This was not how she expected her day to go.
Emma Allen had not expected to leave the Plaza hotel as a single woman. According to all her planning in the last three and half months, she should be leaving as Mrs Fletcher Flemson.
But here she was, Emma Allen, newly single, heartbroken and alone.
Liv and Daniel's reception was finally winding down as Emma waited in the lobby for her parents. She sat on a chair in the corner, half hidden behind a potted plant.
Her parents had been amazing at running interference on all her wedding guests who wanted to question her more about her scandalous decision to leave her fiancé at the altar. And between Liv's glares and Nate's constant presence at her side, they both had managed to fend off Liv's wedding guests too.
So she hid now in the hopes of not being badgered. In truth, she was exhausted.
She had compartmentalised earlier on, tucking her heartbreak away to be dealt with later, in order to give her best friend the support she deserved on her big day. But sitting by herself, it was hard to keep the waves of sadness at bay.
She had changed out of her Mom's dress a little while ago, and it was Karen, to Emma's great surprise that told her that she would take care of what was left in her bridal suite.
She was glad that Karen had taken her speech to heart, but Emma knew when things weren't about her and one of those times was during Liv's wedding.
It was a moment she would never forget, be able to stand beside her best friend as she got married to the man of her dreams in their dream venue.
It had been a crazy few months, Emma thought, of watching her life spiral out of control. After a lifetime of friendship, Emma was just glad that she the craziness of the fight with Liv had just been temporary.
It had possibly been the worst three months of her life, losing her best friend and knowing that Fletcher was drifting away too.
In the oddest way though, it had been life affirming. After years of going with the flow, of letting people walk all over her and not knowing who she was without using the words, "Liv's friend" or "Fletcher's girlfriend."
She found her backbone along with a realisation that she didn't have to bend to everybody else's wishes all the time.
Of course now her life was up in the air, and the sadness and confusion came flooding back. Where was she going to live now? What about all the mutual friends she had with Fletcher? How would she deal with the looks of pity she was bound to get? Would she regret her decision?
So she was leaving with her parents instead of spending the night with her new husband.
She was pulled from her brooding and overthinking when she saw Nate walk by. He shrugged on his tux jacket as he headed for the doors.
"Hey Nate." She called as he walked past her, watching as he stopped and glanced over in her direction before his eyes focused on hers. "You looking for someone?"
"Yeah." His face lit up, "I was looking for you." He crossed the distance in a few short steps and she made room for him to sit down next to her. It was a little snug, his shoulder was pushed against hers, but it didn't matter because this was Nate.
The boy who had been her first crush, the man who had helped her to adjust to life in New York, the boy who had seen her best and worst growing up, the man who just knew that she wasn't fine a few weeks ago.
He was Nate.
"Can I hide with you?" He asked. Emma considered his words, wondering if he picked those very words on purpose.
Such simple words and easy question but the last time they were spoken between them, they had held much more weight.
At fourteen years old Emma didn't really know how to deal with death, much less the death of her friends' parents. Emma rambled around Nate and Liv's house after the funeral service. It was packed with family and friends and neighbours and Emma wondered if the entire town of Rutherford had descended on the house. Liv was sitting with her grandmother, both inconsolable after the tragic death of Liv and Nate's parents in a car accident.
Emma had sat with Liv all day, holding her hand, wanting to do something to make the pain go away. But her parents had told her that there was nothing anybody could do.
Emma had seen Nate drifting around all day, from group to group, making sure everything was going okay. He was, she supposed, the man of the house now. He seemed a lot older than his fifteen years, in his black suit and combed hair. But she noticed that he went missing. It felt like a pull at her stomach, that he wasn't around. She couldn't see him, or hear his voice, she just knew that he wasn't around.
She promised Liv that she'd be back and began making her way through the crowded living room, through the hallway, checked the back garden then the kitchen, feeling restless with the need to see Nate and make sure he was okay.
She checked all the upstairs rooms and came down the back staircase on the whim of hoping to find anyone who had seen him. It was there she had found him, suit jacket removed, sitting with his back to the right wall with his legs reaching out to the other wall, staring into nothingness.
Her Nate. Strong, dependable, funny Nate who sat there looking broken.
Her throat went dry, her mind went blank at the unfathomable concept of trying to make it all better. She stood, a few steps above him, knowing that he hadn't even noticed her presence. If he had, he would have smiled one of his small smiles and told her not to worry about him.
She cleared her throat, "Can I hide away with you?"
She cringed at her choice of words. Who was to say he was hiding? But she felt the need to give him an option to send her away and let him grieve in peace.
He looked up at her, with those familiar brown eyes, in surprise as if she had just appeared out of thin air.
"Please." He croaked out, his voice raw.
"Can I do anything Nate? Do you want me to...?" She fired off questions as she sat on the step above him but he just shook his head.
