His First Choice

Chapter 3

A week later

I was sitting in my office doing some work when Joanna knocked on my door.

"You have a visitor." She told me with a smile.

"Let them in." I said tiredly thinking it was someone who wants a dress designed.

"Okay." She said.

After a minute Elena came in.

"Hey." I immediately got up to hug her.

"Hey. I'm so glad to see you. It's been a week since the party. How are you?" She asked me.

"I'm glad to see you too. I'm good, working. How are you?" I asked her.

"Same. I heard from Joanna that you overwork yourself. Since you started this business you didn't take a break. Is that true?" She asked me.

"Well it is. But there is nothing else that I could do. I am not exactly a fun person so I don't go out and I don't have many friends. And work is the only thing I have that keeps my mind off some things." I explained. Sad, I know, but that's my life and I'm used to it.

"Okay. I understand. But you should go out more. Who knows, maybe you'll find your love." She told me. I am just wondering how much Joanna told her about my life.

"Well I don't believe in love. I don't believe there is someone out there waiting for me. That is simply impossible. Who would choose me when there are much prettier girls than me?" I told her.

"I see that after six years you still haven't changed. Anyways back to the reason I'm here. Since I'll be getting married, and you are a fashion designer, I thought that maybe you could design my wedding dress." She told me with hope. "If you aren't too busy of course." She added.

"Oh, no I'm not too busy. You know I'd do anything for you and the girls. I'm very happy that you chose me to do this important job." I said, happy with the fact that she remembered me.

"Of course I chose you. Besides, Richard said that we must have the best people working on our wedding, and right now you are one of the most succesful designers in New York." She told me.

"Okay. Well, I'm very happy for you. I'll see when I am free and I'll contact you if that's okay." I told her.

"Yeah, that's okay. I would also like for you to design the bridesmaids dresses. And I would like to ask if you would want to be one of my bridesmaids." She said. I was surprised whe she told me that.

"Oh, well yeah, I would. Thanks for remembering me. I didn't think you would want me to do that. Since, you know, we haven't really been in touch for six years." I told her.

"It doesn't matter. We used to be best friends in high school and I still consider you as one of them." She told me.

"Well thank you." I said with a smile.

"Yeah. There is one more thing." She said.

"What?" I asked, thinking it might be something bad.

"Me and Richard wanted to organize a celebration party for our engagement. We decided to invite all of our friends. The girls will be there. Nora will bring her family and Ella came back from her honeymoon, Hailey will also be there with Mark. There will also be Joanna and Alan. And some of Richie's friends." She told me.

"Well I'm not sure." I said, worried that there might be someone else, because Elena was close to him.

"Oh come on, please. It will be fun." She begged me. "Besides, Jack will be there. He can keep you company. He's quite nice when you get to know him. And I think you and him would make a cute couple." She told me.

"Oh my God, you sound like Ella. Maybe I could come. But first I need to ask you something." I said, a little unsure.

"Okay, what is it?" She asked me.

"Will he be there?" I asked. I didn't need to say his name, because I know she will understand.

"No, he won't. He is on a business trip. He won't be back for a couple of months. No one knows when he'll come back. But you do need to know that he is quite close with Richard and the others." She told me. I never thought I will be able to talk about him without tears, but this time I barely managed to hold them back.

"Okay. So when is the party?" I asked.

"In two days. I can't wait to see you. I gotta go now. You can keep working. Sorry for holding you back." She said and got up to hug me.

"Oh, it's no problem. I could use a break sometimes. Bye." I said.

"Bye." We hugged and she left.

The moment the door closed, the tears I've been holding back came rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't help it. I still haven't forgotten about him. Even after what he did.

For the rest of the day I couldn't focus on work. The conversation with Elena was constantly in my mind. I kept thinking how will I look my friends in the eyes. Will they be mad at me? Will they understand?

The opening of the door distracted me from my thoughts. Joanna walked in with a smile on her face, but it dissapeared the moment she saw the tears in my eyes. She immediately rushed to my side and hugged me.

"Hey, what happened? Why are you crying?" She asked me.

"Why? Why will I never be happy? Why does life hate me so much? What am I missing? Why can't the past just dissapear? Instead, it's always here. It haunts me every time I find even a little bit of happiness." I said with tears in my eyes.

"Shh. It's okay. The past will fade away you will be happy." Joanna tried to comfort me.

"But when? It's been six years and it's still here. Reminding me that I'll never be good enough, that I'll never find true love, that I'll never be the first for someone, because there is always someone better than me, someone prettier and smarter and funnier." I said as more tears started to fall.

"I will not listen to this. Because it's bullshit. You are beautiful and smart and succesful and trustworthy and boys are just stupid nowadays. But don't worry, there will be a guy with a brain somewhere here in New York who will see what mistake other guys made when they refused to be with you. So don't you say such thing. And whoever that asshole from your past is, you need to forget him and move on. Now wipe those tears sister, he isn't worth it." She told me.

After her speech I calmed down and stopped crying.

"Okay, I'm fine now. Thank you so much Joanna." I thanked her.

"No problem. I'll be there whenever you need me." She said. "But right now I gotta go. Alan's waiting for me. Bye."

"Bye." I said and she left.

I packed my things and went home.