Enamour [boyxboy]

Chapter 27 - The Wedding Pt. IV

           

Chapter 27

The Wedding Pt. IV

•Jake's POV•

My responses to Mark were only half-hearted; I was primarily focused on listening to Ethan and Amanda exchange pleasantries about the wedding. It made me smile, made my heart warm, having my two favourite people in the world getting along.

I don't know what I would do if Amanda hadn't approved of Ethan, because I loved him too much to let him go, but Amanda's approval was everything to me – I wanted her to like the man I was with, wanted them to get along so badly.

I couldn't be happier with how well Amanda and Ethan were getting along.

Mark nudged me with his elbow slightly – my head was hung, hands in my pockets, but I could tell, through Mark's tone of voice, that he had an obvious grin on his face. He said to me, "he seems better than the last guy you were with."

"Oh no, I'm still with him, kind of," I said.

"Oh, really?" was all Mark said, a tone of slight shock evident in his voice.

That's when I noticed the silence. The deathly silence between us four, despite the constant chatter of other wedding guests spread out around the large grass area, despite the slight wind rustling the leaves on the trees on the riverbank.

Amanda and Ethan had stopped talking, and I had been too caught up in my own thoughts to even realise.

We'd all stopped walking, I realised.

I wasn't prepared for the betrayal that had consumed every feature of Ethan's face. He was the epitome of heartbreak. I wanted to say something, wanted so desperately to take back the words I had said, but there was no going back from this.

The words had been said, and I knew Ethan would never forgive me.

The sight of tears surfacing in Ethan's eyes cracked my heart. This was all me – the slumped shoulders, and open and shocked mouth, and the tear-filled eyes. This was my doing.

No words could make their way out of my mouth.

I had broken Ethan's heart, and all I had to do was say a few wrong words.

I didn't take my eyes off Ethan – each second that passed was another crack in my own heart. But I noticed the look my sister was giving me without taking my eyes off Ethan. She looked beautiful in her wedding dress, with her hair and makeup all done up; she looked like an angel.

But the look on her face, a looked that promised death later, a looked that oozed of disappointment and shame and anger, could only be described as a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

At this point, death seemed like the best option.

Ethan said, "I'm sorry, I have to go." His voice was monotone, numb of all feeling, but I could tell, by the look on his face, and by the way that he walked away – towards the hotel back doors – with his head hung low, and his shoulders slumped, that I had broken his heart.

Unconsciously, I took a few steps forward, my arm outstretched slightly. "Ethan, please!" I shouted out, hating myself that I could only just get words out. But I knew there were no words that could justify what I had done. Ethan didn't even hesitate, didn't even seem to think about stopping.

Ethan was only a few steps before the hotel doors when I called out, "Ethan!" Then he disappeared through the doors. "I'm sorry." The words were a mutter of utter defeat, my arm dropping back to my side.