I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update, my life has been crazy the past few months but long story short I'm good and back to writing so I made this chapter longer than usual for all of you that have been waiting! Thank you so much for the sweet reviews and follows, it really means a lot! :)
"SUSIE!" Amanda bound through the Derkins' front door and pulled Susie into a tight bear hug.
"Hey Amanda! I've missed you so much," Susie grinned, excited to finally see her best friend.
"It's been too long," Amanda whispered pulling back to look Susie in the eyes. "How have you been?"
"I've been great, I just graduated with my Master's in biochemistry and I got a job working at this great research facility-"
"That's great!" Amanda cut her off. "How do you like my ring?" She put her hand in Susie's face, making her laugh.
"It's so beautiful Amanda! It's huge!" Susie replied inspecting it. "When do I get to meet your fiancé anyway?"
"Oh he should be here later for the bridal shower," Amanda waved it off, walking inside.
"Aren't you going to tell me anything about him?" Susie followed her into the living room. "You're marrying someone and I know literally nothing about him except that he must have a good job since he bought you a 3 carat-"
"SUSIE! It's impolite to tell a woman you know how much her jewelry is worth," her mother scolded her shaking her head. "Hello dear."
"Hey Aunt Carol," Amanda smiled kissing her aunt's cheek. "I don't mind Susie asking, my fiancé owns a construction company."
"A construction company?" Susie asked skeptically.
"Yes, and he's loaded!" Amanda answered excitedly.
"Well then he's perfect for you!" Susie laughed. "So how did you two meet?"
As Amanda told her how she met her fiancé with a dreamy look in her eye, Susie gave her cousin her complete attention and for the first time since she'd arrived, Susie was glad she was home.
Susie sighed looking around her living room that was now full of guests for Amanda's bridal shower.
She had sat on the couch after she greeted all of her family members and anyone else she was obligated to speak to at least once. Of course that had taken almost two hours considering she hadn't seen most of her family members in years.
She was enjoying the peace and quiet when she felt someone lean on the cushion behind her.
"We meet again, dearest Susie," an all-too familiar voice teased in her ear. She spun around and for the second time in two days came face to face with Calvin.
"What are you doing here?" She asked harshly. "Did I leave something at the grocery store?"
"Nope," he smiled. "I'm here for the bridal shower, isn't that why everyone's here?" Susie's face twisted into pure horror as she turned to face Amanda.
"You're not marrying this asshole, are you?"
"SUSIE!" Her mother who had been walking by scolded with a dirty look that made Calvin laugh.
"No of course not!" Amanda answered.
"Then who are you marrying? Why won't you just tell me?" Susie asked.
"She's marrying Moe," Calvin answered at the same time that Amanda said she wanted it to be a surprise.
"MOE?!" Susie asked widening her eyes.
"Nice going Calvin," Amanda gave him a dirty look. "You ruined the surprise!"
"Sorry, I didn't think it'd be a big deal for me to tell her who you're planning on spending the rest of your life with," Calvin deadpanned. "My bad." Amanda lowered her eyes at him.
"I haven't even seen Moe in years," Susie said to ease the tension.
"Then you have to say hi! I just have no idea where he is," Amanda stated looking around. "I'll go find him."
"I'm not sure if marrying Moe and not Calvin is better," Susie muttered to herself as Amanda went searching for her fiancé.
"Of course it's better," Calvin interjected while he took a seat next to her on the couch. "I'm still available." He wiggled his eyebrows at her with a cheeky grin.
"You're both pretty awful," Susie tried to inch away from him. She didn't like that their thighs were touching. He put his arm around her and stopped her movement.
"Come on, I'm not that bad," he reasoned as he began leaning his head closer to hers.
"Whatever you say Calvin," she said standing up abruptly. "Whatever you say."
"Amanda, wait a second," Susie said grabbing Amanda's wrist and turning her around to face her. Susie had followed Amanda until they were alone in the hallway.
"Yes?" Amanda asked with an innocent face.
"Why didn't you tell me you were marrying Moe?" Susie started. "Why keep this a big secret, is it really that big of a deal?"
"Of course it's a big deal!"
"No Amanda, it's not a big deal if you love him, which you obviously do, so why all of the secrecy with only me? Am I that cynical that you would think I wouldn't come to my favorite cousin's wedding because her fiancée used to pick on me in high school?" Susie bit her lip.
"Of course not I just-"
"I would think that you would know me better than that to think I would ever do something so petty and childish-"
"I was afraid you wouldn't come because of Calvin!" Amanda blurted out cutting Susie off. Susie's mouth opened in shock but she quickly recovered.
"You didn't think I would show up to your wedding because of Calvin?" She asked quietly.
"Duh! Everyone knows you and Calvin can't stand each other and he's Moe's best friend and best man," Amanda rambled, "and I knew it would be hard to get you to even come out here if you knew you'd have to spend any of your time even near him even though he seemed really excited when I told him I was going to ask you to be my maid of honor and-"
"Did you just say that Calvin was excited when you told him I would be your maid of honor?" Susie lowered her eyes.
"Yeah, Moe seems to think that Calvin-"
"What is he up to?" Susie muttered to herself. "First I see him at the grocery store, then he tries to kiss me on the couch he's obviously trying to-"
"Calvin tried to kiss you?" Amanda asked incredulously. Susie looked up startled that she had been heard.
"Well, I can't be sure," Susie admitted. "But he leaned in really close to my face and I got up before I could find out if he was actually going to kiss me."
"This is so exciting!" Amanda squealed clapping her hands together with a grin.
"No it isn't! I bet he's just trying to get back at me for that night we…." Susie trailed off realizing she had given to much information.
