Five
QUINN
I ignored everyone still in the function room as I stormed toward Zoe, Paige, Bella, and Audrey, then stopped in front of them long enough to say, “We’re going to the beach, bitches.
” They looked at each other, but wordlessly followed me as I swiped a bottle of sparkling wine from the table and led them outside.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Wade slink back to his cabin.
My heart sank at the dejected look on his face.
It was almost enough to make me forget how he’d just derailed my night.
Had I dreamed of marrying Wade one day? You bet.
Did I expect it to feel like an afterthought because we’d just magically ended up single at the random number we’d picked as teenagers? Nope.
In my head, I’d pictured Wade confessing his love to me, kissing me senseless and well, doing a whole heap of things to each other until we were both spent and sated. I’d pictured us developing from friends to lovers, and then one day he would propose to me.
I walked my friends out to the private beach the resort was named after as they whispered behind me.
I was sure they thought I was just drunk and emotional.
Maybe I was. I did feel a bit of a buzz from sipping drinks all night, but I’d been too busy talking, and dancing, and singing, and having the best time that I didn’t have time to drink as much as I thought I would.
At least, I was having the best time until Wade’s freaking surprise proposal.
Plonking myself unceremoniously on the sand, I uncorked the bottle and took a swig before holding it out to my friends. They looked at each other, and then settled on the sand around me.
“Okay, so I’ll bite.” Bella looked me in the eye. “What happened with Wade?”
“What happened with Wade? What happened with Wade?” I exclaimed. Each of my friends looked at me wide-eyed, nodding encouragingly, expecting me to elaborate. “Oh, nothing big happened with Wade—except he proposed to me.”
“Yay!” Audrey clapped and did a little happy dance from her seated position.
“Called it!” Zoe announced, holding up a hand for a high five while Bella just shook her head.
“What did you say?” Paige asked, weariness in her voice.
“I told him I’m not a consolation prize and ran off.” Paige leaned toward me, giving me a side hug.
“I don’t get it. Why is this a bad thing?” Audrey asked.
“Yeah?” Zoe agreed. “I told you that man was into you, and bam!”
“It’s bad because he’s not doing it because he’s into me; he’s doing it because of some stupid pact we made a million years ago.
” I took another swig. “We said that if we were both single at thirty, that we’d marry each other.
I thought he’d forgotten all about it. Why would he even remember?
He’s been travelling all over the world, all those women throwing themselves at him.
I mean, we’ve all seen the reaction videos of women watching his act. ”
“That means nothing,” Zoe implored. “The man messages you every day, and video calls at least once a week.”
“Which makes him a good friend,” I replied. “It doesn’t mean he’s attracted to me; it doesn’t mean that he desires me or wants a relationship with me. I know they say the best relationships start as friends, but if he wanted one, he would’ve done something about it before now.”
I passed the bottle around to my friends.
Zoe took a sip, looked like she was about to say something, before shaking her head and handing the bottle over to Audrey, who just took a sip before grimacing and attempting to pass it to Paige.
Waving her hand at the bottle, Paige pointed toward me, and the bottle landed safely back in my hands where I took another swig.
It completely bypassed Bella, who had recently announced her pregnancy.
“You’re not gonna like what I’m gonna say here,” Bella started.
“First, Wade majorly fucked this up, starting off with a grand gesture like he did. Yeah, he shouldn’t have sprung a big proposal at you like that, but I’m certain he has feelings for you.
Non-friendly feelings. The Wade I remember from school was always so shy.
Yeah, he was always a performer, always ready to put on a show, but when it came to the real things? He was lost.”
I thought about what my friend had just said. She was right about him being shy. He’d rather perform than try to have a conversation. Except with me. That’s where she was wrong. “Wade never has any problems talking to me. I’m his best friend; we share everything!”
“Do you share everything?” Paige gave me a knowing look. “Do you tell him you like the way his ass looks in jeans?”
“I—” I began, but my friends wouldn’t let me finish.
“Do you tell him you get irrationally angry at those women online making comments about him?” Zoe asked.
“Do you tell him you sigh with contentment every time you hang up from a video call with him?” Audrey added with a sigh.
“Ummm…” I played with the hem of my dress. “I don’t do that, do I?”
“Sure you don’t.” Paige patted me on the shoulder.
“Just like I didn’t drool at the sight of Eric each time we ran into each other that whole time I thought he was my enemy.
” I laughed because everyone knew that the shy electrician had been head over heels for years before she finally realised it herself.
“It’s not like that. Wade has been my friend forever. If he had wanted to be more than friends, he would’ve said something years ago,” I half-heartedly objected.
“Sometimes it’s harder to say the things we really want to say,” Bella admitted. “Maybe instead of saying anything, he’s been showing you all these years. I mean, how many men film themselves singing nursery rhymes for someone else’s kid?”
We sat and shared champagne, my sips getting smaller as we laughed about stupid things men had done in the past to impress us.
Through the laughter, I thought about my memories of Wade, re-examining his actions.
I started to admit to myself that maybe, just maybe, my friends were right. Hope bloomed in my heart.