We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Thirty-Nine

A/N: Ok, so here's a "funny" story. I decided I wouldn't post another chapter of this story until I had completed it so that the updates wouldn't take so long. The good news is that I finished the story. The bad news is that my computer got a nasty virus that wiped out everything I had saved. So I'm back at square one. While I have a better idea of where this story is going, I'm not looking forward to having to re-write everything again. I will, but it may take a while. Thank you to everyone who is being patient with me and sticking with this story! For your patience, I bring you another chapter. Enjoy!

Music filled the air around the tent where Dave and Shelby's wedding reception was taking place. Couples danced on the wooden dance floor that had been brought out, while others were gathering around the buffet table. Lucy sat at the head table and watched as all the guests seemed to be having a good time. Carter had been sitting next to her, but he had left a while ago, saying that he would be back soon. She spotted Dave and Shelby dancing close to each other and smiled. They were both glowing and she knew that this was the happiest day of Shelby's life. She suspected that it was most likely the happiest day of Dave's life as well.

"Dance with me." Carter whispered in Lucy's ear.

She turned her head to face him and smiled. "What?"

"Dance with me." He repeated. "Please?"

"I'm not sure I want to dance." She lied.

Knowing that she was lying, he called her on it. "Yes you do." He took a hold of her hand and helped her stand up. "Now please come dance with me?"

"Why do you want to dance with me so badly?" She asked as he led her to the dance floor.

He thought about saying it was because he loved her, but thought it might freak her out. "I just do. Humor me?"

"Ok." She accepted his answer and they started to dance. She felt his arm wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him so that their faces were only a few inches apart from each other. Unsure of what to do in this situation, she quickly turned her head and laid it on his chest since she wasn't tall enough to reach his shoulder. "The ceremony was nice."

He wasn't hoping for idle chitchat right now, but played along. "Yeah it was."

"And this reception is wonderful. I'm so glad that your Gamma allowed us to have the reception in her gardens. It was very nice of her to open up her house to strangers."

"Well you know how she is. She always liked Shelby, not as much as she liked you though. She is one of the many people in this place that thinks you're wonderful."

Between Carter's last comment and the strange way that he was looking at her, she couldn't help but feel herself blush.

During the ceremony he had resolved to tell Lucy his feelings for her, no matter what the outcome. Either she would tell him that she felt the same or she would, hopefully, let him down easy. He was fairly confident that she would tell him that she loved him too. Now he just had to get the words out. Finally, he took a deep breath and prepared to tell her. "Um, Lucy, there's something I need to talk to you about."

She pulled away from him slightly so that she could look into his face, but remained in his embrace. "Ok. What's up?"

"I've been thinking about this for a long time but I've never really known exactly how to tell you."

She eyed him suspiciously. He looked like he was about to say something serious. "Is this bad news? Should I be bracing myself for bad news?"

"No!" He laughed. "It's wonderful news. At least I think it's wonderful news. You might not, but maybe you will. Hopefully you will…"

"Ok, now you're starting to worry me. You're babbling and you never babble. I'm the one that babbles in this relationship. We can't both babble. We'd never be able to have a real conversation." They both laughed at her observation.

"Ok. I'll stop babbling." He conceded.

By this time they had stopped dancing and were standing in the middle of the dance floor. "What is going on that has you acting this weird?" Lucy asked, trying to figure him out.

Lucy was right about the babbling. She was the one who babbled. He needed to tell her before he babbled anymore. Without any preamble he blurted out, "I am completely in love with you." He then watched as she stepped backwards away from him, unable to judge what kind of reaction he was going to get from her. The look of worry that had been in her eyes was replaced with a look of utter confusion.

She couldn't believe what he just said. He did say that he loved her, right? She wasn't imagining things, was she? She quickly decided that she needed to hear it again. "What did you just say?"

"I said that I love you Lucy."

Perhaps it was her pregnancy hormones, or the fact that she didn't want to get her hopes up, but she couldn't believe that Carter was standing in front of her proclaiming his love. This was the moment that she had been wishing would happen for months. So why couldn't she allow herself to be happy?

By now, her silence spoke volumes to him. He was beginning to regret telling her he loved her because obviously she didn't feel the same way. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I…" Any words that she could have said left her mind before she had a chance to say them. "

Maybe he was wrong about her feelings towards him. Maybe she just loved him as a friend. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" Before he could finish that sentence he walked away from her, leaving her alone on the dance floor.

She stood there, watching him make his way through the crowded dance floor. Part of her wanted to run after him, but the other part didn't know what to say to him. She didn't have much time to think about it though because Shelby came up and grabbed her arm.

"Hey. It's time for the throwing of the bouquet. Come get a front row position so you can catch it." Shelby smiled.

She didn't have the heart to tell Shelby no, so she let Shelby drag her over to where the other single women had gathered. While she was looking around for Carter, Shelby was busy throwing her bouquet. She wasn't even trying but somehow the bouquet ended up falling into her hands. A loud, collected sigh filled the air from the other women who were disappointed not to catch it. Lucy felt bad for them. They had tried to catch it, but even though she hadn't, somehow it came to her. Knowing that the tradition stated the woman who caught the bridal bouquet would be the next one getting married, she had to wonder if Shelby hadn't deliberately tried to throw it to her.

"So, looks like you're next." Shelby smiled as she approached Lucy.

"Did you have something to do with this?" Lucy asked, holding the bouquet up.

"Lucy, quit being so suspicious!" She joked, looking around. "Where's Carter? I thought I saw you two dancing earlier but then I lost sight of him."

"He's around here someplace I think." Lucy replied, also looking around.

