Three Weeks Earlier
“Were you intoxicated when this marriage occurred?” I rolled my eyes at the woman behind the desk. I don’t know how many times I had to say this. It was like no one at this Vegas Courthouse took us seriously.
I looked at my reflection in the plastic partition and saw the oversized shirt, no makeup on, and hazelnut lion’s mane looking back at me. It didn’t bother me what I looked like right now, but, alright, maybe that’s why they didn’t take me seriously.
“We. Were. Not. Intoxicated.” I enunciated each word so that we could move on to the next question. I wanted to strangle the wedding chapel Greg and I were at last night for Alexa and Max’s wedding. Apparently they weretooefficient, since they had already sent in our marriage certificate to be filed. We were now stranded in this office answering questions that didn’t apply to us and, with each one, the dread inside of me grew. They weren’t going to annul the marriage.
“I’m sorry miss.” I squinted my eyes at the lady in front of me.
“Lilly.” By Greg’s stern voice, I knew he wanted me to stop. I may not have been drunk on alcohol, but I can guarantee my mind was nowhere near clear when I agreed to this. It had been filled with love and promises that had been planted into my head. His trying to reason with me wasn’t going to get us home any faster.
“We are unable to process the annulment. If either one of you is a resident, we can file for divorce.” The look she gave was hopeful. I wanted to crush it. I wanted this over now. I didn’t want to have to wait ages to have this disaster reversed.
“No,” I zoned in on her name tag, “Nancy. We aren’t residents here. So, can you just file the paperwork we’ve already filled out so we can leave?”
“I’m sorry, miss, but I can’t do that.” Her answer was short and she placed her hands folded on the counter between us.
“And why not? People get married in Vegas all the time and get their marriages annulled.” I slammed my fist down on the counter, and I could see the security guard in the corner start to move towards us.
Greg made a grab for my arm, but I pulled away. If he touched me for too long, who knew what I would give in to. That’s what had happened last night.
He said I looked gorgeous.
I looked into his bright green eyes.
We danced, we drank, we kissed.
We kissed.
I tried not to give in.
I tried.
“You look gorgeous tonight.” Greg came up behind me, his words were barely a whisper against my ear. I didn’t hide the shiver that ran up my body. I had been trying to hid it for almost five years, my feelings for Greg. Tonight was not the night to open that floodgate though.
“Thank you.” I turned around to see him in his best man tux, his tie matched my maid of honor dress, royal blue. I stood my ground, unwavering, but Greg swooped in, wrapping his arm around my waist. “What do you want, Greg?”
“A kiss.” I could smell the scotch on his breath. I wanted to taste it. Greg always had the best taste in amber liquids. I laughed in his face.
“You’re drunk.” He leaned in closer to me.
“I can guarantee you, I’m not.” A flashback came from when Greg kissed me two years ago. It had been at a company Christmas party. We had both had a little too much to drink and somehow ended up in a corner by ourselves talking for over three hours. By the time he leaned in to kiss me that night, I thought all the alcohol was out of my system, but I didn’t matter. I had wanted it. I wasn’t going to let him overtake my life like that again though, waiting for him everyday, hoping with all my heart that something would come of that kiss. But now, now I couldn’t afford to let him do that to me again.
He’d never called, never said anything about that night. I waited two years for him to acknowledge it, but nothing. We lived next door to each other, saw each other every day not because of work, but because we were best friends. We spent all of our time together. I went to family dinner every week, well, until Alexa moved to town, and that’s when the strain became more than just from that kiss from two years ago.
I pulled away, pushing Greg back towards the dance floor.
“Not tonight, bud.” He tried to grab for me, but his foot caught and the smack of his body hitting the hard ground should have sent me into a frenzy to make sure he was okay, but instead a giggle rose from my throat.
I expected to see anger, like I had two years ago when I had first kissed him, and it resulted in his lips devouring mine. Instead I saw a small smile, like he expected me to get excitement from his pain. I held a hand out to him, trying to help him to his feet. What I hadn’t expected was for him to grab my face and plant a kiss there, when he finally righted himself. I didn’t reciprocate. I didn’t want my heart to get broken again. But then again, what was one more kiss?
“We should just leave, Lilly.” Greg’s voice pulled me out of my head and back to him standing next to me. He had pulled his hand back from where it looked like he was going to reach for me, but even then, we were so close together. With the memory of last night so fresh, I thought about how this man had kissed me, and even though I hadn’t wanted to kiss him back, he had whisked me off my feet with an in the moment proposal and a whirlwind wedding.
Then this morning it all came crashing down when the regret sank in. This wasn’t the relationship either of us needed. It wasn’t one we could afford. But this was the relationship my heart craved.
I threw myself onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Well, that was a bust. I had thought maybe we could get somewhere, but after multiple phone calls and a long drive back to the hotel room, I was no closer to being divorced.
“Don’t seem so happy now.” Sarcasm radiated from Greg’s mouth and it made me want to slap him that much more. It wasn’t bad enough that he had gotten us into this situation. Nope, he had to go and rub it in. He had been doing it all morning by trying to calm me down, working in small talk when he could, touching my hip, and even trying to grab for me while in the courthouse. He was trying to make it seem like none of this was a big deal, but it my eyes it was. This was the biggest deal of all. I had married the love of my life. My boss. My best friend. I wasn’t even sure if he knew just how much this meant to me because how I saw it, this was just an in the moment decision for him. Nothing about our lives or what we had done would ever expect me to believe that Greg would want me to marry him, so why should I think anything differently than what my instincts are telling me to do, and that’s run.
