Chapter 7

KY

I had never felt like such a piece of shit in all my life. Leaving, to get some fresh air and process, was the only option I had after I heard what Bea said about our past. She was right. I never knew that she was there. Worse, all those girls I ran through back then were some fucked up way for me to punish my best friend, and myself, for turning me down for prom.

My eyes stayed glued to the church doors, even as my thoughts wandered back to that prom. The last person I wanted to be there with was Olivia fucking Dennings. It was supposed to be Bea on my arm. All night, my eyes stayed glued on the gym doors. I’d been waiting for Bea to come through them, so that I could see who in the hell beat me to asking her to prom. I wanted to beat the shit out of whoever it was. As the night wore on, and Olivia got bored with me keeping watch for Bea, it became clearer that she wasn’t coming. Every boy I knew that she interacted with was there. Her friends were, too. So, she wasn’t coming with them as a group.

I always wondered what happened, and if she was stood up by whoever was supposed to be her date. I never had the guts to ask her, though I overheard her tell one of the other girls that she hadn’t been feeling well and canceled. My stomach coiled tightly as I thought about the real reason she hadn’t gone to her prom. Me. I’d fucked up.

The door to the church opened and caught my eye. Law headed my way, since he was parked just a few cars down from me. The smug grin from earlier was no longer plastered on his douche-level frat-bro face. While he got closer, I kept watching him, and wondered what the hell Bea had ever seen in the asshole. No one liked him. It was like she had blinders on that kept her from seeing his real personality. Then again, she knew my personality, but not the reasons I’d always whored myself around town.

Looking back, I realized that was another negative in my column. Law was a self-proclaimed monogamist before he met Bea. Supposedly, he had only had three girlfriends in his life and two of them had left him while the third was an amicable breakup. I knew all this because my best friend overshared all the things that killed me to hear over the last three years. Bea was his fourth. I couldn’t even give her a number because I’d never kept count. It wasn’t rockstar level, by any means, but I hadn’t been a saint.

As soon as Law was close enough, I stepped back out of my car. The asshole didn’t miss the movement and turned to size me up.

“You want to brawl in the parking lot now?” He asked. I shook my head. “Warn me to stay away from Bea?” Again, I shook my head. “What then?”

“If you think me coming out here for some air, so I didn’t bash your fucking skull in was me giving up, you’re wrong.” Law stared at me without saying anything in response. “I don’t have to tell you to back off, stay away, or not to speak to her again. Do you know why?”

“Why is that, Kylan?” His voice dripped with disdain as his eyes narrowed on me in a way that spoke of impending violence if he didn’t like my answer.

“The minute that letter touched Bea’s hands, and she read those words that you wrote, she was done with you. Bea isn’t the type of woman who takes that shit lightly. You thought it bothered me in there, hearing what she had to say about a part of our history I was clueless about. It should have taught you one thing – Bea puts herself first when her heart is on the line. She’s not like the women out there who roll over and just take shit from someone and wait for more to roll around.”

“She forgave you.”

I shook my head for a third time. “No. Our friendship suffered, and I never even knew why until now. You think Bea and I are close, but we were far closer before I fucked it all up back then. Only, now it makes sense. She let go of a piece of me that she didn’t think she could have back then, and she never looked back. We’ve known one another since we were knee high. What do you think that means for you, as the man who cowardly left her with a note while you went to meet up with another woman on your wedding day?”

“Fuck you, man! The thing you don’t understand is Bea only had a childhood crush on a friend back then with you. She is in love with me, ready to marry me.”

“Was.”

“What?”

“She was in love with you. She was ready to marry you. Past tense, asshole. You sealed your fate by the way you handled your business and I’m just petty enough to tell you that you’re a fucking idiot. You were willing to throw Bea away for a crush on that girl from your work.”

Law paled and took a step back as if I’d physically struck him. I laughed in response. “Wondering how I know?” He gave the slightest tilt of his head that I took for an affirmative answer. “Every time we were out as a group, your eyes tracked Jackie. When she sat side-by-side with your fiancé, it wasn’t Bea you were staring at. It was her.”

“Bullshit. If you really saw that, then you would have told your bestie all about it, so she would leave me.”

“Nah. Bea’s not dumb. I trusted her to make her own decisions about you. She knew. She’s been having her own doubts, asshole. The thing about my bestie is that she understood they were just doubts while you were willing to throw her away for a maybe situation. What happened? Did your maybe turn you down?”

“That’s not your business.”

“She likes Bea. She might have liked you too, but I’m guessing she was appalled that you would come to her on the day of your wedding instead of handling shit before it got that far.”

Law retreated another step, confirming what I’d guessed. There was only one reason he came back to the church for Bea, and that was because he had been shot down. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that? Did you honestly think Bea would wait around to be your backup plan after that letter?”

“Like you’re any different. You left her swinging in the wind too because you couldn’t give up easy pussy for the girl you supposedly loved.”

“I was a teenager back then, and you got that situation all wrong anyway. The real difference between you and me is that my number one concern is for Bea while you worry about yourself.”

I turned away from Law and got back in my car. He stood there staring at the church, and while I could see the regret and loss painted all over his face, there wasn’t a single cell in my body that felt bad for the dick. He deserved everything he had to face.

I took off for Bea’s family’s house because I knew that was where she would end up. The time apart would give us both some time to think things through and figure our own shit out, especially after the revelation I overheard. Law wasn’t the only man with regrets where my best friend was concerned.