Happily Ever After (1 parter - CC, Teen - 8/1/2006)

[CME]

Title: Happily Ever After (short story)
Coupling: Conventional Couples
Rating: Teen
Summary: A wedding brings two people together again.
Disclaimer: Roswell and it's characters belong to people much richer and more powerful than me. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: This fic was inspired by the Song, Afterglow by INXS. The Lyrics can be found here. Oh yeah, and I wanted to write some sort of wedding story. I've written one before under my other nom de plume but that was a long time ago.


<center>Happily Ever After</center>


She’s getting married today.

Elizabeth Parker, my high school sweetheart is getting married today.

When I received her invitation two months ago, I had a hard time believing my eyes. Why on Earth would she be inviting me? After all that we went through, the fact that she still thought of me floored me.

I know that it was because of me and my indiscretion that we’re no longer together. I know that she too played a part in the destruction of our relationship. Could this one piece of paper, this simple card heal the wounds that we’ve left festering for too long?

For weeks it sat on the kitchen table in my apartment untouched. I wasn’t sure I wanted to open it. I knew it was from her. I had heard from some of our mutual friends that she had gotten engaged the year before and that they were planning a June wedding, but still a little part of me hoped that it wasn’t true. I know now that it was selfish of me to think so but I couldn’t help myself. She was entitled to her happiness, as was I.

I remember when we were in eleventh grade. Everyone thought we were the golden couple. I was the captain of the football team, she was the class president. With our dark-hair and reputation, we not only looked great together, we were happy.

She made me smile, I made her laugh, and I always thought it would last.

But our senior year in high school, everything changed.

Liz started spending less and less time with me. Her grades dropped and she stopped going to her after-school clubs. I asked her what was wrong and she would continually reply that it was nothing. I didn’t understand what was happening to us.

I would see my friends’ girlfriends as they sat up in the bleachers waiting for their boyfriends to finish practice so that they could go out to the local diner or the movies. I felt a pang of envy from deep within. I had that too, not so long ago.

Soon that envy turned to anger, and I focused that anger all on Liz. Why wasn’t she here to support me? Why didn’t she return my calls? I didn’t understand why all of a sudden she was pulling away from me.

At first I thought maybe I just wasn’t showering her with enough affection. So in order to remedy my error, I started dropping by her parents’ diner more often, watching Liz as she worked. Anytime she would look my way, I would send her my most loving and reassuring smile. But she wouldn’t smile back. She would simply nod her head and look down.

Christmas came and she and her family decided to visit her aunt in Florida for the holidays and so I was left alone.

I moped around for the first couple of days, until a friend of mine decided to throw a party at his house. I went hoping to ease my loneliness and boredom.

That was the first time I met Tess Harding.

She was sexy and blonde and assertive, almost the opposite of Liz. In my forlorn state, I was instantly attracted. We danced and we talked and we laughed. We exchanged numbers. I went home that night feeling as if I was on cloud nine.

The next morning I gave her a call and asked her out to the movies.

I was aware that Liz was still my girlfriend and that I had no intention of cheating on her. I merely wanted company. At least that was how I rationalized my actions.

So that night, Tess and I went to the movies and we had a great time.

For the next few days, we hung out. It gave me chance to get to know her. I found out that she and her father had just moved into town. She said that because of his job with the military, they were constantly moving around.

I found out that she too was lonely. Just like me.

On New Year’s Eve, I invited her over for a party I was having at my house and she eagerly accepted. As the clock struck midnight, everyone had found someone to kiss – everyone except me and Tess.

We looked at each other shyly, her more out of discomfort and me out of uncertainty. I had a girlfriend after all, although, I neglected to mention this pertinent fact to Tess. I mean it just never came up. We had such a great time talking that it seemed sort of a killjoy to say, ‘oh yeah, by the way I have a girlfriend.’ And so I chose to keep my mouth shut about the issue.

I caught her blue eyes staring at me and at that moment, with the television blasting Auld Lang Syne, I thought, ‘why not?’ So I grabbed her by the waist and softly pecked her lips.

