Stuck in Separation

A man says a lot of things in summer he doesn't mean in winter.

August 8, 2018

"Morning, Hun," Elle Miller greeted her son as he stumbled into the kitchen one morning. "Coffee?"

"Yeah sure," Eddie yawned. "Thanks."

"So," Elle started, setting a coffee mug down in front of Eddie, and taking a seat next to him. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"No..." Eddie grumbled. His mom had thought it would be a good idea for him to drive down to New Jersey for a visit, knowing Patricia had gone back to England. She remembered how upset Eddie had been when she broke it off that one time on her first visit to America, and figured he'd need another distraction.

"Come on, I helped you last time didn't I?" She pointed out, taking a sip of her coffee.

Eddie looked over at his mom. She was only trying to help, right? It wouldn't do any damage to give her an explanation. "Well... I took her to the falls, you remember, the ones we used to go to?"

Her face immediately brightened up. "Of course! I bet she loved it."

Eddie half-smiled, before it diminished into a frown. "She did, until it started raining and the picnic got ruined. We stopped at some diner on the way back, but after being in the car for a while, we were both pretty cranky. And the waitress we had, she was totally into me, but she was a complete... you-know-what-"

"Oh, like the girls you used to date?" Elle interrupted, teasing smile on her face.

Eddie had to crack a smile too, "Yeah, like that," he confirmed, and his mom nodded.

"Anyway, Patricia got really mad, and almost dumped hot coffee on her," Eddie continued, while his mom tried to suppress a smile. She absolutely adored the stories of Patricia dumping liquids on people, and she still laughs when she imagines the girl dumping a jug of milk over her son's head.

"I told her she couldn't do that, and she got all... defensive. And then the ride back was completely silent, so I tried to talk to her when we got back to the apartment, but it was all yelling." He said disappointedly.

"So she just yelled at you, and then left?" His mom asked for clarification, knowing there was more to the story.

Eddie sighed, and scratched the back of his neck. "I might have said something along the lines of 'five whole years I could have spent with anyone else, and I chose you...'" He admitted, internally cursing himself. It sounded even worse the second time he said it.

"Oh Eddie," Elle exclaimed, taking in the look on her son's face.

"I know," he sighed, "and I was going to propose to her."

Elle's heart ached for him, for she too, knew what it was like to plan on marrying someone, and to have those plans ruined. When Eddie was born, Eric had promised they would get married as soon as they could, and she waited forever for a proper proposal. However, out of the blue, he left, saying it wasn't 'safe' for him to be with the two of them, whatever that meant.

She gave her son a hug from the side. "I'm sure everything will be okay, there's others out there, maybe she wasn't the one for you..." She offered, and Eddie just nodded, pretending to believe her, before excusing himself to take a shower.

As he walked down the hall, peering at the pictures that hung on the wall, one in particular caught his eye. In the photo stood a young Eddie and Patricia, dressed in red and gold robes, diplomas in hand while smiles lit up their faces.

That had been the craziest day of Eddie's life, it wasn't often you die and then graduate within 2 hours. He remembers waking up, her face being the first thing he saw. He remembers the thrill of throwing that cap in the air, celebrating along with everyone, glad to just be done with everything. He remembers his excitement when his mom saw Patricia for the second time, after she had broken up with him in America. They had gotten along just great, almost as if nothing had ever went wrong. And of course, he remembers the dance, as the graduation celebrations continued, the best part being able to actually spend time with the girl he cared for most, without any evil standing in their way.

So, yeah, there were plenty of girls out there who Eddie could be with, but he'd known for a while now that there was only one that was actually worth fighting for, and as much as he could say he was over her, he knew he never truly would be.

"Patricia! Let's go," Piper shouted from the front door of her and Ben's one-story home. They had so much to get done, yet Patricia was still running late. Piper only continued her way to the car when she was sure she heard Patricia shout 'I'm coming!" from inside.

"Ugh!" Patricia yelled in frustration as she saw the rain pouring down on the other side of the screen door. The last thing she wanted to do was go shopping with Piper and her fiancée, especially in the rain. They were both pretty uptight, trying to plan a wedding in a month could get pretty stressful, but Piper wanted to walk down the aisle before she was too big to fit in a dress, so that's exactly what they were trying to do.

"So, today we need to order the cake, and pick out the bridesmaid dresses. It'll probably be a little extra money, since it's such a late notice, but that's okay, it'll be worth it, right sweetheart?" She asked, smiling sweetly at Ben, while Patricia practically puked in the back seat.

"Of course," he smiled, taking Piper's hand in his and kissing it softly.

"When you guys are done, I'd like to know the first stop," Patricia spat, clearly disgusted.

Piper had to use every nice bone in her body to stop from blowing up at Patricia. Ever since they'd been back in England, she had been such a downer on every little thing, especially when it came to the wedding. It was obvious she regretted her decision on her relationship with Eddie, but Piper didn't understand why she didn't just apologize and move on, instead of putting a damper on everything else.

"The cake first," Piper said taking a deep breath. "We're going to pick out the cake first."

"Vanilla, or Chocolate?" Piper asked Ben, as they looked over the options.

"Whatever pleases you," he said smiling down at her.

Piper turned to the owner of the bakery. "We'll do a three layer cake, bottom layer chocolate, middle layer vanilla, and the top layer... ooh orange!" She exclaimed, and Patricia had to stifle her laugh at pregnant Piper's demands. "Oh but make sure it's white icing in the outside, and lots of icing," she exclaimed with wide eyes,"to look like... that one!" She said pointing to one of the display cakes.

The chef looked bewildered. "Would you like to, uh, sample that?"

"Oh yes!" Piper cheered, and Ben just had to smile at her eagerness.

