I walked out of the house feeling annoyed and frustrated with everyone and everything. I was getting tired of hearing about what kind of flowers there needed to be ordered or what color the tablecloths were going to be. I didn't know why my mother and all my friends were making such a big deal over this. I was just getting married to
"Babe, are you alright?" Taylor asked, leaning against the doorframe. "You sort of just disappeared on me."
"I don't understand why everyone's making such a big deal over every single little detail." Selena slammed the door behind herself as she walked out of the house, silencing herself away from the chaos on the other side of the door. She rubbed her temples lightly and sat down on the bench located on the front porch.
"Yeah, I just needed a breather." Selena sighed, knowing that Taylor didn't want to be left alone in the room with her mother. "I'll be right there in a bit."
"You sure you're okay though?" Taylor sat down beside me and placed a soft kiss upon my forehead, "you seem a little stressed." He said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah, it's just that my mom wants one thing and then she wants another thing a few seconds later and it's driving me insane." Selena huffed, "I just want everything to be done and over with already and I can finally be yours." She smiled weakly at him.
"And I can't wait until you're mine either." Taylor gave her a soft peck on the lips, "but for now, we just gotta put up with what your mom wants." He held her hand lightly in his.
"I don't know how much more of my mom that I can take." Selena looked down at their hands, her thumb running over his hand. "She's running my patience to a fine line right now."
"Just another hour and I'll take you out to lunch." Taylor smiled down at her.
"Can we stay in? I just want you to hold me in your arms." Selena told him.
"Anything you want." Taylor replied, giving her another chaste kiss on the forehead, "as long as you are happy." He told her.
Selena could help, but sort of force a smile to appear on her face as she watched Taylor stand up and walk back inside. Yes, Taylor was the perfect ideal man that her parents would've loved for her to marry. She loved him, yes, but she wasn't in love with him. She let her head fall back as she closed her eyes, enjoying the quietness, knowing it would be a mere few more seconds before Taylor came back out to check if she was coming back in sometime soon.
Suddenly, she heard a car pull up onto the property, making her open her eyes in response to see who it was. She didn't recognize the old mustang at all and she stood up puzzled, awaiting the person to get out of the car.
"This is private property, sir." She told the scruffy young man when they approached her. "I don't know how you even got passed the security—"
Joe removed the sunglasses from his eyes and pursed his lips a little before speaking, "you don't remember me do you?" He asked her quietly.
"W-what are you doing here?" Selena sputtered out, finally recognizing the young man that was standing in front of her, "why now, Joe?"
"Will you take a walk with me?" Joe asked.
"I can't. I have some last minute details that I need to do." Selena was about to turn her back to him.
"It's the least you could do, you know. At least spare me 5 minutes of your time." Joe tried.
"Just give me a second." Selena told him without turning around to face him. She disappeared into the big white house and reappeared a few minutes later, dressed in a comfortable white and blue spring dress.
"You had to change?" Joe asked her when she had stepped down the steps and was now beside him.
Selena ignored his question, "I thought you would've been long gone by now." She said quietly.
"I thought about it long and hard for the past few weeks, but I wasn't going to let you run and marry someone that you didn't love, Selena." Joe told her as they walked down the leave-covered pavement.
"I do love Taylor." Selena spat back at him harshly, "how dare you even say something like that.
Joe couldn't stop himself from laughing, "are you listening to what you're saying? You're practically lying to yourself" He continues to laugh at her.
Selena began to fume a little, "you're just jealous."
Joe stopped laughing and stared at her, "and just what is it that I am jealous of?" He asked.
"You're jealous of the fact that someone actually loves me while you have no one at all!" Selena yelled at him. She knew she had gotten to him when she saw that sad twinkle appear in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
Joe just kept his faze forward, looking out to the gray sky, "you know you're making a mistake."
"The only mistake I made was agreeing to come on this walk with you." Selena replied coldly.
"Then, why did you?" Joe looked over at her, "you could have easily declined again, but you didn't. So, Selena, would you like to explain to me why?" He asked.
"Because I felt sorry for you." Selena lied.
"You want to try that again?" Joe asked her.
"No." Selena sighed.
"You know how you said I have no one at all?" Joe asked her.
Selena nodded slightly.
"That's untrue because I'm pretty sure I have you." Joe told her.
"You lost me, Joe. I'm not yours anymore." Selena replied quietly.
"When exactly did I lose you Selena?" Joe questioned, "Because I don't quite remember when."
"You lost me the day that you walked out that door." Selena's voice quivered as she fought back the tears crawling out from the corner of her eyes. "That's when, Joe."
"Did you really think I had a choice?" Joe asked her, his voice sounded broken. "Your parents were the one that told me to leave and never come back."
"And you actually listened to them?!" Selena screamed, "what happened to not caring what they said about us, Joe?! You lied to me!"
"I never once lied to you, Selena. I loved you with everything that I had in me and I did what I thought was best for you and me leaving was probably the best thing that could've happened to you." Joe said softly.
