Second Chance

Annabelle’s POV

How I got myself into this mess… I have no idea. All I know is that when Michelle came screaming ‘SURPRISE’ into my apartment, she literally took me by surprise. She was happy & treating me like nothing had happened. It made me wonder if she knew anything about Brian & I, but by the way she started treating me, like she always had, I knew that none of the guys had told her anything. & I was glad for that. I was sure that Matt had already told Val & she had told Michelle, but he actually kept his mouth shut… which is nice. & a relief too. Now I know that he isn’t as mad as I thought he was. Yes, the news of Brian & I sleeping together & me being the reason that Brian almost stood up Michelle at the altar, was something he wasn’t expecting at all, I knew he must be disappointed in me. But he’s Matt. He has a really bad temper & tends to react on the spot, not thinking about the consequences of his words & actions. He hasn’t called me to apologize, & I’m sure he’s not gonna do it. He has nothing to apologize. I should be the one apologizing to him, to everyone, for betraying their trust & sneaking behind their backs, but they need their space. It’s been 3 years & Jimmy hasn’t forgiven me yet. I’m just gonna take my time & focus on planning my wedding. Which is what I should be doing instead of sitting across the table from Brian & Michelle in a double date. Next to me is John, who was thrilled with the idea of this date that Michelle planned so carefully to get to know him. She dropped as a surprise visit to Brian & wanted to help me as much as she could for the week she’s staying here. She says she ‘owes’ it to me since I was such a darling & sweetheart when it came to her wedding. If only she knew.

“Baby, you’re doing it again” John says in my ear, giving it a small kiss afterwards. I snap out of my trance & look in front of me, my eyes landing automatically on Brian’s. His eyes reflect so much pain & agony & plain hurt. He’s hurting by just the idea of me getting married. I know that much. I can’t believe that when we had a shot to actually be friends again, our past had to come up & bite us in the ass.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, John. You’ll get used to it. She does that all the time” Michelle says, cuddling closer to Brian, who has an arm stretched on the back of her chair. I feel jealousy run through my veins & I lean closer to John. I see Brian narrowing slightly his eyes at me, making me feel guilty. For what? I have no idea. “No one knows what’s going on inside that pretty little head of hers when she does that” She finishes, taking a sip from her glass of wine. I give her a fake smile.

“I do” Brian says, making me snap my eyes to him. He looks at me for a second, with his infamous sexy & taunting smirk, before fixing his eyes in John’s direction.

“Oh, really?” John answers, leaning on the arm that he has resting on the table. I can hear his voice is a bit raspier, which means that he’s getting pissed. Maybe because of Brian’s attitude. I know I would be. Brian just nods, his smirk never disappearing. “Care to share?” He says, aggravation in his voice now. Brian looks at me & I’m pleading with my eyes that he keeps his mouth shut. I know he’s trying to piss me off, which he’s starting to accomplish, but that doesn’t mean I want him telling John what’s on my mind. Cuz I know that he knows. I know that he knows that the one thing on my mind right now is him.

“I guess it’s something you learned from knowing each other all our lives… not just a couple of years” Brian says. I feel John’s hand grip tighter my thigh under the table. I roll my eyes & stare angrily at Brian. His smirk just grows, before grabbing his beer bottle & sipping from it.

“Well… um, so… Anna, how is the wedding coming? I love your outfit by the way” She asks, trying to break the unbelievable & painful tension that was created with Brian’s word. Little did she know that she was choosing the wrong topic to do it.

Brian’s POV

I stare at Annabelle after Michelle’s question. She glances down for a second, trying to avoid the subject, but knowing she can’t. I don’t even know why I’m so pissed at her right now. It’s just the way that she’s leaning on John, or how he whispers things in her ear, making her blush & smile, almost like if we weren’t here. Almost as if I wasn’t here. Was she trying to get me jealous? Was she trying to show me that she moved on?

“Oh, you know. I’m still trying to figure out what I want” She says, drumming her fingers on the table.

