Page 33 of Harrison's Wedding

He asks in a shocked tone, “She is? Heather, you’re marrying someone that isn’t me? How could you? I’m heartbroken.”

“Yes, she’s marrying me, Sebastian. I’m sorry,” I say, trying to sound regretful, “we didn’t mean it to happen. We just fell in love; we never meant to hurt you!”

“Heather? Tell me this isn’t true!” Seb looks back and forth between me and Heather with his mouth open before he shakes his head and says, “It can’t be true.”

“I’m sorry, darling. It is true.” Heather holds her left hand up to show him her ring, as though he’s seeing it for the first time. “I love Harrison, and he loves me. Can’t you just be happy for us?”

“No! You’re the only woman for me. I will never get over this betrayal!” He stands up quickly, pushing his chair back violently as he does, and the chair falls over as he storms away from our table toward the bar.

Heather, Hayden, myself, and even Gabriel and Ariana all burst into laughter at his theatrics. A few of our guests are looking at us strangely, as though they’re trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

“You guys are assholes,” Jake snorts with an accompanying roll of his eyes.

“Aww, sweetie,” Chloe consoles him, looking amused. “Come on. It was pretty funny.”

“Traitor,” Jake says, but smiles at her and leans over to give her a kiss.

Seb appears with a tumbler of amber liquid in his hand as the waiters are starting to bring the entrées out to the tables. He leans down to pick his chair up off the floor as he passes it, then sits down next to Heather again.

“I’m sorry for my outburst, everyone. It’s just hard for me to accept that mine and Heather’s love story is over, you know,” he tells us as he raises his glass in the air. “I’ve got alcohol now, though, so I’ll be okay. To Harrison and Heather!”

I smile at the rest of the table when they raise their glasses to us as well. We all take a drink, and Heather leans over to kiss Seb’s cheek.

“Now, now, Heather. That kind of behavior is unbecoming of an engaged woman,” he tells her in a stern voice. He takes a bite of his food, then continues, “Don’t go giving me ideas that you’re ready to call off the engagement to be with me.”

“My bad.”

Heather leans over and presses her lips against mine. She winds her arms around my neck, sliding her tongue into my mouth to meet mine, and a rush of love and arousal for her comes over me.

She breaks our kiss, but leaves her arms around my neck as she turns her head to look at Seb and ask him, “Better?”

“Much. I think I get the hint now,” Sebastian laughs.

She laughs as well as she turns back to her meal and starts eating some of the bruschetta she ordered. I ordered the same, and it’s pretty damn tasty with a delicious balsamic glaze on it.

“So, Heather, how are the plans for the wedding coming along?” Chloe asks.

“I have barely done anything.” Heather cringes. “We’ve got the major vendors booked, but I’ve been so flat-out with getting ready for Fashion Week and this party that I haven’t even had a second to think about the wedding.”

“Harrison should be helping you.” Hayden shakes his finger at me in a mock stern manner.

“Hey, if you think I haven’t tried, you’d be wrong,” I laugh.

Heather backs me up, “He is helping. I just haven’t had time to focus on the wedding itself, yet.”

“What about the bridal party?” Vanessa asks.

I see Heather’s expression close over, and my heart hurts for her. There’s never been any question on who my groomsmen will be. I haven’t asked any of the guys yet, but I know they’ll be my groomsmen.

Heather doesn’t have any close friends anymore. Ariana was the closest friend she had. She’s friendly with Chloe, and Heather was a bridesmaid for their wedding, but Chloe has her own close circle of friends. It’s not something we’ve talked about, but I know Heather is stressing about who she should ask, and I wish I could take that pain away for her.

“We haven’t really discussed it,” Heather says, giving a shrug of her shoulders.

“You’ll want to organize it soon,” Chloe warns her. “You’ll need time to organize the bridesmaids’ dresses. The bridal shops usually want months of advance notice.”

“Are you not going to design the dresses yourself, Heather?” Ariana asks.

I tense up as Ariana joins the conversation, and I’m on edge, waiting to see how Heather will respond to her. It would be nice if she could just be civil tonight, at least.

---