January 31st, 2020 at 06:05pm
Freya stared at the entrance to the garden, where family and friends were gathered waiting on the last few people to arrive. Moving out of Maryland was one of the best decisions she had made at the age of eighteen. She had to get away from him and even though it also kept her from her family and friends, if she had stayed the cycle would’ve continued – and who knows where she’d be now. Work brought her back about 6 months prior, but she hadn’t made that public knowledge. Only the Bride to be and her family had knowledge of this – fortunately she was able to skip out on 90% of the wedding preparations that he was also a part of. Unfortunately – tonight was the dress rehearsal and she couldn’t avoid seeing him any longer.
Lizzi White had been her absolute best friend since pre-school. The two girls went everywhere and did everything together. Eventually, she had met a boy and the pair became inseparable – it was only natural that her best friend and his skunk-haired best friend eventually fell for one another. Lizzi got the good one though – Freya…. She got the short end of the stick. She met him as a freshman and for the first year or-so everything was great. Then they went into the end of sophomore year and somehow – he had become the guy every girl wanted…. And the guy that every girl got. For two and a half years their relationship was a toxic cycle of him cheating, her finding out and breaking up with him, him begging for forgiveness and promising it wouldn’t happen again, her taking him back, and then the cycle restarts. And as their band got bigger – it only got worse. It was never ending – and Freya had become emotionally withdrawn and was constantly in a state of depression. How could the boy she loved with her entire being… treat her like this? He claimed he loved her – so why did he keep cheating?
Then it happened – Graduation Night, 2006. That morning he had finally convinced her to give him another shot after 2 weeks of begging. It was the longest she had ever been able to hold out, but she inevitably forgave him. She was excited to be able to share this day with all the people she loved – but after the ceremony Alex had disappeared. It didn’t take too long to find him, in his car, in the parking lot of the school, half naked with a topless girl underneath him. Freya had watched the two – the girl was a sophomore she recognized as the little sister to a mutual friend – for a few seconds longer then she needed to as the tears welled up in her eyes. She took a deep breath, set his graduation gift on the back of his car, and walked away. She never looked back – he never saw her. The next day she changed her number, packed up her things and left. It’s been 13 years since that night. Lizzi stayed with Jack, and two years ago he proposed.
So now here she was – at the dress rehearsal of her best friend and the best friend of her ex boyfriend’s wedding. According to Jack, they went on tour that summer and he had drowned himself in beer and girls – he hadn’t mentioned her name since she left. So hopefully, she could get out of this event virtually painless. Slowly, she let out a deep breath she didn’t know she was holding, adjusted the short black dress she was wearing, look one last look in the rearview mirror and got out of the car, walking up to the small gather of people that included Lizzi and Jack.