Time After Time~Ben Hardy

Chapter 16

December 2010

Ben's POV

I felt so many emotions.

Happiness—my best friend was getting married.

Jealousy—she wasn't marrying me.

Anger—she was marrying a twat that wanted me out of her life.

Hopeless—I'd never get to see the day that we were happily together. 

"Hey, I know you're down about this, but there's still some hope here." Michael said to me.

"No there's not." 

"Listen. Married ain't forever. You've said about how screwed up their relationship is, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm the reason their relationship is messed up."

"I don't know what to tell you. Just don't lose hope." He reached over and lightly punched me in the thigh.

His advice did help, though. I genuinely believed that it was over—my chances with Alli were zero, but I wasn't giving up.

When Michael and I arrived at the hotel we'd be staying in for the weekend, we got checked in. We got to our room and prepared for the dinner that Allison and Matt were having.

An hour later

*clink clink*

Everyone turned their attention to the front table.

"Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us." Allison stood at the front of the room. She wore a tight-fitting black dress. She looked amazing, but not to be rude—a little slutty. 

"Matt and I would like to say a few things, then we'll get on with dinner." She sat back down and Matt stood up.

He cleared his throat. "Hi everybody. I'm so thankful to have all my friends and family here in this room tonight, and for all of you to have the ability to be here tomorrow to see us get married." He exchanged looks with Alli while some people clapped. "Now I want to say a few words about this girl." He places his hand on Allison's shoulder. "For the past four years, we've been through some crazy stuff. Some good, some bad. But she's came out of every situation looking like nothing more than a strong, beautiful woman. That's why I love her. She's mature and capable of so many things." They smiled at each other. "I love you."

I couldn't help but cringe. The amount of jealousy I felt at that moment was almost unbearable. I squirmed in my chair a bit.

"Hey man, you've gotta keep it together." Michael whispered to me.

"Alrighty, now I've got some things to say about Matt." She cast her eyes across the room before she started. "I can't even imagine what life without this man would be like. He's helped me through so much. He's put up with all the awful things I've done. I've went against him so many times and he's never given up on me...and I've never given up on him. I love you so much, Matt."

I've known Alli for years—her tone during that entire speech didn't show much admiration. Something was wrong.

We enjoyed our meal and chatted with her family. After a while, the older people began to leave the room. It was party time.

Us and whole group of Allison's cousins and friends went to the hotel bar, and Matt and his buddies went out to a different bar.

"I mean, have you even said a word to her? Cause if you haven't, that's not gonna help you at all." Michael explained to me.

"Would you calm down? I'm waiting for a good opportunity." I glanced over to where she was sitting. Just then, her two cousins she was speaking to left her by herself.

"There ya go, mate." He must've been watching her, too.

I went and sat across from her. 

"Hey Jonesy, where've you been all night?" She smiled and took a sip of her drink.

"Hiding." I smiled back. "You look nice." 

"Thanks. Matt picked it out for me." Of course he did.

"He's got good fashion sense." Not really. The dress showed too much cleavage. I didn't like that—for her sake, of course.

"Alli!! The strap on Rachel's dress broke and we need your handiness to fix it!!" Claire, Allison's friend, called from the bathroom.

"Well, I'd better go now." She stood up and pushed her chair in. "Talk to ya later?"

"Yeah." I was a little disappointed I didn't get to talk to her more.

I went back to Michael who had been sitting by himself the whole time. 

"How'd it go? You two still on good terms?"

"I guess you could say that." 

A few hours passed. I drank a lot, but enough to still know what was going on around me. Alli was wasted. Every step she took, she stumbled into someone. I decided she'd drank enough so I went to take her to her room.

"Alright Al, I think you've done enough drinking and partying for one night." I grabbed her arm.

"No, I want to stay!" She tried to break from my grip.

"You're drunk off your ass. Come on." I pulled her out into the hallway.

"I'm not—I'm not drunk." 

"I don't want to fight with you. I'm taking you to your room." 

She looked at me in an almost seductive way. She obviously took what I just said into the wrong context.

 "Have I told you that you look really nice tonight? Like...really really really nice." She said while basically hanging off my arm.

"Thank you." I was a bit flattered, but why? I'm talking to a drunk girl.

When we got to the door of her room, I told her to get herself ready for bed properly and get a good night's rest.

"Wait, don't leave yet." I turned back around to her. "Come in with me. I want to- uh...give you a sneak peek of my dress."

I didn't think anything of it, so I went in with her. She immediately went to the bathroom. When she came out, she stood at the dresser to take her earrings out.

"I hate this dress." She said.

"I do, too." I said in agreement. Then I realized what I just said.

"You do?" She asked in both a serious and sarcastic tone. She turned around to me after she got her necklace off.

I stood up and walked over to her. This was my chance.

I moved in close to her, and she didn't seem to mind.

"Well, I mean...I do like it, it's just that I would prefer it...off of you." There was no going back now. It was do or die.

She looked up at me with wide eyes. 

"I-I I'm sorry—I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, it's just—"

"Shut up." She put her finger up to my mouth to silence me.

Next thing I knew, her lips were on mine.