The One: Scandalous Redemption (The One Series-Book10) (ORIGINAL DRAFT)

Chapter23-The Wedding

A/N FROM 2018: So a few years ago, I was actually nearing the end of this work. For some reason, I never uploaded the last two chapters. So tonight and sometime over the weekend, I'll upload the last two chapters. It'll finally give closure to the original draft of The One Series, even though the ending of this story was planned to be a cliffhanger. So yeah, read at your own risk.

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Chapter23-The Wedding

December 22nd, 2012

It's now December, and it was day when Libby was going to marry her fiancé, Jason. The girls of 7th Anthem were her bridesmaids, while some of Jason's friends, and his little brother were his groomsmen. The wedding was at a hotel, and it was private. The theme was winter and ice, fitting as it was almost Christmas.

Libby was in one room with her bandmates. She looked at herself in three full-length mirrors. She wore a long white gown. The sleeves were made of lace. Her dress was similar to Duchess Catherine's wedding dress from earlier that year. 

Libby sighed nervously as she looked at herself. Alyson asked, "Libby, you okay?"

She replied, "Yeah, I am. I'm just nervous. I never thought I'd ever get married."

Amanda asked, "Did you tell Jason about your past?"

With that, the girls glared at Amanda. Libby told her, "No, I didn't tell him. If I told him, we wouldn't be getting married. Hell, he'd even think I gave him STDs. As far as I know, I'm clean, and my past still hasn't leaked out."

Alyson said, "As long as Ethan doesn't fuck things up, you should be okay."

Libby said, "This is Ethan we're talking about. He'll fine one or another to fuck things up."

"True."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

At the same time at another room, the guys were with Jason. Jason was standing in front of the mirror, looking at his black suit. He looked very professional. He turned to the guys, and said, "I'm really nervous about this."

One of his teammates, Ryder, told him, "It's okay, dude. You could be getting cold feet, but you get to marry your beautiful wife."

Jason smiled brightly when he heard that.

Justin watched all of this in silence. He then looked at the floor. Trevor and Andrew noticed he looked upset, so Andrew got up, and said to him, "Justin, can we talk? Outside of this room?"

Justin looked up, and nodded his head. They both walked to the pool area of the hotel. Andrew asked him, "What's wrong?"

Justin asked, "Why do you ask that?"

"You've been moody and quiet all morning. Something's up."

Justin sighed, and explained: "It's the wedding. Seeing Libby getting married makes me think about Bailey. I mean, Bailz and I were together since high school. We were dubbed as the perfect couple, whilst you and Alyson were dubbed as the sexy couple. There were times I thought about marrying her, but now she's with another man. I really don't want her marrying him, but I know she'll never forgive me for all the shit I caused last year. She'll never love me back. I would do anything to win her heart again, but I know I fucked up badly."

Andrew looked at him with irritation. He bit his lip, and said, "Okay, I'm honestly tired of this, so I'm going to give you a piece of my mind. Cut. The. Crap! And stop making fucking excuses! Look, it's obvious that you still love Bailey, but you're too much of a chicken to try to win her over! So you resort to dating both guys and girls just to get over her. Apparently it's not working because you're fucking depressed at a wedding for one of our friends and bandmates!"

Justin was impressed with what he told him. He said, "Andrew! That...that was mature of you. I mean, yeah, you kind of bit my head off, but yeah."

Andrew looked at him intently, and said, "I've grown up a lot recently. I went through shit lately that forced me to grow up from being a teenager to an adult. I went through hell with Natalie. I lost fans after I became honest with myself concerning my past as a grade school bully. I...I lost Alyson several times to make me realize that she's my soul mate. I love her too much to lose her again.

"This entire year has humbled me. I'm not that arrogant asshole I was before. I'm a 23-year-old man, and I still have more growing up to do. I had to man up, and that means you need to do the same thing."

Justin was silent for a moment, and said quietly, "I'm scared, Andrew."

"Scared of what?"

Justin said a little louder, "I'm scared to grow up. I'm scared to man up. I mean, just yesterday we were teenagers. We were in high school. You and I were rivals. We were just kids. Now we're in our 20s, and it scares me. It scares me to grow up when I've been in spotlight since I was 15."
Andrew sighed, and said, "Justin...you have to. I know it's hard. I know it's scary. I know it doesn't help to have the spotlight on us 24-7. But you have to face your fears sooner or later. You got no choice but to grow up."

Justin nodded his head as he looked at the ground.

>>>>>>>>>>>

It's a few hours later. Everyone was at the wedding reception. Justin was with his new girlfriend, who was a model. She was enjoying her surroundings...except for Justin. He was lost in thought and glancing at Bailey. 

He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, yet he was afraid of how she might react. He wasn't even sure if she felt the same for him. Remembering what Andrew told him, he decided to get up from his chair. He walked up to her and her boyfriend Sean.

Bailey was busy conversing with Sean when Justin walked up to them. Then they stopped as soon as they saw him.

Bailey said, "Hey, Justin. What brings you by?"

Justin stared at the couple. He mentally said to her that he loves her, and that he was sorry for putting her through so much. Even asking if he could take her back. Instead, he said nothing. He just couldn't get the words out of his mouth. He felt she deserved someone better than him.

So he told her, "Nothing. Just came to say hi...and that I hope you're doing well."

Bailey looked at him weirdly, and said, "Um, thank you, I guess."

With that, Justin walked back to his table. He sighed heavily as he felt heartbroken to let her go for good. He sees Andrew eyeing him. Suddenly, he gets a text from Andrew. The text read, "What happened?"

Justin texted back, "She deserves better than me. End of story."

Andrew looked at Justin with sympathy. Then it was time for all the couple to dance the newly married Libby and Jason.