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  At Last

  H. Dacanay

  © 2015 by H. Dacanay

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  ISBN 9781310412349

  1

  I love Zoe. I really do. She is after all my best friend and had been ever since high school. But right now, I was having real trouble loving her, or even seeing her as that friend, when she invited Dylan Anderson to her wedding without informing me. Well, today wasn’t exactly her wedding yet. Just rehearsal. Still, she could have told me I’d see the jerk in the flesh so I would have been prepared. I would have mustered to get a rein of my annoyance over his presence.

  Why Dylan was even here was beyond my comprehension. I mean after ten years of not hearing anything from him, he came back? I understand that he’s friends with Zoe too, not to mention the groom, Martin, who he had been buddies with from high school. But like I’ve said, it had been ten years. A decade! Not once did he return to visit Zoe. Or Martin. Or even his grandmother who greatly ached for him (and I know this because I spent the last ten years dropping in on her home on weekends).

  Or how about me? The one he had sworn to write to right before he left for France? But did he? After three letters, he never wrote back anything again. Even after he returned to America and stayed in LA for nearly a month now, did he pop round the town for a visit? No. Not even for one damn second.

  Jerk.

  And now he’s here. Mr. Hotshot in a dashing ensemble of expensive clothes and a flipping badass sports car. What was he even trying to prove here? That he had clearly made a stellar evolution with his life while we, in this little town of Woodborough, had maintained our lackluster lives?

  Well, excuse me, but I didn’t think for one second that our lives here were lackluster. We enjoyed the simplicity. We knew what we had and we were contented with it.

  “Okay, guys, can you excuse me and Liv for a minute?”

  I jumped a little from where I stood when I heard my name. Zoe, lips pressed to a grim line, sauntered towards my way, and then viciously tugged me to the back of the church, which was a good five meters away from everybody else.

  “What?” I asked to satisfy my curiosity.

  “What the heck are you doing?”

  “What was I doing?”

  Zoe crossed her arms over her chest, looking unmistakably annoyed. “You’re ruining my wedding rehearsal.”

  My mouth hung open in shock. “How in the world am I accomplishing that?”

  “By not paying attention and just glaring at Dylan?”

  Her allegation startled me more. I knew I had been having hostile thoughts about the guy not too long ago, but had I been really glaring at him?

  I took a subtle glance his way. And how I wished I didn’t. Then I wouldn’t be more irritated at the sight of him joking around with Martin. How could he act so relaxed? Like he didn’t hurt somebody and that somebody was still carrying the big bag of hurt after ten years!

  I groaned, my shoulders sagging, hating myself for feeling so bitter when I shouldn’t be. Dylan had obviously moved on. Forgotten about me. Forgotten about his promise. I should do the same.

  If only I had some acceptable closure. Answers I needed to hear from him.

  “Why did you even invite him?” I asked Zoe accusingly. “You know I hate him.”

  She snorted. “You don’t hate him. You’re angry but you don’t hate him. And I invited him because I wanted him to be at my wedding. And look, he’s here. Isn’t that exciting? This is also like a reunion of some sorts for the four of us. You know, since we’re high school friends and all that.”

  “But he hadn’t even made any attempt at all in the past ten years to reconnect with us. How’s that for a friend?”

  Zoe bit her lower lip, her excited mood completely turning around. “Uh…well, uhm, I’ve sort of been in touch with him actually...”

  My eyes dilated, utterly surprised at her revelation. “You what?”

  “Oh, Liv,” she whimpered, “please don’t make a big deal about it. It’s not—”

  I didn’t let her finish. Nose flaring, and eyes burning from rage, I stomped to where Dylan was. He noted my expression as I neared him but he didn’t flinch in fear. In fact, he stood up straighter, his shoulders squaring in overconfidence, which just made the goal to wreak my wrath at him more intense. More solidified.

  Jerk.

  “Whatever I did to you to stop writing back to me?” I began, voice roaring in fury. I didn’t have to look around to know that all eyes were on me and him now. “Because I may not be as smart as you were, but I clearly don’t remember saying anything in my last letter to upset you.” Morsels of that letter stirred in my head. Some parts may have been fuzzy now, but I would never forget the most important one. The one he had always yearned to hear from me. The one he had always longed for me to feel back for him. “I told you I loved you. Wasn’t that what you wanted? Which is why I don’t get up to now why you had to just stop talking to me out of the blue.” But as if some light of reasoning had quickly shone upon me, I took back what I last said. “Oh, you know what, I totally get it now. Every goddamn thing was a lie, weren’t they? All those sweet things you had said to me? They’re all lies, right? The flowers, the notes, our dates…And that promise?” I took a huge, deep breath. Or more like of an exhausted sigh. “That promise you made me believe and hope for actually meant nothing.” Realization kicked me in the gut and I felt tears falling fast out of the corner of my eyes. “I’m such a fool…and I can’t believe I’ve carried this pain for ten years. Clearly for nothing.”

  Devoid of anything further to say, or intent to hear Dylan’s retort, I treaded out of the church as fast as I could.