Speak Now

Chapter 1

"Will you be my maid of honour?" Lizzy asked Caroline. Well, isn't that just great? So, what now? This girl was asking her to be her maid of honour, but how could she? She was in love with this girl's groom. She couldn't say no, that'd be rude, but she couldn't say yes either. She'd be helping this girl marry a man that wasn't in love with her. Caroline took in a deep breath. There was no way she could attend the wedding. Not when she was in love with the groom. Not when he'd be marrying a different girl.

"I'm sorry, Lizzy, I can't. I have things going on. I don't have time to do this, or even attend the wedding for that matter. I'm really sorry," Caroline responded.

Lizzy frowned. "Are you sure? Luke would love for his best friend to be there at least."

"I really can't, Lizzy. I have stuff going on at the hospital. I just can't go to the wedding, let alone help y'all plan it," Caroline said. She knew she was lying, she hated lying, but she couldn't tell Lizzy the truth. She couldn't tell her that she was in love with Luke.

"Okay, I understand. I got to go, I'll see you around," Lizzy finally gave in, exiting Caroline's apartment. She was gonna live a lonely life. She remembered when Luke had asked Lizzy to marry him, when he told Caroline about it. He was excited, but when he looked at Lizzy, there just wasn't that feeling. You never saw love in his eyes, but when he looked at Caroline, as LeClaire said, it was obvious he loved her.

It was mid to late July, the twenty-second, the sun was beaming, just getting ready to set in for the night. There was a settle breeze, a cool one, making the day easier to handle. Caroline was reading a book under a tree. It was a rather old book, The Notebook, to be exact. She occasionally checked her watch every once in a while. She was expecting Luke to come meet her at any given moment. She was nervous, but she also knew he had a girlfriend and wouldn't be confessing any feelings he would have for her, not that he felt the same he did for her anyway.

A shadow loomed from overhead and Caroline looked up as the light from the sun had been blocked. She saw Luke smiling down at her. She carefully placed her bookmark in to save her page, before closing the book and laying it down on the fresh cut green grass. She was waiting just under Luke's favourite tree on the Bryan's farmland.

"Hey, I have something to tell you. It's kinda why I asked you to meet me here," Luke told her as he took his seat next to her on the grass.

Caroline placed her hand on top of his. "You know I'll listen. Is this good or bad news?"

"It's great news, actually," Luke smiled wide, clasping his hand around Caroline's, squeezing it.

Caroline sighed. "Okay, what is it?"

Luke took in a deep breath. "Okay, you know how my birthday was about a week ago?"

Caroline nodded. She knew when his birthday was. July seventeenth. How could she forget? She's known him for years. She had wanted to do something him this year, but he had a date with his girlfriend.

"Well, we went out for dinner at a fancy place, I can't remember the name, Olive Garden? Anyways, well, I had been meaning to ask her something for a few years now. I know, I've only dated her for like four months, but I feel like this is right."

"Well?" Caroline pressed.

Luke smiled wide, his white teeth glistening in the setting sun. "I asked her to marry me and she said yes!"

Caroline's heart sank. She was in love with Luke, she knew he didn't know that, but it still hurt. She tried not to let her disappointment show through. "That's great, Luke."