Save Your Heart

I began to stand up to grab some food when Natalie plopped down on the seat where Tyler was sitting before her. “Hi!” She chimed with a grin. I was about to greet her in return, but before the words could come out of my mouth, she interrupted me with, “Will you do me a favor?” Her voice was chipper. She still had a giant grin planted on her face.

“Of course.” I replied with a smile.

Natalie took a deep breathe before asking me. “Will you be my maid of honor?”

My smile slowly became bigger. I squealed which made her squeal as well. “Really?”

Natalie nodded her head rapidly with excitement. We simultaneously bounced in our seats. I threw myself forward to give her a hug. if we squeezed each other any harder, I think we would have deflated ourselves. “It would be my pleasure.” I let go of her and sat back down. “But why me?”

She shrugged. “Because we get closer everyday. You’ve become my best friend. Who better than to be it than my best friend?”

I grinned at her. I was so happy and honored that she would even consider asking me. “Thank you.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

Tyler appeared at the table with a piece of bread stuffed in his mouth. “You’re in my seat.”

Natalie gave him a look of distaste, then looked around the table. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but there are plenty of other chairs at this table you can sit at. I’m sitting with my best friend, here.”

“That’s MY seat.” Tyler argued with bits of bread flying out of his mouth.

“Does it have your name on it?” She replied sarcastically. I giggled. Tyler flashed me a dirty look, then shook his head. “Well then, this is not YOUR chair. Now sit somewhere else.” She turned her attention towards me and winked. I laughed once again not even paying attention to Tyler. I was sure he was shooting dirty looks at the both of us by now. I saw him walk off in a huff, still stuffing his face with food.

“Thats gross.” Brooks commented as he walked by Tyler towards us. He grabbed an empty seat next to Natalie. “Hey.”

“Hi, baby!” Natalie cooed. “Guess what!” Brooks went to answer her, but she couldn’t contain her excitement. “Ry agreed to be my maid of honor!” She bounced in her chair again.

“Oh cool! Derek just agreed to be my best man.” He replied pointing over to his table. I looked over to see Derek sitting with a girl; she was petite and had wavy, bleach blonde hair. That was her, Lexi. She had her arm around his shoulders and was whispering things in his ear. I couldn’t bother looking at his face just in case he was happy with her.

I felt my own face becoming hot and my stomach knot up. I quickly stood up and skimmed the room for the bathroom. Thankfully it was only a few feet away from my seat. I sprinted towards the door. Everyone was either by the buffet or sitting at their table, so I didn’t knock anyone down. When I reached the bathroom, I rushed in and turned on the faucet. I splashed cold water on my face, I didn’t care about my make-up or my hair. I just wanted to stop feeling hot. I looked up at myself in the huge mirror that covered one whole wall in the bathroom. I couldn’t see myself however, all I saw in my head was Derek and Lexi together, then Derek and I walking down the aisle together at my best friend’s wedding. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t walk with him. I didn’t even want to be near him.

The bathroom door swung open followed by Natalie running up to me. “What was that about?” She pointed towards the door. She looked angry. I don’t why she would be angry, but she seemed like she was. I looked down at my feet, then at the sink. “Well?!”

“I can’t be your maid of honor.” I replied softly. I continued to stare at the sink to avoid eye contact with her.

“What?! Why?” Natalie’s voice was close to yelling. A little old woman opened the bathroom door. “We’re kind of in the middle of something. Do you mind?” Natalie was now yelling, which scared the poor woman and she quickly shuffled out the door. “Why, Rylin? Why?”

I looked up from the sink. “Because of him.”

“What?!”

“Because of Derek!” I yelled back.

Se scoffed at me and rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me?”

I gave her a confused look. Of course I wasn’t kidding. She should know that that would be the reasoning. She knows what happened between us.

She pressed her lips together until they resembled a very thin line. “You won’t be MY maid of honor all because of a some guy you use to date. I never would have expected something this selfish from you. Never!”

“Some guy?!” I shouted at her. “Derek isn’t just some guy! I was in love with him and now we don’t even talk! Do you know how hard it’ll be for me to walk down the aisle with him? I can’t even go say hello to him. So don’t say that I’m doing this just because of ‘some guy’!” I was fuming and breathing heavily.

I could tell Natalie was as well. “This isn’t about you! This is about me and MY wedding day.” She slammed her hand on the sink counter and stormed out of the bathroom. I stared at the door blankly, waiting for her to come back in, so I could tell her I was sorry. Whenever we would fight, one of us would always come back to the other and we apologize. Fights never lasted long with us. This time, the door didn’t budge. I was alone in the bathroom for several minutes, waiting.

I couldn’t stand fighting with anyone, especially with Natalie. When no one came into the bathroom for a while, I walked out and made my way towards Natalie’s table. I didn’t care who was at the table with her. I needed us to be okay. I needed to apologize. When I got to the table, Derek was sitting by himself looking at his phone. When he sensed there was someone near him, he looked up from his phone. Our eyes met again. His blue green eyes made my heart melt, still. We stared at each other with impassive expression, then I remembered why I was there in the first place.

“Where’s Natalie?” I asked suddenly.

Derek’s mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. He eyes moved up and down slowly. When they stopped at my face, he pointed his thumb to the back of him. I looked back to see Natalie talking to a group of older guests in the back.

“Thank you.” I said to Derek nonchalantly and made my way towards her.

“Ry, wait!” Derek called after me after a I made a few steps. I stopped dead in my tracks, so did my heart. I took a deep breath and turned around slowly. He had turned around in his chair to face me. He brushed his fingers through his hair nervously. “You look beautiful.” He said slowly as if he didn’t want me leaving his sight right way. The word ‘beautiful’ made butterflies flutter rapidly in my stomach. I could feel my face turning red. It had been so long since someone described me with that word.

A million sentences flew through my head. I wanted to tell him I still loved him. I wanted to sit down next to him so badly and tell him how much I missed him. I wanted to tell him how good he looked tonight. A simple ‘thank you’ was all that was said and with that I went to see Natalie.

Thankfully the group of people she was conversing with walked away right as I approached her. She turned to walk back to her table and spotted me walking towards her. She rolled her eyes at me and placed her hand on her hip.

I ran up to her and embraced her in my arms. “I would be more than happy to be your maid of honor. I’m sorry for ever feeling otherwise.” When she heard me say that, her arms automatically squeezed me in return. That was all I needed to know that we were okay. A part of me wasn’t sorry, though. I was still nervous about all the time I would probably have to spend with Derek. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I would get through it for Natalie.