Actually, I'm correct. Because when I finally do meet his eyes for a moment, I'm momentarily stunned. Unable to look away. And my heart does this funny skip and a hop, like I've got some newborn bunny in there taking its first stumbling steps.
At this range his eyes are vivid, ice-blue, like the lake water in New Zealand where I backpacked when I was twenty. They're beautiful.
And he knows it. I can see that self-awareness in his eyes too.
I try not to look at him again, even when he asks me questions and makes small talk and especially when he calls me "prickly."
Fuck yeah I'm prickly. I wear my cactus badge with pride.
Then the romantic strains of Jurassic Park start to play and it's our cue to start walking down the aisle. I reluctantly take Emmett's arm as Tiffany gleefully takes the other.
Then he leans in close, so close (too close) I can smell the mint on his breath.
"You know they both warned me to stay away from you," he says, his voice low and rough enough to make the hair on my arms stand-up.
What?!
"Who did?" I ask.
The bastard just grins at me like he's got a secret he can't tell.
Chapter 3
Alyssa
Who told Emmett to stay away from me? Is that more for my protection or for his?
It's got to be Will and Ted. Jackie wouldn't say that. Would she? Then again, she said in the limo earlier that he might ruin shit.
I'm thinking all of this while Emmett, Tiffany and I are slowly walking down the aisle like some celebrated ménage.
I try to snap about of it, pasting a big smile on my face as we pass by all the guests. I'm still smiling even when I look at handsome Will at the altar, nervously waiting for his bride.
Was it you? I think to him but he's got a big, shit-eating grin on his face and I know I'm the least of his concerns right now.
I take my place with Tiffany and keep glancing around Will to see Emmett¸ hoping he'll give me a hint. For once, he's not looking at me.
In fact, he's doing the right thing and looking straight down the aisle as Jackie and Ted make their appearance.
And just like that, I force myself to pull my head out of my fat ass and concentrate on the big moment, the main event, the couple of the year.
Beautiful Jackie slowly making her way down a rose petal strewn aisle on the arm of her father. Ted is grinning from ear to ear. And beside me, Will is stiffening up. I sneak a glance at him and see tears building in his eyes.
Oh my god. Is this going to make me cry? I've been to a dozen weddings over the last few years and none of them made me even remotely tear up. It's not that I have a black heart or I'm soulless. I'm just … what was it again? Prickly. Thorny. And those are only because of a build-up of cynicism. Eventually the prickles will build up enough to become a coat of armor. Or something.
But this time my emotions don't stand much of a chance.
The ceremony is absolutely beautiful.
It doesn't matter that Jackie picked the shortest version because she didn't want to bore people. It could have been two hours long of them up there, staring at each other, holding hands and talking and I wouldn't have complained. I can't think of a more romantic couple out there. Even their vows–which they each wrote, of course–had me tearing up.
Especially when Jackie promised to be "all in" for Will and Will promised to forever be her Prince Charming.
Cue the waterworks.
Then they kissed–one hell of a deep, sweet, emotive kiss–and everyone clapped and hooted and hollered and the flood down my face just got worse.
"Oh my god," Tiffany whispers to me as Will and Jackie hold hands, going down the aisle and waving at everyone with Ty in tow. "Your makeup is getting ruined."
"Oh no," I mumble and notice Emmett and Ted making their way over to us.
To Ted's credit he looks extremely misty-eyed which is probably why he doesn't fire any zingers my way. Emmett, however, is raising an eyebrow as he glances me over. Amused.
I turn away from him with a scowl and grab my clutch I'd placed on a chair. While everyone starts getting up and heading into the building to the reception area, I slyly check my face in the compact. The makeup artist had the intuition to put on waterproof mascara but there are still tracks where my tears ran over my blush and foundation. I discreetly touch up my makeup while sniffling and try to get a hold of myself.
Stay prickly, I remind myself, only because I know if I'm getting weepy and emotional over Jackie and Will and their ever-so-sweet romance, I know it's only a matter of time before I get depressed and hopeless over my own dating situation.