The Best Man {h.s.}

15

"Ohmygodwhatareyoudoinghere?" I hear in a very rushed, excited tone. She moves her pitch black hair away from her face, showing her equally pitch black eyes. I continue making my way around Harry so I'm completely in her line of vision. Certainly not a place I want to be, but this bitch needs to go.

"Well, we--"

"Wait, Emma?" She interrupts Harry as her eyes go wide. She looks just as surprised to see me as I am to see her.

"Jane." I say coldly, nodding my head.

"Wow. Long time." She leans back on her heel and crosses her arms.

"Not long enough, I'm afraid." I spit quickly. She seems slightly taken aback by my words, but I know better than to think I actually hurt her feelings. She lets out a small chuckle before looking back at Harry.

"So, how do you two know each other?" She asks curiously, but with a hint of an attitude.

"I should ask you the same thing." Without realizing it, I start inching closer and closer to Harry. Instead of looking at her for another freaking second, I look up at him for an answer.

"We...uh...we actually--"

"We used to date." She interrupts him again and I snap my head in hear direction, my breathing stopping altogether. "Didn't we, Harry?"

"Uh..." I hear coming from his mouth and I slowly turn to him, secretly planning to murder this bitch in my mind. "Yeah, we did." He seems almost embarrassed with his answer. I keep looking up at him, but he doesn't look back. I don't blame him, though. Not with the look of complete shock slapped across my face.

He doesn't date, Emma.

My sister's words haunt my thoughts. I am so confused. I am so angry. I am so...hurt? I don't know. I need to get out of here.

"Hmm. Small world. Isn't it, Emma?" Jane's voice is like a bullet. I avert my eyes from Harry and focus on her once again.

"Too small."

"Oh, come on, Em. You can't be mad at me forever." She laughs. She fucking laughs like her ruining my life is some kind of joke.

"Don't call me that. You lost that right a long time ago." I'm sure Harry is beyond lost at this conversation, but I'm having a hard time focusing on him right now.

"Well, well, well. Looks like someone gained some sass since the last time we spoke." She takes a step closer to me, her massive pumps creating the most awful sound. My fists clench tighter at every step. "I like it. Who knows, maybe one day you'll see what I did as a favor." She smirks, making me see nothing but red. I take a step towards her, closing the already narrow gap between us.

"The only favor you did was making me realize what an absolutely horrible person you are. You think that I'm just going to forgive you after what you did? Get fucking real. You have a better chance of finding daisies in hell. Now if you'll excuse me, we have to go." I quickly grab Harry's hand and start walking in the opposite direction. He doesn't say a word to her or I as he follows behind me.

"See you at the wedding!" She shouts. I stop dead in my tracks and look back at her.

Who the hell invited her?

Before I decide to say anything else or go up and slap her across the face, I turn back around with Harry's hand in mine and make my way to his car. I never thought I would be so anxious to leave a date with Harry. I guess I have her to thank for ruining things once again.

Thunder starts booming overhead as we continue the walk to the car and as soon as we reach it, rain starts pouring down on us. Harry unlocks the car and I quickly jump inside, my breathing still fast and heavy. Once he gets in, he takes a deep breath and runs his hands through his already wet hair before turning the car on. I can feel his eyes on me, but I can't bring myself to look at him. Not yet. This is all too much.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asks, breaking the silence between us.

"No. No, just take me home. Please." I say quietly, looking down at my hands. He doesn't say anything as he slowly gets back onto the road.

The car ride home is completely silent. Nothing but distant sirens and the sound of raindrops hitting the windshield. I want to say something, but I don't know where to start. Do I tell him about my past with Jane? Do I ask him about his past with Jane? Do I even want to know? The fact that she's even in my head is driving me crazy. I promised myself years ago that I wouldn't let her get to me again. I promised myself that I would forget about her and everything that happened, yet here I am, reliving everything over and over again like a bad war memory.

The car starts slowing down and I look around, realizing that we're in front of my apartment building. The rain is deafening as we come to a complete stop, making it almost impossible to see out the window. I continue to look at my hands as he looks over at me.

"Look, Emma. I can--"

"I was engaged." I admit, cutting Harry off. "I was engaged, and she ruined everything."

My pulse increases as the air in the car gets thicker. Harry shifts in his seat, turning his body to me. I still can't look at him, though. As much as I want to, I just can't. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, trying to bring everything that I had once removed from my mind back to life.

"It was right after high school. We were together for a while, almost five years I think, and he proposed right before we went away to college. We were going to different schools, so he wanted to make the commitment to me to show me how serious he was about us."

I exhale and finally look at Harry who's watching me carefully, concern covering his features.

"He was everything that I could ever want. He was kind, hard working, charming, funny, chivalrous, you name it. He was amazing and everything was perfect. That is, until I showed up at a party over winter break and found him upstairs with Jane. My sister brought her around a few times and I thought we hit it off really well. Turns out I was wrong. I was wrong about her and I was wrong about him and at that moment, when I saw him touching her, I lost it. She held my life in the palm of her hand and crushed it like it was nothing."

I feel Harry place his hand on my cheek to wipe away the tears that began streaming down my face at some point throughout my sob story. I close my eyes when his skin touches mine, finding more comfort in it than I thought I would. I take another deep breath before continuing.

"After that moment I swore that I would cut both of them from my life and from my memory. I haven't said a single word about it until this very moment, actually. Not even to myself. I just went on with my life pretending that none of it existed. The one and only time someone said his name around me was at a party a few years ago. I overheard two people talking, saying that he became an accountant or something, which is why I always tried to avoid the business types when it came to dating. I was terrified that one day I would meet one at a bar somewhere and it would turn out to be him, and that facing him and everything that was once my entire life would kill me."

Harry doesn't say a single word after I'm done. He knows that I don't want him to say anything. His hands move down to mine and he squeezes them tight. A part of me wants to ask him about his past with her, but a bigger part of me knows that it will have to wait for another day. I don't think I could handle hearing her name come out of his mouth right now. I look down at his hands as his thumbs rub my skin gently. He places a soft kiss on my forehead before shifting himself back to his seat. He lets go of one of my hands, but keeps the other in his as we sit there in silence, watching the world go by.

After some time I look over at Harry. His perfect silhouette is lit up by the street lamp shining its light into the car. He looks so calm sitting there, almost as if my hand in his is giving him the same comfort it's giving me. I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean over to him, planting a gentle kiss on his lips. He smiles as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, leaning in to kiss me once more. The silence is still lingering in the car, but it's perfect. Just having him next to me, the rain keeping us from facing the outside world; I honestly can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be. I move back to my seat and squeeze his hand gently. He does the same, the corners of his mouth showing a soft smile.

I look back to the window and watch the rain, the awful memories wash themselves away once again.