I will stand with you. Take this ring as a sing of my love and commitment.” She does the same thing then, grabbing Tucker’s left hand and putting a ring on his ring finger, repeating his same words.
“If anyone knows why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace,” Father Petersburg instructs and pauses briefly. Cassidy and Tucker both look out at their guests then, as if daring one of them to say something. When no one does, the minister proceeds. “Then by the power vested in me by the state of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Tucker, you may kiss your bride.”
And then Tucker leans forward and kisses Cassidy and even though it’s supposed to be a cute little kiss, it’s a little longer than normal and when a few people start doing wolf-whistles, Tucker pulls away with a grin and Cassidy blushes with a laugh.
“Family and friends, for the first time, Tucker and Cassidy Cambridge,” St. Petersburg declares and people in the crowd start clapping and cheering as Tucker and Cassidy join hands and make their way down the aisle and back through the doors we came out of. Following them behind maybe five steps, there’s Ellie and Zack, and then me and Graham, and the other three pairs.
For some reason, I thought the ceremony would be way longer than that. I mean, it was literally like fifteen minutes long. It was a beautiful fifteen minutes though—everything really came together and I know Cassidy’s probably bawling in excitement right now.
After all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen are back inside of the Country Club, we head out through the front doors and line the walk way on either side, the girls on one side and the guys on the other.
The guests join us then, crowding on the lawn of the Country Club as Cassidy and Tucker walk down the walk way and to the limo that’s waiting for them at the end of it. The chauffeur opens the back door for them then and they both get in, waving to us all as they do so. Then the chauffer closes the door and gets back in the driver’s seat, driving away.
✿✿✿✿✿✿
“Oh my God, they’re so cute,” I wail, watching as Tucker and Cassidy move together in the center of the ballroom for their First Dance.
“Yeah, they’re pretty cute,” Graham agrees.
The wedding ceremony ended about an hour ago and now we’re all at the reception. It, like the ceremony, is being held here at Sepal Ridge, but they decide to have it inside rather than outside. After the ceremony was over, Cassidy and Tucker went back to their house, I guess, to change clothes and then they came back here.
Most of the guests stayed though and unfortunately, the bridesmaids weren’t allowed to change, which kind of isn’t fair, but at least this dress is cute and comfortable. I’m pretty sure that before this night is over though, I’m going to be taking these high heels off and just carrying them around.
“Did you know she was pregnant?” I wonder. I mean, I’d imagine it’d be pretty hard to keep a pregnancy for a guy that lives in the same house as you do, but pretty much everyone seemed to be surprised when Tucker dropped the bomb that they’re expecting.
“I had no idea,” Graham denies, shaking his head. “Hopefully she doesn’t have it until after I go off to college though.”
“Are you not excited for the arrival of your new niece or nephew?” I ask, glancing up at him with a curious look.
“No, that’s not it. I am excited, I just don’t think I could handle living with a screaming newborn,” He explains then.
“That makes sense,” I agree. “So, do you know where they’re going for their honeymoon?” I ask, realizing I don’t know where they’re going.
Graham and I are deciding to be anti-social right now, which is why we’re sitting all the way across the room from everyone else. Most people are eating the food from the seafood place that Cassidy and Tucker had cater and those who aren’t eating are standing around, talking to their friends and family and whatnot and watching Cassidy and Tucker dance. Sienna and Vince were here too but they’re mysteriously disappeared—probably to go find a storage closet to make out in or something.
“I think they’re going to Maldives, Santorini, and London,” He tells me. “I have no idea why they’re going to London though—it doesn’t really strike me as the type of place newlyweds would want to go to for their honeymoon.”
“It’s probably for the accents,” I chirp. “That’s why I’d go.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s why they’re going,” He chuckles. “Okay, so there’s something that I gotta tell you,” He randomly informs me.
“Something like what?” I wonder, taking a bite from the slice of cake on my plate. I’m not generally a cake girl, but it’s so good.
“Alright, well, you know how I told my dad is in prison, right?”
“I remember,” I nod. “Is he getting out or something?” I query.
“I sure hope not,” He mumbles with a sigh. “It’s just that he’s got a parole hearing coming up and my mom and I need to go to it.”
