Page 2 of Second Chance Ex
My phone flashes on the coffee table and I reach blindly for the device, squinting through bleary eyes to see my best friend’s face on the screen with a FaceTimerequest. It’s after midnight and of course panic washes over me as I frantically press the answer call icon.
“Maddy? Is everything okay?” I croak.
“It’s about time,” Madison’s familiar voice mutters. “I’ve been calling for half an hour!”
The screen flickers dark, then bright, then dark again before Madison’s face comes into view, accompanied by the sound of thrumming music and loud voices all trying to talk over one another in the background.
“Where are you? Is everything okay?” I look closer, checking for any noticeable signs of distress.
“Guess what just happened!”
At the sight of my best friend’s beaming smile, my racing heart eases. Thankfully she doesn’t appear to be in any kind of trouble. I stifle a yawn, rubbing my tired eyes. “You just met Chris Hemsworth and he asked you to run away with him and have his babies?”
She snorts with laughter. “No. Butalmostas good!”
Her face disappears off screen, and it’s replaced by a blurred glint of a sparkle which slowly comes into focus, and when it does, my jaw drops.
“Ryan just proposed!” Madison cries, her voice wavering with uncontainable emotion. Her big blue eyes come back into view and it’s only then I notice the tell-tale mascara tracks trailing her cheeks. “We’re getting married!”
I’m rendered speechless. Physically unable to form words. At that moment, Ryan’s face appears on the screen next to Madison’s, his cheeks rosy and his own eyes glassy. “Hey, Prue.”
I stammer like a fucking idiot as I stare at the both of them squished in so close together to fit on the screen. My gaze flits from Madison to Ryan and back again andall I can do is shake my head, simply too shocked to speak.
“It’s really loud in here. I can’t hear a thing. I just wanted to call you and tell you the good news. And, of course, officially ask you to be my Maid ofHonor!” Madison sings, adding a little shimmy for effect.
“Oh my god, of course! Are you serious?” I splutter, finally managing to find my voice. “I’m so happy for you guys,” I cry, adding, “I mean, it’s about time.”
Madison giggles and Ryan presses a sickeningly tender kiss to her cheek.
“We justhadto tell the people closest to us.” Madison beams.
“We’ll let you get back to sleep, Prue,” Ryan says with a low chuckle.
“Oh, but Prue,” Madison sings, “we have a wedding to plan!” I can tell she’s bouncing up and down in her seat from the nauseating movement on the screen.
“I can’t wait.”
“Love you!” Madison squeals over the background din of whatever downtown bar or restaurant they’re currently in.
“Love you, too,” I say a second too late, right as the screen turns black and the call goes dead.
An overwhelming silence settles in the darkness around me as I stare at my phone trying to process the last few minutes. My best friend since middle school is getting married to her high school sweetheart. I shouldn’t be this shocked; they’ve been together forever. I should be happy. I mean, Iamhappy, of course I am. This is the best news. Madison and Ryan are perfect for one another. I’m happy for them, truly. But, as I fall back against the sofa, releasing a heavy sigh, mymind races a million miles a minute. You see, over the last couple of years, I’ve somehow managed to avoid the inevitable. Now, however, it seems the past is coming back with a vengeance. My time is up. I’m about to come face-to-face with the once-was love of my life, and there’s fuck all I can do about it.
Ishouldn’t be here. I should be at home. In my pajamas. Watching some nineties teen-slasher film. Eating the share pack of watermelon Sour Patch I have hidden away in my nightstand. Instead, here I am, trailing my persistent best friend up a quiet street in one of the exclusive new estates on the outskirts of town, high up on the hill, tugging on the too short hem of the too tight skirt that neither fits nor belongs to me. Needless to say, the boxed wine Madison swiped from her mom’s stash and practically forced me to drink before we left her house has done little to calm my nerves.
I wish I said no when she’d called earlier, begging me to come to a party. But I couldn’t say no. She wouldn’tletme say no. If I had said no, she would’ve just kept calling me and calling me. And if I had ignored her calls, she’d have shown up on my doorstep, spouting some dramatic, farfetched lie that myoblivious parents would have believed, and then I’d have wound up here anyway. Sometimes it’s just easier to say yes to Madison Morrow.
“What if they don’t let us in?”
“Of course, they’ll let us in, Prue.” Madison scoffs as if my question is absurd. “It’s a house party, they’re hardly going to be checking names at the door. Besides,Ryaninvited us.”
“You,” I correct. “He invitedyou. He doesn’t even know me.”
“Yeah, well, you’re my plus one.” She shrugs.
I roll my eyes. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder how we’re even friends. We couldn’t be more different. Where she’s the fun, vibrant wild-child ready for anything; I’m the mousey nobody hiding in her shadow, unremarkable in almost every way. It was by sheer chance that we were paired up together as next door locker neighbors on our first day of middle school. The close proximity made us realize that, despite our obvious differences, somehow, we just seemed to complement one another. We bonded over our mutual love of One Direction—well, Harry Styles from One Direction—and Taylor Swift, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I hope you’re not planning on ditching me the second you find Ryan!” I mutter, narrowly avoiding a puddle and almost twisting an ankle in the platform mules Madison forced me to wear.
