Cradle Broken Glass

Chapter Sixty Two

"Do you like it?" Ash asked and Layla could feel tears welling up in her eyes and she looked at the dress that Ash was wearing.

Ash had picked out a wedding dress with her mother and some extended family. Apparently it was tradition for the women of the family to go with her. Which meant that Layla hadn't been there when she was picking one out. Ash had complained for a week about it, saying she didn't think she would make a good decision without Layla's help, but looking at her now, she knew she'd done a perfect job. The dress was absolutely stunning, but Ash was even more beautiful. It fit her perfectly and was exactly what she could have envisioned for her best friend.

And she knew that Jeff was going to cry like a fucking baby when he saw her.

"I love it. Oh my God, you look fucking amazing. Fuck me, I'm crying and I never cry." She said and Ash broke out into the biggest smile, and Layla could see tears build in her friend's eyes too. She couldn't believe that her best friend was getting married. Seeing her in her dress made everything real. Ash walked off of the podium set up in front of the three door mirror in the bridal shop and reached down to grab one of the champagne flutes they had been offered by the owner as they walked in. Layla did the same and they both raised their glasses in a toast.

"To finding our soulmates." Ash said, before knocking back the whole glass, not realising her friend had barely moved after that. After a couple seconds of pause, Layla did the same and drank the liquid that remained in her glass, her pensive stare causing her best friend to look at her in worry.

"You alright babe?" Ash asked and Layla jumped, pulling herself out of her trance.

"I'm fine, sorry. I'm just thinking about everything, you know? But that doesn't matter because you mean everything to me, and I cannot believe how beautiful you look in that dress. You're going to make Jeff a very happy man." She said and the two embraced again.

"Okay, I'm going to get out of this before I spill champagne on it. I'll be back in a minute." Ash disappeared behind the curtain and Layla nodded before walking back to her seat. She could hear Ash talking to the boutique owner behind the curtain and knew that this was going to take ages before they finally left the store.

Layla glanced around the boutique and sat back down on the couch she has already spent half the day perched on. She wasn't going to complain to Ash about it, since it had been such a magical day so far, but all she wanted was to curl up on her bed with some ice cream and then fall asleep for the next week. But unfortunately, being the maid of honour for the wedding meant she did not have that luxury. She started to flit through some of the magazines in front of her when she came across the latest SPIN magazine issue and focused on the front cover. Her luck had it that it was Pearl Jam glaring back at her behind all the headlines on the magazine. Layla stared at it for longer than was probably best for her own self-esteem, but she couldn't seem to look away. It hurt to look at them all.

It hurt her to see Jack Irons, who had joined the year before. She remembered all the times that Eddie had stayed up late with her, talking about their lives. Jack had been mentioned countlessly not to mention he was the only reason Eddie had ever had the chance to audition with the band.

It hurt to look at Mike, one of the sweetest guys she had ever known. No matter how bad things were going for him, he always seemed to put a smile on everyone's face.

It hurt her to see Jeff, the man who had practically been a brother to her since she had moved to Seattle, yet now seemed like a distant relative you only briefly acknowledge at family gatherings. It pained her to know that their friendship was hanging on by a thread, that thread being Ash.

It hurt her to see Stone, a man who had been by her side through everything and pulled her through a relationship that had nearly broken her. No matter what he had always been truthful to her, even when she didn't want to hear what he had to say. He always had her best interests at heart and to know they were barely acquaintances anymore made her heart ache.

But most of all, it hurt her to see Eddie's face, still as fucking perfect as it had been the day that she had left him. She knew she had made the right decision two years ago, she knew that if she hadn't have done it things would have gotten worse and it might have even ruined her life. But she still couldn't stop the regret she had over things going sour. She wished she could go back to the way things were when they first got together. They had battled through so much to even get to that point that it felt like such a waste to throw it all away. But things can only ever look good in hindsight.

Layla sat back and thought of what would have happened if she'd stayed. The two of them would have continued to build resentment towards each other. Maybe it would have all blown up in their faces. Maybe it would have reached such a point that neither of them could have even looked at each other again. Would she have gotten the job she had now? Probably not. She was working for Nine Inch Nails because she had gotten the job, because she had decided what she wanted to do with her life. As much as Eddie had helped in getting her into the industry, she wouldn't have her job right now if she'd have decided to stay. And what would the fame have done to their relationship if she'd stayed? It had a massive impact at that point already, and she knew it had gotten worse in the past two years. She could barely do anything without hearing about Pearl Jam this, Pearl Jam that. Eddie this, Eddie that. All that extra attention would have been destructive, and maybe he would have found someone else to be with, someone who could deal with the fame, someone who he actually wanted around him. That's what hurt her the most.

With a new resolve, Layla turned away from the magazine and simply stared at the wedding dresses surrounding her, deciding to completely expel him from her thoughts. If she had stayed she would have been more damaged than she already was.