Текст книги "This Is So Not Happening"

Автор книги: Kieran Scott

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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

“I got into Brown,” Chloe informed me.

“Omigod! Really?” My eyes widened. “That’s your dream school!”

“I know.” Chloe’s lips twitched into a small smile. “I actually got the letter back in March, but I wasn’t really opening mail then. I got into Duke, too. And Dartmouth.”

“Chloe! That’s unbelievable!” I said. I leaned over all the crap between us to give her a half hug. “You must be so excited.”

Even though she didn’t look it.

“Yeah,” she said, lifting her shoulders and letting them drop. “I guess life really does go on.”

She tossed my now perfectly bowed box in the done pile and sighed. My heart felt heavy against my ribs. This was just not right. When someone worked their ass off as hard as Chloe had her whole life, she should be able to enjoy getting into all these amazing schools. But instead, she looked like she’d been rejected ten times over.

“Chloe,” I said, ripping open a new bag of M&M’s. “You have to come back to school.”

She chuckled and shook some M&M’s into a box. “Why?”

“Because … you have to,” I said lamely. “What are you getting out of locking yourself up in here twenty-four-seven? You should be hanging out with us, planning the prom, going to graduation practice. You’re missing out on the best part of senior year.”

I felt fake even as I said it, because it wasn’t like I was exactly enjoying myself. But Faith had been right about joining the prom committee. It might not have entirely snapped me out of my funk, but it had been distracting. I was no longer focused on Jake and lost love and feeling sad for Chloe. That crapioca was still there, yeah, but it wasn’t running my life anymore.

“I don’t know, all that stuff … the prom and everything … it just feels so, like, shallow now,” Chloe said. She pushed her hands into her hair, then hugged her knees. “I’d feel like a poser or something, pretending I actually cared.” Her gaze flicked up tentatively. “Besides, I can just imagine what everyone is saying about me.”

She had a point there. Making up lies about Chloe Appleby had become the number one pastime at Orchard Hill High. But that was mostly because she wasn’t there to defend herself.

“Who cares what they’re saying?” I replied. “How great would it be to go to the prom with Will? I mean, he’s, like, one of the hottest guys in our class. You could get some sick prom dress that’ll make everyone salivate and show them how totally fine and not fat you are. Don’t even try to tell me that wouldn’t feel good.”

For the first time, Chloe smiled for real.

“It would actually be kind of nice to see Will in a tux,” she said, blushing.

“See? There you go!” I reached for a box and filled it with candy. “So … you’ll come back?”

Chloe bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. “I’ll think about it.”

“Cool,” I said.

As I slipped another ribbon from the pile, something inside my chest seemed to loosen. For the first time in a while, I felt like I’d done something good.

jake

When I drove past Ally’s house for the third time, I saw the curtain on her window shift. Fuck. I floored it and took the turn at the end of the street like a NASCAR driver. Had she seen me? Was that the first time she’d seen me? Did she think I was just driving over to the Twins’ place or did she know I was basically stalking her?

I lifted my fingers from the wheel, trying to give my sweaty palms some air. This was totally effed up. I couldn’t be one of those guys who drove by a girl’s house just to see if she was home. Those guys were pathetic. They were the guys who wrote poetry in the back of their Trig notebooks and got their asses tossed into that gross shower stall at the dark end of the locker room with the cold water turned on and the door jammed closed with a broom handle. Definitely not me.

I headed toward town and tried to think. The problem was, Ally’s birthday was coming up. Her mom’s wedding, too. I didn’t care so much about missing that, but the idea of missing her birthday … I couldn’t deal. Last year that had been the day I’d turned it all around. Shown up at her house with the perfect gift. Gotten her to say she’d go out with me. I didn’t know if it was because of that or what, but lately I’d started feeling like her birthday was kind of a deadline. Like if I didn’t find a way to get her back by then, I never would.

But was it even possible? How many times could I make some “grand gesture” as Chloe had once called it, and get my sorry ass forgiven? Besides which, I was out of ideas. Getting her championship ring for her last year had been genius, if I do say so myself, but this year, I had nothing. Not a clue. And I was desperate.

I stopped at the corner of Orchard Avenue and Elm. Up ahead, the lights of the strip mall where Ally worked were all on. My jaw clenched. There was one person who could definitely help me. I just wasn’t sure if she would. And I also wasn’t sure if I could stomach the idea of groveling to her. But then, I’d already decided I was desperate.

