Tragic Magic

Chapter Thirty Nine

"TJ how the fuck could you do this to me?" Craig screams at the both of us.

"The moment you bought the ring for Ashley, you sealed your own fate, buddy," TJ keeps an arm around me. "After all, you couldn't have Juliet anyways, you're engaged."

"I would have broken it off if I knew you were going to do this!" His rage builds.

"What?" Ashley creeps in from behind Craig.

"Can you stay out of this for once in your lifetime, Ashley?" He growls at her.

"So you'd rather be with her huh?" Ashley confronts him. All hell is about to break loose.

"You know sometimes I do, but now I can't because she's engaged," his tone calms down a few degrees.

"Yeah, I am," I give him a sickening look. "You are too, so stop acting like I'm the bad guy, Craig. I'm not your enemy."

Ashley cowered back in her own puddle of tears, serves her right for treating me so badly.

"I didn't want it to be like this," Craig's anger has shifted to sadness.

"Yeah," I look over at TJ for help.

"Julie," I hear a voice behind me.

"Hey," I respond, avoiding eye contact with Ronnie.

"Can we talk?" He moves into my sights.

"Yeah, that's fine," I let go of TJ and move away from the chaos.

"So this is it," Ronnie says in a sad tone.

This is it? What does "it" mean? We were always just friends, why is he saying this now?

"What does that mean?" I give him a look.

"You're getting married, Juliet, this is it," he shakes his head. "Remember all the times we spent together? We were so happy, what happened?"

"Yeah, I remember them," I look at the ground. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

"I didn't want to lose you to Craig," he shakes his head, "I didn't lose you to Craig, though, I lost you to TJ."

"It was over two years ago, Ronnie," I feel numb saying this. "It was over a long time ago."

"It wasn't over for me," he forces eye contact. "I always kept you close in hopes that someday things would change and we would be okay again. We're not okay and you're engaged to someone else."

"Do you remember the day you left?" I ask him.

"Yeah, but what does this have to do with-"

"Just listen," I interrupt him. "We talked about everything that day. I didn't know you would be leaving me so soon. We had plans Ronnie."

"And then I was arrested, what's your point, Juliet?"

"I used to tell myself, 'just two years and we will be together again.' I could see us twenty years from then still together, but look what has happened," I shake my head and deny the truth, "Four years later and I'm getting married to someone else."

"Yeah," he shakes his head.

"It was never supposed to be like this, it just happened," I feel a dark presence building up in my chest.

"Save me the story," he shakes his head and turns away. "I guess it's really over."

Those words linger in the empty air, it's over. Why does it have to be over like this? Why can't I reverse time and change things with Ronnie and I? I can't let it go as bad as I want to.

I return to the chaos to find everyone standing in a circle of silence. Something didn't feel right about any of this.

"Hey, Julie," TJ wraps an arm around me.

"Look who's back," Craig mumbles.

"Craig why is this such a big deal to you?" I finally ask, terrified to find the answer.

"Because I love you," he gives me a depressed look.

"Then why didn't you ask me to marry you rather than her?" I can feel the darkness building higher in my chest.

"I don't know," he looks at his ring. "TJ can we trade?"

TJ rolls his eyes and gives him a look. "No," he looks over at Ashley, then back at Craig.

"I'm sorry Craig," I shake my head.

"Yeah, me too," he takes Ashley's hand and disappears back to the tour bus.

"Well," Kevin fills the awkward silence, "Congrats to the both of you."

"Thanks," TJ waves him off.

"I hope you're happy, Juliet. That's all we every wanted for you," Robert gives me a sick look and follows Kevin.

"What are we going to do now?" I turn to TJ for help.

He shrugs and walks off, leaving me alone. I can't explain the helplessness I felt standing there watching the world go by.

I glared at the diamond ring sitting on my finger, hoping this was just a dream, but I knew it wasn't.

Everyone was gone and I was by myself.