Charlotte's Story

Why Do That

Ryder's POV:

I look around the back room at the bar we were at. Both of Catherine's brothers are sitting at the table, and then two of Josh's friends and Ryan, my friend. He had asked me two weeks ago who I wanted at my bachelor party. "I don't have any friends," I said.

"What about all your friends from college?" Josh asked, taking his duties of best man way too seriously.

"I don't run in the same crowd of people," I said.

"I'll come up with something," he said, walking out of my apartment. Did he really feel like it was necessary to have these meetings in person?

Couldn't he just call like a normal person?

Josh steps forward, looking at the pathetic group of friends he could come up with for me. "Well, now that the groom is here... We can begin."

The lights flicker, and then the music starts; he had ordered a stripper?

Catherine's older brother, Ralph, who was happily married, is smiling; her younger brother Tad is shooting darts at Josh and me.

The stripper comes in; before she can start undressing on top of me, I sit Josh down in the chair and point to him. The lady wearing too much makeup smiles and starts to give Josh a lap dance. I did not need Tad, the officer, with a gun to be upset with me.

He walks over at ten minutes of having the stripper in the room with us. "I thought you got cold feet," he laughs at me. He had no clue... If they all only knew what I was thinking in the last three days, he would have his gun drawn out, and I would most likely be dead.

I laugh and raise my empty glass, "I need more. Excuse me." I leave the bar, bouncing out on my own bachelor party. Josh would be pissed, but by tomorrow morning, he would be furious with me.

I walk into my apartment, sighing after stepping in, until the lamp in the living room flickers on, and I see Catherine sitting in the chair. I jumped; she had startled me.

"Catherine. What are you doing here?" I ask she was the one who believes I couldn't see her the night before the big day.

"Who is she?" Catherine turns the laptop around that was sitting in front of her. She opens the lid and waits for me to put my password in. I had left it open before I ran out of the apartment today. Ren's blog is sitting on the screen. "I thought you were having jitters since you haven't called me in the last three days. And then my brother tells me you arrived late for your party... So I was curious and came over."

I don't say anything as I stare at the screen.

Four months ago, I had proposed to Catherine.

"You did what?" Mandy hollered at me the following day; she had seen the news all over social media. I hadn't even told any of them that I was proposing.

"I don't know... I saw the ring in the window, and we have been dating for a while... I thought it was a good idea?" I cringed, knowing that I had thought if I moved onto the next step in my life, I would be able to forget about Ren.

"You thought it was a good idea? Shit..." She seethed out.

Luke was the next one; instead of calling, he showed up at my apartment.

"Proposed, did you?" he asked, looking at me. I could tell he wanted to say more, but he held his tongue. "To her?" he asked. He hated her the most out of all my siblings.

"What is wrong with her?" I ask, already regretting proposing.

"Everything. Everything is wrong with Catherine. She is heartless."

"Not heartless enough to say no," I said. I had thought she would laugh at the thought of the proposal, but her hard face melted; she gushed and then said yes. It was as if she thought nobody would ever propose to her.

"I don't want to be part of the wedding... I'll show up, but I want nothing to do with it. I just want to be there to see the day that you fucked up your life."

The votes were in; no one was happy except for Catherine. She looked as if she could murder me and get away with murder; that was her job for everyone else.

"Do you love her?" She demands, standing up.