Love can Overcome Anything

Chapter Eighteen: Trouble

AN- Thank you to: 2col4skool2, morgan, BeeVree3, amantedellibro209, Maddie, PriscillaN, Ericluver, jasmineflower001, and smartywithch for reviewing!!!

I would also thank 2col4skool2 for convincing me to change the engagement announcing from a restaurant to a picnic!

Enjoy!

o0o

"Eric! Where's the butter?" Bridget asked irritated. The couple had changed the announcing of their engagement at a restaurant to a picnic because Eric couldn't reserve a table large enough to fit all their guests at so little notice. So here they were, standing in the middle of Eric's kitchen for the past few hours trying to finish up all their cooking.

Eric opened up his fridge and tossed Bridget the butter. Both of them were cross and grumpy for having to cook at such an early time but they had no choice. The picnic was in 2 hours and mostly everyone said they would be there. Bridget and Eric invited Greta, Bridget's dad, Perry, Lena, Tibby, Carmen, Diana, James, Win, Brian, Paul and Eric's parents to the announcing of their engagement. Only Eric's parents couldn't make it because they lived too far away.

Eric and Bridget had a grand time making up lies to make the guests come to their picnic. They wanted to surprise everyone at the same time. Only Tibby was a little suspicious; but then again, Tibby was always suspicious.

"Argh, Eric, where's the cheese?" Bridget asked again, frustrated. They were preparing the picnic food in Eric's kitchen only because if they did it in Bridget's kitchen, Mr. Vreeland might see them. Eric sighed silently, maintained his temper, and tossed Bridget the cheese. They were serving ham sandwiches, chicken wings, fruit salad, ceaser salad, banana crème pie and punch for lunch. Bridget was preparing the sandwiches and Eric was mixing the ceaser salad.

One and a half hours later, Eric and Bridget finally finished cooking their picnic meal. They put it in a very plain picnic basket and set off towards their destination. Eric and Bridget chose the Greenrun park as their destination because it held a lot of fond memories.

Bridget quickly said "Come, I know the perfect spot"

Eric nodded and followed Bridget towards the spot.

o0o

Bridget sighed in relief. Preparing a picnic was such hard work. They had set up the blanket and laid out the food. Now all they needed to do was to wait until the guests came. The guests should come in about 3 minutes. Bridget sat on the ground feeling relaxed for the first time today.

"Thanks for being so patient with me today. I know I've been a little grumpy. Sorry." Bridget said turning around towards Eric, where he was kissing her. Eric smiled then frowned out at the pathway. Bridget followed Eric's line of gaze and she saw what he was looking at; a distressed passing figure running by.

"Who's that?" Bridget wondered out loud.

Eric squinted at the passerby then abruptly stood up and ran after the figure.

"Eric!" Bridget exclaimed. Eric was being so mysterious. She ran after Eric and caught up with him. He was still following the figure. "Eric, what's wrong?"

Eric replied "Just something I have to deal with. You go back and greet the guests. I'll come back as soon as possible." Eric laid a quick kiss on Bridget's cheek before running faster towards the distressed figure.

Bridget stood in her spot and watched Eric run after the figure. She frowned confused. Bridget slowly made her way back to the picnic. She was just in time because Lena, Tibby, Carmen, Win, Paul and Brian just arrived.

"Hello!" Bridget greeted her guests.

An echo of hellos was their reply.

Lena looked around searchingly. "Bee, where's Eric?"

Bridget's smile faded just a little but she quickly replaced it with a wider smile. "Umm… Eric's… ah… attending something… something… important right now"

Everyone looked at her weirdly but they quickly thought better of it and decided to ignore it.

"Mmm Bee, this looks delicious" Brian said, eyeing the food.

Bridget smiled. "Thanks" she said.

Win cleared his throat and said "So Bee, congratulations on getting a new job" Eric and Bridget made up a whole bunch of lies to get their guests to come so that they would announce their engagement.

