The Stella I Remember

10| By Chance...

June 2016
Ten Years Later

"I can't believe my best friend got married today."

"Believe it. I'm officially tied down and off the market."

I swirled the scotch around in my glass before downing the rest of it. As happy as I was for my best friend, it still hurt like hell to be alone.

"How does it feel?"

Marcus loosened the tie around his neck before his eyes went to the dance floor where his new wife was being twirled around by her dad.

"It feels amazing." He looked back at me with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face. "I can't believe I found her. I mean, what were the chances?"

"She worked in your office," I reminded him. "I think the chances were pretty high."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I took that job by chance, remember? I was going to work for Smith's company." He glanced at his wife again. "There was his little voice in my head that told me to choose Brent and Wyler. Then I met a certain junior partner—and here we are."

I nodded in agreement. "Here we are. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." Marcus finished off his drink. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

Marcus gave me a look. "Come on, man. I was the serial dater afraid of commitment. You're the one who had dreams of marriage, white picket fences, and kids."

I averted my eyes and fiddled with my empty glass. "Dreams change."

"This isn't about..."

"What? No!"

Marcus' expression said he wasn't buying my bullshit.

I sat up in my chair and looked him in the eye. "I'm serious. I'm over her. I've moved on with my life. I even threw away that damn journal!"

Marcus slapped his hand on the table. "Good! I didn't want to watch you waste your life away pining after someone who clearly didn't give a shit about you."

"That's not helping."

"I'm just saying...I wanna see you happy, Elliot."

I tapped the table absently with my fingers. "I'm fine, Marcus." I glanced at a group of women who were laughing by the cake. "In fact, I'm going to show you just how fine I am."

Marcus smiled proudly when I got up from the table and headed for the women. "Go get 'em, tiger!"

I studied the women as I got closer. There were two brunettes and a blonde. My choice was easy. I didn't date brunettes anymore.

"Good evening, ladies." I glanced briefly at the brunettes before settling my gaze on their friend. Blonde hair and brown eyes. Perfect. I offered her my hand. "Would you like to dance?"

She smiled shyly at her friends. "I would love to."

I led her to the dance floor and spun her around before pulling her body against mine. As we danced, I tried to stop pretending that I was having fun and actually start enjoying myself. Of course that was ruined when I saw Marcus give me two thumbs up from where he was sitting.