Ruin the Friendship

Chapter 1

chapter one

When the first thing I remember is face-planting onto the floor of my bedroom, I know my day isn’t going to go well.

Muttering curses under my breath, I crawl to my light and flip it on. The thing that tripped me is the box of invitations to my wedding that I didn’t need. My future mother-in-law had ordered way too many, and they’re now collecting dust with all the other wedding stuff near the doorway.

I try not to glare at the pile of things I don’t know what to do with. This wedding has taken over every aspect of my life, including my house, and it makes me feel like I’m losing my mind.

“Two days,” I tell myself. “Two days and it’s over.”

By then, the engagement ring on my finger will be adorned with a wedding band, and I will be Mrs. Rob Norton. Then we set off on our honeymoon and into our happily ever after.

The wedding stress has gotten to me, and I haven’t seen my fiancé, Rob, in a week. Back when this was funny, I joked that he seemed to take the superstition of not seeing the bride before the wedding very seriously.

It’s no longer amusing to me now.

I know he’s cramming in work before the wedding, so I try to take it in stride. But a wedding is stressful, and trying to plan a massive event with Andrea Norton as a mother-in-law is like having every one of my pubes plucked out one by one.

It’s a terrible analogy my best friend Nate came up with. I hate that it’s accurate.

After Rob’s bachelor party tonight, he’s promised to be more present. That should help, or at the very least, pull me back from the brink of insanity.

After putting the invitations back into the pile of wedding stuff, I haul myself off the ground and go to my kitchen in search of caffeine and breakfast. I start the coffee first and then grab the overnight oats from the fridge before I open my phone.

Nate sent me multiple videos late in the night.

For nine months out of the year, he follows a normal sleep schedule so he can get to his job as a high school gym teacher on time.

But during the summer months, he slacks off, often staying up into the early hours of the morning.

I have a feeling he just went to bed only a few hours ago.

I laugh as I watch all the things he curated for me while I eat, and by the time I’m heading to get dressed for work, I’m feeling better.

I purposefully don’t look at the pile of crap in the corner of my room as I pull out slacks, a button-up shirt, and a sweater vest for the day.

After my clothes are on, I go to the bathroom to pull up my hair into its usual bun, but one long, dark strand falls out of the bottom.

With a huff, I redo it, making sure it’s perfect.

When I’m done, I face the put-together woman in the mirror. I may not feel like her on the inside, but I can pretend to be her until it’s true. Most days, it’s easy. Lately, I’ve felt more and more out of sorts as my wedding marches closer.

Before I leave for work, I tidy up the best I can so I don’t come home and feel the same misery. There’s one magazine on the dining room table, left out on purpose. I want to put it away, but I haven’t so I can think about what Rob asked me to .

It’s a list of amenities and floor plans at his apartment complex. He gave it to me when we were talking about who would move in with whom. I always thought the plan was to move here. He disagreed.

My house isn’t much. It’s a tiny two bedroom in an older neighborhood, but it’s mine. After my grandma passed away, Mom took her inheritance and helped me with the down payment. I’ve worked hard to make every payment. Considering how expensive other homes are, I’m lucky.

And I’m so reluctant to give it up.

But Rob’s made it clear he doesn’t want to move in. He says it’s not in a good part of town, despite there being hardly any crime here. This isn’t the fancy part of Nashville people move to, it’s the older part where the charm of the original city is barely hanging on.

My time is running out. I need to make a decision, and with how most things go with Rob, I’ll end up giving in. I just don’t want to this time.

But it’s time for me to go to work, so I can’t consider it anymore. With a sigh, I flip the magazine over, promising myself I’ll talk to Quinn—my other friend and Rob’s sister—about it when she comes over tonight.

Rob will be at his bachelor party all night, so I know I’ll have time to talk it out.

After locking the front door, I head to work. I say hi to Sally and the other employees I’m close with before sitting to start my work for the day as a receptionist. I can’t say I love what I do, but my boss pays me more than enough and I love the people I work with. That’s what matters.

Besides, the busywork has been helpful. It leaves brain space for me to plan and survive my wedding.

I’m able to focus up until lunchtime when my stomach pulls me out of my work.

I look around the office, wondering if my boss, Levi, happened to order anything for everyone.

When I don’t see anyone crowding the break room, I know I’m on my own.

