Burn Us Down

“Why would you bring him here?”

Gerard, who’d stopped a little away from Enzo, Melissa and Nicolas, flinched, hearing the pain in Enzo’s voice as he spoke, his eyes never moving away from Nicolas who lurked over Melissa’s shoulder. It was what they had been so desperate to avoid. Enzo’s invitation to the wedding had been non-negotiable, and Melissa’s had been inevitable as she was Olivia’s sister, but Gerard and Olivia had hoped that they could convince Melissa to leave Nicolas at home, not wanting to the inevitable confrontation to spoil their day. It had to happen. Enzo’s marriage had fallen apart, and Nicolas, as well as Melissa, was a large part of the reason why, but when Melissa had shown up to the ceremony by herself, Gerard had been hopeful that she had listened to him, something which he had clearly been wrong about.

“Enzo” Melissa protested quietly.

Enzo scoffed, shaking his head bitterly. “It would have been one day” he growled lowly “One bloody day, Melissa. Could you really not be away from him for that long?” he added.

Nicolas made an amused sound, but whatever comment he had to make was cut off when Melissa’s elbow nudged his ribs. “Don’t make this worse” she hissed.

“It’s too late for that” Gerard said calmly, his hand gently landing on Enzo’s shoulder in support “You’ve already drawn attention” he added.

Melissa’s eyes met Gerard’s, searching them for a long moment, before the sound of footsteps reached her ears, causing her stare to move past the defender and towards Olivia who’d stopped in her tracks a small distance away, her eyes narrowed on Nicolas. “Nicolas” she breathed “What are you…? Mel?” she squeaked, her voice caught somewhere between surprised and hurt.

“Why is he here?” Gerard’s voice was more firm, slightly sharper.

Melissa looked around. Her eyes passed over Enzo, who could barely look at her, Gerard, who was glaring at Nicolas over her shoulder, and Olivia, whose eyes were wide and surprised, before she shook her head, lowering her eyes to floor. “I thought it’d be OK” she said quietly “The reception’s going to be busy. I didn’t think anyone would really notice” she added.

“OK?” Enzo snapped “Why the hell would it be OK?” he added.

“I didn’t realise that you’d written the guest list, Enzo” Nicolas quipped.

Enzo tried to lunge forwards, but Gerard’s grip on him was firm, keeping him away from Nicolas easily. “He didn’t” Gerard replied “But I did, and I remember deliberately leaving your name off, and explaining to Melissa why you weren’t welcome here. I thought that that was a message I’d gotten across, but clearly not” he added.

“Gerard…”

“Gerard, let me handle this” Olivia’s voice was soft as she spoke over Melissa, cutting off whatever excuse she was preparing to offer “Take Enzo through, check on the twins. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Take Paige. She’s great at stalling” she added.

Gerard opened his mouth to protest, but one look at Olivia’s face caused him to let out a sigh instead. Squeezing Enzo’s shoulder, he steered him away from Melissa and towards the ballroom, stopping only so that he could mutter a quick apology into Olivia’s ear and place a kiss onto her cheek. Olivia closed her eyes at the touch of his lips against her skin, taking it as a moment to compose herself, before she allowed them to open again, fixing her stare on her sister.

“Oli…”

“I want you two to go” Olivia spoke softly, slowly.

“Olivia” Nicolas protested with a slight scoff “You don’t mean…”

“I mean it” Olivia cut him off “I meant it when I left you off of the guest list. I meant it when I told Melissa that if she couldn’t just give me this one day, she shouldn’t bother coming. Do you two not understand that you’re in the wrong? You two broke Enzo’s heart! Not once, but twice, and if you think that I should have some sort of blind loyalty towards you just because you’re my sister, then you’re even more naïve than I thought. This isn’t about Nico. Our opinion of him is irrelevant. This is about our day, mine and Gerard’s, and the people we want to be surrounded by while we celebrate this step in our lives. You knew that I’d invited Enzo. You knew that I wanted him here because he’s like a brother to me, he’s one of Gerard’s closest friends too, and you couldn’t just…you couldn’t be mature about it?” she spluttered, her voice growing louder and angrier.

Nicolas smirked. “Enzo was the one who started the fight” he replied.

“Because you slept with his wife!” Olivia yelled before she could stop herself.

Nicolas’s expression didn’t falter, but Melissa’s did.

Olivia took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I really wanted to believe that you’d come here for me, Mel” she said softly “I wanted to believe that Gerard…that he’d gotten through to you and convinced you that I was worth one day of your time, but…” she trailed off, shaking her head ruefully.

For a long moment, no one spoke. Olivia simply watched as Nicolas wrapped his arm around Melissa’s waist, and sighed when Melissa didn’t shrug him off, opting to cuddle closer to him instead. Shaking her head, she took in another deep breath before she looked up at her sister’s face. “Get out of here” she said.

“Olivia…”

“Get out of here, Mel, and take him with you” Olivia interrupted, tilting her head towards Nicolas “I’m done going around in this circle. Take Nico, get out here and don’t bother trying to get in contact with me for a while. I’m not interested in pretending that I am more important to you than he is, or showing off to Enzo is. You gave Gerard such a hard time. My wonderful idiot of a husband who made his mistakes and has spent the last two years trying to make up for them, and you treated him like he was dirt on you shoe, and now you expect me to welcome this…this man into our family with open arms? Not a chance, Mel. Now, go, please” she added.

Melissa opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, trying, and failing, to conjure a retort before she grabbed a hold of Nicolas’s hand, pulling him out of the hotel without another word. Olivia’s eyes stung as she watched her go. She grimaced when the door rattled as Melissa slammed it, but she didn’t let the tears slide. She had wasted too many of them on her sister. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed down the material of her dress before she made her way towards the ballroom, smiling gently when Gerard broke away from the crowd and made his way towards her.

Shaking her head bashfully, she felt him touch a gentle kiss to the top of it before she looked up at him. “Are you ready to get this party started?” she asked.

“Are you?” Gerard replied worriedly “I can have Paige stall for more time if you need it” he added, his hands running up and down her sides soothingly.

Olivia didn’t hesitate in shaking her head, a tender smile on her lips. “I’m good to go” she said.

“Honestly?” Gerard prodded.

“Yes, Gerard, honestly” Olivia replied, rolling her eyes playfully.

Gerard couldn’t resist offering her another worried look, something which made Olivia reach out and tug at his tie until he kissed her softly. Olivia smiled into it, taking comfort in the soft kiss, before she tugged back, her cheeks blushing as the splattering of applause that had surrounded them. Gerard grinned at her briefly before he took her hand, lifting it up above her head as Paige stepped up to the microphone. “It’s my pleasure to welcome, for the first time as husband and wife, Gerard and Olivia. Mr and Mrs Piqué” she gushed.

Olivia’s smile didn’t falter as Gerard guided her through the room, even despite the knot of upset that twisted in her stomach. She had been hopeful. When she had seen Melissa, she had hoped that it’d been a sign that there was a chance for the two of them to repair things between them, and now that the chances looked dead, she didn’t quite know how to feel.