That Should Be Me - Joseph Quinn x Reader

Part One

The preparations were complete, you were set to marry a man that you weren't sure that you loved yet just accepted it based on the fact that your parents approved and everything was taken care of, all for an easy life, you went along with it. The start was great, but the more you thought about it; was he really the one? He was a man that was from a well off family, someone who would provide and look after you for the rest of your life, but is forever long enough to be with someone when you're not as happy as you could be?

There was always a burning thought in the back of your head of what if? You'd always loved your best friend, since a very young age, but it was always the wrong time to get into what felt such a crime. You'd always admired one another from the side lines, your friendship meaning way too much for your own liking to ever do anything about it. Prom night was the only exception.

You spent a night together, losing your virginity to each other after the consumption of alcohol at the after party, it was awkward yet beautiful, a moment shared and a moment cherished. You'd never spoke of it again after that, both of you too shy to admit that there was something there that had clear been around for quite some time, burning and eager to get out of your systems, so you went about your teenage lives, getting into other relationships, supporting each other when times got tough, doing the general best friend thing and being around when the other needed it most.

Entering your twenties was a crucial stage and the jealousy became worse every time you had to witness him with somebody else, but you still remained quiet, as close to him as you were you always longed for more but it just seemed like it was never to be.

Then you met the man you were with today, a brief meeting at a family event where several people attended including a lot of friends of the family which extended into hundreds of people being at the venue. You were happy at first, or so you thought but it always came back down to your best friend and every waking moment you spent with your new beau, the more you'd wish that he was him. Nobody had ever been good enough and that was the mistake you'd made all along.

The moment you realised that your best friend loved you just as much right back was your 29th birthday party, your boyfriend proposed to you that night in front of the entire crowd, up on a large stage with a beautiful serenading quartet and a large screen filled with images of the two of you over the last couple of years, you'd turned around to see your now fiancé down on one knee.

The pressure forced you to say yes, but when you looked back into crowd of people, all eyes were on you but you noticed one particularly pair of burning, crushed retinas. Joe. Your best friend for almost all of your life was the one stood there with a pressed line to his lips, you could almost see the single tear that dropped from his bottom lid, he took a deep sigh, parted lips and enforced a fake smile of his own to try and be happy for you. He of course joined in the applause but with a sense of laziness from the broken heart that had now smashed to smithereens to see you betrothed to another.

Time stood still, the ring slipped onto your wedding finger but your gaze still fell upon that of your best friends, you took a large gulp and your sights matched upon the one he was still indistinctively pulling. You should've been happy, you should've been jumping for joy that you were engaged to the person you'd been with for the last two and a half years, but better still it just wasn't the one you'd hoped for.

The speed of sound caught back up with you, up roars of cheers found you looking over to your parents who were hugging in utter joy for the announcement that their daughter was to be married, but they just didn't understand, purely because they didn't know how you truly felt. But would they ever understand? Your mum was married to your dad for exactly the same reason, but she accepted it and over time she fell in love, she'd never admitted that to you personally, but you'd read her diaries from a long time ago that you'd found as a kid so you were well aware of the situation.