Page 97 of Another Love, Another Time
The only girl I’ve ever imagined marrying is River. God, how am I going to explain myself to her? She’s going to think I’m engaged to Melissa. We are rebuilding our friendship, and now, this will take us backwards. I will fix this.
Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I get back to the discussion that is long overdue. I always thought Melissa was a friend to me, but I’m starting to see what River has been telling me all these years, what Logan warned me about. Part of me wants to give Melissa the benefit of the doubt, but something tells me she knew exactly what she was doing.
I fist my hands at my sides, trying to control my anger. “Look, I didn’t ask you to marry me.”
“What do you mean? You said you were ready to be serious. You said you were ready for the next step.”
“What the fuck?” I think. “The conversation from the restaurant. Fuck. I’m an idiot. I thought she understood. Mackey is going to have a field day with this.”
“So, I told you I wanted to get serious, that I was ready for marriage and kids, and you thought I was proposing? That was me asking you to move out. I do want those things, but not with you.” If this weren’t my life, I would think I’m being Punk’d.
She gasps and then starts bawling. “I can’t believe this. She’s ruined everything. Why did she have to come back? Everything was perfect. This is because of River, isn’t it?”
“Ah, so this is about River,” I think.
“This has nothing to do with River,” I retort. “Regardless of whether River is here or not, I would never ask you to marry me. We have only been friends and roommates, nothing more. I have been very clear on that, especially since we moved back to Hannibal.”
“I thought you wanted to be with me. Oh, God! We can’t tell anyone about this. I’ll be the laughingstock of this town. You know how people are, Auggie. Promise me you won’t say anything.”
She starts crying again, but I’m not buying it. She’s trying to back me into a corner. I’ve let her get away with so much over the years because I didn’t want to confront her or hurt her feelings, and this is the result.
She thought I would just roll over and go with this. She’s crazy. Why the hell would she think we would go from platonic roommates to planning a wedding?
Before I can say anything, she continues, “I love you, Auggie. I know you love me too. River left you, and I’ve been here for you ever since. Then, she shows up, and I’m forgotten.”
I start laughing; I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner. I snap, “She left because of you, because she saw me kissing you, and I fucking lied to her about it. And what do I do? I befriend you and defend you. God, I’m such a fucking idiot.” I run my hands through my hair. At this point. I don’t care about her feelings. Apparently, I’ll have to spell it out to her. “I don’t love you, Melissa, and right now, I don’t even like you. I love River. I’ve always loved River. I appreciate everything you did for me in college, but I won’t allow this anymore. I have tried to be a goodfriend, but I will not go another second allowing people to think that we are engaged and planning to get married.”
She knows the jig is up. “Please don’t do that, Auggie. You know how many people are here?” She’s starting to panic. She sees she’s not going to sweet-talk me into budging.
I hold my hands up in defense and say, “Hey, I didn’t do this. You did. I apologize if I wasn’t clear at the restaurant, but you didn’t tell me tonight’s party was an engagement party, let alone ours. How many times have we spoken this week? Don’t you think that would have been something you should have informed me of if I had actually proposed to you? What I don’t understand is why you thought I would go along with something like this. And worst of all, you knew River was going to be here. You did this to hurt her and try to force me into a relationship.”
I’m disgusted with myself and with Melissa. I feel myself getting angry. I have to get out of here. Before I can leave, she grabs my arm. I look back and make eye contact with her. What I see can only be described as evil.
“If you do this, I’ll make you regret it,” she hisses between her teeth.
I stiffen but recover quickly. “There she is,” I yank my arm from her grasp and sneer at her. This is the Melissa River always talked about, the one I’ve never been privy to. “Oh, I have no doubt you will, but I’d rather face the consequences than pretend to want to marry you. You can either go out there with me and tell everyone, or I’ll do it alone. Your choice.”
I have no words, no excuses. Was she that good at hiding this side of herself, or was I just that big of an idiot? It’s probably the latter. River saw it. Logan saw it. The guys on the team all saw it.
I always gave her the benefit of the doubt. I always thought she allowed me to see a different side of her. I thought she was misunderstood, but apparently, that was for my benefit only. The look she gives me sends chills down my spine.
I don’t want to be in this room any longer, but I have to get one more point across, and this time, I’ll be very clear. “And I want your shit out of my house by the end of the day tomorrow. I’ll have Mackey and the guys over there tomorrow to supervise. If you don’t, I’ll make sure your stuff is delivered to your parents’ house. Either way, I want you out.”
I throw the door open and stalk back out to the party. I hear her scream and throw something against the wall. I keep going. Apparently, she’s not coming with me. That’s fine. It will be easier this way.
As I walk back into the party, people try to stop me to talk. My mom is one of them. I respond, “I can’t talk right now.” I keep going, not allowing anyone to say anything to me until I reach the stage where the DJ is playing music.
I’m tired of being the nice guy. What has that gotten me? I lost five years with the most important person to me, and now, I might have lost her for good. I can’t think about that right now. Right now, I need to set the record straight, and then I’ll go to her.
I lean in to speak to the DJ. “Hey, man. Do you have the mic? I want to say something.”
“Sure thing. Here you go. Congratulations, by the way.”
I don’t respond. He’ll know in a few short seconds that there is nothing to congratulate me for, other than escaping a crazy woman. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“Can I get everyone’s attention?” The DJ stops the music, and I wait until I have everyone’s full attention. I look one more time to see if River is in the crowd, but I already know she’s not there. I really wish she were here for this. Hopefully, she’ll give me a chance to explain.
“I want to appreciate everyone who came out for the party. If you’re anything like me, you were just as surprised as me to find out this was an engagement party.” I laugh, but there is no humor in it. I start to hear murmurs, but I keep going. I see a few people with their phones up, recording.
