Forever Yours

Garrett lead me in the convention centre and told me that Arianna’s been bugging Kennedy to force me to come. I laugh. “She loves me.” I say, gloatingly.

“We all love you Les. We missed you.” He said genuinely, taking a quick glimpse. “Especially Pat, that is. I must warn you that he might tackle you when he sees you.”

My eyes widen, and then I chortle. “Thanks for the hands up.”

The place was utterly beautiful. Everything was so white. The walls, the floor, the table cloths, the designs, the flowers, everything. It was like I was in heaven. But then, if it was heaven, John would’ve been here beside me. He was my paradise.

“LESSSSSSLIEEEE!” I hear someone screech from across the room. I tilt my head, but before I could see who it was. His body crashed into me, with his long hair covering my entire face. I almost fell down, when he quickly pulled away to keep me balanced.

Garrett was right. Pat was going to tackle me.

“Pat!” I say, hugging him again. In a soft way.

“I missed you so much Leslie Anne Hayes-O’Callaghan!” he announced to the whole crowd, even though we were just beside each other. “Thank God you came!” he alleged more, his voice getting louder and louder with every word.

I was about to reply, but then Kennedy came in, making Pat hush since the guests were I guess, unhinged, a little. Pat frowned at Kennedy and smiled at me again. “See you later Leslie!”

I smile at Kennedy, who looked undeniably handsome in his tux. “Thanks for saving me.”

“No problem.” He grins. “Thanks for coming Les.”

I nod. “Where’s Arianna?”

He blushes, and points to a table across the room. She was gorgeous. She had this white linen cocktail on and it was beautiful. She was beautiful. I can’t believe my best friend was getting married. “Excuse me, Kenny. But I have to hug that bitch.”

He cracks up. “Go ahead. Just don’t take her away from me Les.”

I nearly ran towards Arianna. I just missed her so much. A sudden jab of hate hit the pit of my stomach realizing that I was never with her when all of this happened. I felt sad knowing that I wasn’t there when she went to her bridal fitting, or any of that. And to think that despite all that, she still picked me as her Maid of Honour.

“Arianna.” I say, walking towards her. She was talking to a bunch of new faces when I got near her. When she turned, her facial expression was now confoundable. She was happy, and then she turned sad all in one second. Next thing I know, we were both crying and hugging.

“I hate you bitch.” She said to me, making me laugh through my tears. “I hate you with love.”

When the hug broke off, we started talking about everything. I wanted to catch up with her life, since I wasn’t there in six months. But then we had to stop, since it was hers and Kennedy’s night.

The dinner started with Kennedy making a small speech about how lucky he is to be with Arianna. Then he made a toast. And said thank you to everyone that came. He even special mentioned me in his small speech, with Arianna all grins.

That’s when we started to sit in tables. Usually, I’d be with John in parties like this. I’m just used to John being the life of the party and I’ll be in a corner, listening to him talk about crazy random stuff. But at this point, I was already panicking.

Where the hell am I going to sit?

I started looking for Garrett and the others so that I wouldn’t look like a complete sociopath. I’d avert my gaze from side to side, and then finally I saw all three of them seated in one table. Thank goodness there were two empty seats. So I hurriedly walked towards them, trying to not show a hint of panic. When, in truth, I was dying.

“Hey guys.” I say, smiling awkwardly at them. “Can I share a table with you guys?”

They all beamed. “Sure Les!” Pat answered cheerily. He even stood up and moved my chair for me, “Thanks.” I tell him.

The awkward frisson didn’t linger that long around us. We started talking about everything and everyone and how they were. Six months was a long time and I had to actually prise them about their new lives. Well eventually they did open up to me. I smile. They were all so new yet so old. They changed but they’re still them.

When we started eating, Jared looked around and sat down again.

“I wonder where Joel is. Do you think he sat down in a different table?” Jared asked, while he munched on his meat balls.

“Well, he said we’d reserve him one seat right?” answered Garrett.

I looked at them. “Who’s Joel?”

“He’s a friend.” Pat smiled, trying to fit me in, in the conversation.

I mouthed an ‘O’ before going back to chowing down all the food on my plate. I was pretty hungry. It has been a long time since I had food like this. Ha, I only had frozen this and frozen that. So it was good, tasting something new.

“There he is.” Garrett suddenly said, breaking the silence.

“Hey Joel.” Jared greeted as a figure beside me sat down. “Where have you been?”

“Outside, Sean and Ryan had to visit Alex in the hospital.” He said, his voice raspy.

“What happened to him? Is he okay?”

He laughs faintly. “Yeah, he just drank expired milk.”

They all laugh. And that’s when I had the chance to actually take a glimpse of this guy ‘Joel.’ Sideview, he had long blond hair and his pretty thin too. His eyes were emerald orbs and he has undeniably high cheek bones.

“Oh, so who’s this?” he said, looking at me.

And that’s where it hit me, he looked exactly like John. My John.