It wasn’t hurting anyone. I genuinely cared for Greg. Sure, it wasn’t the obsessive, heart-achingly passionate love my older sisters had found, but so what? I didn’t need that.
I told myself that a steady partnership and a shared streaming platform were mature. Responsible. The way my chest ached thinking about my sisters slow dancing in their kitchens was just indigestion.
“You look hot.” Greg smirked at me, a giddy laugh bubbling up his throat.
Compliments from Greg always landed like they were aimed at the version of me he needed me to be—polished, presentable,believable. A small, pathetic part of me still wanted someone to look at me and mean it like I was the only thing in the room worth staring at.
“Thank you.” I blushed and dipped into a curtsy. “Though, I’m not going to lie. I hate this dress.”
It was like wearing someone else’s story. Someone quieter. Smaller. Someone who didn’t mind shrinking herself to fit into lace her future mother-in-law approved of.
“You made Momveryhappy. She thinks you look like she did on her wedding day, which—let’s face it—you’re twenty times prettier, and she hates that.” Greg’s leg was shaking with nerves as his words tumbled out.
“What is with you?” My eyes narrowed. “You’re being weird.” A prickle crawled up the back of my neck. My gut was tryingto warn me of something, I just didn’t know yet if it was about him ... or me.
He stood to his full height, dragging a palm down his tuxedo pants. His palms went out. “Okay, so don’t be mad.”
I knew that face. My heart lurched. “What did you do?”
His expression twisted into a pout. “Nothing.”
I pointed a finger toward him. “Don’tnothingme. I know that look. You’re about to tell me something I don’t want to hear. Is the preacher drunk again?”
His lips rolled in like he was desperately trying to keep a serious face. “I told them.”
I blinked, my mind not keeping up with what he was saying. “Told them? Told whowhat?”
Greg looked at me and rolled his eyes. “Well ... my parents. About me. Us. That I’m not exactly, you know, straight as an arrow.” He flattened his palm to emphasize his point.
“You came out to them?Today?” I couldn’t believe it. A war of emotions rioted in my chest. This was huge—monumental, in fact. Greg had always told me that his parents would never accept him and that he felt safest keeping this part of himself a secret from them.
Pride swelled first—my ridiculous, brave friend finally saying the words out loud. Fear followed close behind, whispering,Okay, but where does that leave you, idiot?
“Wait a minute ... so what does that mean? For us? For today?” I gestured down at my dress.
Greg folded his hands to calm his own nerves. “That’s why I needed to talk to you right away.”
“The wedding is off, isn’t it?” Dread, thick as sludge, pooled in my gut. “You don’t need me to pretend to be your wife, so the wedding doesn’t need to happen?” My mind flew to the dozens of people waiting for me to walk down the aisle.
What the hell was I supposed to tell my family?
Greg’s mouth curved into a sheepish grin. “That’s the best part. My parents understand. Turns out they don’t really care and only want to see me happy. Isn’t that great?”
It was. It really, really was. I’d spent years imagining this exact scenario for him, begging the universe to soften his parents’ hearts. I just hadn’t pictured it happening on the one day where my entire life was balanced on the lie we’d sold them.
I shook my head. “Yeah, I mean ... of course, but?—”
“Slow down.” A throb pierced behind my left eye, and I pinched it closed.
Greg exhaled, clearly irritated that I wasn’t jumping for joy at his plan. “Look ... Chris is already in a tux so ...weare going to get married. You can be my best man!” Greg’s smile wobbled as my brain short-circuited.
“Chris from the Tipsy Tiger? The bar hookup you saidhad zero personality but the dick was a ten?”
“I said that?” Greg’s shotgun laugh startled me. “Well, we’ve been together for a while now.”
I swear I could hear the dial-up internet noise from the early 2000s as I tried to process the visual of me standing at the altar in a wedding gown while my fake fiancé married his very real boyfriend.
“What the hell, Greg!” He had always been a little reckless and wild, so it wasn’t that I was shocked by his behavior. I was just ... shocked. “You expect me to go out therein a wedding dressin front of my whole family andnotget married while you marry your boyfriend and just expect that no one’s going to notice?”