Shelby eyed her carefully. "Did you two have a fight or something?"

"Or something." Lucy replied, picking off a couple of petals from the rose in the bouquet.

"Alright, spill. What happened?" She put both hands on her hips, expecting an answer.

"Nothing important." Lucy lied. "I'm sure it will be straightened out a couple of minutes. It's nothing serious and nothing that you need to worry about."

"Are you sure? Cause I don't want my best friend to be sad today."

"I'm fine. I'm not sad. I'm happy." Lucy put a smile on. "This is a happy day and you deserve to enjoy it."

She didn't exactly believe her, but decided to let it go. If Lucy wanted to handle it herself, she would let her—this one time. "Ok. I'm gonna go dance with my husband." She paused. "I have a husband. How cool is that?"

Lucy laughed. "It's very cool."

"I'll see you later." Shelby smiled before leaving to find Dave.

The smile that was on Lucy's face left as soon as Shelby was gone. Then she went back to searching for Carter. He had to be here somewhere. Maybe he was inside.

Meanwhile, Carter had gone back into the mansion and was sitting in the living room. He shouldn't have told Lucy he loved her. Or at least maybe he should have waited for a better moment.

"What are you doing in here?" Millicent asked as she sat next to her grandson on the couch.

"Just taking a break from the party." He replied.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Gamma. I just needed a break from everybody."

"You mean from Lucy?" Millicent asked.

"How did you…?" He should have known that his gamma would be able to figure out why he was sitting in here instead of out enjoying the party.

"Come on John, you can't fool me. I've known you your entire life and I know the way the act." She waited a moment before questioning him again. "So what happened? You two have a fight?"

"No, not really a fight." He shook his head.

"Then what?" She was trying to understand, but he wasn't giving her much information.

"I told her I loved her." He saw the confusion on her face, silently asking why that was a bad thing. "She didn't say it back to me."

"Oh." Millicent nodded, understanding what the problem was. "Well did she say anything?"

"No. She didn't say anything. She just stood there." He explained.

She wanted to tell him that Lucy did love him. It was evident to everyone who knew her, and to most strangers too. But she knew her grandson wouldn't believe her. So she started thinking about why Lucy wouldn't say anything after he professed his love to her. "Maybe she's scared."

"Of what? Me?" He laughed. "She knows I would never hurt her."

"Yes, but maybe she just isn't ready for that level yet." Millicent advised. "I'm sure she'll come around looking for you and then you two can figure this out. Just have an open mind and try to understand where she's coming from."

As if on cue, Lucy walked past the living room and stopped when she saw Carter and Millicent on the couch. "Hi."

"Hello Lucy." Millicent stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I want to get back to the party. I'll see you both later."

Once Millicent was gone, Lucy took her place on the couch next to Carter.

He noticed the bouquet. "What's with the bouquet?"

"Shelby threw the bouquet right towards me. I wasn't even paying attention but it just flew into my hands anyway."

He knew the superstition about how the woman who caught the bouquet would be the next to marry, and figured that Shelby must've aimed her throw towards Lucy on purpose.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Lucy started to speak. "I think we need to talk."

"About what?" He played innocent, not looking forward to this discussion.

"I think you know what." She took a deep breath. "You know, weddings can be a very emotional time for people. Some people have very strong emotions that get stirred up…"

"Is this the part of the speech where you tell me that I don't really love you or that you don't love me?" He interrupted, trying to figure out where she was going with this little speech she started.

She hesitated before answering. "You've been a really great, phenomenal friend to me. Words can't even begin to express how glad I am that I've had you with me. I just can't help but think that maybe you're confusing friendship love with relationship love."

"I'm not. I know that I love you. I've loved you for a really long time Luce, maybe even my entire life."

"I really want to believe you. I really do." She started to cry. "You have no idea how much I want to believe you, but…"

"But what?" He moved to wipe off the tears from her face. "What can I do to prove to you that I really do love you?" Suddenly, he realized why she was having such a hard time believing him. "Is it because of the baby? Is that why you won't believe me?"

"Maybe." She replied softly. "I don't want you to feel pressured into anything because I don't want to pressure you."

"But you're not. It was my choice to become a father to your child. I mean it was even my idea! You haven't pressured me into doing anything I haven't wanted to do." He made her look him in the eye and took both of her hands in his. This was his chance to convince her. It was either now or never. "Why do you think I wanted to be the father so badly? It's not because I'm that great of a friend. We both know I don't have a very good track record as your friend. I'm not some saint of a friend who only wanted to help you. I had selfish motives too. I love you and I wanted to be a part of your life. I want to help you raise this child and I want you."

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked after taking a few moments to fully absorb what he was telling her.

"I'm completely, 100 sure." He smiled.

She smiled. "You want me?"

He nodded and slowly brought his lips to meet hers. It was a short kiss, but filled with love and passion. "I want you."

"Even though I'm fat right now?" She licked her lips, hoping that he'd kiss her again.

"You're beautiful." He then whispered into her ear, "always have been and always will be." Right now the only thing he wanted to do was kiss her so he leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away. Confused, he asked, "what's wrong?"

She gave him a sheepish grin and shrugged her shoulders. "I forgot to tell you something."

"Can't it wait until later?" He asked impatiently. Moving in to kiss her again, he became frustrated that she pulled away again.

"It really can't wait. I've waited too long as it is." She explained.

"Ok." He conceded.

"I think you'll like hearing this." She scooted closer to him so that there was very little space between them. "I love you."

A huge smile broke out on his face. "I love you too." Pulling her even closer to him, he started kissing her passionately. And in that moment, everything was perfect.