"The night you what?" Amanda asked wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Amanda?" A male voice called loudly.
"That's Moe, you're off the hook for now Susie but I want to know what happened that night with Calvin that makes you think he's so desperate for revenge," Amanda lowered her eyes at Susie as she walked towards her fiancé's voice.
Susie closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall and let out the breath she had been holding. She couldn't believe she had made it eight years without ever mentioning her night in the woods with Calvin.
She sunk to the ground as she put her head in her hands thinking about how stupid she was to think she could come home and avoid Calvin altogether.
Susie sighed and took a sip of her drink as she leaned over the balcony in her old bedroom.
She smiled and took in the scenery of the woods behind her and Calvin's houses. Those woods had always been her favorite part of this town; they were the only place undisturbed by the general population.
Well, except for Calvin, but even he didn't do anything too bad when he went into those woods.
She found a smile come to her face as she thought about being a kid and playing in the woods with Calvin and Hobbes, his old stuffed tiger. She immediately wiped the smile off her face and shook her head.
She really needed to stop thinking about Calvin.
She had been naïve to think that she could come home for her cousin's wedding and completely avoid him. She had only seen him twice so far and he was already consuming her thoughts.
She couldn't think about him. Not anymore.
Calvin was a jerk and he always had been and always would be.
Calvin had always tormented her. Ever since she moved to this low population town when she was six, he had always teased her and made her life miserable until the day before she left for Columbia.
No matter what had happened that night, he was still the same teasing jerk he had always been.
It didn't matter how good it felt for him to hold her in the brisk summer air in his old treehouse because he was still a jerk.
It didn't matter that when he had kissed her she felt like she was complete because he was still a jerk.
It didn't matter that she to this day could not think of ever being happier because he was still a jerk.
It didn't matter how often she found herself thinking of what he would've done or said if she hadn't have left him alone in the woods after they had spent the night out there, he was still a jerk.
She had a feeling the word 'mistake' would have been within his first sentence and Susie just wasn't built for rejection and awkward conversations, so she left before he could say anything.
But of course she hadn't stayed so she would never know if that could've been the one time he would have proven her wrong.
She shook her head out of her unwanted thoughts about Calvin and closed her eyes. He was a jerk, and just because he had been uncharacteristically sweet to her one night didn't mean anything.
She bit her lip as her self-control waned and she thought back to that night again and was interrupted by the deep voice that belonged to the very man she had just been fantasizing about.
"Escaping the party after only an hour and a half? Shameful, Miss Maid of Honor."
"You just can't leave me alone can you," she sighed as she looked down into her drink to avoid him.
"When have I ever left you alone?" He smirked slightly.
"A girl can dream, can't she?" she sarcastically responded, lifting her head back up to look back out into the woods.
"The woods always look so peaceful, don't they?" he said softly into her ear. She shuddered at the closeness to him and chugged the rest of her drink.
"It's always been my favorite place in the world to be," she admitted, leaning down to put her empty glass on the ground.
"Mine too. We used to have so much fun playing back there," he smiled as he put his hands on either side of hers on the railing, boxing her in.
"As I remember it, you used to have fun throwing snowballs at me and having your GROSS club meetings, which I was forbidden from attending." Calvin chuckled softly as he took a step closer to her, forcing her back to touch his chest.
"GROSS was a serious issue that needed to be handled with the utmost importance."
"I was the only 'slimey girl' you were trying to get rid of."
"It was all Hobbes' idea!"
"You're not seriously blaming your girl hating club on a stuffed tiger are you?" She turned her head slightly to look at him and immediately regretted it, seeing how close he really was to her.
"You're right… you know, I should start that club back up," Calvin said thoughtfully. "And really get a following this time. I have faith we could get rid of all the slimy girls for good."
"You're impossible." She muttered, turning back around towards the woods.
"It was a joke Susie, it's not like I still do those things."
"Maybe not, but you DID continue to throw snowballs at me until we were 18." Calvin full out laughed at her statement.
"And you never saw it coming." She smiled in spite of herself and quickly wiped it off her face.
"Well it's been just the best time ever catching up with you Calvin, but I have to go back downstairs now," Susie turned around only to run into Calvin's strong chest. She tilted her head back to look at him as she pushed him, but he didn't move an inch.
"You don't need to go yet," he smirked. "Stay out here with me a little bit longer."
"They definitely need me downstairs, so see you later!" She tried to get around him and he continued to hold her in place.
"Will you let me go Calvin?"
"Nope," he grinned as one of his arms snuck around her waist. Her eyes lowered.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"I'm not done talking to you," he smirked again as he lowered his head towards hers.
"Well I'm done talking to you! I'm the maid of honor and host of this party, I'm sure that someone somewhere needs me downstairs, doing-"
"If you were so badly needed, why hasn't anyone called for you?" Calvin asked with an amused look. When she lowered her eyes at him he laughed again and began playing with the ends of her hair with his free hand.
"Stay here with me Susie," he whispered as he lowered his head until their foreheads were touching.
"Calvin, I really should-"
Calvin cut her off as he crashed his lips onto hers. Susie found herself breathless as Calvin buried his hand in her hair and pulled her flush against his body with the arm around her waist. He softly bit her lower lip to get her to open her lips up for his tongue when she heard someone faintly calling her name.
She pushed Calvin away from her and they stared at each other for a few good seconds as they regulated their breathing.
"Susie? Where are you sweetheart?" Her mom's voice was just outside of her room now.
"Suz don't go yet, we should talk-" Calvin started.
"I told you they needed me downstairs," Susie replied backing away from him until her back hit the door.
She stood facing him as she fumbled around, finally finding the doorknob and bolting out of her room leaving Calvin standing alone on her balcony.