“I thought you already knew what you wanted” I say, remembering that day at the bar where she confessed to me her dream wedding. I don’t know why I felt the need to be an asshole to her. Deep inside I know that it’s the pain speaking, the pain of not being able to hold her or kiss her… the pain of knowing she’s not mine anymore & that she will never be mine anymore since she’s getting married to this little prick that I could break in 2 with just one finger.

“Oh, she knows” John responds. “That’s why we didn’t get married in Vegas when we eloped” He finished & I feel my heart stop beating.

“What?” Michelle & I ask at the same time.

“Yeah” He says with a stupid smirk. “Bellie & I eloped a couple of weeks ago with the intention of getting hitched, but we ended up calling it off right in the ceremony, if you can call it that” He says & I stare at Annabelle. Her gaze is locked on her perfectly manicured hand that’s picking the table cloth. “I can’t deny her the beautiful wedding that she’s been dreaming of since she was little” He says, turning to look at her. I see Annabelle’s breathing become more ragged. I know she’s about to have a fucking heart attack… but I don’t care. I stand up abruptly, making her look at me, before I storm out of the fucking restaurant. People stare at me, but I don’t fucking care. As soon as I made it outside the restaurant, banging the door on my way out, I hear it getting open again.

“Brian-“ I hear her say, but I just explode in that moment.

“ELOPE? YOU FUCKING ELOPED?” I scream at her, turning to see her staring at me with fear. And again… I don’t care. “What the fuck, Annabelle?” I say, running my hand through my hair, before turning & walking away from her.

Annabelle’s POV

Him walking away from me it’s nothing strange to me anymore. I got used to him doing that way too much in the past. “WOULD YOU STOP FOR A FUCKING SECOND?” I scream at him. I see him stop but doesn’t turn. “Let me explain, please” I say, loud enough to be heard. “Brian, I’m sorry” The words flew out of my mouth before I had time to realize what I was saying.

“You have nothing to be sorry about” He says, turning around & seeing him with glossy eyes, his tears almost escaping his eyes, made my already broken heart, shatter into a billion pieces. “Don’t fucking apologize to me” He says, turning back & walking away. I stand still on my spot, not moving to chase him as tears start running down my cheeks.

“Please don’t walk away from me again” I say, more to myself than to him as I close my eyes & drop my head. How can I do that to him? Why didn’t I told him about my real reason for being in Vegas that day? Why do I keep lying to him? Suddenly I feel someone standing in front of me. I look up & see Brian there, staring at me, wearing a blank expression. He doesn’t touch me or anything. He just stands there. “Brian-“

“You wanted to explain… this is your fucking chance then” He says. I stay quiet, just staring at him. He looks so different. He looks like a completely different person. He’s not the same Brian I fell in love years ago. & I know I made him this way. I made him the unrecognizable person he is & I hate myself for that.

Brian’s POV

“Brian, you gotta understand. I’m getting married. You’re already married. This…” She says, motioning for us. “Will never happen. You know that. All I can I offer you is my friendship”

“Well, I don’t want your fucking friendship” I snap at her. “I don’t want anything to do with you. So you can just cross my name from your fucking wedding list… that’s if you were gonna invite me” I say, getting angrier & angrier at her. “Oh, wait… you weren’t inviting me. You were eloping” I say, with a mock surprise. “I called you that morning, remember? I asked what the fuck where you doing there & you lied to me. You fucking lied to me. It has become some sort of hobby for you, right?”

“Who the fuck are you to talk? You are the one that got married when I asked you not to. You’re the reason I’m getting married. & guess what… I should’ve gotten married in Vegas, that way, I wouldn’t have to put up with your bullshit anymore” She says, shoving me with her hands.

“Well… I’m not asking you to put with my bullshit. You’re the one always asking for us to be friends. I don’t want to be friends with you. You’re a bitch, Annabelle. You always have been. I was just too fucking blind to see it” I say.

