Page 70 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“It’s up to you, Adam,” Leila kindly started. “If you want to wait and keep this going, we can do that. Though I think it wouldbe good to update the guests about the situation and see what they want to do.”
Adam slowly nodded.
Leila was right. Julie’d gotten so into this wedding that she forgot that Adam was the one who should be taking the decisions now. If only he’d decided to get involved in the wedding before Yasmine had run away, maybe none of this would’ve happened. Julie tried to bury that thought. It was unkind. Adam was already suffering today and she couldn’t fully blame him for Yasmine’s escape.
Adam’s best man and his brother joined him again. Julie saw Yasmine’s parents approaching from the corner of her eye and decided to take her leave. It was getting too heavy over there and the shock of seeing Adam, usually so upbeat and charming, being so sad and pathetic, was enough to make her want to run home.
All of this had almost made her forget her little tryst with Zoe last night, but the idea of Zoe running away with Julie on her wedding day, leaving Tom so desperate, had now entered Julie’s mind and was refusing to leave. Zoe would grab her hand, just like she did earlier, and whisk her away from the wedding. They would drive for miles and miles without looking back, ending up in a small hotel in the British countryside where they would register under a fake name.
And then what?
Julie knew that there was no future there. They couldn’t build an entire life based on lies and secrets. And maybe Zoe did only have wedding stress. Wasn’t that a whole thing that people wanted to just have one last fling before tying the knot? But still, the idea of getting the girl in the most dramatic way possible… All of this felt so good in her mind. Maybe she could just give into the idea and have a whirlwind romance with Zoe. A romance which would crash and burn, but did she really have that muchto lose? Julie couldn’t see how they could still stay friends after what happened last night, after all. She could never forget the sight of Zoe writhing underneath her body.
As if her thoughts had caused her to materialise, Zoe was standing at the end of the garden. She looked sad, just like everyone else. Julie hesitated. It felt so strange to think that just this morning, Zoe had been in her bed. Then she’d held her hand during Adam’s vows. At least, it was nice now to know that something was clearly going between them, that it wasn’t just a figment of Julie’s imagination.
“This is kinda crazy, isn’t it?” Julie gave her a grim smile as she approached.
Zoe blinked at her. “This is completely bonkers.” She put a hand on her hip. “What do we do now?”
“No idea. Leila and I think we should just all go home, but Adam wants to keep partying.”
“I guess you might as well make the most of it.” Zoe sighed.
They both looked over at Adam. He was chugging champagne out of a bottle now.
“You know…” Zoe started. “The other night during the treasure hunt, Yasmine seemed like she was hinting to me that she was having second thoughts about Adam. I wish we had talked about it more.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I just had the feeling that she had something important to tell me.” Zoe shrugged. “Forget about it. I’m just trying to wrap my head around today. I don’t think it would’ve changed anything.”
“I don’t know, Zoe.” Julie hesitated. “You know, I think it was tough for her because everybody was always telling her how Adam was so great and amazing. I always felt like she couldn’t say no.” Julie rubbed her forehead. “I’ve never really told herabout any of the hang-ups I had about him. I didn’t want to make her sad. Now thinking back, maybe I should’ve.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” She put a hand on Julie’s back before removing it. “You were being a good friend.” Zoe looked down. “I know how it feels, being with a man that everyone admires. It’s tough to know where you stand.”
Julie felt like the air was just punched out of her body. She didn’t really want to talk about Zoe’s relationship issues, not when her entire body could still remember Zoe’s warmth. She stayed silent.
“Oh sorry Julie. It’s not fair to put this on you. I’m an idiot.” Zoe covered her mouth with her hands.
They stayed silent for a minute.
“If you want me to leave you alone, I can just do that.” Zoe said, her voice trembling.
“No, sorry.” Julie inhaled. “So much has been happening this week, I’m just getting whiplash from everything.”
“Yeah for sure.” Zoe smiled, then frowned. “How do you… How do you feel? You know, about yesterday.” She continued before Julie could speak. “I know we said we should avoid the topic to not ruin Yasmine’s wedding, but now it’s kind of a moot point, isn’t it?”
Julie chuckled. She was relieved that they weren’t the reason why this wedding was a disaster. She rubbed the back of her neck. “I feel… weird? For lack of a better word.”
“Same.”
Another silence.
Zoe started. “We should have a good and honest conversation about this. I need to put some order in my head.”
“Agreed. I don’t think today is a good day, because of…” Julie waved her hands at everything. “When are you going back to London?” She felt a lump in her throat as she asked the question.
“I’m leaving in two days. Does tomorrow work for you? I also assume that we’ll all be leaving this place today. It’s too dreadful.”
