These Broken Bones

Weddings were usually momentous occasions. They mark the day two people join as one and declare their undying love for one another in front of family and friends. The ceremony was sometimes lavish, thousands of pounds and hours of time and effort put into one single day. Or, it was quieter, cheaper, but still with plenty of class. Everyone always says a wedding is the happiest day of a girl’s life.

That wasn’t the case for Beth Chalmers.

She was a sorry state, sitting on the front steps of the church. Her shoulder shook with sobs. Cries of unbearable emotional pain leapt from her mouth. Her professionally applied make up was now in a pool at her jaw line. Her once sparkling blue eyes were bloodshot and sad. Her dress was all crumpled and she’d thrown her veil into the rose bushes nearby.

Everything seemed like such a waste now. A seven year relationship and thirteen months of careful planning. It had all whizzed past in a blissful blur. Beth met William, they fell in love, and after an impatient wait, William finally grew a pair and proposed. Only his close friends knew he hadn’t been entirely sure marriage was what he wanted. Nevertheless, despite his doubts, he slipped the diamond ring onto Beth’s finger and the planning began. Food, flowers, drinks, guest lists, seating plans, suits, colour schemes, dresses, shoes, make up, hairstyles, invitations, it seemed to take over their lives.

So William Beckett got cold feet and ran. Leaving Nina Adams to pick up the pieces of her best friend’s shattered heart, all within days of having to start nursing her own.

“Bethy, it’s not that bad, sweetie. Surely there’s some reasonable explanation,” Beth’s mother flapped around her, pulling hair grips from her rock solid, hairspray drunk hair.

“How can you say that?!” Beth cried, an onslaught of sobs followed.

Nina had been watching from afar. All of this wedding business had rolled around at a bad time in her life. Whilst her best friend’s relationship was seemingly blossoming, her own was crashing and burning. She moved the charm bracelet around her wrist, feeling at each tiny silver charm. A shoe, a handbag, a teddy bear, a pair of sunglasses, a tiny Eiffel Tower, a Statue of Liberty, and an engraved heart. She daren’t let her finger run over the carved numbers. The date was burned in her memory.

Letting the charm drop, she walked over to Beth and sat down beside her, smoothing out her bridesmaids dress. It was bright red, fitting in with the colour scheme. She wrapped an arm around Beth’s shoulders and let her drop her head onto her shoulder. It was seconds before Nina’s bare shoulder was soaked with Beth’s salty, stained tears.

“This is the part where you say you’re going to hunt him down and cut his balls off!” Beth wailed.

“Um,” Nina stared straight ahead, watching Beth’s father pace the pavement outside the church. The guests were all congregated in the street, all dressed to the nine’s, waiting for any news on William’s whereabouts. “I’m not about to go and hunt him down and pull his trousers down. But I will go to the shop and get the ingredients to mend a broken heart.”

Beth wailed again. “Oh my god, I’m broken hearted! This wasn’t meant to happen!” She started sobbing again, her make up creating messy black streaks down her cheeks. Tears were dripping from her chin and onto her dress. The diamonds around her neck didn’t sparkle as much as they had only half an hour ago. Everything about Beth was dulled down and dim. The light in her life had been extinguished, just like it had in Nina’s.

“You go, darling, I’ll see to her. We’ll meet you back at the house.” Beth’s mother squeezed Nina’s shoulder. She rose to her feet, sending her best friend a look of sympathy, before walking down the cobbled path into the street.

“What’s happening?” Beth’s Aunt Caroline asked, curiously.

“I don’t know. Nobody can contact William,” she lied, before excusing herself and heading off down the road. Her freshly dyed dark hair swept behind her as she power walked towards the Tesco Express just a couple of blocks away. Her heels cut into her feet, numbing her toes and creating painful blisters. Beautiful shoes always came at a price. It seemed men came the same way.

She entered the tiny Tesco and was immediately bombarded with curious glances. Shop assistants stared, wondering why a girl dressed up for a wedding was perusing the frozen foods section. Nina simply brushed them off with dark looks and narrowed eyes. She wasn’t in the mood for questioning.

Opening a freezer, Nina felt her phone vibrate in her tiny clutch bag. She let the door close and retrieved her phone. A message from William screamed up at her, and with a pounding heart and an aching head, she opened it.

