Be Good A New Adult Romance (RE12)(29)

I hitched a ride to the reception with Paige and Molly. They both looked at me kind of funny and I knew they were wondering what happened between me and Brett. I was glad they had enough tact not to ask because I probably would have lost it.

“I’m so glad Sarah didn’t ask me to be a bridesmaid,” Molly said.

“I know, right,” Paige agreed. “Those dresses are more hideous than usual.”

The rest of the conversation centered on bridesmaid dresses and the fact that the two of them were never going to do that to their friends when they got married. Yeah, right. First of all, it should be obvious that if they continued dating guys like Vic and Casey, it would be a really long time before they could hope to get married. And second, everyone says they will never do that to their friends when they get married and they always do. Not that I blame the brides. I think its subconscious. They want to be the star of the show on their wedding day and they don’t want some bitch they went to high school with, or their step-sister, or their cousin from Denmark that their mom forced them to make a bridesmaid, to look better than them on their wedding day. And what better way to ensure that the bitch from high school, or your step-sister or your cousin from Denmark not look better than you than to make them wear a hideous dress?

The reception hall was so opulent it bordered on gaudy, which was not a surprise for Las Vegas. If I was going to do a wedding in Vegas I would definitely elope, spare everyone the expense of being in a wedding party (or even attending for that matter), and get hitched at an Elvis Chapel. Just me and my guy. Of course, I didn’t have a guy and at the rate I was going, the chances of me ever having a fiancé looked grim. I just didn’t want to be one of those over-the-hill barflies who still dressed like she was twenty when she should have stopped twenty years earlier. But when I looked into my future, that’s all I could see. Just a few weeks ago, I thought there was a chance that Brett and I would have a future together but now I could see how foolish that was. I must have been delusional to think that someone like him would ever consider getting serious, or marrying, someone like me. No, I was the girl you sowed your wild oats with before you settled down with someone like Sweater Vest. My place in the universe was now clear.

I did a quick scan of the massive hall. The church had been packed with people and I figured there were easily 500 guests, by far the biggest wedding I had attended. But that meant lots of guys to choose from. And Sean was friends with lots of good looking guys. His roommate played basketball, so they always had plenty of jocks around. I knew I’d have my pick of hunks tonight. Maybe a few rounds in bed with a gorgeous jock was exactly what I needed to get over Brett.

The first stop I wanted to make was the open bar. Even though I had been serious about giving up drinking, I suddenly craved the high I’d get from taking those first few sips and then the wonderfully numb feeling that followed.

The bartender, who looked about my age, gave me a huge grin when I approached. “Hey, Beautiful. What can I get you?”

Game on. I gave him a sly little grin in return. “So, what’s good?” There was definitely and implied besides you in my tone.

“Depends what you like and what kind of mood you’re in.”

I looked at the array of bottles on the counter and then fixed my gaze on the bartender’s stunning blue eyes. “I like what I see.”

“I like what I see, too,” he said as he checked me out. “And what kind of mood are you in?”

I raised an eyebrow. He gave me a sly grin. He took a small glass, added a few ice cubes and then filled it with Southern Comfort. “I think you’ll like this. It’s smooth with just a little edge to it. Just like you.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed the glass. “I’ll be back for more later.”

“I look forward to it.” I could see him grin as I turned and walked away.

I didn’t take more than two steps before a hand grabbed my forearm. It was Brett.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I spat as I tried to tear my arm from his. He tightened his grip on me.

“What are you drinking” he asked. His tone wasn’t angry though. He sounded more concerned. That made me angry. He had no right to have any feelings for me anymore. Especially concern. Or pity.

“Why do you care?” I snapped back.

“I still care about you,” Brett said softly.

“Well, don’t.” My voice was harsh but I didn’t care.

Brett gulped. “Please don’t be like this.”

I glared into his now wet eyes. “Like what, Brett?”

He didn’t respond verbally. He just looked at the ground.