Tibby arched her eyebrow, looked at Win and said "Win, we are all invited here to celebrate Eric's dog's birthday. Look, I even brought a present"

Lena shook her head and said "No, Paul and I were invited to celebrate Bridget on buying a new car"

Greta, Mr. Vreeland, Perry, Diana and James arrived unto the arguing crowd. They quickly joined the conversation talking about how they were invited.

Suddenly, everyone became quiet and looked at Bridget, who was lingering near the food. In unison, they said "So?"

Bridget sighed and said "Listen, Eric and I am really sorry that we lied to you all about coming here but…" Bridget fidgeted a little. She wanted to wait until Eric came back but she figured he won't be coming back soon. "… We all invited you here so that we could announce out engagement. Eric and I are getting married"

A loud eruption came from the guests. Lena, Tibby, Diana and Carmen were squealing and gushing over Bridget's engagement ring, Greta, Win, Paul, James and Brian were congratulating her and Mr. Vreeland and Perry stayed back, looking a little hesitant.

"Ahem" Mr. Vreeland coughed. Everyone looked at him. Mr. Vreeland fidgeted a little because he wasn't used to a whole crowd of people. He hesitantly walked up to Bridget, put a hand on her shoulder and said "Congratulations"

Bridget smiled and said "Thanks Dad"

Perry came up to Bridget and asked "Bee, where's Eric?"

Everyone stopped their conversations and waited to hear Bridget's answer. Once again, Bridget said "Eric is attending something very important"

No one thought this was a very good answer but they didn't push it. Bridget smiled and said "Let's eat!"

o0o

A few hours later, everyone was stuffed. The food was good and the weather was just right. Mr. Vreeland, Greta, Diana, James, and Perry had to leave so Bridget said her goodbyes. Paul, Win and Brian went to get the cars, leaving Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby alone.

Lena, Tibby, and Carmen were helping Bridget clean up the mess. The four were completely silent, each lost in their own thoughts, Eric hadn't shown up yet and Bridget was deeply disappointed, confused and miserable. All through the party, she had put on a false happy mood and pretended that Eric not being there was totally alright. But really, she was so let down that Eric did not appear.

Once Lena, Tibby, Carmen and Bridget finished cleaning, Bridget had to hold her breath and look away in fear of bursting out into tears in front of Lena, Tibby and Carmen.

Tibby made a weird noise before asking Bridget "Bee, why do you suppose Eric didn't show up for his own engagement announcing party?" Bridget shrugged, pretending that she didn't care but really, it hurt like someone had sliced her up into bits.

Lena nodded and said "Isn't it crucial that both the fiancé and the fiancée both announce their engagement?" Bridget once again said nothing.

Carmen frowned and said "Bee, is everything alright? Why isn't Eric here, helping you with this party?" At this point, Bridget wanted to break down and cry but she was determined not to let Carmen, Lena or Tibby see it. She didn't want them to be involved in her problems.

Bridget straightened up her sagging shoulders, looked Tibby, Lena and Carmen in the eye and said firmly, "Everything is alright. Thanks for worrying though. I guess you should go home now."

Lena, Tibby and Carmen were hesitant into leaving but they did anyway, leaving Bridget all alone in the park. It was getting dark now, the sun had set and the moon was beginning to shine.

Bridget gathered up her stuff and walked slowly towards Eric's car. She put the picnic basket on top of it and went to sit on the bench overlooking the large field.

Bridget sat on the edge of the bench with her legs dangling down. Around her, the people were laughing, socializing and some were getting ready to leave the park. Above, the moon shone down with a brilliant light, making the shadows of trees stretch across the large field.

Bridget looked at the crescent moon, deeply hurt that Eric hadn't shown up for the party. Why hadn't he shown up? Wasn't this party important to him? This was supposed to be one of the best days she ever experienced. He left her alone at the party, humiliated that he hadn't shown up, and sad that he didn't make the effort to show up either. Instead, he was with some distressed person doing who-knows-what. In fact, he didn't even bother telling her what's going on. He left her there dangling, confused and depressed. Who would ever do that to their fiancée? Leaving her to handle a party by herself, explaining why he wasn't there, and just leaving her there, so puzzled.

