Game Changer

by Amelia Whitmore

  The next thing I realized, everyone started clapping. The groom had kissed the bride and they were both running down the aisle, being incredibly cheesy.

  Everyone made their way to the reception hall in the hotel.

  It was huge, with lights hanging everywhere, tables and chairs filled up one half of the space, and then there were the food tables, a dance floor, and a DJ booth filled the other half. I got to sit between Ross and Aiden, which was a party in itself. They knew each other from high school and ended up on the same football team in college, where they met Kane.

  The DJ announced Kane and Erica, and we all stood as they made their way to the main table. Aiden's arm was wrapped around my waist by the time we sat down. I leaned into his body and smiled up at him.

  "It was a nice wedding.”

  He shrugged. "I imagine mine differently."

  "Oh yeah? How do you imagine yours?"

  Aiden seemed to think about it for a moment. "Well, I definitely don't want it in Cancún. There's nothing wrong with tropical weddings, but it’s just too damn hot. Who wants to be all sweaty on their big day?”

  That was a good point. Why did they have to have the wedding outside anyway? It was too hot and humid for anyone to really enjoy themselves.

  “I guess I just want something small and intimate. I don’t want all this fuss when I get married. I want it to be about the person I am spending the rest of my life with, not the ceremony itself.”

  I smiled and nodded. It was exactly what I wanted. "I think the same thing."

  He kissed the top of my head and I grinned up at him.

  To my right, I heard Erica begin to talk, telling Kane about how much she loves him. He did the same for her, though his was much more heartfelt. I actually felt pretty bad for the guy, Erica just wasn't affectionate like that.

  After they stood up and kissed, we all clapped.

  In the middle of the applause, there was a holler from the back, more like a 'woot' that was only called out to bring attention to yourself. We all looked to the entrance. There was a gorgeous woman standing there with long golden hair and a stunning pink dress on. She held up a champagne glass and exclaimed "To the bride and groom!" Everybody raised their glasses and took a drink.

  I eyed her curiously. "Who is that?" I asked nobody in particular.

  Nobody answered, we all sat in silence as she made her way towards our table. "Aiden baby, aren't you going to greet me?"

  I scrunched my eyebrows and looked up at him. "Aiden Baby?"

  "Brittney, what are you doing here?"

  She laughed. "I'm here for the wedding silly."

  "Aiden, what’s going on? Who is this?"

  He looked at me with a pained expression. "Emily, it's not what it's going to sound like," he started to say and my stomach immediately sank.

  "Wait, Brittney? As in the Brittney you were engaged to?"

  She shoved her hand in my face. "There's no past-tense sweetie, I'm his fiancée."

  I stared at the huge rock on her boney little fingers and looked around, hoping that someone else was just as shocked by this as I was. To my horror, nobody looked surprised. What shocked me even more, was that even Ethan had a dark look on his face, and not from something unexpected happening, but like he knew it already.

  "You knew?" I asked, trying not to cry. "You knew he was going to get married and that he was going to be a dad," I pointed to Brittney's baby bump. "And you didn't tell me? You would just let me run around like an idiot with somebody who's taken?”

  Ethan gulped and looked like he was about to say something.

  "No. Don't say a word. I don’t even want to hear it."

  I ran out of the reception hall and straight for my hotel room. Only once the door was closed was I able to let myself fall apart. My tears wracked my body and I sank down to my knees, horrible cries ripping from my body.

  I knew I had to get out of there. I didn’t want to see anybody. Aiden, my brother, anybody. How could my own brother keep a secret like this from me? He knew and didn’t tell me. I don’t understand it.

  I picked myself up off of the floor and grabbed my phone, calling the front desk. I'm shocked they understood anything that I said, but I soon found out that a plane was leaving in two hours for the states and that a cab would pick me up in half an hour.

  "Thank you," I said as I hung up the phone.

