About Bachelorette Parties (Part II)

“....Please Chris, I know how comprising those pictures looked but I promise nothing happened. You can’t wash six years down the drain like that. Give me a call when you get this, let’s talk. Please.”

_{Part I}

If anyone had told me that a wedding I’d invested so much in and had too many beautiful dreams about would become this .... farce, I’d have not only laughed at them but directed them to a good psychiatrist to get their heads checked. That’s how much I believed in this wedding. That’s how much I believed in the steadfastness of Chris’ love for me. Looks like it was all a lie.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror of my room, inspecting my red-rimmed eyes and how the bags under my eyes seemed to have quadrupled in the last four days. A few feet away was Jess, wringing her hands and looking like her world had gone upside down. I turned my head sharply to her. “What do you want, Jess?”

“Uhmmm...”

“Are you ready to finally tell me where you were on the singular night I needed you the most?” Her crestfallen face at my words fuelled my anger. “Are you ready to tell me why you practically threw me to the wolves when you had given me your word that you’d take care of-”

“They promised me that they’d take it easy!” She cried out.

A chill went down my spine. “What?”

“I’m so sorry Trace. They had promised that they just wanted to record some silly videos of you. I didn’t think they were going to call Ben or spike your drink or-”

“Spike my drink?!” Blood pounded hard in my ears. I began to understand it all. They spiked the champagne. That’s why I was loony just after the second glass. I couldn’t believe this.

Jess went down on her knees. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think they would take it that far.”

I was silent. The tears flowing down my cheeks became uncontrollable. We were out of high school for God’s sake. Why would they be so mean? “I’m your best friend, Jessica. We’ve been through everything together. Why would you let anyone hurt me this way?” I didn’t know what stung me more. The cancelled wedding or the fact that Jess had had something to do with it.”

“I would give everything to turn back the hands of time, Trace. It’s unforgivable. I’m sorry.”

Some things didn’t quite add up though. “Wait. If you weren’t there when all of these happened, how do you know about the spiked drink and everything?”

“Because I changed my mind at the last minute.”

I scoffed. “Spin me another tale.”

“I swear. I kept calling Maxine that I wasn’t going to be a part of it anymore. But she said she’d already gone far. So, I rushed to the hotel. You’d already passed out then and they were already taking pictures to make it look like....”

“Stop.”

“I sent them all out immediately. I didn’t think they were going to send it to-"

“Just stop! I don’t want to hear how you became my wonderful saviour. You let it happen. It’s all on you.”

“Please-”

There was a knock on the door before Chris strolled in. All 6-foot gorgeousness of him. Even though I was beyond sad he’d mindlessly believed everything, I couldn’t help the way I reacted to him. He was going to be my husband a few days ago, for goodness sake. I cleaned my eyes, hastily. He’d seen everything but damn if I was going to let him see me cry.

“You’re here,” I was happy that my voice at least, didn’t sound as weak as I felt.

“Yes babe, I am.”

“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Jess called from the door before walking out.

“Are you here to talk?”

“Jess had already told me everything. I’m sorry I believed it in the first place.”

I erupted into a cold and mirthless laughter. “So, you’d rather believe Jess than the woman you were going to spend your entire life with?”

He held my hands. “You can’t blame me, babe. The pictures were too compromising. I didn’t know what to think. I’m sorry for not at least asking you.”

“And I’m sorry for believing in a love that wasn’t going to ever stand the test of time.”

He stopped cold. “What are you saying, Trace.”

I gave him the coldest look I could manage. “I am saying, Christian, that you’ve known me for twelve years and we’ve been together for half that time. So, if the first thing you do when something so unlike what I’d do happens and you believe, there’s no point to any of this. There’s no point to us.”

His misty eyes didn’t even satisfy me. “Babe, I’m sorry. I swear it’ll never happen again. Please, Tracy.”

“Of course, it won’t.”

He blinked at me. “What?”

“Because we’re officially over. So, of course it won’t happen again.”

“Trace-”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.”

“Please, babe. Just-”

“I don’t want to scream, Christian. Please leave.” He held my hands for a few more seconds before standing up to leave.

“I’ll be back, babe.” He said at the door.

“That won’t be necessary.” I promptly shut the door and slid down it. Damn it, I wasn’t going to cry. But I could already feel the tears flow down my cheek. Damn all of them for making me cry so much.

I don’t remember how long I sat there but when I got up, some thoughts had settled. I wasn’t sure there was any future left for Chris and me. But first.... Ben and Maxine. Thinking of them filled me with a wrath I didn’t think possible. They were surely going to get what was coming to them.

Jhymi🖤

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