TELL BETH I’M SORRY. X

Nina’s throat closed up. She felt her heart beat faster. Faster. Her breath quickened and her hands shook. She closed the message and scrolled down her vast contacts list, right at the bottom to William’s name. She hit the ‘call’ button and pressed her phone to her ear, whilst loading tub upon tub of Ben and Jerry’s into her basket.

William didn’t answer.

“Coward,” she hissed, letting it slip to voicemail.

“Beckett, why don’t you get off your bony arse and text Beth yourself? Or better still, get in your expensive car and go and see her. Apologise. Explain why you let her get carried away with all this wedding planning, when you clearly had doubts from day one. You know she spent two thousand pounds on an ice sculpture? An ice sculpture, damn it! And now you’ve left me to pick up the pieces. Don’t you think I have enough of my own shit and heart break to deal with, without having to nurse hers? Cheers, William, just fucking great of you.” She stabbed the ‘off’ button with tears in her eyes, before letting a box of orange ice lollies fall into the basket.

Nina headed towards the chocolate section and picked up several big bars of all kinds on offer. The cost of all this wasn’t even going to phase her. She didn’t care anymore. Not for anyone. Not for Beth, or William or the boy who’d played with her heart and crushed it into dust. All she wanted was to feel numb to everything. To forget the wedding that never happened, and to forget Gabe Saporta ever existed.

A few days ago, if you’d asked Nina Adams if she was happy, she’d have replied with the biggest beam you’d ever see and a positive answer. Yes, of course she was happy. She was living with her boyfriend, who was fronting an on the rise band, she had the dream life. The guy every girl wanted, the house, the friends, the job. Everything was perfect.

But perfection never lasts. And four days ago, the internet became Nina’s biggest enemy.

It’s true to say, the internet is an evil tool in the modern world. It’s used to bully other people, to undermine and to fuel gossip and rumours. Nina had caught sight of some rumours. Things about her boyfriend. Only, it wasn’t just text in a fancy font from some anonymous user on a gossip forum. There were photos, dates stamped onto them. Gabe wrapped around other girls, his lips on theirs, skin touching skin. Stories of him cheating on her emerged alongside those photos.

If pictures are worth a thousand words, then Gabe Saporta had ranked up quite a few.

Nina’s world had crumbled around her. Nothing seemed real anymore. She packed up all his clothes, cutting his favourites into shreds. She gave their puppy his shoes to chew to smithereens. She had the locks on the house changed and left his possessions on the front door step, along with a few print outs of the gossip pages.

He’d called and texted. Feeding her pointless apologies. But it felt like no amount of ‘I’m sorry’ would mend her broken heart.

Walking around to the alcohol aisle, Nina’s chest felt heavy. Fatigue washed over her and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and shut out the cruel world for a few hours. She picked up a few bottles of wine, before putting one back.

“Don’t wanna look like an alcoholic?”

Her heart seemed to stop in her rib cage. She knew that voice. She’d heard that question time after time when they’d been shopping. She always picked up four bottles and put at least one back. Always.

Forcing herself to look up, Nina was met with the curious gaze of Gabe Saporta. He had a four pack of beer in his hand and a sharing bag of Doritos in the other. He was dressed in his suit for the wedding. Grey jacket and trousers, white shirt, red waistcoat and red tie. He smiled weakly at her. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“Buying comfort food to mend my broken heart, you?”

She held up her basket full of calories and smiled. “Same. And Beth’s.”

Gabe frowned. “I’m pissed off at him. I got all dressed up, spent ages trying to tie up my actual tie. I even showered and shaved, and it was all for nothing.”

“You haven’t had to deal with Beth sobbing her heart out and her dad pacing the streets like he wants to murder someone.”

“Well, I’m down for murdering Bill right now.”

Nina smiled and shook her head, picking up a fourth bottle of wine and heading for the counter. The cashier eyed her suspiciously as she scanned all the items and placed them in carrier bags. “Having a party or something?”

Nina shook her head, “nah just mending a few broken hearts.” She handed over a few notes and picked up the bags, waiting for Gabe to gather his purchases together.

Side by side, they stepped out of Tesco and breathed in fresh air. Gabe looked down at Nina and inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry, you know. Those pictures,” he shuddered, “were taken long before I met you. If I knew then, what I do now, I wouldn’t have done that. I’d never hurt you, not intentionally anyway. Surely you know that?”

A lump formed in Nina’s throat. “Really?”

“Really.”

She leaned into him and wrapped her free arm around his skinny waist. His arm draped around her and he kissed the top of her head.

And the pair walked off down the street together, hearts fully mended.