Chapter 13

"Why aren't you happy for them?" Alex asked as the concern grew on Ryan's face. And by the looks of it she knew that Ryan was hiding something, since he couldn't look her in the eye and was trying to look occupied by staring intently at the TV screen although he wasn't paying attention to the credits that rolled. Sighing he turned off the TV and slowly turned to face her. "What?" she asked again impatiently since he wasn't making effort to start telling her what's going on? "Caleb and Shelby aren't engaged." Ryan said facing her squarely. "Yes they are, she showed us the ring today." Alex defended the blond since she had no idea where Ryan got his information but it was clearly wrong. "No, Alex they aren't they're married." He concluded looking down while fumbling with the scatter cushion Alex had on her lap.

At this point Alex was feeling a whole bunch of emotions all at once and she didn't know whether it was anger, sadness, betrayal or any of the other once she tried to suppress at the moment. "How do you know all this and please don't lie to me." She said hating the way her voice sounds like a plea for help at the moment. She knew Ryan and Caleb had a really close friendship ("bromance") the last few years after they sorted out all the beef that happened between them. But why would Shelby lie about something like that. "Last week during lunch Shelby and Caleb came to my office and asked me to be a witness at the wedding since they planned on going to court the next day to get married." He answered her question although he was being careful about the way he conveyed the message while studying Alex's facial expression. "Babe?" he asked taking her hand since she hadn't shown any emotion while he told her what happened. "I'm going to bed." she whispered getting up walking towards the stairs. Ryan wanted to tell her how sorry he was, for not telling her anything sooner , but he promised Caleb that he'd keep it to himself until he and Shelby were ready to tell everyone the truth about what happened. He was slowly preparing himself for some silent treatment in the weeks to come. They just made up a few days ago after their last fight and here he was seemingly messing things up again.

Upstairs Alex paced back and forth in the bedroom not sure what to do. She knew there was no way she would be able to sleep tonight, not while she's still trying to wrap her head around what Ryan just told her. She got her phone and typed the same text to both Niamh and Natalie but ended up deleting it since she felt like it's not her story to tell. She took a really long shower and when she stepped into the bedroom Ryan was in bed already busy on his phone, but he put it down the moment he saw her. "I'm sorry" the both said in accord and Alex smiled. "It's not your fault you kept a promise that you made to your best friend, which you now kind of broke by telling me. But I'm not mad at you and if it seemed that way earlier, I apologize." Ryan got out of bed and walked towards her hugging her tightly. "I understand" he whispered while burying his nose in her hair smelling the scent of her shampoo. "Come to bed." He advised as he extended a hand towards her waiting for her as she scooted towards her side of the bed and got in behind her pulling her closer, holding her tightly against his chest.

Alex knew it was going to be a big day the moment she stepped into the office. She doesn't know how she will react when she sees either Shelby or Caleb. Before she left home she promised Ryan that she wouldn't overreact, but she's not so sure about that promise anymore since she saw Shelby at her usual spot in the foyer, all those mixed emotions of the previous night came back. She ca n act if she doesn't see her at all and just walk past with her head down, or pretend that she has a phone call and walk past with her phone pressed to her ear and just wave a she walks past. But the so called phone call eventually has to end and she has to face her in the office and then they'll have a conversation, and the pretending isn't going to work anymore. "Man up and be normal, Parrish" she told herself as she walked to the office not bothering to greet Shelby as she walked past. Peeking at her hand quickly, she saw that she still wasn't wearing the ring she showed them yesterday. She mumbled a good morning and disappeared behind her desk. Shelby called her name but he didn't bother to turn around. The office was filled quickly as the rest entered. They were briefed in what to do for the day and what was expected of them , having to report back at the end of the day in all the progress they made.

After their supervisors and special agents left the room they discarded their work and busied themselves with some wedding plans. The girls made small talk and joked around, Natalie was busy on Google finding bridesmaids dresses while Nimah prepared a so called speech since she had a feeling that Shelby would be crying when it was time for her to make her speech, and then she'll ask Nimah to say something on her behalf. Alex couldn't join in the fun and was doing research on the guy she and Simon are working on. Shelby smiled and joke with them and at that point Alex just couldn't deal with it anymore. Natalie asked her something about what style she would want her dress to look like. "Whatever" Alex mumbled as she got up and left to the cafeteria. "Is there trouble in paradise again between Alex and Ryan or is it just one of those mornings?" Nimah asked as she looked as confused as the other two. "I'll go check on her" Shelby said.

Alex was sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria with her hands around the paper coffee mug in front of her. Caleb waved at her and she smiled and nodded, not in the mood to talk to anyone today, when Shelby entered and the two of them bumped into each other. They kissed quickly and Shelby walked over to Alex's table smiling as she took a seat opposite her friend. "Is everything okay? You seem different today." Shelby said taking one of the sugar sachets, tearing it open throwing the contents into her mouth. "You're married and you lied to us about it, so excuse me if I'm not I the mood to talk to you right now." Alex said watching the smile disappear from Shelby's face as she got up with her coffee ready to leave. "Alex please sit. I can explain." Shelby pleaded. She sat down reluctantly. Shelby got her phone out letting Nimah and Natalie know that they should come to the cafeteria she has something to tell them.

Half an hour later they all sat around the table in silence not knowing what to say. Shelby came clean and told them why they did what they did. Her parents migrated to Australia for good and they didn't tell her anything. She thought they were still back home but she got a text a month ago when they told her they're in Australia and they're not coming back to New York. That was their way of a good bye to their only child. She and Caleb talked about marriage before that and she was really excited to have he father walk her down the aisle but after that text her world was crushed. Caleb told her she doesn't have to worry about it they can still get married without her parents present. So they went to court one day during lunch when they got married. Caleb's dad didn't show up since he was marrying an "ordinary girl" and the only people present was Ryan and Caleb' mom and two other witnesses she didn't even know. "I made the whole beach proposal up. I didn't want to tell you guys the truth I was really embarrassed about it. Not having my parents or even my three close friends there with me having strangers signing for me as a witness I just couldn't tell you about it. She concluded close to tears. "I sent my parents a message after a month telling them it's fine they can stay I've survived without them for half my life I'm pretty sure I can continue doing it." She concluded getting up and leaving the three of them there as they're sitting in silence. Nimah called her name after she got up but she didn't turn around. She headed for the bathroom and closed the stall door as she cried.

After they all handed in their reports on the progress they made for the day the girls waited outside in the foyer for Shelby to come out of the office. They didn't say anything they just went in for a group hug together and cried with their friend. "If you wanna talk you know where to find us. I'm really sorry for being a bitch when I didn't even know the full story" Alex said as she wiped her own tears. "You're always acting like one" Nimah sniffed and they all laughed as each of them hugged Shelby again before they departed their separate ways. "Hey guys, I love you and I'm sorry you don't get to wear that dress you've Googled Natalie and that you're not getting to do your speech Nimah." She smiled, the first real smile for the day after she told them the truth and didn't have to pretend or lie to her friends anymore.

Hey guys, thanks for the read and the follows and favorites. Hope you like this chapter where everything is resolved. Lovies-S