Tropesville

Chapter Three

Mikaela POV

I must have broken a mirror, walked under a ladder and opened an umbrella inside to have ended up at the wedding of Matt and Olive. How could my luck get any worse? I wanted to vomit, shit myself and run away. Preferably in reverse order if I had to.

I leaned into the truck, it was probably the only thing holding me up. I couldn't keep my eyes off Matt. Every obsessive thought I had ever had about him came stampeding through my brain. He was still gorgeous, his thick dark hair always framed his square face beautifully, his golden skin always seemed so flawless. I used to think he wore makeup around his honey brown eyes, his lashes were something to be envied, so thick and long. If anything, age had made him more attractive, gone was his lanky boyishness, it had been replaced by a man's sturdiness, his body lean and muscular. It was hard to push aside the feelings I had, the confused, hurt feelings of seeing the first person to break your heart again after nearly a decade apart.

"Ah hell," Sy said, pulling me out of my daze. I looked at him. Oh crap. Had he seen the look on my face? Did he know what I was thinking? I think he did by the set of his jaw and the way he refused to meet my eyes.

Matt was close now, reaching his hand out to shake Sy's. For a minute I thought Sy was going to hit Matt, but after a brief hesitation he put his hand out and they embraced like family.

Meanwhile, Olivia was starring daggers. "Uh, Hi Olivia," I said, tearing my eyes away from the cousins. If seeing Matt again brought up amorous feelings I thought I had gotten over, seeing Olivia brought up every feeling of inadequacy I ever had.

No wonder Matt left me for her. She was beautiful; taller, blonder, thinner, bigger boobed (fake surely. They weren't that big in high school), smarter, all around better than me. "Mikaela," she said venomously. I was puzzled by the poison in her tone. Surely, I'm the aggrieved party in this, the one who they had both betrayed. "What are you doing here?" Ok, she's going full bitch mode then.

I opened my mouth to reply but before I could Sy put his arm around me, a little possessively and glared at Matt. "She's here with me," he said. I looked up at him, gratefully. He smiled back briefly turning his attention back to Olivia.

Matt looked a little surprised, but Olivia raised an eyebrow. "What happened to Liza," she asked. God, she was a bitch these days. I don't know how we were ever friends.

Sy shrugged, "We broke up." I smiled at the way he said that, like he wasn't going to let Olivia get under his skin.

"So, how did you score the invite then, Mikaela?" Olivia questioned. Her tone dripping with accusations, like I had somehow planned this. How on earth did she think I would want this? Does she really think that I would do that? I can't let her think that, this is all embarrassing enough as it is.

"I invited her," Sy said, forcefully. "She's my..."

"Girlfriend!" I interrupted, shouting loudly. All three of them looked at me with disbelief. Oh fuck. Why did I say that? I wanted to run away.

Sy gave me a look. For a moment, I thought I saw anger in his eyes. Then he brightened and spoke to Olivia, "Yup, Mika's my girlfriend, aintcha, Honey Bee?"

I blinked, that was weird. I smiled as sweetly as possible and rolled with it. I'd already said the lie, if I went back on it now I really would look desperate. "I'm fine, Honey Bear," I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"I don't believe you," Olivia said. "There's something going on here, Matt."

A little part of me deflated, this was ridiculous, pretending we are dating, I could have just said it was our first date. Why did I want them to think I had a boyfriend? I wanted to take the opportunity to tell the truth, say we were neighbours, explain the situation. But Matt's eyes were on Sy and me, and had a strange look of... I'm not sure what. Jealousy, anger, lust, I couldn't be sure? Whatever the look was, he looked unnerved. I liked that, he deserved it, I wanted him to feel something after what he had done to me.