the return

Chapter 27

It's been two weeks since the Tanner incident and now it's somehow two weeks from the wedding. After the night with Tanner, I've been thinking about him being a possible option for a while. I don't think I like him like that though... he's very nice and kind and I've been friends with him forever. But the thing is that I feel like I haven't given Kai a chance. I was totally okay with dating long distance, especially after our kiss, but now I have to wait.

At the moment, I'm at Kendra getting ready for a pre-wedding party. I'm not sure why we're partying before the wedding, considering this isn't being called a bachelorette party. None the less I love partying.

As I curl my hair in Kendra's old bedroom at her childhood she asks, "So, who are you bringing as your plus-one?" I pause, caught off guard., "I was never told about any plus-one thing." She gasps a little, "My goodness, I forgot to tell you! Please, feel free to bring a plus-one. Maybe a friend from college." I nod as she smiles. I end up breaking into a big smirking grin as she turns away. I could finally bring Kai here! I quickly shoot him a text and continue getting ready.

After getting ready for three hours, we drove over to the venue where the pre-party was being held. It was a potluck (Kendra told me), and a few family friends would come over. "As you got closer to your wedding day, how do you feel?" I tend to become curious about what people feel about anything. It could be the fact my mother never cared to ask. "Um, nervous and super excited," she giggled shyly. "Well, the two of you are cute together!" Kendra smiles hesitantly as we pull into the parking lot.

We hop out pumped for a night of partying. Tanner holds the door open for us. His expression is unreadable, and I'm usually amazing at reading expressions. "Hi, Tanner," I smile at him, trying to ease the unusual tension. Tanner eases up an annoyed smile and asks, "Wassup, you two?" After that Kendra starts ranting about some guy who cut us off in traffic and started flipping us off. Tanner didn't seem to be interested but kept staring at me. I made funny faces at him such as wiggling my eyebrows and sticking my tongue out. He smirked as Kendra was half-way screaming about the stranger.

Patricia eventually sees Kendra throwing her arms around and joins the group. "Y'all ready to party?" Thank God for Patricia saving us from an even longer rant. "Yep!" I say passionately.

Before we get on the dance floor there's a small message from a random pastor about how important marriage is. "Marriage is like a hike. There are highs which are beautiful moments shared and there are lows. You may not enjoy the lows now but like all adventures, the outcome outweighs the negatives. And sometimes it's not the outcome of the journey but the adventure along the way," Everyone clapped for how fervent the pastor was about his message. Somehow the message got my narcissistic mother to shed a tear.

Finally, after a dinner that felt like watching paint dry on a wall, it was time to party. Of course, the DJ played 'Cha cha slide.' He wasn't a very good DJ in the sense that he didn't have a premium music streaming platform. Imagine having to awkwardly stare at each other while listening to an ad about healthy gay sex. But regardless we tried to have fun while listening and dancing to the actual music instead of trying to talk over the speakers while an ad played.

It was around nine o'clock and I was getting a water refill. Who knew that singing your lungs out made you sweat like a dog. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I see Tanner standing stiffly. "Hey, Tanner. You also here for water?" I ask, trying to make the conversation more comfortable. "Uh," I think he does need water because he nervously clears his throat. "Sorry, what'd you say?" I ask pushing my frizzy curl behind my ear. He moves closer to my ear, he warm breath on my ear. "Can we talk somewhere more private?" I shrug, indifferent and curious as I follow him.

Tanner leads me to a janitor closet. It has a distasteful smell of mold and fruity cleaning supplies. I notice Tanner fiddling with the door handle but I'm too focused on the strong odors that assault my nose. It's quiet a small closet. A storage rack on either side o the closet and a mop and bucket in the middle of the room that separates me from Tanner.