  As quickly as I could, I grabbed everything I could and shoved it into my bag. Anything else, Kira could either throw away or pack for me. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and made my way downstairs. I handed my bag to the taxi driver and was about to open the door as I heard Aiden's voice from down the street.

  "Emily, wait. Please don't go."

  He was running towards me, so I turned to the cab driver. "We need to leave now."

  He took off quickly, just as Aiden reached us. His face, and the sad, depressed, mad, hurt look on it, was the last thing I saw before speeding off down the road.

  Traffic to the airport was horrible, but by some miracle, I managed to get through the airport and was the last person on the plane. I sat in my seat and let silent tears roll down my face, hating on everyone I felt had betrayed me, but mostly hating myself for falling so hard for a stranger.

  Chapter 7

  "Hey honey," my roommate, Kaitlin, said as she wrapped her arms around me.

  I'd managed to borrow a laptop on the plane and sent her a message, asking her to pick me up at the airport and told her my expected arrival time.

  "Hi," I said, trying my best not to cry again.

  "Shhhh, it's okay. You're home now, and we're going back to the house and making hot cocoa. You can tell me everything once we get there, okay?"

  She led me towards the door. I simply nodded and followed her to the car. I felt numb.

  We got back quickly and I stopped her before she could touch the teapot.

  "I don't really feel in the mood for hot cocoa. I'm just going to go take a bath and hit the hay."

  One glance at my bed and I knew I'd never make it to the tub. I collapsed on my mattress and didn't wake up until I felt somebody nudging me.

  "Hmmm," I grumbled.

  "Emily, you've been sleeping for like fifteen hours. At least eat something." Dylan whispered. Dylan was one of my roommates.

  "No. I'm not hungry. Please go away," I said grumpily.

  "I'm not leaving until you take at least two bites of this sandwich I made you."

  I sat up in resignation.

  "Fine, but two bites and then I'm done." I informed him like I had any say in the matter.

  He shrugged. "Whatever, that's fine. I'm just pretty sure there’s a rule book out there that says you should make sure your roommate doesn't die. But I'm just guessing here."

  I couldn't help but laugh. I loved Dylan's dry humor.

  "Nah, I'm guessing that as long as you don't kill them personally it doesn't really matter," I joked back.

  "Ahhh, there's that humor I know and love." he said like a proud parent. I rolled my eyes and took a second sip of water. It felt good in my mouth.

  "So, how's life been here?" I asked, motioning for him to join me in bed.

  "Well, I can't say it's been as much fun as your little trip was, but things weren't too bad. Kaitlin tried burning the place down, but luckily we all taught her how to use the fire extinguisher, so all's well."

  I rolled my eyes.

  "It wasn't exactly fun. And did you remind her that the white stuff that comes out isn't cool whip?" I asked, carrying on two topics at once.

  "Tell me more about it. Of course we did. She was about to put it on the cake when we walked in."

  "There's not much to tell," I said softly, suddenly feeling tired again.

  "Please talk about it."

  "I'm in the mood for a shower actually. I think I'm going to go do that. Thanks for the food."

  I stood up and went to the bathroom. I'm not sure why I was reluctant to say anything, I mean, it's not as though it's s
ome deep dark secret. I guess I just felt foolish. I knew that nothing would happen with Aiden, I wasn't even sure if I wanted anything to happen, but knowing that he was playing me the entire time hurt. I suppose I just didn't want to admit that I was the type of girl who fell so easily.

  My shower felt wonderful. There was something about being back home to my familiar room and all of my own things that a hotel just couldn't beat; even the luxurious one that my sister and Kane booked us into.

  I stepped into the hallway with my towel wrapped tightly around me. Blake came around the corner at the same time. "Hey Buttercup!" He said, using the name he always used for me. Blake was a giant, but only in height. He was like a stick, reminding me of Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

  "Hey Blake," I said, hoping he hadn't heard about what a disaster yesterday was for me.

  "How you feeling?" He asked. The tone of his voice told me he already knew.

  I groaned. "I'm great, freaking fantastic. You all gossip too much."