"No Em, I…I really appreciate it, I do. You being here is enough." He ran his hand through his hair, something she knew that he only did when he was frustrated, and scrunched his eyes closed and took a ragged breath.
He opened his eyes as she placed her hand delicately on his hand that was laying on the step, she just wanted to make it better for him. She knew his heart was breaking, but hers was breaking for him now too.
"I just…I think…" He shook his head, "This is something I have to deal with myself you know? But it's good to know you're here."
"Can I?" Nate repeated his question and Emma smiled.
"Please."
"I was wondering where you had gotten to." He said, "How are you, really?"
She sent him a mock glare, wondering if he was daring her to say that she was fine.
"I don't know. I feel like everything is a complete mess and I don't even know where to start trying to clear it up."
"I can brush up the confetti and you can stack the chairs?" He asked, the corners of his mouth twerking upwards.
She let out a watery laugh. If only it was all that simple. Ten years of her life. And here she was feeling sorry for herself in the lobby of the Plaza.
"Em?" He asked, his voice softer and she turned her head to look him in the eye. "You'll be okay. You're strong, I know that. I like to think that things have a way of working out."
"Thanks Nate." She whispered, "So what were you looking for me for?" She asked, wiping at the tears that sprung to her eyes and trying to smile but failing miserably.
"Liv told me to give you this before she left." He said, rummaging around in the pocket of his trousers. Liv and Daniel had left for their honeymoon about an hour ago. A parting between Emma and Liv that had just ensured that they both completely ruined their wedding makeup with tears and promises to make up for lost time when Liv got back.
"She said that you were going to need it someday?" He passed Emma a small black box.
She took it from his hand and opened it slowly. She sighed, not knowing if she was happy or sad about it, upon seeing the blue hair clip. She ran her finger over it lightly, a little token of hope in her day of madness. A little token of hope that she would find love and get the happily ever after she had dreamed about as a little girl.
"Is that good or bad?" Nate asked.
Emma shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, "It's from that wedding keepsake box that Liv and I had. It's our old, borrowed and blue." She smiled.
"Ah from the infamous 'No boys allowed' attic, right?" He smiled at the memories. It had been about the only time that the three of them had ever fought when they were kids. But Nate had not been allowed into their wedding playroom after he had made fun of it. Liv and Emma hadn't talked to him for a whole two days.
She closed the box and put it in her handbag.
"I'm going to figure this out. I can do this. I can be single." She told him in a way of giving a peptalk to herself. "I can find somebody else right?" She ended up searching his eyes for answers.
"You will find somebody else Emma. Somebody who will love you, past, present and future. Somebody who will love you until death do you part."
His expression was unreadable, even to Emma. And she found herself gazing at him longer than she should. Something she hadn't done since she was a teenager.
But he didn't look away from her eyes either.
"Oh Sweetie, there you are!" Emma's Mom's voice broke through their little hidden bubble and Emma jumped. "Your father and I have been searching for you everywhere, we're all ready to go. Hi Nate."
Emma watched as her mother smiled down at Nate like he was the son she never had. Which, he probably was. Liv and Nate had spent most of their time between Emma's house and their grandmother after their parents had died. Emma's parents had helped him move his things for college, her Dad had shown him how to drive, her Mom had cried when he graduated college and they had framed his first New York Magazine article and it hung beside Emma's graduation picture in the hallway at their house.
"Hi Mrs Allen." Still, after all this time, Emma couldn't help but smile. Nate insisted on calling her parents by their titles that were now a term of endearment. They had corrected him so much, telling him to call them by their first names that it had become an inside joke for them. "Where are you off to?"
"Home." Emma admitted, "Aunt Katherine said we could stay with her in Rutherfield. It's closer than Boca, and well, none of us expected to leave tonight." She shrugged.
"Well take of yourself okay?" He said as they stood up. He pulled her into a hug, placing a kiss in her hair. It had always felt as natural as breathing. "And if there's anything I can do to help? Anything I can do at all, let me know okay Em?"
"Thank you Nate." She whispered into the crook of his neck. "I will but this is something I have to sort out myself."
Emma's Dad appeared then, with some of their bags in tow. "Are you ready to go Emma?"
"Yeah." She said, casting another glance at Nate who looked like he wanted to pull her back in for another hug, not that she would have complained.
"Take care Emma." Nate reiterated, after saying his goodbyes to her parents.
With that she walked from the Plaza, the place that had held so many romantic dreams for her, unmarried and flanked by her parents.
She turned her head and got one last glance of Nate standing in the doorway, his hands in the pockets of the tux she helped him pick, looking as handsome as ever. She knew that he'd be there for her.
But she had her life to go and sort out.
A/N: I know I'm nearly ten years late to this fandom but I've always loved this movie. Especially Emma and Nate's relationship :) This story has been in my head for a long time and I thought it was time to get it down in words. Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my plot.