The light turned green. The car behind me honked. I hit the gas and lurched through the intersection. Five minutes later I yanked open the door of CVS. Annie Johnston was behind the counter, her black hair sticking out from under a black-and-white-checkered visor, and she was blowing the most massive gum bubble I’d ever seen.

“Hey,” I said.

The bubble popped. She stared at me as it deflated over her chin. Her eyes were round. I could tell she was trying to come up with something rude to say.

“I need your help,” I blurted.

Very, very slowly, Annie peeled the gum off her chin and stuffed it back into her mouth. Then she did something that almost knocked me over. She smiled.

“It’s about freaking time.”

may

I just heard that Chloe Appleby is coming back to school.

What? I thought her mother sent her away to a convent.

           Do people really do that?

I heard it was Catholic school.

Right. Because Catholic school girls never hook up.

Can we focus, please? I can not believe she’s coming back!

Do you think she’s still with Will?

           Maybe she’ll get back together with Jake.

After the way he treated her? Please. Girl has some pride. I don’t know. She’s probably hella huge. And her stock has definitely dropped. Jake Graydon could turn that right around.

God. Sometimes I’m glad I’m not popular. It sounds like a pain in the ass.

           I heard that.

ally

“These are your order forms for your caps and gowns,” Dr. Giles announced, walking up the aisle in the auditorium the first Friday in May. He handed a stack to the person at the end of my row and the forms were passed along. “They are not difficult to fill out,” he shouted, his voice filling the room. “You simply supply your name, your homeroom, and your size. Therefore, when I say that the deadline to hand these in is this coming Monday, I expect to receive each and every one of your completed forms this … coming … Monday.”

“Wow. Someone’s in a good mood,” Annie whispered to me as she picked at her chipped blue nail polish.

Behind us, a few girls kept snickering and texting. I glanced sideways at Chloe, who sat on my left. It was her first day back and already her cheeks were red with embarrassment. So she thought that snark fest was about her too. She noticed me looking and tried to smile.

“I’m just glad we don’t have to wear maroon like the guys,” she said nonchalantly. “No one looks good in maroon.”

“Too bad they don’t have a double XL in the girls’ column,” someone said in the row behind ours. “Some people might need it.”

My heart plummeted and I glanced at Chloe. Her expression darkened and the order form crumbled in her fist atop her thigh. Part of me wanted to grab her and just walk out of there. But then she lifted her head and turned around with a bright smile, hooking her arm over her seat in a casual way.

“Excuse me, Denise, but have you actually seen this body I’m rocking lately?” she said, flicking her fingers in an up-and-down motion. “Because I happen to weigh less than I did before I got pregnant.”

Denise Zeldina turned momentarily white. Clearly she had not been expecting a comeback. But she recovered soon enough.

“I wasn’t talking about you,” she said. “God. Self-absorbed much?”

“Oh, really?” Chloe’s eyebrows shot up. “Then who were you talking about?” she asked loudly. “I’m just curious which one of our classmates you think is in need of a double XL gradu-ation gown. Because I’m sure that whoever she is, she would love to hear your opinion on her body.”

Everyone around us swiveled to stare at Denise. She turned beet red and sunk down in her seat.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought,” Chloe said.

“I think that’s enough, Miss Appleby,” Dr. Giles said as he strolled by.

Chloe crossed her legs casually, smoothing her skirt over her knees, not the least bit thrown by the vice principal calling her out.

“Oh, I’m done,” she replied. She fished a pen out of her leather bag and put a big check mark inside the SIZE: S box.

I couldn’t stop smiling. Looked like Chloe Appleby was officially back.

“All right, that’s it for today,” Mr. Giles announced. “Next week we’ll start practicing the processional, but for now you can go to the cafeteria until first period is over.”

The room filled with voices and laughter, everyone giddy with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. The casual way in which we’d just been dismissed said a lot. It said we were out of here. That it didn’t entirely matter what we did from here on out. Thirty minutes of hanging out in the caf instead of going back to class? That was a gift only the seniors could be given.

“I’ll be right back.” Chloe slipped out of her seat and jogged up the aisle ahead of us. I assumed she was going to catch up with Will, and I almost tripped when I saw her grab Jake’s arm. The two of them turned and walked out into the lobby together, talking quietly. I would have basically killed to know what they had to say to each other. I mean, had she seriously forgiven him for everything? Had he finally forgiven her? I’d been wondering about it ever since he’d called me to get Will’s number that night, ever since he’d shown up at the hospital the next day. What, exactly, had gone on between those two?

