Second Chance

Brian’s POV

Fiancé? She has a fucking fiancé?!?! How can she have a fucking fiancé? Was I just another one to her? Was she planning on telling anyone about this?

“Honey, you’re hurting me” Michelle says next to me. I didn’t realize I was clutching her hand so hard, that I could almost feel her bones crunching together. I let her hand go, and after a little shake, she walks to Annabelle and gives her a big hug, telling her how much she missed her and bla, bla, bla.

I see Jimmy and Leana watching me closely, maybe thinking I was gonna jump this kid who is the size of one of my arms. What the fuck does Annabelle sees in him? And why the hell are Jimmy and Leana looking at me like this? It’s getting kinda annoying. What do they think I’m gonna do? That I’m gonna beat the crap out of this kid for stealing something that wasn’t mine to begin with? I lost that right when I said ‘I do’… that is if I ever had that right. She turns to look at me, with the same eyes that begged me to… choose her. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

“Ms. Hurley, your table is ready” A waitress says, making Annabelle turn. “Are your friends joining you?” She asks and I see all color drain from Annabelle’s face.

“No” She quickly replies and that’s when I make my move.

“We haven’t seen you in 3 years and you don’t want to spend time with us?” I say, a little sneer on my voice. “I think is the perfect occasion for us to catch up, don’t you think?” I say and she turns to glare at me. “I don’t know about everyone else… but I’m dying to know how you met…” I stop to turn to quickly give a look at this guy, before continuing. “John” A chorus of ‘yeah’s’ are heard from everyone.

“I don’t think they can fit us all in one table” She says, trying to come up with an excuse.

“We have this private room where conferences are held mainly, I’m sure you can use it” The waitress says and I smile.

“Yeah, why not?” Annabelle finally gives in and my smile widens. We all follow the waitress into this seclude part of the restaurant, me walking extremely close to Annabelle and she still smells fucking amazing. And all the memories come crashing back… the kisses, the way she felt when I held her, when we made love, when she said she loved me… everything that I’ve been dying to feel again since she walked out of the church. I sit right in front of her and John, next to Jimmy and Leana and Wrenny. The rest sit scattered around the table.

“So… who wants to start?” Gena asks, eyeing the couple. “How do you guys met?”

“My best friend is dating the sister of her friend” John answers and I can’t keep my eyes away from the way his arm is resting over her shoulders and how she seems so perfectly fine with it. She even cuddles closer to him.

I feel Leana elbow me, breaking my jealous stare from the happy couple. This woman is great at multitasking. Watching Wrenny, keeping up with Jimmy and whatever the fuck John is saying and making sure I don’t do something crazy.

But, even though it hurts… she looks happy with him.

And it hurts even more because that should be me… I should be the one making her happy. I should be the one to have my arm over her shoulders and she should be cuddling next to me. I should be John. I was John once.

“Really? Who?” Jimmy asks, from where she’s sitting next to Annabelle.

“Alicia” He answers again. I furrow my brows. I don’t know any Alicia.

“Mikey’s wife?” Johnny asks and Annabelle nods yes.

“Yeah. When I moved here, they were the only ones I knew, so I spent a lot of time at Mikey’s house. Besides, I’ve been working a lot with Gerard on their spare time” She says.

“Bellie and I were meant to meet” John says, smiling while turning to look at her adoringly. She looks at him and a cute smile appears on her face. She even blushes a bit.

Could she be… in love with him? And who the hell does he think he is to be calling her ‘Bellie’? He should call her Annabelle or Anna or Ann… not Bellie. I’m the only one allowed to call her any form of the second part of her name. I don’t like this kid.

Again… Leana elbows me, making me even more annoyed.

“How long have you’ve been… engaged?” Lacey asks, noticing the big elephant in the room. This is a question I’m interested on hearing the answer.

“6 months” He replies. “We’ve been dating for almost 2 years now”

“Wow… don’t you think that’s a bit rushed?” Leana asks.

“The moment I met her, I knew she was the woman for me. What’s not to love about her? She’s perfect” He says, pecking her lips. “And she’s mine” He finishes. That was it… I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Excuse me” I say, before getting up and walking out of the room. I need a cigarette and a wall to punch. Or I’m gonna hurt this kid.

Annabelle’s POV

I see Brian exit the room and I swallow. I know he’s pissed. I know he’s jealous. I know that he’s still hung on an ‘us’ that never existed.

I moved on. I have a new life. I have a loving fiancé, who I love to death, who makes me happy and who I can see spending the rest of my life with. But why I’m excusing myself to use the bathroom just so I can find Brian and see if he’s ok is beyond me.