A shiver ran down her spine, alerting her to the presence of Eric approaching her. Bridget silently scoffed. How dare he show up in front of her when he had left her alone at the party, alone to announce their engagement?

"What?" Bridget said rudely. She was really pissed off at Eric for… everything.

Eric stood beside her but Bridget made no motion to move so that he could sit beside her. She just sat there waiting for his explanation.

"Listen Bee, I know you're really mad at me for not attending the-" Eric said

"Really mad, really mad? Nothing will describe how I feel. Nothing!" Bridget interrupted. "You left me alone Eric." Bridget stared off into emptiness. She was hurting all over. Her head was hurting for holding in all her tears, her whole entire body was aching from hurt.

"Bee" Eric pleaded "I can explain everything. The girl we saw was Jolene, she was looking really upset. I didn't know why she was here but I had to know so I-"

"JOLENE? You left me alone at our engagement party for Jolene, your ex-girlfriend? You left your fiancée for an ex-girlfriend?" Bridget stood up and faced Eric. Her whole body was shaking and tears were pouring out. She wiped her tears away, but she was unable to hold them back. "Do you have any idea of what I had to go through today? Today was supposed to be one of the best days of my life! But instead, I feel so miserable!" Bridget stormed off towards the field. She hated Eric, she really did.

Eric followed Bridget and placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking away. Bridget turned around sadistically. "Don't touch me!" She shouted.

Bridget continued to walk away but Eric was right behind her. "I clearly miscalculated you Eric. You're nothing but a selfish man who doesn't think of anyone but himself. You are so self-absorbed!"

Bridget took one more glance at Eric before racing off across the field. She ran as fast as she could, sprinting across the field towards and back to the park. Eric however, didn't give up. He continued running after Bridget. "Bee" Eric pleaded, continuing to follow Bridget. "This is no use, we both are extremely good runners and we could keep running like this for a few miles. I'll just keep running after you Bee. Stop and let me explain please"

Bridget knew that this was true but she didn't want to be close to Eric anymore. She ran all the way to her house, not bothering to stop for a quick break. She was exhausted but her mind just kept telling her to keep on going. Bridget ran into her house, slammed the door, locked the door, closed all the windows and ran into her room. Eric was outside, knocking on the door and yelling "Bee! Open up please!"

Bridget quickly told Mr. Vreeland and Perry to ignore the knocking, even though she knew they wouldn't hear it, wearing their earphones and listening to their music and all. Bridget closed the door to her room, made sure her curtains were closed and buried herself under her many layers of blankets in her bed. She slowly muted herself out, closed her eyes and drifted into a quiet depressed mood.

An hour later, Bridget got out of bed. She didn't fall asleep because she was too occupied crying. She went downstairs and cautiously peeked outside. Eric was gone. Bridget couldn't help but feel a bit let down. She was kind of hoping that Eric would continue knocking on the door frantically; like how some men do all night in the movies.

I guess I'm not that important to Eric after all. Bridget thought depressed. She slowly walked up into her room, pulled off her engagement ring and put it in a small box. She opened the box, took one last good look at the ring and whispered "Goodbye Eric Richman". She wrapped the box with paper, put the box in a bag, tied the bag and threw it in the trash can. Bridget gathered up all the stuff that reminded her of Eric (the pictures, the new Kickers jersey he gave her, etc.) put them all in a cardboard box, taped up the box and labeled it "Trash". She then put it out in the kitchen so her dad could throw it away.

Bridget had never felt this poignant. She felt as if her heart had shattered into a million pieces, then crushed into smaller pieces then thrown away. She had given her heart and soul to Eric and he had once again broken it.