“Wait, what does that even mean?” I wonder, crinkling my forehead in confusion.
“Basically, it means that he might be getting out of prison,” He informs me. “He was only sentenced to like, twelve year in prison, I think, and he’s already served almost four of those. And apparently, he’s had a lot of ‘good behavior’ while he’s been locked up, so now he’s petitioning to get out early. I just found out a couple of hours ago and my mom’s really freaking out about it. So, we’re going to go to Washington, which is where he’s incarcerated at, and petition against him getting out,” Graham explains.
“From what you’ve told me, he sounds like a pretty terrible guy—why would they even think about letting him out of prison early?” I ask.
“The justice system just doesn’t provide all that much justice,” He shrugs with a sigh.
“You seem like you’re really stressed out about it,” I tell him, taking another bite of cake.
“I am,” He sighs again. “Not only did he make my life a living hell, he abused my pregnant mom and old brother—he can’t be back in our lives.”
“And that’s what you’re going to tell the people at the parole hearing?” I wonder curiously.
“Yeah, more than likely,” He confirms with a nod. “I thought your dad was bad—he has nothing on mine, I’ll probably go crazy if he’s released.”
“No you won’t,” I assure my boyfriend, who is visibly distressed by the fact that his psychotic father might be back in his life. “I’ll protect you.”
“Really?” Graham asks with an amused look on his face.
“Yes, really,” I nod. “I can protect you like you protected me from Tom.”
“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” He wonders, raising his eyebrows.
“Didn’t you hear? I’m pretty badass. I stabbed a guy, you know,” I remind him.
“You did, didn’t you?” Graham asks with a small laugh.
“I sure did and I will do it again if I need to,” I chirp.
“Wow, smart, beautiful, and willing to assault someone for me—do I have the best girlfriend ever or what?” Graham teases and I think he’s feeling better, which is good. I mean, obviously I wouldn’t really stab his dad—unless I seriously needed to, but I don’t think I’ll need to.
I think that Graham can be pretty intimidating and on the rare chance that his father is release from prison, I highly doubt that he’ll still be up to the stuff he was up to all those years ago. Besides, Graham just said his dad is in Washington…I’m assuming he meant Washington State, which is on the other side of the United States and not Washington D.C., which isn’t that far away. So, if he’s all the way across the country, why would he even come back to Massachusetts? That’d be so stupid of him.
“Yeah, I’m pretty great, aren’t I?”
“You are,” He agrees and then I guess he sees someone because he immediately lets out a groan.
“What’s wrong?” I wonder.
“Don’t look now, but possibly the worst mistake of my life is coming this way,” He mumbles, looking down at the table.
You know how when someone says ‘don’t look now’, the first thing you do is…well, look now? I can’t help it and I look up from my cake and see a girl with long blonde hair walking towards us. She’s super tan (not overly so, but obviously it’s not natural—it’s February in Massachusetts, for crying out loud) and she’s dressed in a tight aquamarine colored dress and matching high heels that are way higher than mine are, which is saying something. I don’t remember seeing her at the wedding, but then again, I wasn’t really looking at the guests during the wedding, I was more focused on Tucker and Cassidy.
She looks really familiar to me though but I don’t think we’ve actually met before. Graham called her “the worst mistake” of his life though, so putting two and two together, I conclude that she is Carson Vivaldi. Aka, Graham’s ex-girlfriend who he said had sex with any guy willing. I already don’t like her though and honestly, I feel kind of bad for her. She must have something wrong upstairs if she cheated on Graham.
I mean, he’s literally the most perfect person in the whole entire world and if you’re lucky enough to call yourself his girlfriend, why would you do anything mess that up? Besides, cheating in general is just really terrible. Like, if you don’t want to be with a person anymore, just break up with them. Why break their heart into a thousand pieces by cheating on them? It’s something I’ve never understood and something I never will understand, I suppose.
Back to Carson though, I don’t know why she’d be here at the reception and I definitely don’t know why she’s walking over to me and Graham but I guess I’m about to find out.
“Graham, hey!” She exclaims, stopping maybe a foot away from the front of the table we’re sitting at.
