Chapter 5 Trust me

What were the odds that Ethan would be the one Lindsay was trying to marry?

Being one of the eligible bachelors in the world, he was always seen hooking up with girls but he never had a serious relationship with anyone until recently. I didn't particularly focus on him under the gossip section but I had somehow stumbled upon a rumor regarding his wedding.

Nobody knew who the girl was, but the reports claim that he had been dating her for a while now and soon had decided to put a ring on her finger.

After knowing it, I felt foolish to ever think he was stuck up on me like I was on him. He moved on and even agreed to a wedding with someone. It was almost heartbreaking for me to know that the only guy I ever loved was getting married to someone else.

I blocked every source that would make me aware of what was happening in his life. It was a desperate attempt to block him from my life although I wasn't proud of my ways. I felt despicable being so affected by him and the news but at the same time, he was the love of my life. People take a lifetime to get over their love. How was I any different?

I looked over at Jen who unconsciously had her arm on mine.

"It was probably eight months ago that I last saw you." Jen said, an emotionless expression plastered on her face.

It had been seven years since I last saw my friends together. I met them separately and mostly bumped into a few of them at parties but I could never attend any of the reunions they had planned for us. I had missed most of their weddings too because I didn't want to see him.

My friends had always made plans for me to join them on their reunions but I never showed up because Ethan would be coming there too. He loved our friends and he would not just skip on the reunions because I was going there too. In that regard, he was very different from me. He didn't give a shit about me anymore.

"And one and a half for me." Stella, another one of my friends said. Stella was one of my best friends from high school, and her husband Ben, was Ethan's best buddy. Back in high school, they hated each other to the core. And I was the cupid between them that brought them

together. They completely surprised us by bringing two little girls into this world before they graduated from college.

"I don't even remember my last time. Was it seven years ago?" Lexi, Ethan's sister asked.

"Guys.." I said, helplessly looking at my guy friends, Tyler, Ben, Zac, Jordan, Drake and Kyle.

"Don't." Tyler said, "We're blaming this on you, Skylar."

"You knew I could not meet you guys." I said, helplessly.

"Why?" Lana asked, "Because you didn't want to meet Ethan?"

"That surely isn't a valid reason seeing how you had other plans with him." Lucy said.

"Can we please not talk about this now?" Ethan's gruff voice made its way to us.

"Oh shut up, you dick!" Jordan said, "If there is someone I should be questioning, then it's probably you!"

"You're blaming this on me?" Ethan growled.

"Of course we are!" Tyler said, "You really are a dick to force your ex-girlfriend to marry you as a substitute bride."

"Don't look at me like I had a choice." He said.

"Of course you did!" Lexi said. "You could have called this wedding off!"

"And then what, make a laughing stock out of myself?" He asked her. "Do you have any idea how big of a price I would have had to pay had a scandal like that happened at this point in my life? I'm drowning, Lexi, I'm barely surviving and I couldn't take another risk."

"But you had no right to bring Skylar into your mess. She doesn't deserve this." Lucy said.

Ethan growled in frustration and left the room, leaving the silence with a loud bang of the door.

"Guys, shut up," Lana said, "It's too far gone, we can't do anything now!"

"So you just want us to ignore the fact that our friends who have been hating each other for seven years just got into a forced and fake marriage?" Jordan asked his girlfriend, which earned him a glare.

"No." She said, "I mean, look on the brighter side, we all wanted Ethan and Skylar to be together, didn't we?"

She looked with a bright grin at every one.

"See, it worked. They're not just together, they're now married. I mean, isn't this cool?"

"You see good in everything, darling." Jordan said, in a sarcastic tone. "Do you think that's how Nick is going to be when he learns about this?"

"Oh, Nick cannot control Skylar's life." Jen said.

"Yes, but at least Skylar should be doing that for herself right? What happens when he knows that she was forced to marry his one huge rival?" Tyler said.

"Let's not think about Nick, right now." She said, "The words Nicholas Summers are giving me a headache."

"Thanks for making me feel better." I mumbled, feebly.

"Hey," Jordan came to stand beside me, offering his arm for me as a support as he wrapped them around my shoulder. "I'm sorry. But don't worry about Nick. I'm going to be honest, he's initially going to be pissed at you, perhaps even infuriated, but he will come around. Once you tell him why you had to do what you had to do, he will understand. Trust me on this."