  "Yeah, but we're just worried about you. Speaking of worried, somebody's in the living room for you."

  "Who?" I asked, wrinkling my eyebrows.

  He shrugged. "I'm just the messenger. Dylan told me to come get you."

  I sighed, there was no telling who would be waiting for me. I quickly changed into a pair of leggings and a hoodie. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and made my way downstairs.

  I turned the corner for the living room and almost immediately turned back around.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice dripping with venom.

  "Emi, just let me explain," Ethan began.

  "No. You should have told me and I'm not going to pretend like I'm okay with you right now." I crossed my arms.

  "Are you seriously going to let a guy come between us?" He asked, standing up to walk over to me.

  "You know what Ethan, I just might. You know damn well that I would have told you if somebody you were seeing had a pregnant fiancée." I halted him before he could tell me that anybody he'd date wouldn't have a pregnant fiancée. "It's the principle, you know what I mean."

  "You really think I didn’t want to tell you?"

  I just shrugged.

  "Right, because I just sat there going 'hmm, what will make Emi hurt? Oh I know, I'll keep the information that the guy she's seeing has a fiancée away from her. That should do the trick'. I thought about it for a long time, and then I saw you two in the lobby looking so happy and I knew that you were bound to find out anyway, and just wanted you to be happy for as long as possible. You deserved to be happy and I didn’t want to be the person who took that away from you."

  "Ethan, it wasn't your decision. As soon as you found out, you should have told me. Do you know how stupid I feel right now?" I couldn't stop the tear that fell from my eye.

  "I'm sorry, Emily." Ethan said as he wrapped his arms around me.

  "I'm such an idiot," I whispered against his chest.

  "Don't feel like an idiot Emi. You couldn't have known he was engaged or that he was about to be a father."

  Ethan's hands moved up and down my shoulders. I knew that he was at a loss for words. Feelings weren't exactly his forte.

  "I don't know what to do Ethan," I whispered. As soon as the words left my mouth, the front door banged open and footsteps stomped to where we were. My eyes were wide as Kira turned the corner and pulled me away from Ethan. "You're such a fucking jackass," she growled at him.

  "Kira, don't be mad at him."

  "What do you mean 'don’t be mad at him'? The idiot locked me in the back seat of the car with the child safety locks on. I had to crawl over his little barricade of garbage in order to get in here." She glared at him and I burst out laughing.

  Ethan shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, fighting to keep the smile from his face.

  "I had to talk to Emm Emm without you taking her away from me. It was the only thing I could think of."

  "How are you feeling, sweetie?" Kira asked, pushing my hair away from my face.

  "Like an idiot." I grumbled and sat down on the couch, pulling my knees to my chest.

  Ethan sat down beside me and I smacked his chest.

  "Why are men such assholes?”

  “Hey!” Ethan protested.

  “I think I was falling for him.”

  "Really?" Kira asked. I couldn't tell if she was irritated, or swooning.

  I nodded reluctantly.

  "Not that it matters anymore though. He's got his soon to be wife and a baby on the way. He played me, and I was the perfect fool for his game. A plaything on his vacation."

  Kira sighed.

  "Did anybody actually talk to Aiden?" She asked. Ethan and I both glared at her.

  "Why would we talk to him?" Ethan asked.

  "Well, Brittney kind of looked like a tramp. And he wasn't exactly happy to see her. If you were cheating on your fiancée, wouldn't you pretend like nothing was wrong when you saw them? Instead, he was mad at her."

  I shook my head. "It doesn't matter Kira. He didn't tell me. He didn't have to, I mean, who am I really to him? We're practically strangers and he doesn't owe me an explanation. I'm just being dramatic about the whole thing."

  "But you're not. Everybody saw your chemistry. That can't be faked, even if he was cheating, Aiden had some serious feelings for you."

  Her eyes looked so hopeful. Kira was a hopeless romantic, always wanting the happily ever after, but she'd be disappointed this time.

