The Wedding Issue

Chapter Thirty - New Beginnings

Genevieve poured us some champagne while I toured around her impressively huge living room area. My whole apartment could fit into this space. It was no wonder that she felt claustrophobic in there. I must admit I felt a little claustrophobic myself when I was packing. For some reason, many memories of Claire and I decided to torture me one last time while I was back in the apartment. Despite what I've witnessed this afternoon, I was finding it a bit hard to forget about her. I guess six years is a long time for someone to leave quite an impression on you. Was it weird that I was feeling a bit guilty about the way I left things with Claire?

She didn't deserve the guilt I was feeling. I had to keep reminding myself that so that it doesn't eat me up alive. At best when I wanted to end things with Claire, I chose to be honest about it. I thought she at least deserved that. She, on the other hand, wanted to start a marriage with the most disgusting lie I could possibly think of. Looking back, I never noticed any tell-tale signs to the dirty little secret she so cleverly concealed. The saddest part of all was that I really did love her, and that's why it was hard to shake the feeling of betrayal that consumed my chest. It almost made it hard to breathe. I'd be drinking my weight if I were alone right now.

'Here you go', Genevieve handed me a fragile champagne flute before she seated herself next to me.

She took a long sip of her bubbly before she looked me in the eyes and encouraged me to talk. She was just as horrified as I was by the details of the little tale I had to share. Her frown deepened and I could tell she felt quite as deceived as I felt, if not more.

'I know I've only met her a couple of times, but it just seems so out of character of her', she managed to say after a long pause.

'People tend to fool you', I said as I emptied my flute.

'I didn't think she had it in her', she whispered out loud.

I shifted uneasily in my place. Of all people, I should've known that Claire totally had it in her. I just refused to let myself see the darker side of her. I guess she was pretty good at hiding that self of her too. She almost got away with it if it hadn't been for Genevieve. A small sense of relief started showing its light in my chest.

'Why do you think she did it, though?', she asked the question that has been bugging me this whole time.

'She mentioned something about her not feeling good enough for me, and how I didn't really cater to her needs', I said with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

She chuckled. She too thought it was ridiculous. Before Genevieve showed up in my life, I was all about Claire. I could swear on my parents' lives that everything and anything I did was always to build a happy and secure future with Claire. She never hindered my dreams and I never did hers. We always found a way to support each other and we were always each other's fans. I never once missed a step or faltered at one for her to claim that I ever made her feel like she wasn't good enough. If anything, it was Clair that made me feel that I wasn't up to pace with her. Her logic drove me crazy, and the only thing I could think of to give her reason was that she just wasn't able to handle the commitment. She may have wanted a big, fancy wedding, but it was the marriage part that made her go running the other way.

'That sounds eerily similar to something my mother would say', she said as she placed our flutes on the stylish, glass coffee table.

'It's a shame the two didn't get the chance to meet. They would've enjoyed each other's company', I said sarcastically, though I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice.

She looked at me with pity in her eyes. I didn't want her to think that I was having second thoughts about us, so I held her hand and inched closer to her. She gave me weak smile and looked at the ground as if she felt guilt-ridden.