I pulled away to look at her hoping that she wasn’t offended by my action. I was mildly surprised to find her looking bewildered before a brilliant smile appeared on her lips. This time, it was her that initiated the kiss…and I let her. She was tentative at first, nibbling on my lips before gently opening her mouth to deepen the kiss.

I didn’t realize how much I’d missed this. Liz and I hadn’t kissed, except for the friendly pecks on the cheeks and forehead, for months. It felt good to hold a woman again. To feel her soft skin against my stubbly jaw. To feel her breath tickle my nose.

We pulled away to gaze at each other when I felt a slight tingling to my side. I slowly turned my head and saw my girlfriend, Liz standing at the door with her eyes full of tears. I tried to run after her but people blocked my way and by the time I got outside she was gone. I tried to call her at home but her mother said that she was still out.

The following morning I dropped by the diner hoping to speak to her but her mother said that she wasn’t feeling well. This continued for the rest of the week until we returned to school the following Monday.

First thing that morning, I sought her out. I pleaded with her to listen to me but she refused to hear my words.

The next month, I found out that she left town. I tried to get information out of her parents but they refused to give me any saying that it was their daughter’s wish to be left alone.

Months passed and graduation approached. That September, I was to start my freshman year at the University of New Mexico. Liz and I had applied together in the beginning of our senior year of high school. It had been our plan to go to college together and get married after graduation. But I guess that wasn’t going to happen anymore.

The first year of university was tough. I was a second string quarterback on the football team and the classes were a lot harder than I had anticipated, but I struggled through. In my second year of college I received a letter in the mail. Recognizing the elegant scrawl, I tore open the envelope.

It was a letter from Liz.

She wanted to explain what had happened. Why she had pulled away. After high school, she began seeing a therapist who diagnosed her as suffering from a case of clinical depression. She explained that this was what caused her to pull away from me. That it was never me or my actions. She told me not to blame myself.

She also wanted to say that she forgave me for what happened on New Year’s Eve. That she understood. She said that it was all in the past now and that it was time for both of us to move on.

She also told me of a guy she met in one of her political science classes. She said his name was Max and that he was smart and he made her laugh. I felt a pang of jealousy but I knew it was irrational; after all, she was no longer mine.

She ended the letter with a wish that I live a happy life and that I too will find love again.

I hoped that she was right.


<center>* * *</center>


I parked my car and walked up the cathedral steps. With every shuffle of my feet, my hesitation grew. I still wasn’t sure that this was a bright idea. Maybe she was just being polite. Maybe she didn’t really want me here. I picked a pew near the back of the church, thinking that if worse came to worse I could quietly skulk out the doors.

I heard the organist start up the music and my eyes scanned the crowd. First, a little girl trotted down the aisle amidst the oohing and aawing of the crowd. Next, was a tall blonde dressed in a burgundy bridesmaid dress, looking elegant and regal as she sauntered down the aisle. The music changed to the wedding march and everyone stood up. There, beneath the stone archway stood my high school sweetheart looking beautiful and joyous on the arms of her mother and father.

She began to slowly float down the aisle, her smile never disappearing from her lips. As if knowing I was staring at her, she turned her head towards me and our eyes collided. I felt my heart beating hard beneath my chest. Would she be offended that I showed up? Would she regret her decision in inviting me? But I needn’t have worried because she merely tipped her head to the side and mouthed the word hi before continuing down towards her husband-to-be.

In that exact moment, I felt my heart let go. As I watched the two of them exchanged vows I knew that this was meant to be. Judging from the tears that coursed down her fiancé’s face, I knew that Max loved her something fierce. I felt good knowing that Liz Parker was going to be loved and cherished for the rest of her life.

When the priest pronounced them husband and wife and they ran down the aisle amidst the good wishes of their family and friends, I knew that I would be okay.

Liz Parker taught me how to love and what it felt like to be loved in return. And I knew that someday, I too will find the love of my life.

And maybe, just maybe, have my happily ever after.



fin.