The Wrong Girl

“Is he serious?!” I exclaimed.

Sitting across from me was my best friend, Josie. She nodded at me, but didn’t say anything. I had just learned that my best friend, the guy I had had a crush on for years, was getting married. We hadn’t really been talking lately, so it didn’t surprise me that I had to find this out from Josie.

He had overheard me telling Josie my opinion of his girlfriend, which wasn’t very nice. I knew that he knew I liked him….he had found out years ago, and we had tried a relationship of some sort, but decided being friends was better. I don’t know if he had ever had feelings for me, but I knew that I was still madly in love with him.

“Hailey, I knew you would be upset. But it’s not like you can really do anything about it. He’s made up his mind; he thinks he’s in love with her.” Josie tried to explain.

I felt my heart constrict at those words. Josie had always told me that he was in love with me, that he just hadn’t known it. I don’t why I had ever let her convince me. All it had ever gotten was a broken heart. I sighed and decided that now would the time to change the subject.

“Are you going?” I asked. Ok, so it wasn’t much of a change…

I could see that Josie was hesitant and I knew immediately that she had been invited and was planning on attending. I understand I guess, I mean Jason had been one of our best friends since grade school. First Josie’s and then mine when I moved here from Michigan.

I shook my head at her pause and she figured that I already knew her answer and didn’t say anything else. We sat in silence for a bit, staring blankly at each other as I tried to figure out how to deal with this. I could call him up and talk about it with him, or I could ignore it and hear about it later from Josie. Truthfully I really didn’t like either of those options.

Suddenly my phone rang from beside me. We both jumped and I grabbed it before it could fall off the table. I stared at the caller ID in shock as Jason’s name scrolled across my screen. I glanced up at Josie, but she had already left the room, probably knowing that I needed some space. Taking a deep breathe, I answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Hailey. How’s it going?” He asked casually.

“Oh, it’s going great.” I told sarcastically

“What’s wrong?” He asked. I could hear the frown in his voice.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I told him.

“Oh, um, alright. Well, I was just calling to; um tell you that I’m…getting married. This weekend.” He stuttered over his words.

“I know.” My answers were sort and to the point.

“You do?” He seemed surprised.

“Yeah, I just heard from Josie.” I explained.

“Oh. Well, I didn’t know if she was going to tell you or not…and I wanted to tell you in person, but I haven’t really had the time…” He trailed off.

“I get it. Too busy with the fiancée for the best friend. Understandable, I guess. I hope the two of you will have a happy life together, and I’m sure it’ll be a great ceremony.” I knew I was being bitchy, but all he seemed to hear was the approval that he wanted to hear.

“Thanks. I know Julie will be happy with it all…or I hope she will. She’s the one who’s done most of the planning with the decorations and everything. I can’t believe…wait. You make it sound like you aren’t going to be there.” His happiness quickly evaporated.

“I wasn’t invited.” I tell him curtly.

“What?! Of course you were! I specifically put you name on the guest list.” He sounded confused.

“Well, the invitation never arrived in the mail. And considering you felt it necessary to call and inform me that you were getting married, I’m assuming that you figured I didn’t already now. It’s great to be the last person to find out my best friend is getting married, and he tells it to me over the phone, after I’ve already heard it from someone else. I just feel so loved.” I informed him angrily.

“God, you’re going to be a bitch about this and Julie forever, aren’t you? Why can’t you just accept that I’m happy with her and that I love her, and not you?!” He exclaimed.

“You’re marrying the wrong girl!” I yelled.

“Why? Cause it’s not you?” He growled.

“That’s not why and you know it.” I had lowered my voice, but it still held a dangerous tone to it.

“I don’t obviously. So why don’t you educate me.” He demanded in a snotty tone.

“This conversation is over. I hope you’re happy with her.” I hung up on him.

Josie walked back into the room. I knew that she had heard my side of the conversation, but I really didn’t feel like taking the time to sit her and try to explain to her everything that had been said.

“What are you going to do now?” She asked.

“I’m going to figure about him and go to bed, I’m tired. I don’t care if you stay or not, just make sure you lock the door if you leave.” I told her as I stood from the couch and headed upstairs.

“You can’t really be ignoring this? He’s the love of you life, your best friend, and your just going to let him marry her. No way, that’s so not the Hailey I know.” She crossed her arms and stared at me.

“Yeah, I’m not entirely sure where that Hailey went. I just know I’m not her.” I told her from the top of the steps.

I quickly shut my door and flopped down on my head. I could hear Josie wondering around, but I didn’t here her leave. I figured she would probably stay that night, thinking that I was in danger of hurting my self. She overreacted sometimes. She thought I had more feelings for Jason than I truly did. Or rather, that he had more feelings for me than he realized and that I was “devastated” at his lack of acknowledgement.

As I lay there, I kept thinking about the conversation I had had with Jason. I really hated arguing with him, especially about this. I had to find a way to show him that he was marrying the wrong girl. He hadn’t believed me when I had told him that Julie was cheating on him and just blamed it on my jealousy. That’s what I had been talking about on the phone, but he must not have remembered that conversation….or he chose to forget it.

Suddenly I had an idea. I may not have been invited, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to go. I decided right there and then that I was going to sneak into my best friend’s wedding.