“Oh, please. What about you? A married man who still weeping for a girl he screwed once & walked away from because he had to do ‘the right thing’? You weren’t man enough to fight for me, you took the easy way out. What made you think I was gonna spend the rest of my life waiting for you?” She says & I feel my blood boiling up & my body shivering from how mad she’s making me. I turn around before I do something I’ll regret. I don’t want to hurt her… physically that is. “Oh yeah, walk away. That’s the best you can do. That’s what you always do” She says.

“Well… I learned from the best. You were the one that moved across country. You are the one that cut out all her friends & family because she was scared of facing her past. You are the one that got engaged & wasn’t planning on telling anyone” I say & see her swallowing hard. But that didn’t stopped me. No, I’m furious. She’s the reason I’m pissed. & I want to hurt her. “So tell me, Annabelle… why do you want your perfect wedding when you weren’t planning on telling any of us about you getting married? You might as well get hitched in Vegas. We were never planned to attend a wedding party anyways” I say before a hard slap is placed in my right cheek. I feel the whole side of my face burning up & I’m sure I have a scratch from her huge damn rings.

“Fuck you, Brian” She says to me. “Thank God you got married. I wouldn’t want to be with someone like you” I place a hand over my cheek & feel a sting. I look at my hand & see a red sticky substance. Yep… blood. She sees that & all the anger that’s in her eyes fades away & regret starts appearing in her chocolate orbs. “Brian, I’m sorry” She says immediately.

“This is bullshit” I say, making a move to turn. She quickly grabs my arm & before I knew it… she leaned up & placed her lips on mine. It started small. A simple lip to lip kiss… but it grew to a passionate filled kiss. Her hand was now gripping my neck as the other lay on my chest. My hands where cupping her face, making her stay there, kissing me… feeling like nothing mattered. Cuz right now… nothing matters to me anymore. Just her & me & this kiss. I’m usually the one that makes the first move, the one that’s always chasing her. But this time… it’s her. & how I’ve fucking missed this. I kiss her hard. I kiss her with all I have inside of me. Because I love her. & when she grants me entrance, one of my hands travels to her waist. I pull her closer to me & I feel like I’ve died & gone to heaven. She makes me feel things that no one has ever made me feel. I can’t believe she’s getting married. “Stop” I mutter before breaking the kiss. I push her away from me as I stumble back a couple of steps. I look at her & see confusion on her face. Almost like she doesn’t know what’s happening. “We can’t do this. You can’t just… you can’t just kiss me like that, Belle. You just can’t” I say, running my hands over my face. What the fuck just happened? Why did she do that? “You’re getting married. This… this can’t happen again. I won’t go down this road again with you. It almost killed me the first time. This time…” I stop looking at her. Her lips are moist and a dark shade of pink from the kiss we just shared. Looking into her eyes all I see is struggle. She’s struggling with herself. “I’m sorry, Belle” I say, not knowing what else to say.

“I thought…” She says, before sniffing. “Brian… it felt right” She says in a faint voice. & my heart literally skipped a beat. Did I heard that right? Did she actually told me us kissing felt right? “I mean… it felt like the right thing to do” & with that last sentence, all my hopes came crashing down. I chuckle.

“I should’ve known” I say. “You weren’t gonna kiss me just because you felt like it. Just because you miss me or… because you still love me” I finish. I let out a laugh. “I can’t believe I fell for that”

“Bri-“

“No. You know what, Annabelle? From all the times that I’ve walked away from you… this is gonna be the hardest one because I’m not coming back” I say, turning.

“I don’t want to lose you, Brian” She says, her voice quivering. I close my eyes.

“But you don’t want me either. Let’s face it… we’re never gonna be the same. Things between us will never be the same. Let’s just leave it like this” I say, swallowing my tears. “This is goodbye” I say. I turn & walk away from her. But this time… I’m not planning on coming back. Annabelle & I… we’re done. & tomorrow I’m taking the first plane back to Huntington Beach to start my life with Michelle. With the difference, that I won’t have Annabelle’s ghost chasing me. I’m letting her go for good.