Page 12 of F Buddy

He held his shock for another moment, then he laughed. And laughed, and laughed.

I muttered, “Don’t hurt yourself, Chad.”

“No,” he wheezed. “I’m sorry. It’s just the thought of you getting married…”

“Yeah, I know I never really said it was on the cards, but—”

“Nah, man,” he said, sounding very sure as he calmed down and leaned back in the seat. He grinned as if he’d heard a joke and he was adding an extra to the punch line. “It’ll never fucking happen, not if it’s you. So you both better pray shit doesn’t blow up in your faces.”

Chapter 5

Scarlett

At home, the first thing I did was jump in the shower. I still wasn’t feeling a hundred percent, though thankfully, I hadn't been too drunk last night that my hangover was killing me. I had to remember to thank Zach for distracting me from the alcohol, or I’d have been going back to bed until the early afternoon.

After the shower, I got dressed in fresh clothes, then texted one of my friends. The newly married couple would be going on their honeymoon for two weeks. There was a part of me that felt bad for not being there to wish them a happy honeymoon. It was a small part. Meanwhile, the rest of us were going on with our lives.

Luckily, it was the weekend, so I at least had a day before I had to get back to work.

Olivia, my friend, replied almost immediately. Ten minutes later, she was at my doorstep.

“Where did you go last night?” was the first thing she asked me when I opened the door for her.

I rolled my eyes, opening the door wider so she could walk in. She did, giving me a narrow-eyed look like she thought I’d run away from the question. Not that I had the intention to; I needed to talk about it to someone, and it was why I’d called her over.

“Would you like to at least sit down and get a drink or something first?” I asked.

She shook her head and sat down on my couch, looking pointedly at me until I sighed and joined her.

“Seriously, what happened to you?”

I shrugged, trying to play it cool. “Can't a girl leave a wedding early?”

“Oh, you could. A lot of other people did. But you were one of the bridesmaids, and we had a little thing at the end before Sasha and Donny left for their honeymoon. We looked for you but couldn’t find you.”

I didn’t remember anything about that, so it must have been impromptu. Not that I would have added much had I stayed. But I knew my friend better than that.

“You want to know who I left with, don’t you?” I said bluntly.

She grinned, losing the almost stern expression from before.

“I knew there was someone! I told the others you were getting some last night, but they didn’t believe me.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s because most of them are under the impression I’m depressed.”

I couldn’t exactly blame them for thinking that way. For a while, I had been. Sasha, the lovely bride, had been kind enough to invite me to be her bridesmaid and didn’t change her mind later on, thinking it would help me out. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that being there would do the opposite.

And thanks to the wedding I had a night with Zach. The thought made me smile.

“Oh, forget about that,” she said dismissively. “You got over that guy ages ago. Your problem is more that you’re out of another relationship than that guy broke up with you, right?”

“You could say that,” I muttered.

She gave me a scolding look. “Well, that’s good, because I could have told you he wasn’t good enough for you, Scarlett.”

I scoffed and fixed her with an amused look. “What do you mean, ‘could have’? You said it so often, a few times when you knew he wasn’t out of hearing range and you weren't all that quiet. You’re not exactly the shy type, Olivia.”

She shrugged, looking pleased with herself. “Someone has to be there to protect you. You leave yourself open way too often, you know?”