“Please tell me you’re not paranoid about them coupling up again,” Annie said under her breath. “Because that is so not happening.”

“I know,” I replied, feeling warm all over. “And even if it is, who cares? We broke up, remember?”

“Yeah. Right. Who cares?” she said, flicking a blue nail polish chip at Denise Zeldina’s hair.

As we approached the doors, Jake walked off and we caught up with Chloe. “What was that all about?” I asked casually, even though my heart was pitter-pattering with curiosity.

“Nothing.” She lifted her shoulders. “He texted me this morning that he wanted to help decorate for the prom, so I was just telling him I’d e-mail him the meeting schedule.”

My brow knit. Jake had volunteered for prom committee? When? And why volunteer to help Chloe? She hadn’t even attended a meeting yet. Not that I thought for a second he’d come to me, but he could have talked to Faith. She was, after all, in charge.

“Um, okay.” We turned and walked slowly toward the caf with the throng. “So you two are, like … okay?”

Chloe tugged open the door and let Annie and me pass through first. “Pretty much.”

I couldn’t take it. She was talking about this way too simply. I stopped by the bathrooms and she and Annie stopped with me, letting the rest of the senior class file by.

“Seriously? Even after everything he did? Everything he said? That crap he—”

Chloe lifted a hand. “He apologized for that. That’s why he was at my house when my water broke,” she added under her breath.

I felt like someone had just spun me around five times fast and left me to try to focus. How had I never heard about this before? This was monumental. “Wait. He apologized? What … what did he say?”

She looked down at the floor and shrugged. “He said he was sorry. For everything. Like, everything he’d said or done to make me feel bad. He said he still thought he had a right to be mad, but that he shouldn’t have been such a jerk about it.”

I leaned back against the cool cinderblock wall, trying to process this information. Jake had apologized. He had realized he was wrong. Finally. This was amazing. He had actually dropped the negativity. Which meant that maybe, just maybe, he was still the Jake I’d known and loved.

So why wasn’t I more relieved? More excited?

I glanced across the cafeteria to where Jake was sitting with the rest of the guys, and my heart felt sick. I knew why I wasn’t relieved. Because he hadn’t apologized to me. If he was back to his old self, and he knew I’d broken up with him because I missed who he’d been, then why hadn’t he come to me?

Because he was really done with me. He didn’t love me anymore. When I’d ended things with him, I guess I’d really ended things. For good.

“I mean, what am I supposed to do, hate him forever?” Chloe continued, following my gaze. “I was scared, so I told a lie and totally ruined his senior year. Then he was pissed and he mocked me out for a couple of months. Honestly? I don’t even know if we’re even.”

“Man,” Annie said.

“What?” Chloe snapped, expecting an insult, I’m sure.

“You are just way more enlightened than I thought,” Annie said.

Chloe and I both blinked. “Um, thank you?” she ventured.

I shook my head and started walking again, but my steps were slow. My heart felt like a cement ball inside my chest. I couldn’t think about the fact that Jake was ignoring my existence right now. If I did, I would cry right in the middle of our free period, which was so not cool. Instead, I decided to focus on Chloe.

“I just don’t know if I could do it,” I said. “Forgive someone after something like that.”

Not that anyone felt the need to give me a chance.

“Right,” Chloe said, sliding into a chair at the end of a table and pulling out her laptop. “And who was the first person around here to start talking to Shannen again?”

Annie laughed and dropped into a seat at the opposite end. “She got you there.”

“Who got who where?” Shannen asked, shrugging out of her denim jacket as she and Faith arrived.

“Long story,” Chloe and I said at the same time.

Shannen narrowed her eyes at us. “Okay. I’m getting us all doughnuts now. I’ll be back.”

“Just a banana for me!” Faith shouted. “Gotta fit into that prom dress.” She started pulling out her prom planning notes and catalogs, laying them out on the table.

“What’re you doing?” I asked.

“We’ve got to catch Chloe up on what we’ve got planned,” Faith replied.

Chloe sighed as she watched the materials pile up in front of her. “I’m just saying, Ally, if we can all forgive Shannen for what she did to us last year, then you can forgive Jake for what he did to me.”

“Omigod! Are we getting back together with Jake?” Faith squealed, clasping her pink pen between both hands.

“Shhhhh!” we all admonished her. I looked around quickly, but no one seemed to have noticed her outburst.

“No one is getting back together with anyone,” I whispered.