“Hi Carson,” Graham awkwardly replies after clearing his throat, looking up from the table and up at her.
“How have you been since you left Volcom? I can’t believe we haven’t spoken in such a long time!”
“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when people break up, they usually stop talking to each other.”
“Not if they’re friends, they don’t,” She replies. “I’m pretty sure you said we could still be friends after we broke up.”
“And I’m pretty sure after we broke up, you asked if we could still be friends and I said no because I don’t like you.”
“Well, that wasn’t very nice, now was it?” Carson says, looking genuinely hurt by Graham’s words.
“This is my girlfriend,” Graham states, completely ignoring Carson’s question. “Her name’s Sawyer.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sawyer,” Carson greets me with a weird smile after a few awkward seconds of silence.
“Oh, yeah, you too,” I reply, but I only say it to be nice. Obviously it is not nice to meet her—I don’t like her.
“Why are you here, Carson?” Graham asks, obviously not in the mood for small talk with his cheating slut of an ex-girlfriend.
“What do you mean?” She asks with a confused look on her face. “When we were together, Cassidy said I could come to the wedding.”
“I thought that when we broke up, you knew that that kind of rescinded your invitation,” He mumbles.
“Graham, don’t be mean to me just because your new girlfriend is sitting right there,” Carson snaps.
“I’m not being mean,” He defends. “I’m just wondering why you’re here why you have no connection to the bride or the groom,” Graham says.
“Look, I’m not trying to start any trouble like you clearly thing I am. I just wanted to come over to say hello and see how you were doing.”
“Okay, Carson,” Graham sighs. “Hi, I’m fine, thanks for asking. I really don’t mean to be rude, but if that’s all you wanted, can you please go?”
“Okay, okay, I will. Just one more question though—what are you doing for Spring Break?”
“What?” Graham asks, a confused look making its way onto his face. “Why are you asking?”
“Because I’m planning for my Spring Break and I just want to make sure we don’t like, clash and end up at the same place or anything. Oh my God, are you going to Cozumel? Cozumel was fun, wasn’t it?”
“No, Carson, I’m not going to Cozumel and no, Cozumel was not fun. Cozumel is where you hooked up with four different guys in one week when were supposed to be there together for Spring Break,” He states.
Wow, I am feeling so incredibly awkward hearing all of this. Graham and I’ve never really talked about his past relationships because…well, I don’t know why. We just haven’t. I don’t have any past relationships to talk about, so to talk to him about his seemed weird. Besides I really don’t care who or what Graham did in his past, all I care about his now.
“Okay, if you’re gonna be mean to me, I’m gonna go.”
“That’s literally all I want—for you to just go away.”
“Fine, we can just talk when you’re off of your man period,” Carson murmurs before walking away with an angry expression on her face.
“Sorry about that,” Graham sighs loudly. “Carson just drives me crazy and not in a good way,” He explains.
“I think I would’ve reacted the same way if I had a cheating ex who thought it’d be okay talk to me and my brother’s wedding day,” I say. “Anyway though, let’s just not even talk about her because I already don’t like her and she isn’t important not is she relevant to me at all. What is important and relevant to me though is you and you’re going out of town. When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow,” He tells me. “I know it’s really sudden and if I’d known earlier, I would have told you.”
“That is really sudden,” I agree with a frown. “Do you know how long you’ll be gone for?” I wonder.
“The fifteenth, probably,” He explains. “I know, I know, please, don’t be mad,” Graham says when he sees the look on face.
“I’m not mad,” I reply because it’s true—I’m not mad. It’s not his fault his dad decided to choose this moment to try to get out of prison early.
“You’re not?” Graham asks, clearly not expecting me to say that. “Even though I’m probably gonna miss Valentine’s Day?”
“That’s okay,” I shrug. “I mean, I’ve done like, seventeen Valentine’s Days alone, I think I’ll be okay for just one more,” I assure him.
“I promise when I get back we can have a make-up Valentine’s Day,” Graham tells me and I think that he thinks I’m actually angry at him.