"So, what's up?" I say trying to focus on his face in the dim lighting. Tanner scratches his neck before say, "Aurea, I know your kind of into someone already but..." he trails off as I begin to frown. "Tanner, I don't want to be rude," he cuts me off. "Please, give me a chance. I know that I've missed my opportunity so many times, but I never realized how amazing and funny you are until you were seventeen. And by then you and Kendra kind of stopped talking." For the first time since this vacation, I've heard his actual voice, not the fake country accent. I put my arms on his shoulders and say, "Tanner, you are such an important person to me. But I don't feel like we should try and fix the past. I think we need to go our own ways and see other people." In the dim light I see anger pulse throughout his body. "Aurea," he says intensely, "We never saw each other in the first place so why-," I cut him off. "Exactly. We shouldn't get invested in a useless relationship." "What the hell?" Tanner puts his rough fingers on my jawline and brings my face close to his. "Tanner, let go of me now." I'm starting to get pissed at him. He never acted like a dick (at least in this aggressive way). "Shut up," was all he said and started kissing me. If he wasn't being a total creep I'd love this kiss. But he was forcing it, making it seem mutual, and it wasn't. I tried to pull away. "Stop it you hoe," he said it all breathy as if I actually took his breath away and goes back to kissing me. This time he's slobbery and I feel him stick his tongue into my mouth. I open my eyes and truly push him away with all my strength.

I kick the door open and sprint out, frantically trying to catch my breath. The guests turn and stare at me as my eyes start shedding tears. Kendra tries to come toward me full of concern. Before either of us could say something, I feel someone hug me from behind. "Aurea, are you okay?" A sympathetic voice says. I turned and saw Tanner; look annoyingly innocent.

"Get off of me freak!" I cry out, pushing him off with my remaining strength.

"Kendra," I say trying to control my sob, "Tanner... he trapped me in the janitor closet and tried to make out with me." Kendra's mouth dropped and stares at Tanner. "Tanner, is this true?" Tanner pulls on a poker face, a mirage of blamelessness and says, "She's lying. She tried to touch me and kissed me." The shock hits me like a train. "What...?" I say quietly and defeatedly, "Tanner's lying. He asked me to follow him and trapped me in the closet."

Kendra's fiancé comes over, face fuming with anger. "Aurea, I can't believe you'd do that to Tanner." Tanner smirks as her fiancé said that. "Why the hell don't you believe me? He forced himself on me. He yelled at me and called me names," I' pleading with Kendra. I can only feel the makeup running down my face. Kendra shakes her head disappointedly at me. "Tanner would never call you names or try to force himself on a woman."

Rage throbs through my body. "He did! Why won't you believe me? Is it the fact that we haven't talked in the past seven years? Is it because you only invited me to show off your success? Is it because of how narcissistic you've become? You've been so obsessed with yourself that never once have you considered someone else. It's so infuriating how little you value our friendship. I'm done, Kendra. I'm not doing your shitty wedding with you. I'm not standing next to you as a prop. Kendra, I don't even know why you left me in the first place. You made me think I was a shitty friend. I wish you hell."

I angrily grab my belongs and walk out the door while Kendra screams obscenities at me. Part of me felt satisfaction but the other part wanted to drive off a cliff at ninety miles per hour. Unfortunately, I have to call an Uber now since Kendra drove me here. I stumble to the side of the road in heels as I flag down a taxi.

"Long night?" The driver asks cautiously as I climb in. "Ha, you bet," I reply looking gloomily out my window. "Want to talk about it? Think of it as free therapy." He smiled at me through the rear-view mirror. "Not really free if you're charging me for the ride." "The therapy is added benefit," he said jokingly.

So, there I was telling some random taxi man the story of my night, my life, in a thirty-minute car drive. It felt nice to be listened to, it felt like my drunken night with Kai then it reminded me of Blake telling me to take chances. "Well, there's not much I can do for you unfortunately, but we are at the hotel." I nod and say, 'thank you.' It's now time to call Kai and see if I can get him to come join me in Florida. As I enter the clean hotel room, Taylor Swift's 'Florida!!!' Plays repeatedly in my mind. My homes only a town I'm just guest in, I guess.