Annie cracked open a can of Pringles and popped one into her mouth with a smirk. She muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like “Or so you think,” but she was too far away and her mouth was too full for me to be sure.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said with a shrug.

Then Faith dragged Chloe and me down into Springtime in Paris hell, and by the time the bell rang, Annie was long gone.

ally

On the morning of the wedding, I woke up facing the bay window at the back of the house. The sun was predictably shining, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I could only imagine the pure insanity that had taken over the first floor, but I couldn’t make myself move. I just lay there, gazing out that window, motionless, until my eyes started to sting.

My mother was getting married. Today. To someone who was not my father. My family was officially over.

And Jake wasn’t even going to be there.

I sat up straight the second I thought about him. Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? He’d barely even blinked when I’d broken up with him, and that had been months ago now. He hadn’t bothered to tell me he had a change of heart and had apologized to Chloe. He hadn’t called me, hadn’t texted, had barely looked at me in the halls. And everyone was talking about the slutty sophomore he was apparently taking to the prom. So why did I care? Why could I not stop caring?

Sometimes I wished Chloe had never told me that Jake had finally said he was sorry. Maybe then I could still be so mad at him I wouldn’t care what he was doing. Or who he was doing it with.

I looked over at my laptop, the screen playing my slideshow screen saver. At least I’d finally finished my speech last night. Ironically, thanks to Jake and his advice.

“Ally? Are you up?” Quinn shouted from down the hall. “Our stylists are here!”

“I’ll be down in a few minutes!” I shouted back.

I took a deep breath and held it. This was not about Jake. This was not about my dad and our former life as a family. It was about my mom. And as heavy as my heart and head and limbs felt at that very moment, I was going to put on a happy—no, a jubilant, ecstatic, blissful face—and be the best maid of honor ever. I flung the covers off my legs and hit the showers.

As I lathered my hair and scrubbed my face, I recited my speech over and over again in my mind. It was short and sweet, per Jake’s tips, and I had it down—flawless—but even so, I felt panicked every time I thought about getting up there in front of the crowd. One more reason to wish Jake was going to be there.

I groaned and yanked on my hair extra hard as I rinsed it. Suddenly I remembered that song Quinn had spent half of last summer practicing, getting ready for this year’s musical auditions: “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair.” If only that were possible.

Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in an actual salon chair set up in front of a huge mirror in the middle of the room that used to be Quinn’s mom’s gift-wrapping room. Quinn, at least, didn’t seem to care that my mother had taken over the space. She sat at a manicurist station behind me, wearing a short pink robe, her blond hair already styled into a classic bun. Some dude with a Mohawk worked on the nails of her left hand while she chatted on her cell phone in her right.

“So, you want it exactly like we did your other daughter’s?” my mom’s stylist, Marta, asked her.

My heart sort of stopped. My eyes met my mom’s in the mirror. Her hair was long and natural down her back and her makeup had yet to be applied, as Marta insisted that the bride should have the last turn in the chair. There were little frown lines around her mouth, and I could tell she was waiting for me to correct Marta about Quinn’s status.

“Whatever my mom wants,” I said with a smile.

I felt her sigh of relief on the back of my neck. “You can wear it down if you want to, Ally,” she said. “Or in a ponytail.” She looked at Marta. “She practically lives in ponytails.”

“No, it’s fine,” I told Marta. “Do it like Quinn’s. It’ll look better in pictures.”

My mom gave me a proud look and kneaded my shoulders. Then she grabbed a chocolate croissant off a tray of food near the door and handed it to me. We exchanged a smile, and as Marta began to tug and yank and curl I chomped into my breakfast.

“Hang on, Lindsey. I just got a text,” Quinn said.

As she turned her phone to look at it, it slipped from her palm and bounced along the carpet toward my feet. I couldn’t move to get it, since half my head of hair was clutched in Marta’s iron fist grip, but I looked down. The screen read:

ANNIE J.

I blinked as Quinn pounced on her phone. I couldn’t have just seen that right. There may have been some odd relationships popping up over the last year, but Quinn and Annie? I was pretty sure they’d never even occupied the same airspace.

“Who’s that?” I asked as she perched onto her chair again.

“Just a friend. Someone from ballet,” she said, texting back quickly.

When Quinn was done, she told Lindsey she had to go and she set the phone aside, giving her manicurist both hands. She didn’t meet my eyes again, but that was nothing new. But the longer I looked at her, the harder she started to blush. What was going on here? Were Quinn and Annie talking? And if so, why?

