Proxy

Two

Savannah's mail arrived as promised and Harley completes her work for the week.

She threw back her head and took a short rest before rummaging through her folders and work schedule. Her eyes landed on her next, and probably the last, proxy-job.

She took a mirror from her bag and studies her features with a keen expression. She's going to proxy another wedding yet, and she can't look a day older.

Fixing up her day makeup with her mascara and matte lipstick, Harley smiled at her mirror impressed by the results.

She took her wallet and packed a bag for the night. Checking her apartment for one last time, Harley took her cellphone after locking the door, dialling Savannah's number.

Please pick it up. Please don't be busy. She silently begged.

By the fourth ring, her client answered and she quickly asked him relevant questions regarding the groom.

"H-hey, who's the groom again?" Harley asks.

"Oh, I didn't tell you? His name is Clay. Barclay Marksons." Savannah said in a serious tone.

"What?" This is madness! Then everything froze in her line of vision. For Harley, it doesn't matter that the some of her neighbors were talking in rather odd voices, how the person beside her looks like she was about to fall down her face in the next minute, or that the clock by the wall takes forever to tick on the next second.

All that she was thinking of was the groom's name. The very name that sent chills down to her spine at the mere mention of it.

"H-hello? Helloooo." The woman's voice says from her mobile. "I'll be right back at you in a while, Hare. I gotta go to the Bahamas for a business deal. Good luck with the wedding!" Then the line went off.

"Hare..." Harley mutters her childhood nickname. The one that she never uses after she switched schools almost 300 miles away.

I can't do this. She said to herself. No! Be mature about this. You're a grown woman now! There's no way you would fall down again because of a childhood bully... right?

She was having a mental battle with herself, her hands shaking in fear.

"Tell me why you're friends with me again?" Harley texted Savannah but she was not expecting a reply. After a few minutes of waiting, eventually, she shoved her phone in her nightbag and hailed for a cab.

"It's just gonna be work, Harley. Nothing else." She mutters again. I just hope he won't recognize me.

The driver looks at her suspiciously from the side mirror and Harley gave him a weak smile assuring him that she wasn't crazy in the most subtle way she could.

The suite was neatly furnished and Harley dressed on the wedding gown and applied on her makeup. This is what makes hiring her convenient because unlike other girls, she can manage to look stunning with minumum effort and without help.

One of the bride's cousin went to check on her asking if she's ready because the relatives of the groom were growing impatient.

"Harley-Hare, I didn't know you were marrying this idiot!" A guy exclaims from behind her. She swung around in shock and was baffled at the sight of Troy Coleman, Barclay's bestfriend, obviously, the best man.

He was wearing a dark suit but with a light aura surrounding him, mainly because of his smile.

Unlike his bestfriend, Troy wasn't a bully and was keen on apologizing to Harley for almost every time that Clay does anything to her. He's like the light side in the dark void made by Clay.

"T-Troy! What a surprise!" Was all she managed to say when a tall guy in a dark blue suit appeared from behind Troy.

"Can you believe it, Man? It's Harley-Hare." Troy said, not removing his eyes off of her. "So you go by the name of Savannah now? I must say, this pair is quite... unconventional."

"She's just a proxy, T. Come on." And then he left after boring holes back into her soul causing her long, buried fears to come springing back to life.

"I know about that. Just messing with you. Come on." Troy said as if coaxing a reluctant child.

And like a loyal puppy, Troy followed him and was soon walking down the aisle into a crowd of smiling faces.

Her feet felt weak and everything around her blurs as she tries to dry away some of her tears by gently shaking her head, being careful enough so as not to ruin her makeup.

After the signing of legal documents, well, mostly Barclay's, Harley slipped away from the crowd and donned on her day outfit. She was planning to escape the ocassion as soon as possible before it's too late.

And all hell broke lose.

"I didn't know that you do these kind of jobs, Harley-Hare." Harley cringed at the thought of hearing that dreaded nickname coming from his lips.

It was a nickname made and used only by Troy until he used it to taunt her and make her life a living hell.

Tears fell down her eyes as she saw flashbacks of her sophomore year as if she was walking down the memory lane. Except that she's no longer alone but with the very person that she really hated.

Or the one that hated her.

"Why are you crying?" He said with a bored expression.

But she didn't answer. The nerve of him to ask me why!

"F*ck, Hare. Are you just gonna whine about what happened 14 years ago? Be a grown woman and accept it!" He spat.

He walked closer to her, about to reach out a hand to make peace with her but she flinched, making him fume with anger.

He gritted his teeth and the woman in front of him was shaking like a leaf looking terrified as if death was knocking at her door.

"Oh, you think it's too easy to forget, huh?! Did you know the hurt I've been through?! Have you ever wondered about what happened to the girl who almost died because of you!?" And with that, she left Clay shocked and unable to move himself.

Moments later, Troy was able to awaken him from his trance by asking him where his Harley-Hare went because they have a lot of catching up to do.

"She left."

"She just left? You didn't do anything to her?" His bestfriend's voice sounded suspicious.

"Y-yeah."

"I left her for you for a few minutes and you still blew it. You really didn't do anything to her... right?"

"Of course, Man. What do you think of me, some sicko or what?"

"When it comes to her, you were." He sadly replied.

"We just talked for a bit, okay? But she just snapped. Well, I was the first one because she wouldn't talk to me." Clay explains, hoping to get a little hint of support coming from his best friend.

When it comes to Harley, he's always the one without favour because of his track record of making a personal mess out of Harley's life.

At times, he doesn't even understand why Troy stayed with him but he didn't bother to ask because he'd just get called a sissy if he did.

"If you say so, Bro. I knew you'd grow out on it." Then he gave him a warm hug before pulling him outside to talk to some of his family members.