Selena shook her head, her eyes pink from the tears that were falling from her eyes. "It was the worst thing that you could have done to me, Joe. That was the day that you broke my heart to pieces." She couldn't bear looking into his eyes any longer and turned her gaze away from him and out to the gray skies.
"I never meant to hurt you in any way—"
"It's a little too late for apologies don't you think?" Selena asked rudely.
"Too late, Sel? Too late?! I tried calling you every day the first few months when I was gone. Your mom was the one who told me that she'd pass the message along to you!" Joe yelled at her.
"That is a lie! I waited by the phone every second that I could and never once did you call. My mom was the one who had finally spoke some sense into me and told me that you were never going to call. She wouldn't lie to me, Joe. She's my mother."
"And she hated me! Why else do you think she'd keep all my messages from you? I poured my heart into those messages and not one of them ever got through to you…"
Selena shook her head, "I don't believe you, Joe."
Joe ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. He tugged at the ends of his hairs, "Think about it, Selena. Name one time that she was actually happy for the two of us. Happy that you had fallen in love with someone."
"I can't." Selena cried, "I know she hated our relationship together, but I didn't think she hated us being together so much that she had to lie to me."
Joe looked up at the dark sky and saw how the clouds had turned a dark gray, soon water droplets were falling down from the sky and onto him and Selena, "are you really going to go through with this?" He asked loudly over the pelting raindrops.
"Yes!"
Joe shook his head, "wrong answer." He felt his heart break a little more.
"Joe, I love him and I promised him that I would be his forever."
"You told me the same exact thing 3 years ago." Joe retorted, "is my promise not as important as his now?"
"That was three years ago, Joe. This is now." Selena replied.
"Tell me you don't love me and I'll leave you alone." Joe told her.
Selena shut her eyes, the water droplets falling against her skin; she opened her eyes and looked up at Joe, "I don't love you." She lied straight to his face. "I don't love you anymore."
Joe felt a dagger pierce through his heart, but he wasn't going to give up on her. He grabbed her face in his hands and smashed his lips against her, kissing her with all that was in him. He pulled away slowly, "you can't tell me that kiss didn't mean anything to you." He whispered.
Selena began to cry again, but it was hard to tell because of the rain hitting against there faces, "it meant nothing to me." She whimpered.
"Okay…" Joe dropped his hands from the sides of her face, "I-I guess I won't bother you anymore. Have a nice life with Taylor." He told her, feeling as if his heart was about to burst out of his chest. "I'm sorry."
Selena looked down at her hands and cried a bit more, her tears mixing with the raindrops. She looked up and saw Joe walking away from her and she knew that if she let him walk away this time that there was surely a chance that he would never be walking back into her life again and she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let him walk out of her life again. It would only cause her even more pain knowing that God had given her a second chance to be with her true love and she threw it away. She ran after Joe and grabbed his hand, "I lied."
"Why?" Joe whispered.
"Because I was afraid that you would break my heart all over again, Joe, but letting you walk away again would be the biggest mistake I ever make and I just can't let that happen again." Selena told him, "I can't let you walk out of my life forever. I love you. I never stopped and I don't think I ever will."
The corners of Joe's mouth twitched into a smile, "It seems like it's been an eternity since I've heard those words leave your mouth." He wrapped his arms securely around her waist and leaned down, capturing her lips in another breathtaking kiss. He continued to kiss her as the rain seemed to have poured on them even harder, "I love you." He said against her lips before crashing his onto hers again.
Selena pulled away from the intimate kiss and stared Joe right in the eyes, "my mom's going to hate me…"
"It doesn't matter because you'll have me to love you endlessly." Joe replied, giving her another kiss on the lips.
"How am I supposed to tell Taylor, Joe?" Selena said softly.
"You tell him the truth." Joe replied.
"I can't. It'll hurt him too much."
"So, you're going to go through with marrying him?" Joe asked appalled.
Selena shook her head, the water from her hair flopping everywhere, "of course not. I just don't know how I'll be able to break it to him."
"I'm pretty sure he would've seen us by now." Joe leaned his forehead down on hers, "I'll go pay my apologies later." He smiled and leaned down, kissing her intensely.
Joe stroked Selena's cheek gently and watched as her eyes started to flutter open, "hello beautiful." He whispered when he saw a smile appear on her lips. "Did you sleep okay?" He asked.
Selena nodded, "especially since I was in your arms." Her eyes slid close again and the smile remained on her lips. "I like waking up to see you next to me."
"That makes the two of us." Joe leaned down and rested his head in the crook of his neck, her soft dark hair covering over his face. "You smell like strawberries."
Selena couldn't help, but giggle a little, "And I know it's your favorite."
"Mhm." Joe kissed the side of her neck softly.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything." Joe replied.
"How did you know that I'd take you back?" Selena asked.
"I didn't." Joe replied, "It was faith that brought us back together because I truly believe that true love never dies."
Selena smiled again, "it really doesn't."
