"Glad to escape this party, and yes, please do make excuses.I'm so concerned about what all these people, mostly strangers, mostly people who I would never be friends with, will think of my absence."I sidled past him out of the alcove, grabbed a glass of wine off a server's tray and hurried to the stairs.
I reached the sanctuary of my room and shut the door behind me.I leaned back against the door for a moment to collect myself and gulp down the wine.This was the night before my wedding.I should have been nervous and excited and deliriously happy.Instead, I was terrified—terrified that I was making the biggest mistake of my life.I couldn't believe I was thinking that way.I'd been out of my mind with joy when George proposed.He was everything I'd looked for in a match.Or at least that was what I'd told myself.My parents were over the moon, and my friends were plagued with the proper amount of envy.But after the three-karat ring slid onto my finger, George started to become far more controlling and colder, if I really thought about it.I'd hoped that sudden urge to take over my life choices would fade, but it'd only grown stronger.
I kicked off my painful shoes, whipped off my dress and plunked down on the bed in my bra and panties.I picked my phone up off the nightstand and scrolled through meaningless posts just to get my mind off everything.I followed Jules Stone's Instagram.She'd posted a few action shots of Theo in his downhill race.In one picture he was flying through the air like he had wings.He was always fearless, a true daredevil.I loved that about him.I loved a lot about him.
And there I was in one of those vulnerable moments where my emotions were frayed and everything around me was spinning.I scrolled to his name.He came up quickly because we'd just spoken.Hearing his voice had sent me back in time, to a time when being in love was breezy and wonderful and everything was easy.
"Wish I'd never left Trayton," I texted and sent it before I could change my mind.I put the phone down.It was Friday night.Theo Stone would be out partying, having a good time.He knew how to do that like a champ.He was probably with a woman.That thought gave my heart a tug.
I rested back and closed my eyes.Maybe I could dream myself out of this whole damn situation."What the hell have you done, Lacey?"I asked myself.The liquor was making my head and eyelids heavy.With any luck I'd sleep right through the rest of the weekend and miss the whole damn wedding.
NINE
THEO
Crusoe and Cormac had invited some friends over to the party basement.We'd all had too much to drink and smoke, so it followed that half of the guests, the lightweights of the bunch, had passed out while the hard cores played video games.Cormac and Crusoe tended to get extra competitive when they were drunk, so the game was getting loud and out of control.I'd settled onto the couch to watch them because they were pretty fucking entertaining when they were smashed.Brenda and Tina, two friends since high school, had sat down on each side of me.Brenda was still semi-sober, but Tina was at the unable-to-keep-her-head-upright stage.She eventually curled up and dropped her head in my lap.
Brenda was texting someone.When I glanced at her screen, she turned it away from my view.
"Sorry, my eyes just landed that way.Wasn't trying to be nosy," I said.
"Okay fine, I'll tell you."
"Really don't care, Bren."
"No?Well, I'm talking to Angie.She's going to Lacey's wedding tomorrow."Brenda covered her mouth as if she'd released a giant secret."You did know about the wedding, right?Shit, I'm sorry, Theo.Did you know?"
I looked at her.She'd never been the brightest bulb, but it seemed she'd lost a few more brain cells since high school."I know about the wedding."
She sighed dramatically and even put her hand against her chest."Thank goodness.I thought I just broke the news to you, and I know how much you loved Lacey.The wedding is at this massive country estate, the Plunkett Estate.It's a few hours north, up in Santa Loma.Guess they've been partying since Thursday.Angie says the house is enormous, and they're setting up this glass house that has?—"
"Brenda, stop.I don't care."I knew she could go on forever about literally nothing, and the last thing that interested me were details about Lacey's wedding.Brenda was insulted enough that she scooted to the end of the couch and returned to her texting.I pulled out my phone and sat forward when I saw Lacey had texted me.
Tina groaned groggily.She looked up at me."Is there a bathroom down here?"she asked weakly.
"Past the kitchenette," I said.
She flew off the couch."Brenda, I need you," she said desperately and ran straight for the bathroom.
I got up and headed to the stairs.
"Bro, where you going?"Cormac asked as he turned the controller sharply to the left as if he was driving the damn thing instead of playing on it.
"I'm out.Going to bed."
"Alone?"Crusoe asked and then yelled."Take that, fucker!"He'd obviously nailed some kind of monster in the game.I read the text as I headed up the stairs.
"Wish I'd never left Trayton."
I reached my room and shut the door to blot out some of the noise.I started to text back the message in my head."I wish you hadn't left too" then decided I wasn't in the mood for stupid fucking texting.Something was going on with Lacey.It was a short message, but there was a hell of a lot of shit behind it.
I decided to FaceTime her.If she was at a party or with him, then she could just ignore the call.I needed to see her.I needed to see her as much as I needed to hear her voice.I sat on the bed and leaned against the cold plaster wall.She answered quickly, and her face came into view.I was so stunned to see her; it sucked the breath from me.
"Hey," she said quietly.Her voice pulled me out of my trance.
"Hey."I'd bravely called her, and now I was a tongue-tied idiot.I swallowed hard and forced out some words."How are you doing?"It was all I could think of.
"Well, I'm a little drunk, and frankly, I'm busy having a freakout session about my wedding, about my husband-to-be and about my whole damn future.And it seems I turned to the boy I loved in high school for reassuring words.So that makes me nothing short of crazy."
