Wedding Special

Chapter One

1 - Jason P.O.V.

I felt like I was suffocating, but I plastered a smile on my face and did as I was told. I stood where I was told. I kept my mouth shut and I stared straight ahead, trying not to pass out from this overwhelming feeling. I was standing up, as Best man, for my best friend Andrew Welker's wedding. Drew was a professional basketball star and was marrying his long-term girlfriend, Kira Tisdale. Drew and I went as far back as kindergarten. I had always figured that I would get married way before him, considering how much of a man-whore he'd been before he met Kira. Their story was more than crazy. They'd officially met during a tornado. They'd taken cover together and were trapped, until they could be rescued. Drew was instantly hooked on her, even though she wasn't his usual type. I was glad that he was settling down with a girl like Kira. She was a good girl and I wished them all the happiness in the world.

Drew and I looked so much alike people had confused us for brothers. That'd been fine with us. We were brothers at heart. Thankfully, we lived in a diverse enough town that our obvious Hispanic heritage had never caused us any issued. Drew's family had money. My dad died just before I was born, so Mom and I had barely scraped by some days and still people never really treated us differently. I'd half wondered if kids were nice to me at school, only because I was best friends with Drew, but I'd never dug deep enough to find out.

So, it wasn't the fact that I resented Drew was getting married before I was. I just didn't like weddings. You see, while Drew had been a man-whore, I'd only been intimate with one girl while in high school. It didn't go well. She and I both agreed to never talk about it again and we avoided each other after that, letting a two-year long relationship die a sudden death. People thought that I had game with the ladies, but the truth was, I was unbelievably awkward. At least, back then I was, I'd gotten better over the years. Two years ago, I met a girl, who I thought was the one. Danielle and I dated for only a couple months before I proposed. I'd feared that I was rushing things, but Dani had been so excited to get my ring, that I pushed my worries away. She was tall, blond, and gorgeous. She was a model, but hadn't been able to get too many gigs, so we had moved in together to help her save money. A month after we got engaged, I came home from work to find my apartment completely cleaned out and I never heard from Dani again. She'd not only stomped on my heart, but she had robbed me blind.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Dani had left a note. She'd claimed that if I had been more exciting then she would have stuck around, but she'd decided that she didn't want to be married to a boring accountant after all. Thankfully, she had shown her true colors to me before I got hired at a big accounting firm, where I'd be making six figures. I had little doubt that she would have stuck around a bit longer, to mooch off me, all the while pretending to love me. It was a huge hit and I still wasn't completely recovered, considering the near panic attack I was currently trying to ward off, while standing at the front of the church.

The wedding march began to play as I stuck my finger in the collar of my shirt, pulling on it and trying to breath. Was I visibly sweating? I felt like people were staring right at me, probably wondering what the hell my problem was. What was my problem, anyway? I mean, I was happy for Drew and Kira, so was it just this wedding scene that was causing me to freak the fuck out? A vision in red entered the church then and I felt my breath hitch in my throat, for an entirely different reason. This girl was gorgeous and something about her seemed familiar. Surely if I'd met her before, I would remember though, right? She was perfect and I felt something stir in my chest for the first time in a long while.

After Dani, I stopped being so choosy with my bed partners, but I could never get into the casual sex scene. So right now, I was going through a six-month dry spell and I was feeling every inch of it in that moment, while staring at the gorgeous brunette who stood in the maid of honor's spot. I racked my brain, trying to remember who Drew said was in the wedding party, but anytime the wedding had been brought up, a ringing had started in my ears. I'd even avoided the rehearsal the night before, pretending to have gotten stuck at work, being the horrible friend that I was. So, I had no recollection of the maid-of-honor's identity. Her eyes met mine and her smile slipped a little, temporarily replaced with a look of concern, before she plastered that gorgeous grin back on.