an: here is more.

disclaimer: tom is not mine.

Our love gets better every day

With every touch and sound that your voice makes

How did we get here?

It's better than last year

"He fancies you," Lauren said as I helped her with her hair the following Saturday, also known as her wedding day.

"What?" I asked. I was, clearly, confused, as nothing about somebody liking someone else was mentioned before she popped that one out. "Who fancies whom?"

"Tom—he likes you."

"Tom? He does not. We're just friends."

"You may see it that way, but he doesn't. If you're going to go around saying he's your friend, you might want to break the news to him before you break his heart."

I tried to keep up with what she was saying, but got lost halfway through. "Er?"

"Adara," she began, turning to face me rather than looking at me through the mirror.

I moved so I could keep working on her hair.

"Stop playing with my hair a minute, will you!"

"I'm sorry," I said in a small voice.

"Adara," she began again, pulling me down into the chair next to her, "Tom does like you. I can see it on his face when he looks at you. And when he talks to and about you. It's all there. All the signs are apparent. It's the twinkle in his eye, or the smile on his face. And the way it seems like you're the only one around him or in the world.

"I know you've never really been good at detecting these kinds of things before, but, if you look, you'll notice these things. And, Adara, don't go breaking his heart like you often seem to do."

"I do not break hearts!"

"You do. Admit it."

I thought about all the boyfriends I'd had and all the boys I had flirted with, too. Suddenly, it all clicked. "Oh gosh. I'm a heartbreaker."

Lauren nodded sadly. "Most of the time. There are the times that you get used because of that, though."

"Please don't remind me."

"Sorry."

"I know it's true. It just happened to me."

"And I'm really sorry about that."

"I should have listened to you. And everyone else who tried to tell me otherwise."

"Don't worry about that. You got out of that relationship before something even worse happened."

"Yeah, I know," I said, thinking about the time that I walked in on one of my high school boyfriends and his ex-girlfriend. He explained later that he wanted his girlfriend back the entire time we were together. It hurt me when I realised I had been used for the first time, but I tried not to let it show to anyone other than my mother and Lauren.

I finished doing Lauren's hair before she did her make-up. Just after I helped her into her dress, a knock came on the door and her parents came in. I told them I'd be back before the ceremony and added to Lauren that I was going to find Tom, as I'd asked him to meet me here.

As soon as I pushed open the back door to the small church Lauren and Josh's family and friends were gathered in, I spotted Tom near the back, seeing as he didn't really know either and had only met both a few days earlier.

"Tom," I whispered from where I was behind the door. "Tom," I whispered again, a little louder.

He turned to me, smiled, then stood and walked to where I was.

"Hey," I said as soon as the door was closed behind him. "Thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Not a problem. And you look gorgeous," he complimented. "And your necklace goes amazingly well with the dress."

"Thank you. Oh this? It's an old family heirloom." I looked down to the pale yellow, strapless dress I was wearing. It was simple, but, since Lauren loved the way it looked on me and it went with the flowers she had picked, I had to wear it. "By the way, you don't look too shabby yourself," I added, smiling as I took a good look at the way he was dressed.

He nodded, "Thanks. So, how's the bride doing?"

"Surprisingly, she's not fretting over what I thought she'd be fretting over. I mean, she's getting married and you're here, and, yet, she's fretting over me."

"I'm here?" he asked, sounding a little confused. "Oh, wait, never mind."

I laughed before taking his wrist to look at the time. "Oh, well the ceremony should be starting soon so I should be going."

"All right. Wish Lauren good luck for me."

"I will," I said before turning around and hurrying back to the room Lauren was waiting in.

Throughout the ceremony, though I was crying out of happiness for Lauren and Joshua, and a little sadness for the fact I wouldn't see her every morning as she woke me up with coffee, I couldn't help thinking about what Lauren said while she was getting ready.

It was always there, like a plague, not bothering to let me be to completely concentrate.

After the wedding, as we all made our way to Josh's parent's house for a small reception party, I couldn't help but compare the way Lauren had said Tom looked when we were together to the way he actually looked when I looked at him when I talked with him just before the wedding.

I realised by the time I arrived I didn't want anything to change our relationship too much, as I didn't want him to leave my life because I liked him in it.

At the reception, I danced with quite a few people: Lauren, Josh, Tom, Lauren's father, as well as Lauren's older brother, who I had a small crush on just after I started seeing boys in a way other than a germ when I was eight and he was twelve.

At the end, Lauren and I said our goodbyes before she and Josh rode off into the sunset – completely planned, by the way. It was really gorgeous, as I watched them drive away. Eventually, they turned into silhouettes with the orangey-pink sky around their dark shapes.

Tom stayed around afterwards with me, helping to clean up the yard from the party. Well, he had to if he was to be giving me a ride home, as I had no other way of getting home other than taxi. He was sweet like that.

It had been an amazing day, as everything went smoothly – the party was awesome, just as I thought it'd be – and Lauren and Joshua were married and soon to be heading off on their honeymoon.

song: easy to fall in love by brighten

an: ooh, will she ever figure it out? thanks for reading. more later.