“Face forward, please,” Marta said, giving my hair a yank.

“Ow!” I complained with a wince.

“Price of beauty, hon!” she trilled.

Once Marta was done making my scalp feel so tight I thought it might start to tear off, she affixed Quinn’s pillbox hat to her head. I cringed, just watching the thing go on. I was going to look ridiculous in that. Like, Halloween-costume ridiculous. As Marta removed the white tissue paper from my own hat, I caught my mom’s eye in the mirror. She was chewing on her lip like she hadn’t eaten in days.

The hat floated down toward my head. I closed my eyes and told myself it was just one day. Just a few hours …

“Stop!”

Everyone jumped. I turned and looked at my mom. “No. I can’t do it to you, Ally. You don’t have to wear that.”

“But, Mom—”

“No.” She turned around and plucked a couple of yellow gardenias from one of the flower arrangements decorating the room, then handed them off to Marta. “Use these,” she said. “They’re more her.”

I was touched, but still. I didn’t want her to change her wedding just for me. “Mom, it’s okay,” I said. “I’ll wear the hat.”

“Yeah. What about the pictures?” Quinn put in, turning in her chair.

“Ten years from now when I look at the wedding album, I’m not going to care what you girls were wearing,” my mom said, looking into my eyes. “All that’s going to matter is that you were there.”

I smiled up at her, my eyes filling with tears. Maybe this day wouldn’t be so bad after all.

jake

I was so nervous walking up to the church, you’d think I was trying to crash an NFL draft party or something. There were tons of people milling around outside. My eyes darted to anyone wearing a dark suit. Were any of them bouncers? Was there a guest list? If there was, I bet the words “Keep Jake Graydon Out” were written across the top.

My shoes crunched on the brick steps. Some guy who looked a lot like Dr. Nathanson, but wasn’t, gave me the stink eye. I attempted to smile and somehow tripped myself in the process.

“There you are.”

Annie grabbed my arm. She was wearing a dark blue dress with a wide neck, black fishnet stockings, and high heels. With her hair back from her face, she actually looked kind of … pretty.

“Get inside. They’re gonna be here any minute.”

Pretty but WWE-wrestler strong. She yanked me through the double, arched door and shoved me into a corner. The church was small and white with lots of stained-glass windows and a ton of flowers. She pushed me half behind a tall vase with sticks and blooms coming out of it in every direction.

“Stay there until they’re pronounced man and wife. Then go out that door right there, get in your car, and wait until Quinn gives you the signal. Got it?”

“Yeah! Yes. Got it,” I whispered, smoothing my suit jacket. She was so intense there was no point questioning her.

“And do not let her or her mother see you,” she ordered, lifting a finger at me.

“I won’t.” I raised my hands in surrender.

“Good.” Annie turned to walk away.

“Hey, Annie,” I said, stopping her in her tracks.

She gave me this exasperated sigh as she faced me again. “What? Do you need me to write it down for you?”

I shook my head. “No, I just wanted to tell you … you look really nice.”

Annie’s mouth fell open slightly. Her face turned pink. “Um. Thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” I said.

She turned and slowly walked away, and I swear she swung her hips a little bit. I laughed to myself. Over the past couple of weeks I’d finally sort of started to get why she and Ally were friends. Even I kind of liked hanging out with her. Which maybe I’d get to do more. If everything went like it was supposed to.

Please let it go like it’s supposed to.

Suddenly people started filing into the church in a crowd. My heart started to pound and I ducked in farther behind the flowers. Before long, the music started and Dr. Nathanson walked down the aisle with two people who must’ve been his parents. Next up was Quinn. She totally milked it, walking as slowly as possible, giving little flirtatious smiles to the people in the pews. She got to the front. I held my breath.

And there she was. Ally looked gorgeous. She was wearing more makeup than I was used to, but in a good way. Her lips were red and shimmery and her eyes looked huge. The dress was black, and she wore yellow flowers in her hair. On her feet were these red high heels—pretty much the sexiest shoes ever.

She paused inside the door, right across from me. She was, like, ten feet away, and for a split second I was terrified that she was going to turn and look right at me. But instead, she lifted her chin and walked down the aisle with a smile on. I knew that part of her was sad about this. That her heart was breaking right now, knowing her parents were never going to get back together. But you never would have known it.

And in that moment I felt this whole new respect for her. I felt proud. I felt unworthy. Like maybe I didn’t even deserve to be here. Like maybe she was way too good for me.