“How would you like me to be? Do you want me to be prim and proper and not show any emotion like Sweater Vest? Is that what you want? Too bad. I’m going to say whatever the hell I want and I’m going to do whatever the hell I want and you don’t have the right to say a word about it. Got it? You made your decision. You chose Sweater Vest. Go worry about what she’s saying and doing.”

Brett finally let go of my arm but he still didn’t walk away like I wanted him to. It would take a verbal slap in the face to get him to leave and I fully intended to give him one.

“You told me you weren’t that guy. You were right, Brett. You aren’t that guy. You’re a million times worse. You made me believe that what was going on between us was something special. What a joke. You just wanted to f*ck me like every other guy in this room, it just took you a little longer to get to the finish line. But the outcome was the same, wasn’t it? You got a piece. You got to tap that. Now you’re one of the cool guys. You get to high five all the jocks because you’ve f*cked Anna. Well, good for you. I didn’t think you were going to f*ck me and dump me just like everyone else but that





’s exactly what you did.” When he looked up, I saw one lone tear drop slide down his face. Mission accomplished. Always one to hit a man when he’s down, especially one I wanted to hurt as badly as he hurt me, I finished it off with, “You are that guy, Brett. Face it.”

I had never seen someone look so hurt in my entire life. The pain in his eyes made what little was left of my broken heart completely shatter. I hadn’t just verbally slapped him; I had beat him to a bloody pulp.

Brett looked as if he might say something but then Sweater Vest came running over to stake her claim on her man. She grabbed his elbow in a gesture that was clearly meant for me to know that Brett was hers again.

“What’s going on?” she said cheerfully, clearly clueless of the tension that still filled the air between us.

Brett quickly swiped the tear from his cheek.

Sweater Vest looked up a Brett and batted her puppy dog eyes. “Did I interrupt something?” she said so coyly I wanted to spit on her.

“You didn’t interrupt a thing,” I taunted . “I was just going to get shit-faced and pick up a random guy to f*ck all night. See ya.”

When I turned away, I was now the one with a stray tear falling down my cheek. It wasn’t like me to cry in situations like this. Not that I had ever been in a situation like this before. I had never loved anyone as much as I loved Brett. I had never actually loved anyone but Brett. And he didn’t love me back.

I remembered I had a drink in my hand. I took a big swig. It was actually difficult to swallow. I almost had to spit it out. I realized I didn’t want the drink, I was just doing it to hurt Brett. I knew drinking would be as bad, if not worse, than picking up some guy. When I turned around, I could see that Brett was still staring at me. Even though Sweater Vest was doing her best to get his attention, his eyes were on me. I made a show of guzzling down the rest of the drink I didn’t want. I couldn’t make out his facial expression but I could see him shaking his head. Then he grabbed Sweater Vest by the elbow and practically dragged her over to a table far from the activity that was growing around the bar and appetizers table.

The reception hall was packed. I scanned the crowd for the best looking guy I could find. I certainly had a lot to choose from at this wedding. Some of the hottest guys I had gone to school with were in attendance. I finally set my sights on Jay Donner. He was a 6’2” and perfectly proportioned. He liked the outdoors and always seemed to have a slight tan. He had sun-kissed blond hair and killer ocean blue eyes. When we were in college, he was unavailable. He was still dating his high school sweetheart. Everyone thought they were going to get married but then she dumped him for a tattoo artist. I heard he was playing to field and having quite a lot of rebound action. He seemed like the perfect candidate. We could rebound with each other.

The only unfortunate thing was that he was standing really close to the table that Brett had chosen to sit at with Sweater Vest. Jay was talking to Vic and Casey. As much as I wanted Brett to see me picking up another guy, I wasn’t sure how much I wanted him to hear when I was in pick-up mode. Not that he hadn’t heard some of the same lines when I picked him up at Hannah and Brandon’s wedding. With everything that had happened since then, it seemed like an eternity ago.