Strictly Platonic

☼ M E L I S S A

"I hate Melissa and my mom and wearing dresses." I say irritably as I stand next to Jace, my arms crossed over my chest.

I don't know why, but both my mother and my sister forced me to wear a dress to Mel's baby shower. It was being held at her house and a ton of her high school friends as well as current colleagues were here, also wearing fancy clothes. I don't understand why you need to be dressed up to give gifts and eat cake.

"Well, you look hot in it, so don't worry." Jace winked, but I could tell he too was uncomfortable in his dress pants and nice white shirt. He was the type of guy to usually just wear jeans and a T-shirt. We had that in common.

I was in a lacy light blue dress that was constantly making me itchy. I had worn it to Melissa and Jeremy's wedding, so it was the only dress I owned. Since I hadn't been a bridesmaid, it wasn't anything too fancy.
"How furious do you think Cody will be when Melissa has her baby?" Jace asked, a smirk on his face. I chuckled.

Cody used to have a huge crush on my sister back when we were in middle school. My sister had been a senior when we were in eighth grade, and since the guys often came over to my house, Cody would take time to flirt with her. It obviously didn't work very well.

Melissa and Jeremy were high school sweethearts who finally got married a little over a year ago. They'd known each other since they were freshman in high school and at first they despised each other, but in senior year, that all seemed to change.

My sister was pretty popular in school while Jeremy had been a sort of outcast. Still, they hated each other because Jeremy had beat up Melissa's old boyfriend, Jack. Since she didn't know the reasoning behind it back then, Melissa just started to hate Jeremy.

They were constantly at each other's throats until their final year in high school. I still don't know what changed between them, but you know what they say. There's a thin line between love and hate.

Now, both Jeremy and Melissa are twenty-three years old with a baby on the way. They live quite the fairytale life.

"What are your opinions on marriage?" I questioned Jace, keeping my eyes on Melissa who was opening a gift from one of her friends. She smiled broadly when she saw a pair of girls shoes as well as boys shoes.

"I didn't know the gender, so I got both." The friend explained with a shrug. Melissa laughed and hugged the friend. Jeremy had a comforting hand resting on Mel's back and a broad grin on his lips.

"Me?" Jace sounded sort of confused. I can understand. It was a random question. I nodded and he thought for a moment before answering. "I want to get married sometime. I just want to be with a girl I love and hopefully be together for a long time."

I snapped my gaze to him. I wasn't expecting that. Considering how often Jace sleeps with different girls, that was an unexpected answer.

"Remember our plan?" I shot him a smile. He laughed but agreed.

Our plan was that if neither of us were married by the time we were twenty-eight, we'd marry each other. We made that plan in elementary school, but we still brought it up occasionally.

"Just know that I'm not going to marry any one just so that I can make sure I get you. I'll chase off every guy that comes near you until you're twenty-eight." Jace joked and I shook my head in amusement.

"Okay, guys!" Melissa called, gathering the attention of everyone in the room. My parents were off to the side, my mothers face covered in happy tears while my father wore a shaky smile. All of Mel's friends were grinning and some of them were carrying kids themselves. "I've decided to tell everyone now."