I ask a waiter if he has seen him and he told me he walked out by the back. I rush to the door and just as I open it, a fist collides at the wall next to my head, making me jump a little. I see Brian stare at me, before shaking his hand in pain.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I say, immediately grabbing his hand to see if he’s ok. He snatches his hand back, groaning a bit at the pain that shot through him at the sudden movement.

“I’m ok” He mutters, clutching his hand.

“No, you’re not” I say, attempting to hold his hand again, but he back away. I look at him. “Are you fucking crazy? You could be seriously hurt. You’re a guitarist, Brian. You can’t be punching walls”

“Why the fuck do you care?” He says. “You should only worry about your little fiancé well being, ok. Leave me alone” He says, leaning on a wall. I stare at him shocked.

“After all this years, you’re still the same asshole” I say, turning around to walk inside.

“Well, what did you expected, huh? For me to be jumping from happiness to find out that you’re getting married and didn’t tell me? How about all the calls you didn’t bother to return? The emails? The messages? The visits? You practically cut me out of your life” He says, making me stop and take a deep breath.

I never meant to cut him out. I never meant to grow apart from him. I just had to. He got married, for fuck’s sake. He got married even when I asked him not to.

“Where you planning on telling me?” He says after a while of me holding the door handle, head hung low, not moving or talking.

“No” I say truthfully. “I wasn’t gonna tell you” I turn to see the sadness in his face. And it breaks my heart.

“Why?” He asks and I debate on either lie to him or be sincere. But I can’t lie to him. After all this years, I can’t lie to him. I owe him, at least, an explanation. Why? I don’t know.

Maybe because he was your best friend since forever The small voice inside my head says, knocking some conscious in me.

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you. I know what it feels like to see the person you love get married to someone else. To vow to spend the rest of your life her” I say. I see his face fall.

“Belle-” He starts but I cut him.

“I love him, Brian. He might not be you in the slightest bit… but I love him. And I’m gonna marry him. And I’m gonna start a family with him. And I’m gonna be happy… with him… not you” I know my words seem harsh, but it’s true. I’m gonna be happy. I will let John make me happy. “And I want to ask you to let me be happy. I won’t be happy with you around” I say and he chuckles. “What?”

“I don’t know if you’re trying to convince me, or convince you, Belle” He says, walking to me and pinning me to wall behind me. “You don’t expect me to believe that crap, right?” He whispers closely to me. “You can’t just push me aside and tell me you don’t love me. You’ve loved me since forever and you’ve loved him, for what… a year? He can’t compete with me” He says, twirling a lock of my hair in his finger.

“This isn’t a competition. If it was… you lost. He won. He’s the one I go home to. He’s the one that will see me walk down the aisle, dress in a pretty white gown” He was starting to piss me off.

Who the hell does he think he is? Yes, I loved him, but he’s married. He’s married to one of my best friends and there isn’t a single day that I don’t regret what happened between Brian and I. I should’ve never allowed myself to be so blind to not see that I was hurting Michelle… hurting myself even more. Why aim for something that wasn’t mine and that was never gonna be mine? Brian will never be mine. And I’m perfectly fine with it. I’ve come to peace with that. That’s why I’ve allowed myself to fall in love again.

“He’s the one I crawl into bed with and allow him to make love to me” I finish and I see the anger flash through his brown eyes.

“You’re mine, Belle. You’ll always be mine. You’ll always love me, no matter that you say you don’t. No matter if you believe you don’t love me” He says through clenched teeth. “And I’ll prove that to you. You love me… I was the one that once made you scream from pleasure, that knows all your weak spots and I’m not gonna let some fucking kid take that away. I lost you once, I’m not losing you again” He whispers in my ear. And for a second, I close my eyes and feel myself getting weak on the knees. But I pull myself together quickly, pushing him away from me.

“You’re wrong. You’re so wrong, Brian. The mistake we made is not gonna repeat itself. You’re married. I think that’s enough reason for me to walk away. It’s enough reason for you to watch me walk away” I say, opening the door and stepping inside, leaving Brian.

And for once… I don’t feel guilty nor care. I love John. We might not have a long history of knowing each other, like Brian and I. He might’ve not been there for me throughout my past… but I’m willing to allow him to be there for my future.

Yeah… that’s it. Brian is my past and John is my future.

Brian is my first love, but John is the love of my life.

Besides, we have our whole life to get to know each other like Brian and I know each other. He has forever to discover every little quirk about myself. I will have my happily ever after... with John.