Still Waiting For You
Chapter 6: "Finalize It, Make Mistakes"
"Clarify
that, please," requested Caitie, staring at Val.
"I told
Tyler I didn't love him."
"And your
exact words were…?"
"Something
like, 'I mean, it's not like I love you or anything.' I can't remember," said
Val miserably.
"Val?"
"Yeah?" Val
looked up at her best friend hopefully.
"You're an
idiot," said Caitie flatly.
"I know,"
replied Val before she started crying.
*
"I should
be nervous!" Tyler screamed to Hank. Two hours before the wedding. He was
pacing the room, shirt halfway unbuttoned and tie hanging around his neck.
"Aren't
you?" replied Hank calmly.
"No. I'm
thinking about what Val said yesterday… I'm anxious because of that… I
shouldn't be…" Tyler was mumbling to himself.
"What
exactly did she say, anyway?" Hank was unable to contain his curiosity. "You
never told me."
"To quote,
'I mean, it's not like I love you or anything.' I think that was it."
Val, why
on earth are you being such an idiot? And why is Tyler accepting it? Why on
earth is he stupid enough to believe it? Not stupid, blinded. So in love he
can't see that she loves him back. Shakespeare was right.
"What fools these mortals be," murmured Hank.
"What?" asked Tyler, ceasing to pace for a moment.
"Nothing," said Hank quickly.
*
Five minutes.
Five minutes before he went out into the church and got
married to Heather and lived happily ever after.
But he wasn't feeling nervous, or anxious, or scared, or
happy. He just felt like he was making the biggest mistake in the world.
Val, he thought miserably. No. Not Val. Heather. Heather.
His fiancée, soon to be wife. Heather. No.
VAL. No…
"Connell, Connell!" someone whispered, tugging on his
pant leg. Startled out of his thoughts, he looked down to see Kara whispering
his name fiercely.
"What?"
"Mommy lied," Kara
informed him. "She lied!"
"She's right," agreed a voice. Tyler looked up, half
expecting to see Val. But that wasn't Val's voice… Caitie. When did she come?
When did Kara come?
"Right about what?"
"Val does love you," Caitie said quietly. "Don't be an
idiot. If you want to throw your life away on Heather, go ahead, but Val is in
love with you…"
"What?" This was an awful joke. It wasn't in the least
bit funny. Val didn't love him. She said so!
She said she didn't love him… but…
"She lied. She's scared of getting hurt. Val… doesn't
think you would leave Heather for her."
"I don't know if I could, either."
Caitie's eyes grew hard. "Then I overestimated you."
"It's too late to fix anything anyway…" He trailed off.
Was it too late?
"Not if you honestly want to fix it," said Hank, joining
the conversation. "I've tried not to say it, but… Val is so much better than
Heather. Face it, Tyler. You know Val better than almost anyone else, even if
you haven't talked to her in a long time. You two were made for each other and
if you don't realize it soon, then—"
"The ceremony begins immediately," interrupted a steward,
placing his hand on the door. Tyler looked back and forth between the door and
Kara.
"I don't know…" he said faintly.
*
He took his place at the altar and closed his eyes in pain. What if they were telling the truth? You know that you'd leave Heather for Val in a second if you thought Val would accept you. You are in love with her. Now, why did it take so long for you to figure that out?
He couldn't answer that, so he opened his eyes and
searched the room for her.
They weren't lying… he realized as he found Val. A tear was running down her cheek and the look in her eyes explained that she didn't mean to say what she had said. You can't marry Heather, the voice in his head announced. You're too in love with Val.
Right about then,
the wedding march started playing and he had to tear himself away from Val.
The bridesmaids' dresses were very nice, Tyler thought
dully, if you liked pink. He didn't really care about pink, but it wasn't ugly.
Like, when Val wore pink, it was a very attractive color. Connell, he warned himself.
"All rise for the bride," intoned the priest. Tyler was
surprised it was moving this quickly. It should be slow motion, maybe,
something that gave him more time to think.
Yes, Heather looked beautiful in her wedding dress. But
Val would look better. Val looked better now, with tears streaking her face and hurt in her eyes. Not only because of
physical traits… she was just so much more appealing…
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today…"
Val. Val… and the kiss. Accidental, maybe, and Heather
had never found out, but every time he heard those words, he would think of
that. Heck, every time he heard anything… Val…
He didn't love Heather. He thought he did, but he didn't.
She was cruel and rude and annoying and not right for him at all. He didn't
love her. He loved Val.
"Heather Elizabeth Stillmore, do you take Tyler Robert
Connell for your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and
in health, in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad,
until death do you part?"
"I do," said Heather. The priest turned to him.
"Tyler Robert Connell, do you take Heather Elizabeth
Stillmore, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in joy and in
sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad, until death do you
part?"
"I…" Now or never. He didn't love Heather… or did he? Val…
Val… He was in love with her. Val, that was. He was head over heels in love
with her. "I…" He looked at Val, who seemed to have suddenly stopped crying and
now was looking intently at him. Val? Yes. Heather?
"No," he said softly, murmuring to himself. The priest
leaned forward.
"What was that?"
"No, I don't," he said, more loudly this time. Heather's
jaw, along with everyone else's jaw in the room, dropped. "I don't love you as
much as I thought I did, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life with you
if I don't love you. There are others…"
And he turned and walked out the door.
Ooh, yay. Leaving Heather
at the altar. Yippee! No, the title didn't fit. I just wanted to torture
people. :-) Aren't I nice? Anyway, hope you liked! The next chapter will be
started immediately… and yes, it will be longer. Okay? Bye!
---IVY