01.
She waits at the front of the alter, hands grasping tightly at her bouquet of flowers. Breathe. One. Two. Three. She closes her eyes and opens them slowly, a nervous flutter in her stomach. Four. Five. Six. She can hear the blood rushing to her head, her knees going weak as she attempts to smile. Her knuckles slowly turn white.
She looks beautiful; just like the typical blushing bride in white should look like. She looks calm and collected, while inside she is anything but. All she wants to do is crawl back into bed and never wake up, not exactly how the bride-to-be is suppose to be like on her wedding day.
A minute goes by. She glances at the crowd with nervous eyes; the fake smile still plastered to her pretty face. People cough, a baby cries, the noises echo in her ears despite the place being packed. She bites back the bile that rises in her throat.
Everything is perfect. The dress is perfect; the wedding party is perfect. All the guests arrived on time and no one's caused a commotion yet –even the odd Uncle who can't seem to stay away from the open bar is behaving. It's all too good to be true. There's just one thing that's missing.
The Groom.
The priest clears his throat –trying to catch her attention – subtly gesturing towards his watch. She fights the urge to glare at him.
Five minutes go by. Ten. The room is filled with quiet whispers, some about how embarrassed she must feel or how sorry they are for her, for being left at the alter. Right now she could care less. She tucks a stray hair behind her ear, licking her lips –from nervousness or because the whispers are getting to her, she isn't exactly sure.
The whispers get to her first.
She throws the bouquet on the floor, gathers her dress in her hands and walks –more like runs –out of the church, tears gathering in her eyes.
She doesn't notice the pair of worried brown eyes watching her.
02.
The sun hurts her eyes.
It doesn't matter though because she can hardly see with all the tears running down her cheeks. She feels pathetic; it shouldn't get to her like this. But it can't be helped –she was in love, she got her heart broken, she has every right to bawl her eyes out if she wanted to. And right now it's all she wants to do.
She imagines how funny she looks right now. Sitting on a park bench, ducks surrounding her, make up running down her face as she blows her nose in different intervals of time. To top it all off, she's still wearing her wedding dress. If her heart didn't feel like it was ripping in two she'd probably be laughing.
Wiping away a stray tear, she suddenly finds herself not alone on the bench anymore. It doesn't surprise her who it is.
'Nice weather we're having,' he says casually, stretching his legs out in front of him.
She doesn't respond, so he continues on as if he hasn't noticed her silence.
'Blue skies, not a cloud in sight. Great soccer playing weather.'
She gives him an incredulous look. 'Soccer? I just got my heartbroken in front of a bunch of people and instead of at least giving me a shoulder to cry on you talk about soccer?' Her voice rises with each passing word.
He gives her a pathetic attempt of a half-shrug, staring straight ahead. 'I figured that you wouldn't want to talk about it. Why should I bring up something, which would cause you a lot of pain, when I can talk about something that used to bring you a lot of joy? I thought it would be appropriate.' He turns and gives her a lopsided smile. 'I guess not.'
She makes an unlady like snort. 'And here I am thinking that you came here to try and make up some half-baked apologies on his behalf.'
He grabs her wrist, gently. 'Listen. He may be my friend, but what he did to you…I can never forgive him for doing that,' he says seriously, all playfulness gone from his eyes.
She attempts to smile but instead a few more tears leak out of the corners of her eyes. 'Sorry,' she mumbles, as she swipes at her tears. 'I just…I…'
He wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as she cries softly against his chest. 'It's like I can't breathe Tai…I c –can't breathe…'
'Hey, it's okay.' He murmurs comfortingly, rubbing her back in small circles. Pulling back he wipes her tears with his thumbs, cradling her face in his hands, smiling gently. 'It's going to be okay.'
She nods, finding comfort from his touch. 'Your shirt is all wet,' she says softly.
'You wanted a shoulder to cry on.'
'True.' She agrees pulling away. 'Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but I still feel pretty crappy.' She sighs, brushing her bangs away form her face.
'Yeah well, that usually happens when you get your heartbroken. Believe me…I know,' he says wistfully, a far away look in his eyes. She touches his hand, worried, and he turns to look at her with sad eyes. Just as she is about to ask him what's wrong, he smiles, and slaps his thighs in a merry gesture, jumping to his feet. 'Come on, let's go.'
She gives him an odd look. 'Go…whereexactly?'
'I don't know, let's grab a burger or something.'
'Dressed like this?' She asks gesturing towards his tux and her dress.
He laughs. 'Why not. Who cares what other people think, besides…' He rubs the back of his neck, bashfully, 'you look really beautiful in that dress.'
'Even with my runny make up?'
He smiles, offering her a hand. 'Runny make up and all.'
She stares at his hand for a minute, not sure whether to take it or not.
'Ready to face the world?' He says softly, hand still held out for her.
Smiling, she places her hand gingerly in his. He grasps her hand tightly, and she can't believe how lucky she is to have him by her side.
'With you Tai…always.'