  "Well it doesn’t matter. It's over and done with. It's time to move on.”

  I stood up and hugged them both goodbye, feeling refreshed and ready to forget Aiden ever existed.

  Chapter 8

  Taylor Swift was blasting through my headphones as I stared at the calculus problem in front of me. Even though I was a business major, I hated all of this left brained nonsense.

  I looked out my window, not actually realizing that I was doing it, until I felt a hand on my right shoulder. I jumped about a mile high and pulled the plugs out of my ears.

  "Oh my God, are you trying to kill me?" I yelled at Kaitlin. She was too busy laughing to be offended at my tone.

  "You should have seen your face," she gasped out, smacking her knee and bending over, trying to breathe.

  "Yeah, I'm sure it was hilarious. Wait, why are you in here anyways?"

  She laid down at the end of my bed, propping her head up with her hand. "We're going out tonight."

  "Who's we?" I asked, thinking it'd probably just be her and Dylan.

  "You, me, Blake, Dylan, Ethan and Kira."

  “I don’t feel like going out.”

  “I don’t want to hear it Emily. Your brother called and said he hasn’t seen you in two months, and now that the semester has started you’ve buried yourself in your schoolwork. It’s not healthy.”

  I groaned.

  “I don’t care what you say, you are going out with us tonight.”

  "We're too young to actually do anything at the bar, so what’s the point? If you want to drink, then why not just have everyone come over here?"

  "I have a feeling we'll have no problems getting drinks."

  "Kaitlin, I'm not going."

  She glared at me but I stood my ground.

  "If I have to go get Dylan to hold you down while I change you into some different clothes and do your hair and makeup, you're going."

  I could tell by the way she put her hands on her hips that she was telling the truth. When the threats were empty, she crossed her arms over her chest; when she was serious, she put them on her hips.

  "Please don't make me go?" I begged, trying a new tactic.

  "We leave in two hours. Be ready," she said as she walked out of my room.

  I sighed and went to shower. I really had been staying inside too often lately. After my shower, I blow dried my hair until it was flowing in soft curls. I clipped it back so I could put on some eyeliner, mascara and some light blush. I stood in front of my closet, unable to
decide what to wear.

  "Hey Kaitlin?" I called out, knowing she'd hear me. Our house had paper thin walls. Moments later she was standing in my doorway. "Yes, your majesty?"

  I tilted my head to the side and rolled my eyes. "Where are we going?

  “A sports bar, I think it's called Griff’s or something like that. I'm pretty sure it's like a pub or something that middle aged men go to have a drink and watch football at." I gave her a funny look.

  "Then why are we going?"

  "Because it'll give you a chance to relax, and we'll all get to hang out together and they have two dollar long necks until midnight."

  And there we have it. We were going because of the cheap drinks.

  “Now get ready because we leave in five minutes,” Kaitlin said as she walked out of my room.

  I finally decided on a pair of dark skinny jeans, and a white V-neck blouse that cut just low enough to show off the ladies if I wore my pushup bra, which of course tonight I would be.

  Downstairs I was met by whistles from Blake and Dylan. I groaned, to which they laughed.

  "Hey, it's just nice seeing you in something besides sweats," Dylan said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

  "Right. You guys ready?" I asked. Everybody was in the living room, waiting for me apparently.

  "After you, Emi," Ethan said, gesturing for me to lead us outside.

  It took the eight of us two cars to get to the bar. I wanted to kill Kaitlin when we walked inside and saw a bunch of people not that much older than us, all wearing their blue jerseys and watching a Houston pre-season game on TV.

  I was busy glaring at her when Ethan and Dylan went up to the bar and got us drinks.

  "You said it would be middle aged men," I hissed at Kaitlin.

  She shrugged. "How was I supposed to know? Back in my hometown, those were the only people who went to sports bars."

  I groaned.

  "Kaitlin, you grew up in the middle of nowhere. Of course it was only middle aged men, they were the only ones there at all."