The Bachelor
Disclaimer: I don't own LWD
AN: Enjoy

The Bachelor:
Chapter 6

This wasn't even bad. It wasn't horrible. No, it was simply impossible. He refused to believe it that she was there, at his wedding, manipulating him with such ease. Stuff like that just didn't happen. Yet it was.

"SAM!" he yelled stomping about the church in hopes to locate his friend who would soon be six feet under.

Sam knew it was coming. But he knew it had to be done. If Derek could stand at the altar and say 'I do' to his bride whilst having Casey there... then he really did love Allie. But sadly, Sam wasn't too convinced he did. He didn't want his best friend making a mistake. But he knew Derek. He couldn't just tell him "Dude, I think you're marrying the wrong girl." No. With Derek the hands on approach was the only thing that seemed to work. And well, it was very hands on.

And so he waited the storm that was coming his way.

"How could you?" Derek spoke shaking his head. This was just too much. As if he wasn't having enough to deal with prior to the Princess's appearance. He knew weddings were stressful, but he figured all he had to do was stand at the altar and say 'I do,' when it was time. Not this, never this. He wouldn't have signed up for it if he had known.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Sam shrugged leaning against the nearest wall.

"You know what happened between us. You know I uninvited her. So why, why would you do this to me?" Derek asked genuinely hurt. Because this was what he was avoiding. The freak out he thought he'd save himself from by uninviting her.

"It's just Casey, Derek." Sam sighed nonchalantly. Yeah, right.

"It's just Casey? NO! You of all people know that is not 'Just Casey.' Casey herself is enough to-" Derek spoke quickly, his voice getting louder and louder with each word he spoke.

"Enough to?" Sam dared ask. He knew he was egging Derek on, but there was no other way around it.

"Enough to stop my wedding." Derek muttered running a hand into his hair. He leaned against the adjacent wall and slid down to the floor into a slump. He was a mess. Worse than he had been an hour ago due to mere wedding jitters. This was worse, deeper.

"And why would that be?" Sam said taking a seat next to his best friend.

"I don't know." Derek whispered to himself.

"Oh, but I think you do." Same urged him to do on.

"You're sick Sam. Why are you doing this to me now?" he asked looking up from the ground.

"I'm not doing anything to you, Derek. You're doing it to yourself. Having her here is tearing you a part. And you really need to ask yourself why."

"Because I slept with her." Derek admitted. As if Sam didn't know. But the tone of his voice, it was sad, like he knew it was the wrong thing to do. But he couldn't distinguish why it was wrong. Was it because he cheated on Allie, or was it because it just reestablished feelings he wished to forget?

"Really? So is it killing you that Emily is here? How about Kendra? And the rest of your exs?" Sam teased with a playful smile. He wasn't enjoying his bestfriend's pain, but he was happy they were getting somewhere. A breakthrough, finally. After years he was so close to admitting it for once in his life.

"That's different." Derek argued.

"Why?" She asked. Waiting for the he had known for years.

"Because I never really loved any of them…" he whispered to himself, hitting his head against the wall behind him. Those words absolutely gutted him. He had finally admitted it to himself, and to his best friend. Which was pretty much the same thing if you think about it. So, he sorta kinda loved Casey.

"Well ding ding ding. We have a winner." Sam spoke sarcastically clapping to add some dramatic effect.

Derek was not amused. "What am I suppose to do now?" he asked looking up at Sam like a lost puppy. He was so broken, so confused.

Sam pitied him for a moment. Maybe he should stop being so happy about the revelation. Maybe he should deal with the broken Derek instead." I wouldn't worry about it too much." Sam assured him in a softer more gentle voice.

"Whys that?" Derek asked in a breath, almost chuckling to himself about his interesting predicament. Leave it to Casey to ruin his wedding. Unintentional or not.

"The maid of honor dropped this off for you." he said before placing a small envelop into his hands. He knew it wasn't good knew. Jamie wasn't even dressed when she stopped by minutes ago. Sure her hair was done up but her makeup was ruined due to what he figured were tears. And if she was crying well…The contents of that letter didn't seem so bright.

"Allie's sister…" Sam explained to Dereks curious eyes.

Derek ripped open the letter and pulled out its contents. A little note written in her perfect handwriting. It brought a little smile to his lips, he should be thinking of her, not Casey. This was good, progress. But was it too late?

Dear Derek,

I tried writing this letter about five times now, my hands all cramped up I'm tried of repeating the words over and over. So here goes it…You're not going to go through with this wedding, let's be honest. You can fight me tooth and nail but at the end of the day your heart isn't in it. You may love me, as I love you, but I wasn't ever your number one. I was always second best. I don't know who your first priority was. Maybe Sally? Maybe another girl you never spoke about? I don't know. But I knew this from the very beginning. Silly me to think I could actually you over there. Such a girl, huh? I thought I finally had you when you proposed. But once more, I was wrong.

Even if you did go through with it, I couldn't.

I'm sorry to do this to you now.

With all the Love I have,
Allie

He stared down at the paper confused. So, she had gotten cold feet. She called it off. He wasn't sure what to think. His ego was too sore to rejoice his new found freedom. He had just been left at the altar. By an amazing women. She knew...she always knew. And he had cheated on her too. Well, wasn't he the world's biggest jerk?

"She's not coming." He said almost like a question. As if he didn't understand what her words meant. He cocked his head to the side looking up at Sam to guide him and pull him back to reality.

Sam shook his head no. He put a hand on Derek's head and messed up Derek's perfect bed head hair in a encouraging manner. He almost wanted to say 'Afraid not little guy." But he chose not to. Derek was already feeling low enough as it was, he didn't need to be belittle like that.

Derek barley noticed. He sighed realizing he had the job of going back out there and tell everyone that wedding was off. It was the least he could do for her. Even if it was embarrassing. Sam gave him another encouraging nod and with that Derek got up, literally dusted himself off and walked out there.

He walked out slowly center stage. Al's family had started filling in her side of the church as well. This was going to be fun. "Erm...Excuse Me." he called gaining everyone's attention. His voice not as strong as it usually was, his family noticing it right away. They knew something was wrong.

Casey stomach dropped. She wasn't sure why, but she knew it was bad news. Maybe it was the look in his eyes, the way he looked like he was about to cry. He looked like a little kid looking for his mom in the crowed which was weird. Derek never looked lonely or unsure of himself. He always walked around like he owned the place, so this was something very unnerving.

He bit his lip unsure of how exactly to say it. Maybe he should have thought about that before getting up there. But then his eyes landed on Casey and all he wanted was to get out of there. But hey whatever motivation works, right? "I don't know exactly how to say this but uh...the weddings off. She's not coming," he started scratching the back of his neck looking down feeling his face heat up. "So...I'm sorry. But, you're welcome to go and enjoy the reception. It's all played for and well I don't know about you but I now I need a drink. And an open bar seems pretty good right now." he chuckled nervously. No one else laughed. "So yeah...sorry." he muttered before turning around and walking towards the back room. He did his best not to catch anyone else's eyes because at the moment he felt worthless and couldn't really deal with anything else.

AN:
I don't know what you're thinking unless you review!

So, were you expecting that? I hope not, you know i love throwing you guys off =)