The Ten-Year Game Plan

Chapter 23- Donovan

Donovan's POV:

Seeing Jeremiah at the wedding brought up feelings that I thought were long gone. At one point, he was a good friend of mine and then he dated Josie— cheated on her— and now I kind of hated the guy. Maybe hated was the wrong word, but seeing him made me want to continuously pound him in the face. So, it didn't feel like that wrong of a word.

"I can't believe you guys are actually here together," he was saying for what felt like the sixteenth time.

It took a lot of willpower to not outwardly groan in his face. I'd punched him once in high school. He said some stupid shit to me in the hallway and I was an angry kid back then. Angrier that particular day too, and so the stupid shit he said was the last straw. I snapped. When the principal called us in to his office, Jeremiah had the decency to not rat me out.

That was okay, I guess. But right now? He was unbearable. I glanced around while he continued to talk and tried to keep the irritation out of my expression.

The reception that Josie's dad and her soon-to-be step-mother were throwing the night before the wedding rivaled every wedding I'd been to before. Supposedly, this was the rehearsal dinner, but as I glanced around at the caterers and the fresh flowers, I wondered how they would be capable of topping it tomorrow.

How could they possibly top Josie Troutman admitting that she came to this wedding with me? She hadn't even clarified by saying that we came as friends.

God, I thought watching her laugh as she talked to a distant cousin, I did not want to be her friend.

Almost as if she could hear the path my thoughts had taken, she glanced over at me. When she saw that I was already looking at her, she smiled and raised a finger from her glass to wave at me. Pink lips, blonde hair, and green eyes.

And a motherfucking sundress.

Damn it, I felt like my chest was going to split open.

Never mind, I quickly changed my mind, I could be whatever she wanted.

Vaguely, I was aware that her ex, Jeremiah, was still speaking to me. He was a nice enough guy when he wasn't dating her I guess, but he was also the type to try and one-up everything I said. Stupid things too.

I was also, however, acutely aware that Josie was scratching the side of her champagne glass with her thumbnail. She only did that when she was feeling anxious. As politely as I could, and without punching him in his upper lip again, I excused myself from the conversation with Jeremiah.

Making my way over to her, the words I could say ran through my mind. When I was younger, it used to happen all the time— words I wanted to say used to bubble up on my tongue and I used to swallow them down because I was afraid. Afraid that I wasn't good enough. Afraid that she would hear the words, look at me, and laugh. Afraid she would quickly put an end to the pieces of her that I had.

"Donovan," she greeted cheerfully and with an easy smile. How was this so easy for her? How could she not feel the way my chest splintered? Could she not hear it? "Have you met my Aunt Cecilia before?"

The older woman she was speaking to reached out her hand. The way she reached out her hand was peculiar, but I noted it. I took the slightly weathered hand and pressed my lips to the top of it, and the woman looked overjoyed.

"A pleasure to meet you," I said. "Cecilia is a beautiful name."

The older woman beamed, first at me and then at Josie. "A gentleman! You didn't tell me you were hiding one of these from me, Jo-Jo bear?"