Maid in Ink [PUBLISHED]

Chapter Five

The conversation is light, just a little more wedding details being fleshed out. Soon everyone finishes their drinks and walks out the doors. Walking out of Raven's is like leaving behind an old era of unruly teenagers and this time coming out real ass adults who are planning a wedding, raising a kid, traveling the world, and saving to buy a car.

Anthony says his goodbyes to Casey and Levi and then he turns to me. "How come it takes a wedding for you to come down and visit?" he asks.

Off to the side I hear Casey strike up another conversation with Dylan about the honeymoon.

"I know," I tell him. "I promise I'll visit more, especially after the wedding."

"What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Probably in the afternoon. I want to stop by your place though. I bought a birthday present for Olivia."

"Hell yeah," he nods. "You know Olivia will love to see you," he says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

My attention turns to Dylan for a second and I see him explaining something to Casey. "Is he going to be there?" I ask quietly.

He shrugs. "He's staying at my place, but I'm not sure when he's leaving. He didn't say."

Part of me feels like he's lying. "Anthony..."

His face changes and he turns slightly so he's facing away from Dylan. "Sorry, Lace. I just thought it would be nice to get the band back together, you know?"

"It's fine. Just caught me off guard." Like extremely off guard, but I can't stay mad at Anthony.

"Lace, are you ready?" Casey asks me as she hugs Levi's arm.

Anthony and I look at each other before he wraps his arms around me for a hug. "Just text me when you're on your way tomorrow," he tells me.

I nod. "Yeah, definitely."

Dylan appears by Anthony's side and he glances over me, making me feel exposed, yet confident. "Can we talk?" Dylan asks.

My heart rate shoots up and I feel everyone's eyes on us. "Um, sure."

Anthony dips away and joins Casey and Levi. Dylan and I step closer to the building and a memory from high school is immediately brought up. We're almost at the spot where we made out on my eighteenth birthday. I try to push that thought out.

"What's up?" I ask him as casually as possible.

"I'm just going to address the huge ass elephant in the room," he starts. "I had no idea you were in town and I don't want you to think this is some elaborate scheme to see you again. I don't want things to be awkward between us because they never were in high school."

Hearing him talk like this reminds me of how grown up we are. Dylan was always straightforward, but there's a certain professionalism to him now. "It's okay, really." I look down at my feet. He's right. We shouldn't have to be awkward around each other and I want to be honest about this whole thing. "It's my fault for being awkward. It is kind of weird to not see someone for a long time, then suddenly we're thrown into this together."

"If it's too weird, I can tell them I can't be a groomsman," he says quickly.

I don't know if he really doesn't want to do it, or he's doing it for the sake of me. "I think we've faced situations weirder than this together," I give him a small smile.

He returns the smile. "You're right."

In the corner of my eye I see Casey watching us. "I should probably get going."