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“You can go to my house back home,” Sofia suggests, and I look over at her. “I can guarantee you that no one will bother you there.” She smiles. “But it’s the perfect oasis away from home.”
“It really is,” Gabriella agrees. “We stayed there two months ago. The pictures I got were insane.”
“I think you should go there,” Zoey says. “You can be by yourself and not have anyone hovering over you like you would if you were to stay with one of us.”
“We wouldn’t all hover,” Ryleigh retorts, “but yeah.”
“I need to make a plan.” I sit up. “Step one, get my shit from the house.”
“We’ll all come with you tomorrow,” Sofia states, “to make sure, you know, no one goes to jail.” We laugh.
“Step two is to get tested,” I say, holding up my finger.
“I can get you an appointment with a nurse tomorrow,” Zoey mentions. “Next?”
“Figure out where the fuck I’m going to stay,” I finally say, and they all look at me, not pushing anything else. I fall asleep on the couch to them talking about I don’t even know what, and when I open my eyes in the morning, I find Sofia lying on the couch in front of me.
I don’t know how long I lie on the couch, looking out the window at the sun peeking out. The past twenty-four hours play over in my head, from standing in the middle of the bridal store wearing my dress to having the rug pulled out from under me.
A lone tear escapes the corner of my eye as I keep looking out the window. I don’t know how much later it is when Sofia stirs from her side of the couch. “Morning,” she greets when she looks over at me. “How are you doing?”
“Feeling like I got kicked in the vagina, and not in a good way,” I deadpan, and she snorts. “Did the girls all stay over?”
“Yeah,” Sofia says, “I lost the rock, paper, scissors.” She tosses the throw blanket off herself. “I’m going to go make coffee.”
“I’ll come with you.” I toss my own throw blanket off me and follow her into the kitchen. “I’ll get the milk,” I tell her, walking to the fridge. The two of us are trying to be quiet so we don’t wake everyone else.
She makes me a coffee, and both of us sit at the island drinking it, neither of us saying anything. “Does your house have Wi-Fi?” I ask her, and she looks over at me.
“It does,” she confirms, and I just nod.
“I would feel weird going to your house and not telling my parents at least,” I say. “If they found out, it would kill me if they thought I lied to them.”
“Then you tell them,” Sofia urges, “and then tell them you need time away.”
I snort. “Have you met my family?” She chuckles.
“I have, and I know that no matter what you want, they will do it. It might kill them or at least kill your father not to go and beat the shit out of Daniel.” I smirk. “Even though he’s a calm man. That being said, he will respect whatever it is you tell them.” She takes a sip of her coffee. “Now Matthew, that’s another story.” I roll my eyes. “He’s very much like my grandfather, which means he’s going to respect my privacy, but then, at the same time, he’s going to make sure he does what he needs to do in order to ruin the other person. Without getting his hands dirty.”
“I’m going to call my mother, then,” I tell her, pushing away from the island to get my phone, and returning to the kitchen. “Here we go.”
“You got this.” She holds my hand as I dial my mother. I’m holding my breath the whole time, knowing this will make it so much more official than it was yesterday. I mean, there was no fucking way I was going to go back to him, but this is going to be official-official.
I’m about to hang up when I hear my mother’s voice fill the phone. “Good morning, baby girl,” she greets me, and I blink the tears away. “How are you doing?”
I look over at Sofia. “I’m okay, Mom,” I lie just a bit. “Well, not really okay, but—” I take a deep breath and close my eyes. “I’m calling to tell you the wedding is off.”
5
ZARA
“Excuse me?” my mother says, her voice tight and unsure, which is a rarity for her.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” I say softly. “I just can’t do it.” I close my eyes and look up at the ceiling. “It’s just trying on the wedding dress and the fact that it’s going to be forever. I had second thoughts,” I lie to her, hoping like fuck she doesn’t call me out on my bullshit.
“Where are you right now?” I hear her bustling around on her side of the phone. When I look over at Sofia, she has her eyes bulging out of her head and her lips pressed together. “This very minute, where the fuck are you?”
“I’m at Zoey’s place,” I reply, and the phone hangs up. I look down at it and see that it’s the screen saver of me and my cousins on vacation this past summer. “What the fuck happened?” I look over at Sofia, and it’s like the both of us immediately get it right away.