Getting mad at your boyfriend for missing some stupid little sappy “holiday” is just stupid, especially when it’s not your boyfriend’s fault. I know a lot of girls are really into the Valentine’s Day thing but seeing as how I’ve been alone for my whole entire life, it’s basically just another day to me. So, even if Graham was going to be in town on Valentine’s Day, I honestly wouldn’t insist on him doing anything big.
We could literally just hang out at his beach house in his hot tub with Chinese food like we did on his birthday and I’d be pretty happy. So, if wants to plan something for when he comes back, that’s cool, but if he didn’t want to, that’d be cool too.
I just really don’t need some huge stuffed animal and a box of heart shaped chocolates to be happy. Don’t get me wrong though, if he got me a stuffed animal and a box of heart shaped chocolates, I’d happily accept them, I just wouldn’t be disappointed if he didn’t.
“Stop looking so worried,” I laugh, bumping my shoulder against his. “I promise that it is okay and I happen to love this song, so let’s dance.”
“I’m pretty sure that this is the first you’ve ever asked me to dance with you,” Graham states, standing up and grabbing my hand, following me to the ballroom dance floor.
“And it’ll probably be the last time I ever ask you to dance with me,” I inform him. “I just really love this song though and everyone else is dancing now too,” I say, leading him to a corner of the dance floor, away from most of the other people.
“So, do you want to do me a favor while I’m out of town?” He wonders, putting his hands on my waist as I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Sure, what’s the favor?” I ask, glancing up at him.
“So, Jackson isn’t coming with us because our mom doesn’t want him to miss that much school, so I was kind of hoping that you’d maybe want to babysit him while we’re gone? I mean, he’s a handful and kind of hard to deal with and if you don’t want to do it, that’s fine. It’s just that he’s either going to have to stay with you or our aunt in Boston and he likes you a lot more then he likes her, so I told him that I’d ask you.”
“I’ll babysit him,” I agree without even really thinking about it. “Only on one condition though.”
“Something tells me this condition has to do with Noelle and Bono,” Graham speculates, giving me a suspicious look.
“You know me oh too well, I suppose. If you let me keep your puppies, I’ll be more than happy to babysit your brother.”
“Deal,” He agrees. “Are you sure your mom’s gonna be okay with that thought? Having two puppies and a kid stay for a week?”
“My mom’s always at work anyway,” I shrug. “She’ll be totally fine with it.”
“If you say so,” Graham appease me. “You’re the best,” He says, leaning down and kissing my lips lightly.
“I know,” I chirp with a giggle before grabbing his hand and starting to walk away from the dance floor.
“I’m confused—I thought you wanted to dance?”
“I did, but now I don’t,” I say, interlacing my fingers through his and heading out of the ballroom, walking down the hall of the Country Club.
“So where are we going then?” He asks me.
“You’re asking a lot of questions, you know.”
“Because you’re being very strange,” He defends.
“Well, if you must know, we’re going to my car,” I tell him and then we walk out of the front doors of the Country Club together and to the parking lot. I look up at Graham and see that he’s still wearing a confused expression on his face. “You know, to have that amazingly hot make-out session I promised earlier,” I explain.
“Oooh,” Graham replies, finally understanding. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? We could have been here five minutes ago,” He says, putting a whole heck of a lot more pep in his step so that we’re practically running to my car.
Author's Note: Hello again, beautifuls! I'm tired, so this'll be quick.
1. The comment I loved the most from Chapter 24 was from michelek so that's who this chapter's dedicated to! Don't forget that the person who leave the comments that I love the most on this chapter will get the next chapter dedicated to them!
2. Notice the picture- Cassidy's Wedding Dress, and the song- Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran
3. Thoughts on this chapter? Aspen's breakdown? The Wedding? Carson? Anything?
4. No, I didn't come up with those super heartfelt vows on my own- I wrote maybe like half of the first one and half of the second but not the whole thing. Just throwing that out there for any of you who were curious about that.
5. Just gonna throw out some of my social media stuff in case you wanna follow or get in touch:
- ask.fm: milliemfromwattpad (ask me whatever)
- twitter, instagram, skype, and kik: millie_wattpad
I'll see you wonderful people next time and I love you a whole bunch!