I glanced at the doors as the pastor welcomed everyone to the wedding of Melanie and Gray, my toes itching inside my socks. What if I ruined her day just by being here? What if she said, “no”? What if this whole thing was just one giant mistake?

Annie sat near the front, her back to me. Quinn stood next to Ally, watching the pastor. Before I could double-think it, I walked quietly to the door and slipped out.

ally

So that was it. My mom was married. And she had such a smile of pure joy on her face as she and Gray walked up the aisle together, I was, shockingly, almost happy. Quinn and I trailed after our parents along the velvet runner as the people in the pews clapped and tossed rose petals and cheered. Before long even I was smiling.

Then we got to the door. Quinn looked outside and threw her arm across the opening, blocking my way.

“What’re you doing?” I asked.

Behind us, the guests were starting to crowd the aisle, headed toward the exit. I could feel them starting to clump up behind me.

“Um, your mom! She left her makeup bag in the dressing room. You should go get it,” Quinn said.

“And you can’t go get it because …?” I asked.

The guests were starting to breathe down my neck or angle to try to get around us. My fingers were slick as they clutched my bouquet. Quinn glanced over her shoulder at the street, then rolled her eyes.

“Fine.” She grabbed my gloved hand. “We’ll both go.”

Before I could point out that it made no sense whatsoever for us both to go retrieve a tiny bag, she had dragged me back into the church and toward one of the side aisles. We twisted through the laughing, chatting throng, headed for the door that led to the church’s offices and the bridal dressing room. Everything back here smelled dusty and waxy, like the scent of the two million candles that had been lit in the church over the years was clinging to the carpet and drapes. Quinn opened the door to the dressing room and practically shoved me inside, her bouquet crunching against my back.

“Ow.” I craned my neck trying to check down my back for scratch marks. “Do they have you doing weights at cheerleading practice now?”

I dropped my bouquet on the coffee table and started to search the room, beginning with the vanity table and its drawers. There were a couple of half-drunk glasses of champagne, a crumpled tissue, and a bit of spilled powder, but no bag.

“We’ve always done weights,” Quinn groused. “Do you ever listen to anything I say?”

She walked to the window facing the front of the church and pushed the drapes aside to glance out. Then she placed her own flowers aside, whipped her phone from her tiny purse, and quickly sent a text.

“I don’t see a makeup bag,” I told her, checking the couch cushions and the chair. “Are you sure she left it in here?”

Quinn stared down at her phone.

“Quinn?”

She looked at me, startled, like she’d forgotten I was there. Then someone knocked on the door and Annie stuck her head inside.

“Did you find your mom’s purse?” she asked.

“It’s not her purse,” Quinn said through her teeth. “It’s her makeup bag.”

“No. It was her purse,” Annie shot back through her teeth, shoving the door open wide and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Okay. What is going on?” I demanded.

“Nothing!” Quinn replied shrilly. She brought her hands to her head and her pillbox hat shifted to the side. “I just– I can’t—”

She grabbed her flowers, pulled Annie out into the hall, and slammed the door behind them. I groaned in frustration. This was ridiculous. Whatever was going on, I was missing my mom and Gray drive off, and Quinn and I had to get in our Town Car and get our asses over to the country club, stat. We were in the wedding party. We had pictures to take and we were supposed to be announced at the beginning of the reception. If we weren’t there when we were supposed to be, my mom would freak. I was about to yank the door open when I heard Annie whispering furtively.

“But he’s not there yet!” she hissed.

“Well, you were supposed to talk to him, not me,” Quinn whispered back. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know! He’s not answering my texts!” Annie said, frustrated.

I had no clue what they were talking about, but a foreboding chill went down my spine and I felt goose bumps pop up along my arms. I opened the door. They both went silent and stood up straight.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Annie said.

“Nothing,” Quinn echoed.

“Good. Then I’m leaving,” I told them.

I pushed right between them and headed back inside the church. The worship space was almost empty now, only the florist and her assistants running around, dismantling the flowers so they could be brought over to the club. I walked down the side aisle and turned purposefully toward the door.

“Ally, wait!” Annie called out, jogging to catch up with me.

“You can’t go out there yet!” Quinn added.

“Why not?” I said suspiciously, quickening my pace. I glanced over my shoulder at them and they were both gunning for me, like a couple of well-dressed bounty hunters. I gripped my bouquet, prepared to fight them off with it, if it came to that. “What’s going on out there that I’m not supposed to see?”