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"Lucy, Kyle Grant. Kyle, this is Lucy Dotson." Sue stepped back and smiled at her two friends hesitantly.
"Hi." Lucy stuck out her hand. Kyle shook it with a friendly, lopsided grin. A lock of dark, curly hair fell into his equally dark eyes, and her heart thumped wildly in her chest. She pulled her hair back quickly, feeling a flush creep up her cheeks. "Nice to meet you, too." She blinked, trying not to lose herself in his eyes.
"Uhm… Lucy… would you possibly be interested in doing something wi-"
"Heyyy! Lucy! A bunch of us are going out to celebrate our victory on the…" Myles trailed off and forced a smile. "Did I interrupt something?" His blue eyes darted back and forth between her and Kyle.
Lucy clamped her teeth down on her tongue. "Kyle, can I get back to you on that?" She asked with a false cheerfulness.
He nodded. "Sure. See ya around, Luce."
"Bye." As soon as Kyle disappeared from her line of sight, Lucy glared at Myles.
The tall New Englander shrugged carelessly. "Sorry," he said, caustic sincerity dripping from his tone. "My utmost apologies, Luce."
She glared at him again. "What do you care about my personal life?" He was silent while she tapped a slender finger against her chin. "Oh, that's right," she fairly sneered, "you don't." When his eyes flashed with an emotion she couldn't quite identify, she realized she wasn't sure she really wanted to.
She whirled around. "Leave me alone."
He called after her, but she ignored him.
"But…" he trailed off again, "I do."
-----
1 year later…
"Lucy."
"What?"
Sue sighed and touched her friend's shoulder. "Do you really want to get married?"
Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. "No."
Sue lifted the veil over her head that covered her face. "Now you decide," she joked lightly. "You couldn't have made up your mind any sooner?"
"I'm sorry," Lucy wailed. "I wasn't sure!"
"Are you now?"
With a shuddering breath, Lucy nodded. "Yes."
Sue hugged her. "I'll go get Kyle."
-----
She sat in the courtyard, wiping away tears with the back of her hand and yanking the veil out of the mess of curls that sat atop her head.
"You couldn't have realized you loved me any sooner?" A sarcastic voice floated towards her. "Think of all the money you could have saved on custom-made napkins."
"Don't rub it in." She half-laughed, half-cried, and lifted her head to look at him. He was leaning against the trellis on the side of the old brick wall of the church, smirking back at her. His hair was mussed, probably from running his fingers through it again.
He slowly made his way towards her on the bench, and sat beside her. "Don't cry."
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask why, but she thought better of it and snapped her mouth closed.
"It makes me nervous."
She exhaled shakily. "I'm sorry."
He pulled her close to his chest, sliding his arms around her waist and hauling her into his lap. "Don't do that, either. You have nothing to be sorry for. I, on the other hand," he chuckled, "Probably don't have enough time to apologize for all the times I've been a jerk."
"And yet you still don't make any attempt to change…" she mused, smiling and tilting her chin up to meet his eyes.
He brushed his lips to her forehead. "'Cause you love me just the way I am."
"Just the way you are," she echoed. "Yeah, I guess so," she teased playfully.
They sat in silence for a while.
"So…"
"So…"
"Now what?"
"Well," he buried his face in her neck, "Maybe we'll just wait and see." He gave her a sidelong grin. "That okay with you?"
"Fine," she replied, snuggling closer. "Just fine."
A/N: You like?