No Strings Attached | ✓ 18+

twenty-nine .ೃ࿐

"Hey," she offered me a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry. I saw you up there, as a part of the bridal party earlier and I realized that I hadn't thought to text you that I would be coming. Then again, I don't actually have your number anymore and I wasn't entirely certain about who the bridal party consisted of....I'm rambling. I'm sorry, regardless."

Something in me had shifted, and I realized I didn't want to fight with her. I never really wanted to, anyway. I felt somewhat sad that we'd fallen to the point where she'd felt the need to almost warn me that she might be in my presence, when a few months ago we were tangled together in the same bed.

"Don't apologize," I said, shaking my head. I leaned against the bathroom counter, to be a social amount of space between us, so we didn't feel threatened by each other. "We were bound to see each other sometime anyway."

Gina offered me a sheepish smile again. It was sad, I could tell by the way it didn't quite reach her eyes. She still felt guilty about what happened between the two of us.

"I think that we should just put what happened between us in the past," I began, taking a deep breath. Had I expected to receive closure in the restroom at my newfound best friend's wedding? No, I did not. However, I continued on. "Obviously, we were both unhappy, and I don't want you to continue to beat yourself up for a mistake you made a long time ago."

She nodded, understanding. "I still am sorry though, Adalyn. I swear to it. There isn't a day where I don't feel guilty for what I did to you, to us. I might not be in love with you anymore, but I still feel bad for being the one that was the reason why we fell apart in the first place."

My heart seized in my chest. I couldn't tell if it was pain, or some sort of happiness. Finally, I'd heard her apologize in the right state of mind, (not a desperate one), and I wasn't at all feeling like I wanted to crawl back into her arms. We were okay, for the first time since before she'd cheated on me.

I opened my arms for her and she fell right into me, and it felt like a far-away home, some kind of nostalgia, that I had apparently been seeking for awhile. It felt genuine. Every ounce of anger that I had felt for her seeped away and I now was left feeling grateful that I'd ran into her in the first place.

When she pulled away, I didn't hesitate to give her a small smirk. "So, who'd you come with here today?" I was tempted to make a joke about the girl she'd been sleeping with on the side when we were together, but I wasn't entirely certain that it was appropriate, especially since we just made amends.

She caught my drift though, (she always does), and shook her head. "I stopped seeing Laine shortly after you and I split. I felt terrible about the whole thing, and I didn't know what I was even doing with her in the first place. She was mad at me, and we lost her team as a client shortly afterward. It wasn't good business, that's for sure." Gina laughed lightly. "But anyway, I'm here with a friend."

I gave her a look and she held her hands up in defense.

"I swear! Just a friend. She's a close family friend to the groom. Her date had bailed on her last minute, so she offered up the ticket to me. I was free, so I happily obliged, wanting something to do for the weekend. You could imagine my shock when I saw you standing up there during the ceremony. You look beautiful in that dress, by the way."

"Thank you," I couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad to hear you're doing well, though. I really didn't wish anything bad upon you. Maybe at first, but not anymore."

"How long have you and that guy we saw at the zoo that one time been together? I saw him looking at you from across the aisle, by the way, so don't lie. He's absolutely smitten by you." She kicked my foot lightly with her foot from across where she was standing. "I also had the time to give him a once-over. He is devilishly handsome, damn."

I swatted her away with a laugh. "We aren't together, Gina."

There was music playing now, I could feel the bass from the speakers pumping into the floor tiles of the washroom. I'd assumed the ice in my drink was melted by now, and I'd have to order a fresh one. Also, Amber was probably looking for me, since I was supposed to laugh at her jokes in her speech this evening.

Gina obviously understood that I needed to be returning to my seat now, so she linked her arm in mine. As she pulled me out of the restroom and back into the person-filled chaos of the venue, she shot me a look. "Maybe you aren't together, but you should be."

I laughed at that, but I knew the thought of being with him was going to stick with me for the rest of the evening. 

She was right. That was the worst part about Gina, really. She was always right about things like that. 

I needed to go talk to him.