All of Me | Protector 1.4

Chapter 23

Shout out to the lovely Lunagust for the cover. :)

Chapter 23

       Apparently, Tony was throwing a bachelor party and he was going out tonight for it. Seriously. I didn't even know he had that many friends.

       I thought he didn't even have one friend.

       I was such a bitch sometimes, but it was fun.

       Tony was by the door, getting ready to leave. "I still don't know how you were able to invite more than one person," I said.

       "Ha ha," he said with an eye roll. "I still don't know why I'm in love with you."

       "I can give you a bunch of reasons," I said. "I'm beautiful, hilarious, flawless...."

       "And modest," Tony said as he walked over. He kissed my forehead. "I'll see you when I come back. If you ever need anything, just give me a call."

       "What if I need you?" I asked, having fake tears form around my eyes.

       "Yeah, you know I'm able to tell if your tears are fake, right?" he asked. "You tried it on me too many times."

       "I don't like you."

       Tony smiled at me and gave me a kiss. "I love you too, Charlie."

       "Anthony."

       Tony sighed. "Stop calling me that."

       "Aww, but it's fun seeing you get all mad like that," I said, smiling at him. "Just go have fun. But not too much fun because I'll be sitting here all alone."

       He gave me yet another kiss and after he left, I turned on the TV, prepared to be bored for the rest of my life. I wasn't even going to throw a bachelorette party because I wasn't really a party person and none of my bridesmaids seemed like a party person as well.

       I didn't really care. I would much rather sit in front of the TV and eat pizza than go out and party. 

       There was a sudden knock on the door, so I paused the movie I was watching and got up to answer it. I knew it wasn't Lydia because she, thankfully, stopped coming by to try to get me to 'apologize' for acting the way I did.

       The last time she came, I told her to take a long walk off a short bridge. After she had the baby, of course, because I didn't want to wish that onto a baby.

       I opened the door, feeling shocked to see my younger sister standing there, looking a bit upset. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

       "I needed someone to talk to," Matilda said. "Someone I know would understand what I'm going through."

       I hesitated for a bit before letting her into the apartment. She took off her shoes and we sat down on the couch. "So, what's going on?" I asked. "And why would I understand?"

       "First, I just want to say I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have taken Lydia's side over what happened and I was really inconsiderate onto how you were feeling."

       "Yeah, everyone was," I said. "Still is. But at least you're apologizing. After over a year and a half. So, what is going on?"

       Matilda sighed. "I had a boyfriend for about three months. Then today, I found out that he was cheating on me. With my best friend."

      "Oh, I'm so sorry," I said. "How did you find out?"

      "He told me he was feeling sick," she said. "So I went to bring him some homemade soup and....I heard them." She wiped a tear away. "I really liked him, and he just betrayed me."

      I pulled her into a hug. "I really am sorry. But maybe something good will come out of this. Maybe you'll find an even better friend than your best friend, or an even better guy."

      "That's what happened to you, right?" she asked. "Mom and Dad told me you're engaged. I didn't even know you had a boyfriend."

       "Yeah, I tried not to let you guys know because of the way you all acted," I said.

       "I'm really sorry about that," she said. "I really know how you feel now. Well, it wasn't my sister who hooked up with my boyfriend, but....You know what Mom and Dad told me? To get over it."

       I scoffed. "Wow. I can't believe they would say that yet again. I guess we know who their favorite is."

       "Yeah," Matilda said. "They probably said it to me just because my grades aren't doing that well in school. I'm close to failing most of my classes."

       "That doesn't give them a right to say that," I said. "Your grades have nothing to do with the fact that you were cheated on."

       "They think otherwise," Matilda said. "Anyway, let's talk about something else that isn't going to kill the mood. How did you meet your fiance?"

       "At work," I said. "He's one of the teachers there as well. I'm surprised you didn't know I had a boyfriend. He came with me to Lydia and Ian's wedding."

       "Oh," she said. "I didn't notice. I'm guessing you live with him because of all the stuff here that doesn't look like it belongs to you. Where is he right now?"

       "He's at his bachelor party," I said. "He just left a few minutes before you showed up here."

       "Are you going to have a bachelorette party?" she asked and I shook my head in reply. "Why not? You're getting married. You have to have one!"

       "No way," I said. "I hate parties, all my bridesmaid hates parties. Not happening."

       "That's lame," she said. "You could at least just hang out with all of them and not party. Who are the bridesmaids anyway?"

       "Well, Tony, my fiance, and I decided to have two bridesmaids and groomsmen, plus the best man and the maid of honor," I said. "The bridesmaids are two of my co-workers and the maid of honor is his younger sister."

       "I'm allowed to come to the wedding, right?" she asked.

       "Yeah, of course," I said. "I wasn't going to invite you guys to be honest, but Tony thinks that I should anyway. I'm trying to be the bigger person, no matter how much Mom, Dad, and Lydia aren't accepting it."

       "That's they're fault," Matilda said. "They're all jerks."

       "At least one of you turned around," I said.

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Yay, I was finally able to post! I just have to figure out what the next chapter is. I might just have Tarlie hang out with Popson. :D

THEN THE WEDDING CHAPTER THEN THE EPILOGUE THEN I'M DONE. And I'll be holding off on Dedrick's book to plan it out a bit and to lower my book load.