𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter one hundred fifteen.

february 2016

Edward Reagan wasn't a big party guy. He liked simple stuff most of the time, but when it came to his wedding, he wanted everything to be perfect. He rented out a ballroom for the reception, but Janis suggested getting married in a court house. The judge being the same one Janis had when she was arrested years ago.

So here he was, trying to put on his contact lenses because he didn't want to use his glasses. Janis always liked his glasses, to him, it was a pain to wear them. He liked going to 3-D movies, but wearing 3-D glasses over his actual ones wasn't something he liked. He hadn't worn contacts in years so he struggled to put them on. Layna was busy putting on makeup while Claudia fixed her hair in the hallway mirror.

"Girls, you ready?" Edward called out from his room that he shared with Janis.

"Almost! I can't get my eyeliner right!" Layna complained, almost deciding to throw away the pen out the window.

"Can't help you there, lay." Edward finally put in his contact lens then gave himself a thumbs up for his effort.

"I got it!" Claudia walked to Layna's room more than happy to help the teen girl.

Janis wasn't present in the house. She was out getting her hair done by a friend at a nearby hair salon. Plus, she didn't want anybody seeing her until she got to the courthouse.

"Okay, are we ready now? Come on, that red velvet cake is waiting for me!" Edward grabbed his phone and put it in his pocket.

"Aaaaand done! You look so beautiful. Let's go before your dad starts freaking out." Claudia set the eyeliner down and walk with Layna downstairs.

"Hey, it's my wedding day. I'm allowed to freak out, okay?" Edward opened the front door for the girls. "Is your loverboy meeting us there?"

"Yes, and he's bringing Lucy, hope you don't mind. She loves weddings, except when it was her cousin's wedding. She skipped it, but something good came out of if. She met Andrew Garfield." Claudia said, following Edward and Layna to his car.

"I love Lucy, you should bring her around more often." Edward opened the car door for Layna before he got in.

Soon, they were on their way to the courthouse. As Edward's car left the driveway, a new car appeared seconds later. Nate's beat up truck parked in Edward's place. Out came Nate with a beer in his hand. He looked around the house and noticed that nobody was home so he sat down on the steps until someone arrived, that someone being Janis.

She had her hair done with minimal makeup on. Janis was looking through her purse to find her house key that Edward gave her, but couldn't find it. She didn't notice Nate sitting on the steps until he said her name.

"What are you doing here? Came to give me a speech so I bail on my own wedding?" Janis ignored his stares as she passed by him. Finally, she found the silver key at the bottom of her purse.

"You getting married, Jan?" Nate asked, getting up from the floor and followed Janis inside the house.

"Nate, just leave. I have to change." Janis set her purse down on the kitchen table.

"So you are getting hitched to the guy . . . He's nice. I like him." Nate giggled.

"Are you fucking drunk? Go somewhere else, you cannot ruin this day for me." Janis tried to push him out, but he planted his feet firmly so he barely moved.

"I just need to talk to you. Please, let me talk like an adult . . Please. Just a minute." Nate said lowly.

"Get the fuck out, Nate!"

"Janis, please listen! I know I fucked up and I just want you to know that I love you. And I'm okay that you don't love me back, but I still care. I want you to be happy and if the funny glasses man makes you happy then fuck it. Go be with him! And I wanted to tell you that this is the last time you'll ever see me." Nate set his beer down on the table. He then sat on an empty chair.

Janis swore she heard wrong. "What? You're leaving again?"

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

Janis didn't know what to say. Part of her was glad, but did she actually want him to leave? She didn't know.

"Okay. Is Lara leaving too? Should I just assume you two are sleeping together again?"

Nate scoffed. "One, I never slept with her, she's a bitch. Two, she wants to stay, something about her dad in prison. Three . . . I guess I only had two point, but I swear there was a third."

"You dumb fuck. Okay, leave. You and I will be much better being apart. I have my life, you have your fucked up one, you saw Claudia, explained why everything was so shitty in our lives. You should've left a long time ago." Janis replied.

"Funny you say that. You should've too. You were the one who told me she wanted to leave to somewhere Claudia loved. Like Seattle or even New York. Instead, you stayed." Nate grabbed his almost empty beer bottle to drink from it.

"And I'm glad I did. My life is finally going how I wanted it to. So please just leave me alone." Janis looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

Nate took out a bottle of medium sized bottle of vodka from his pocket inside his jacket. Somehow he managed to fit the bottle. "You need to take your ass to meeting because this sobriety picture you painted is the biggest scam." He twisted the cap off and took a long drink from it.

"You're a dick." Janis said as Nate got up from his seat.

"I'm self aware by now. Doesn't change much," Nate grabbed his wallet form his pocket. Janis watched as he took out a baby picture of Claudia and set it on the table. "I enjoyed my time with her. Tell her I said she's the best thing that ever happened to me and that I never stopped loving her."

And with that, he slowly walked out the door, completely forgetting about the vodka bottle.

Janis walked to the door and slammed it as if it helped get rid of Nate faster. She paced around the room for almost a minute before she sat in the same seat Nate was in minutes ago. She wished she didn't. The vodka bottle was inches away from her, it looked so tempting. But she couldn't. Edward was waiting for her.

She had so many thoughts running through her head. Was she the screwup all along? How did Nate know she wasn't sober? Did she really want to marry Edward?

To stop her worries, she grabbed the vodka and drank until her thoughts disappeared.

An: silly goofy mood ladies, gents and nonbinary friends 😗✌🏼