Patricia on the other hand just rolled her eyes, before wandering off, looking at the other cakes on display. They were all so... frilly and flowery, she couldn't imagine having any of them at any sort of event of her own.

Well, until she saw a cake, that just looked just like an ordinary white cake, but the bride and groom at the top were anything but ordinary. The groom had his arm around the bride, like you would expect, but the bride was playfully pushing him away, as they made eye contact with the same smirk drawn on their faces. It must've been a custom cake, waiting for pickup, because the names 'Andi' and 'Diego' were frosted across the border.

She had to admit, the detail was pretty amazing, and it reminded her of someone in particular too. But, she sighed, letting her mood go downhill when she thought of how she'd ending things with that 'someone in particular.'

It wasn't fair, why did her relationship suffer when Piper's flourished? Piper was the one who had given the bad advice anyway.

She knew she couldn't exactly blame Piper, though. Piper always gave Patricia advice, but she had no idea why she had decided to listen to her this time out of all the times Piper has offered her opinion.

There wasn't much she could do now, so she decided it was in her best interest to stop staring at the cake that maybe could've once belonged to her and Eddie, and make her way back over to Ben and Piper. But of course, seeing them playfully taste test all the cake flavors, didn't make it any better. It was like a mirror image of her and Eddie, personalities aside, and as she felt that pang in her stomach, she knew this would take a lot longer to get over than she originally thought.

"Hmm..." Piper thought aloud as she surveyed the dress on her twin's body. "I like the style, but I really don't like that Teal... Do you have it in any other colors?"

The clerk smiled at Piper. "We do have that dress in more of a cobalt blue, would you like to see that?" Piper nodded and shooed a groaning Patricia back into the dressing room.

"Why do I have to try on all the dresses?!" Piper heard Patricia complain from the other side of the door.

"Because, you're the most important bridesmaid of all, the maid of honor."

Patricia poked her head out from behind the curtain. "I'm the maid of honor?!"

"Of course, who else would it be," Piper said, as if it were obvious.

"I don't know... one of your friends or something?" Patricia said, and Piper just shrugged. "Well... thanks, I guess," Patricia continued with a small smile.

"No problem, now go try this one on, I think it's perfect!" Piper squealed, taking the dress from the clerk who had just returned and shoving it at Patricia.

"Care for a cupcake, cupcake?" Ben asked as Piper hopped into the front seat of the car after the dress shopping was completed.

"Yes!" Piper exclaimed eyes widening, "You're the best!" She said placing a kiss on his lips.

"Here we go again," Patricia groaned from behind.

Piper just let it roll right off her back though, she had a cupcake to eat.

"I brought you one too you know," Ben said, holding it up for proof.

"No thanks," she muttered. She wasn't in the mood. Despite the fact that Piper had just made her maid if honor, she was still angry to be in the middle or their relationship, rather than her own. It just wasn't fair, and she'd had enough.

She only grew more annoyed when they arrived home, and Piper, taking one look at their cookie-cutter home, started to tear up.

"Piper what's wrong?!" Ben asked worriedly.

"I'm just really, really happy," she said smiling. "I'm getting married, and I'm having a baby, and... and..."

Ben stopped her with a passionate kiss on the lips. "You couldn't possibly be as happy as me."

Piper's smile widened and she leaned in to kiss him again, but she was interrupted by the shake of the car when Patricia slammed the door on her way out. Piper huffed, and followed her towards the house, while Ben just decided to stay back. Pregnant Piper and an angry Patricia would not be a good match.

"What is you problem?!" She shouted, causing Patricia to turn around on their front porch.

"My problem?" Patricia huffed, "Maybe it's that I 'stood my ground' so now I'm stuck here instead of in America with the boyfriend you told me to break up with!" She shouted back.

"You're blaming this on me?!" Piper shrieked. "It's not my fault you're too stubborn to apologize!"

"Oh whatever!" She scoffed, storming inside, and slamming the door behind her. Of course Piper would call her stubborn just because they have different views on things. But it didn't matter, at least that's what she told her self as she sprawled out on the guest bed.

She must've been like that for twenty minutes before she heard a knock on the door. She didn't respond at all, so the door opened, to reveal Ben.

"Can I come in?" he asked, and she just shrugged as he sat down on the chair nearby.

"Did Queen Piper calm down yet?" She asked, only half-jokingly.

"A little," he admitted. "Bringing a hormonal Piper shopping probably wasn't the best idea, especially for my wallet," he joked, causing them both to smile.

"Are you guys alright?"

Patricia shrugged. "She probably doesn't even want me to be the maid of honor anymore," She sighed. "I bet she hates me now too, just like Eddie."

"Oh trust me, he doesn't hate you," Ben promised, thinking back to how devastated Eddie had been. "And I'm sure Piper still wants you to be the maid of honor, she's just... moody."

"I'm impressed you can put up with it," she scoffed, causing Ben to chuckle.

"That's what you do when you love with someone," he smirked, "I'm sure you know that."

She gave him a small smile, she did know that, but she didn't even have a chance to respond because they both heard Piper yelling for him from the kitchen.

He gave her a quick wave and then went to see what on earth Piper was yelling about.

"Yes?"

"Where have you been? I need help getting dinner ready," Piper said, getting the ingredients from the fridge.

"I was talking to Patricia... she said you made her maid of honor?"

"Yeah I did. I might regret it, but yeah, I did."

Ben smirked. "You know she'll have to walk down the aisle with the best man, Eddie, right?"

Piper smiled at Ben's obliviousness. "That's part of the reason I made her maid of honor," Piper laughed, and Ben couldn't help but laugh, too, at her little scheme.

It was going to be quite the wedding.

Sorry for the rough ending, I wasn't quite sure how to end it haha. But next chapter is the wedding, woo get excited! Review and let me know what you think :)