ASHTON'S POV
"You finally get rid of her?" Talia asked as I sat down next to her, throwing my arm over her shoulders.
"I did!" I nodded, though that was a bad idea I figured as the room began to spin due to the simple gesture. I looked around the table, observing each of my friends and the girls they were with. I hadn't even been properly introduced to these girls but that was fine, it was not like I planned on seeing them again. Talia was the exception. I'd like to see her everyday for the rest of my life.
Michael sat closely by a girl with golden brown hair that was chopped into long bob. He was showing her something on his phone, almost certainly showing her pictures of our adventures so far. She stared back at the illuminated screen, completely mesmerized.
Luke had just pulled away from his girls ear and she was just about dying with laughter. Who knew Luke was that funny? Luke bit his lip, holding back a smile while he watched the girl finally gain control of her breath.
Calum, being the brave little soul he was, had his girl planted on his lap. Her dark brown hair stopped just below the fairly tanned skin of her shoulders. I smiled warmly as her arms found their way lazily around Calum's neck while they swayed together to the music. Calum got his hands on a Polaroid camera and took a picture of himself and the girl.
Then there was me.
Talia had kept a significant amount of distance between us for the first few minutes of us sitting together but she slowly inched closer to me without either of us realizing.
I noticed a trend with three of the four girls, they were wearing almost identical dresses. They were bridesmaids. Did this qualify Calum, Michael, and I as wedding crashers?
"This is a nice wedding." I whispered with my lips a few inches from Talia's ear, getting a whiff of the coconut scent of her hair. "What are they doing?"
Everyone was gathering around a table that was by the dance floor and camera flashes sparkled throughout.
"Time for cake, I believe?"
Why didn't I think of that?
I gazed off into the distance, not removing my eyes from the people compacted near the cakes. They were laughing, throwing their hands up, and clapping. I had never been to a wedding where all the guests had an authentic happiness to them. Every wedding I remember being at, love and happiness seemed to fill the air with a forced energy. Almost as if everyone there knew the bond between man and woman wouldn't last.
That wasn't the case here.
The few times I had met Jack and Ana I could tell they loved one another more than anything in this world. Their love was a giant force field against everything bad in the world. Their love was a love Aphrodite probably only had wished she'd have with someone who wasn't wasting time, lusting over her.
Love was so impossible and so rare today. Lust and selfishness were frequent.
There was a time I believed I was in love. With Sarah, to be exact.
The same day I was ready to declare my feelings for her, I walked in on her tangled up in bed sheets with some other man.
She apologized many times and I accepted the apologies every time being the fool I am. After her cheating scandal, her clingy and controlling attitude had activated.
Luke stated she was only acting that way because she felt guilt-ridden. Not for cheating, but for being caught.
I guess she believed that if she was clingy she wouldn't be tempted to cheat again and if she was controlling I wouldn't attempt to deceive her in revenge. I had no plans to deceive her. I knew it'd be best if I pushed her out of my life and moved on but for some reason I still kept her around even three months after I had caught her. She was the perfect screwed up addiction and I couldn't quit her.