I didn’t bring anything and I hate trying to go out anywhere by myself. It feels sad to sit and eat alone.

It’s then that I notice a text on my phone.

Nate

Burgers?

Another great thing about summer is that Nate is almost always free, which means I have a lunch buddy when I want one.

Maisie

Yes. Perfect timing too.

Nate

You’re always hungry right at noon. Meet you there in five?

Maisie

I’m clocking out now.

Nate pulls up in his blue SUV right as I’m walking up.

“Well, well. Fancy seeing you here,” he says as he gets out of his car.

I immediately have to look up. Nate is tall, like over six feet, and I’m stunted right at five foot two.

He has wavy black hair and green eyes. Everyone I meet calls him ridiculously hot.

I still see the annoying kid I met when we were ten.

“This weirdo invited me out for lunch. I assume you’re gonna do your best-friend duty and fight him off?”

“Let me at him and I will.”

I can’t help but laugh at the idea of Nate fighting anyone. He’s tougher than his lithe frame shows, especially since I’ve seen him training the teens on his high school football team, but he’s so nice that I can’t imagine him angry.

He’s obviously been out swimming because he’s got his usual summer tan. I have a crippling fear of the water, but Nate blossoms in it.

“Is this where we admit I’m the weirdo in this scenario and I get to buy you lunch?” he asks as he opens the door .

He’s letting me get away with insinuating he’s weird and he’s paying? He’s buttering me up for something.

“Aren’t you on summer break? You should save your money.”

“I have my checks split out so I get paid year-round. I’m smart , berry.”

The nickname always puts me in a good mood, but I’m still suspicious of him. “You still can’t tell your left from your right.”

“Why would I need to know that when I have a built-in mechanism for checking?” He holds his hands up in two Ls. “Look. I know what I’m doing!”

I want to remind him of the time we were trying to get out of Nashville after a hockey game ended and he took the wrong left and we wound up stuck in front of the arena for an hour, but I know we’ll never get our food if I go down that path.

And I want my burger.

We order our food and Nate slaps his card down before I can argue. I let him this time, only because I know I’ll be broke after my honeymoon is over.

“Will you get the table to the right of the condiments stand?” I ask.

“This is just a trap to see if I know which way that is.” He narrows his eyes. “But I’ll let it happen if it means you get the food.”

I only shrug and watch as he goes to the table. He, of course, picks the correct one and smugly stares at me as I wait. He’s lucky our numbers are called quickly, because I’m very tempted to make an unsightly gesture in his direction.

I don’t know what it is about Nate, but sometimes it feels like we’re still the kids that met in the school cafeteria all those years ago. No one else can make me joke around like he can. It’s why I cherish him so much.

“Been practicing?” I ask as I bring the food over.

“I also mess up when I’m tired.” He grabs his meal. “Which is always, considering the career I chose. ”

“And yet you still love it,” I reply as I cross my arms.

“Love is a strong word. But I do like it.”

He’s lying. I see his smile when I go to the games he coaches. I never thought Nate would be good with teenagers, but he is.

“You know, there’s still room for you to come over tonight,” I say as I grab a fry. “I’m sure Quinn wouldn’t mind.”

“I still have a thing tonight,” he replies. “I’ll come over tomorrow, though.”

It’s so rare that he doesn’t join in on plans that I’ve been trying to figure out what could have come up. The best idea I have is that it’s a date. Nate usually doesn’t mention those to me.

As open as we are, some topics have become taboo over the years. He never asks me about anything intimate with Rob, and I do the same. I’ve met a few of the women he’s dated, but it’s only ever once, and they’re no longer in his life after a few weeks.

“Are you finally gonna tell me what it is?”

He shrugs. “I’m still in the planning stages. Do you know of any decent bars in Nashville?”

I frown. “You’re going to a bar ? Why?”

“I’m trying something new.”

Neither of us care for the party scene in the city. Rob does, so the only bars I know of are the ones he goes to.

“Rob has one he goes to a lot, but you wouldn’t be able to go to it tonight.”

“Why not?”

“Tonight’s his bachelor party.” I say it slowly.

The bachelor party has been a point of contention between Nate and Rob for weeks.

I hoped that Rob would invite Nate as some sort of olive branch for the stony relationship between them.

After all, they’ll have to see more of each other after we’re married.

But Rob insisted this was for his guy friends only.