Let Me Love You | A.G

XXIII

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Three months. It's been three months since I've last spoken to Ariana and ever since then, I've felt miserable.

Alexa has tried to keep me occupied and take my mind off everything but my head always manages to drift back to the last conversation I had with Ari.

But, I moved on, got a job and officially moved into Alexa's apartment and honestly, I've been doing pretty great financially.

As I went out to check the mailbox this morning, I was surprised to see nothing in there but one envelope. Being me, of course I opened it.

In the envelope was like a card or something. When I opened the card and read it, I saw that it was an invitation to a dinner party. Wait... did I read that right?

"Hey, do you know what the fuck this is?" I ask Alexa who was sitting on the couch, handing her the card.

"Seems like a dinner invitation," She states the obvious.

"What would I ever do without you Sherlock?" I ask sarcastically, "Seriously, what is that and who is it from?"

"Honestly, it might be the invitation to Ariana's dinner party for the wedding. You know she's getting married in like three days," She tells me.

"Why the fuck would she still want me there after what happened?" I shake my head.

"You're still her best friend, Jayce. She wants you to be there no matter what happened between y'all," She reassures.

"I really gotta go?" Alexa nods with a smile, "Fuck!"

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"Dude, I gotta puke," I say to Alexa as we approached Ariana's house.

"You're so dramatic," She giggles, "It's gonna be okay."

"No it's not. I can literally feel my stomach dropping to my ass," I tell her, parking the car in front of the house.

"Jayce, get out the car," She laughs, stepping out first as I follow behind her to the front door.

She then knocks on the door, sending my heart into overtime as it was trying to keep blood flow in my body.

I swear my blood ran cold once the door started to open.

"Wow, you actually came," Ariana's eyes widen in shock but soon turns her shock into a look of pure happiness.

"I was forced," I give a fake smile, receiving a smack to the back of my head by Alexa, "Jesus fuck, woman."

"Be nice or shut the fuck up," She turns back to Ariana with a smile, "We're both very glad to be here."

"Extremely," I roll my eyes. Ari giggles at the interaction, opening the door further so we can walk in.

"Oh my god, it's my favorite Mexican," Victoria exclaims, coming over to us. Alexa and I look at each other in confusion.

"Which Mexican is she talking about?" She whispers to me in which I shrug in response.

"You do realize we're both Mexican, right?" I ask Vic to which she covers her mouth with her hand.

"Shit, I got my immigrants mixed up," She says inciting a laugh from both of us.

"Fuck you, we're legal," I shake my head as we approach the living room to see everyone else who's apart of the wedding. I'm pretty sure I even saw Mac. Never knew him and Ariana were close.

"What's up fucker? Haven't seen you in a while," Mac says to me, dapping me up.

"Yeah, I probably need to come visit or something," I tell him.

I continued to greet everyone else in the house, excluding Dalton. I don't know what it is about that guy but something's off about him and I wanna know what.

All the guys, including me, engaged in a pretty interesting conversation in the living room as the women prepared the food in the kitchen.

Kinda sexist, I know. I don't make the rules though.

People that were going to be apart of the wedding were pretty much all of Ariana's friends... and Scooter. The most important ones there were Doug, Scott, and Brian. On the girls' side, Victoria, Courtney, Liz, Demi and Taylor.

"How come any of your friends aren't apart of the wedding?" I asked Dalton as all the guys sat in the living room along with us.

He pauses for a second, "I don't really have any."

"How have you been in Florida your whole life but don't have any friends?" I question with my arms crossed, not buying his story at all.

"We lost touch after college. They were pretty jealous I ended up being a pretty successful real estate agent," He brags.

Mac and I give each other the same suspicious look.

"And you never considered that it's probably because you're a dick?" I ask, tilting my head to the side. He shifts in his seat uncomfortably.

"Jayce, what's good with you man?" Scott asks me as Dalton and I stare at each other with pure hatred.

"No, I got this," Dalton smirks, "Are you upset because I got your girl and you didn't?"

I smile widely, slightly ticked off but don't wanna show it, "You're fucking with the wrong person. Tread lightly buddy."

"What makes you think I'm scared of you?" He whispers, leaning in closer to me.

"Because I can fuck your bitch whenever I feel like it," I watch as the color drains from his face, slowly turning bright red as if he was going to explode.

I lean back in my seat, looking around as the guys stare in horror at what they just witnessed.

"Dinner's ready dickheads," Alexa shouts from the kitchen.

All the guys look at Dalton and I before slowly getting up and leaving for the kitchen. I stand up to go follow them.

On the way out though, I made sure to whisper in Dalton's ear, "Next time, choose your words more carefully or you'll end up in a casket."

As I walked into the kitchen, I saw everyone making their plates so I decided to make mine.

Shortly after, everyone is sat at the table. For two minutes, no one said a single word until Victoria spoke up, "Why is everyone so quiet?"

"Yeah, great question," Ariana looks at all the guys, and me, suspiciously, "Someone needs to talk."

I look ahead of me as I was sitting right across from Dalton. Ariana caught my stare.

She sighs deeply, "Y'all have to act like kids today?"

My head quickly snaps over to Ariana, "No one did anything, chill."

"Chill?" She chuckles lowly, "Jayce, can I talk to you for a second?"

I didn't get even get a chance to answer before she stood up abruptly, waiting for me to follow her, so I did.

"What the fuck was that Jayce?" She asks frantically, shutting the door behind her.

"Not that it's any of your business, we had a small disagreement but we're all good," I lie, smiling as she stares in disbelief.

"We haven't seen each other in three fucking months and you already decide to stir up shit," She scoffs, crossing her arms, "What's your deal?"

"You really do have your mind set that I'm the bad guy," I let out a small laugh, "Why did you even invite me?"

"You're still my best friend, Jay. I couldn't do this without you," She says, exchanging her angry look for a more softer look.

"Breaking news asshole, your best friend is in love with you," I look down at my feet for a second before looking back at her, "You'll see the real Dalton one of these days."

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A/N: So... we know a little bit more about Dalton. Kind of suspicious how he doesn't have any friends. Also, Ariana's getting married soon, any thoughts on that? Next chapter will be out tomorrow so stayed tuned!