It's not a new thing, his noticing her. The way she looks a little too long at her best friend, and her smiles are a little too forced whenever he talks about another girl like she isn't one herself. It's clear as day to him, and he can't understand how Will is so blind, but figures it must run in the family.
It hurts that her smiles are so blatantly fake and he hates that. Hates that stupid, annoying, positively sentimental feeling he gets whenever he's around her. It's a mirror image of her personality, and he wants to burn it to a crisp, forget about it, her. Stupid, stupid girl, with her stupid, stupid crush, and her stupid, stupid plans.
Stupid smile that she aims at Will. Stupid smile that he doesn't even notice, because he is too busy mooning over the girl who'd practically robbed the freaking cradle.
-
It's all a whirlwind and he still feels unsteady on his feet even weeks after.
He remembers how flighty she'd been acting, how she'd tried to call it off and then didn't. How she'd kissed him and he felt that it had been he who'd been burned, for once. How everyone had been staring and he hadn't gave a shit.
She'd laughed and practically danced her way to the bus, and he almost did the same, because of how ridiculously light he felt. It was alien, it was insane, it was impossible, and yet it wasn't.
He didn't really care that they weren't supposed to work together, simply because they did.
-
When they're standing at the pulpit, reciting their vows and his catch on fire, he feels as if the ground is shaking beneath his feet and almost wishes for it to swallow him up, but that would mean leaving Layla and he never would have gotten this far if that had ever been an option.