Hanging By a Moment

My mom, grandma, and Landon’s mom planned the whole entire wedding. I wasn’t included in any of it. Which in some ways I was relieved not to have any stress of planning a wedding but then also what if I wanted to have some say in it? What if I wanted azaleas and not roses? But then again, it didn’t matter how much thought was put into the wedding because on the wedding day, Landon would disappear just before we would walk down the isle. He told me his plan in secret. Landon would go to the church, pretending to be anxious and excited to marry “a catch” like me. Then just as he would take his place at the altar, I would walk in, in my handed-down wedding dress and announce that we wouldn’t be getting married because Landon ran off.

The night of the dinner party I had told Derek I was to be in an arranged marriage and we had to break up. I added that I would be going to college in the fall anyways so it was best we just broke it off then. Before I had told him any of that, he said he bought an Xbox 360 on EBay—so I knew he’d be fine and not completely heartbroken.

I was extremely excited for college. I was going to the University of California just two hours away in Los Angeles from where I lived, so I could still visit my mom. It wasn’t a party college as you would expect it to be in California. It was a pristine medical school. I wanted to become a doctor.

In the month that I had been spending all of my time with Landon—forced by my mother, Landon’s parents (although his father was silent in the whole ordeal), and my grandparents—I had gotten to know him really well. He wanted to become a surgeon. Also, he had gotten accepted to the University of California. But not only that—Harvard, Yale, and any other highly-acknowledged college out there. He was smart. And not only was he smart but lucky. He had the grade point average to go to these schools and the money. Or well, his parents did. Either way I envied him.

Landon loved poems, debates, baseball, surfing, Eminem, the color green (he said my eyes were his favorite color), the book The Outsiders, the movie Inception, chocolate chip cookies, Need For Speed, the actress Scarlet Johansen, Jimmy Kimmel, Saturday Night Live, coffee, and German Shepard’s.

Landon disliked peas, reality television shows, Mike “The Situation” from Jersey Shore, sore losers, the smell of smoke, tennis, Call of Duty, cats, the color brown (Arianna’s eyes are brown), texting, feet, and cold weather.

He learned all of my likes and dislikes as well. A few of my likes were rain, chocolate ice-cream, reading, chips, blue eyes, the beach, the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the movie Taken, the show How I Met Your Mother, coffee, Mario Kart, and more. A few of my dislikes were BO, brown eyes (Ha Arianna!), sports in general, cats, Call of Duty (Ha Derek!), and a few others.

I learned more about Landon Alexander Ashworth then I ever thought I would. In a month—it was a record for knowing every thing about someone. My mother, as well as Landon’s, were thrilled that we had been getting to know each other. Landon was technically still together with Arianna, which our parents had no clue. At yet another dinner party all of the parents pressured Landon and I to kiss, but it was just on the cheek as Landon wouldn’t kiss me on the lips. Which despite my trying not to, I did take offense.

I liked Landon. I knew that if I had a few more months with him—getting to know him better than I already did—I would love him. But right then, I just had a big crush on him. Arianna was in the way, and I was in the way of her. I knew Landon and her argued a lot. She was really jealous that we had to spend so much time together. Our parents made us though. When my mom would come over to help plan the wedding, so would I. Landon and I would spend time in his room or in the garden playing twenty questions, which was how we got to know each other so well.

I really, really liked him. But if it wasn’t meant to be, it wouldn’t happen. Which I was sure it wouldn’t, as he was convinced he wouldn’t marry me.



Landon

I lounged on my bed, flipping through my poem book. Harley would be coming over in just thirty minutes, and until then I thought that I would die of boredom. But of course that didn’t happen. My door burst open, banging against the wall behind it. I looked up un-phased, already sure of whom it was. Arianna.

“What the hell!” She shrieked, slamming the door back behind her, obviously angry.

“What?” I asked, still lounging.

“You haven’t called me once this week! And I hear from friggin’ Marissa that you and Harley were out to eat last night and she saw you guys kiss!”

I rolled my eyes. “Marissa likes to spread rumors, Arie.”

“Don’t fucking call me that,” she snapped.

“Calm down,” I told her.

“Calm down!? You’re supposed to get married! And I feel like I’m losing you to that bitch!”

“Arie, you’re the one acting like a bitch. Harley hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“You spend all this time with her, more than your own girlfriend.”

“I have to. I’m forced to by my parents.”

“So you don’t like her at all? Even as a friend?”

I sighed. “No, I don’t like her. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said her voice now calm since she got to hear what she wanted.
I laid my arm out on my bed and motioned for her to come lie down with me. She grinned mischievously and obeyed. I wrapped my arms around her and imagined she was Harley and not Arianna, who I no longer had any feelings for. Arie shut her eyes and snuggled into me, her fake platinum blond hair on my navy blue pillows.

I heard a shuffling on my floor and I looked over, afraid it was my mom who was supposed to be out shopping with my aunt. I actually wished right then that it was my mom. Instead it was Harley and there were tears in her eyes.

“So you have to hangout with me? You never once asked to hangout? That’s a lie,” she said. “You don’t like me at all? You’re a liar afraid to admit the God damn truth. I know you better than your own girlfriend does, but if this is who you are then I really don’t want to marry you. So have a great life.” I laid there frozen and she turned on her heel and walked out of my life.



Arianna and I broke up right afterwards. She literally threw a tantrum, screaming and kicking, plus punching anything within her reach—including me. I made a mistake—admitting that I liked Harley to her.

But I did like Harley. I was always excited to hangout with her, I thought about her all the time, I could talk to her about anything, and my parents loved her, although my dad didn’t say much to her—but I knew she was on his good side, which was hard to get on. I never even felt the same way about Arianna as I did about Harley.

The wedding was in one week, and Harley wouldn’t answer my calls. My parents were wondering why, but they said nothing because to them, we were going to be married anyways.