An Arranged Marriage to a Jerk

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Confessions

Everyone is furious with me when i tell the story at the girls night in. We are in the middle of The Titanic with snacks, pop, and pillows surrounding us. I stuff some Twizzlers in my mouth and look down guiltily. I know I blew it.

"How could this happen?!" Sarah yells. "You looked perfect! And he didn't even say anything? And then you got into an argument and..."

"And ruined everything!" Nikki cuts in.

"What could have possible made you say that! Everything could have been fine, you could have kept dating, and-" Kim begins.

"And what?" I yell at Kim. "What could I have done? I am getting married to Connor. And I hate him!And I have four months to fall in love with another man who is willing to get married after graduation and take over my father's extremely powerful law firm?"

"Well... yeah." Kim's eyes get red.

"Really? Because I think this seems like a terrible plan! Can't I just run away and hide and pretend like this never happened? Never get married, throw away this stupid ring, and just forget all of this?" I pull off the ring and throw it at the wall.

Mark walks over and brings it back. He sets it in my lap and looks away.

"Don't you think you're being a bit overdramatic?" Nikki asks quietly. "I mean, it's not that bad. Sure you have to get married, but as soon as your parents... forget their agreement with his family, you can have a happy divorce and move on."

"But I don't want to get married at eighteen!"

Sarah's eyes are brimming with tears and I roll my eyes. This is my problem, not theirs. She stands and runs to the kitchen. Nikki gives me a hot look and chases after her. Kim looks around awkwardly and says "Well, we're out of Pepsi and Sprite! I'll go get some." She follows them to her kitchen.

I'm left sitting in the dark with Mark. "You haven't said anything," I say quietly.

"Yeah."

I sigh. He's being difficult. "Why?"

He pauses for what seems like forever. "Because there's nothing I can say to help. You are in a... terrible situation. Nothing can be done about it. I know you and running away is not something that you would do. It wouldn't solve anything. And nothing I say can change the fact that your life right now? It sucks. There may seem like there's no way you can get trough this, but there is. We're here for you. And until you walk down that aisle, we won't stop trying to... well, to stop it. Okay?"

I can feel a hot tear dripping down my face. "Okay," I whisper. I grip him in a hug and cry into his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he says. I give him a funny look and he laughs. "They're dancing. Leonardo doesn't die for another half hour! You're crying at the wrong part!"

I laugh and my friends come back into the room. We laugh, we cry, we play Truth or Dare. And in the end, we fell asleep way too late. But right before I drifted into unconsciousness, I was at peace. And then I had one, final thought.

I have another date tomorrow...