The Teacher

4: WREN

The last place I would like to be right now is at the mall. I have a massive hangover, and the sounds around me are killing me. I'm with my best friend Yijun, shopping for wedding outfits. A wedding I don't want to attend, but if I don't show, everyone will think I'm not over my ex.

Let me elaborate.

I had been dating Richard for a year and thought he was the one. We were talking about marriage, babies—our future lives together. Everything seemed perfect until it didn't. Richard spent a weekend with his buddies in Vegas and came back a different person. There were no more future talks. He started to get distant, and then the next thing I knew, we were breaking up.

It was a mutual breakup, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't hurt. My gut told me the behavior change must have stemmed from him seeing someone else. Now, I don't have evidence to prove that his soon-to-be wife was the reason, but two months after he and I broke up, they were dating, and then two months after that, they were engaged. Now, a year later, they are getting married. When I received the invite, I should have trashed it, but no, I RSVP'd.

Such an idiot.

Richard and I have a lot of mutual friends, and I've heard rumors about me being bitter and jealous. So, to show everyone that I don't care and have moved on too, I'm going to go. Such a fucking idiot. It's going to crush me to see him exchange vows with another woman.

"What are you thinking about? Do you like that dress?"

I blink repeatedly, coming back to reality. I'm holding a light green spaghetti-strap dress. It's not ugly, but it's not me. I place it back on the rake, shaking my head to Yijun, and pick up another dress. This one is baby pink, strapless, and looks to stop right above the knee. I hold it against me as I look in the mirror.

"Oh, that's gorgeous. You should get it." Her brown eyes sparkle with appreciation.

"It is pretty, but it's not wedding-appropriate."

"Neither is Richard cheating on you and marrying the whore." Her accent comes out strong. Yeah, she is pissed. But I've told her countless times that Richard didn't cheat on me. He would never do such a thing. There was no evidence—he just moved on quicker than I or she would have thought.

My eyes widen as I meet hers through the mirror. She rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders.

"Richard didn't cheat."

"He did. He moved on too fast. Especially if you two were getting along great before that Vegas trip. Then, all of a sudden—you know what the past is in the past. Have you found your plus one yet?" Yijun lifts her eyebrow, giving me a look that says bitch, you better have.

"Sorry to disappoint. I haven't. I've been busy at work and forgot the wedding was tomorrow. I look at her, and she lets out a frustrated breath.

"We need to find you a date and fast. Or you will be going to that wedding alone—"

"I'll have you." I cut her off.

"No, babe, you won't. I have a plus one. That's why I told you to get one. Wren, I'm trying to get my back broken like a chopstick at the end of the night."

"Wouldn't that be painful?" I tease.

"At least I'll be getting fucked."

She says it a little too loud, and the mother walking by with her middle school-aged daughter looks at us with disgust. Grabbing her wrist, I pull her aside—Yijun means well, but her mouth has no filter, and she never reads the room.

"You can't just say stuff like that in public. Especially where kids are."

"How do those little coochie pirates think they got here?" She winks, walking off to another rack of dresses. She really does mean well, I swear.