Wedding Crasher

“If I ever see you anywhere near my girl again...”

Jaime had walked into the bathroom and swung Joshua, by the shoulders, against the wall. He stood inches away from his face. His arm forcefully pressed against Joshua's neck as he spoke through his teeth. “I swear to fucking God I will murder you.”

I covered my mouth as I watched. I knew Jaime could give anyone a good scare, but I'd never seen him filled with such rage. Joshua's body began slouching down as Jaime let go of him to walk away.

“Are you okay?” He asked as he soothingly ran his hands up and down my arms.

I nodded my head. “I'm fine.”

“He didn't hurt you did he?” Jaime lifted my chin up with his finger and stared intently into my eyes.

“No, but I'm glad you knew to come” I gave Jaime a hug. I looked over his shoulder at Joshua, who was slowly starting to pick his drunken body up.

“Come on, we better go before someone comes in here” Jaime tried to lighten the mood by smiling.

By the time we'd made it to the bathroom door Joshua was practically standing up. Before walking out, Jaime pushed him hard enough to make him stumble and fall back down. “Fucking Francy.” Jamie whispered, “This dude's a joke.”

We rounded the corner of the restaurant and walked back into the private dinning hall. The waiters had already placed dinner on the table. Kadie stood up as she saw me approaching.

“Lynn, what's going on? Where were you? Where's Joshua?” She whispered.

“What'd you do to him you bitch? Where is he?” Francy shouted as she stood up from her seat. She'd overhead Kadie. Everyone stopped their conversations and looked up at her.

“Calm your tits, whore. You're still gonna get paid for the night.” Jaime held up his hand and made a disgusted face. There was a low gasp followed by quiet giggles from everyone at the table.

I turned back towards Kadie and whispered into her ear. “Don't worry, Jaime took care of it. I'll fill you in later.”

Kadie widened her eyes and I did the same to ensure her everything was okay. Francy grabbed her purse and proceeded to the door "Josh was right about you..." 

She tried to continue before Jaime cut her off, “Bye, Francy!” he called out. Which only made her angrier as she stormed out.

There was an awkward silence in the room before Jaime, Kadie, and I sat down. Slowly the air was filled back up with conversation and clinking of utensils.

After dinner was over, Woody invited everyone over to his place for a late night bonfire. It was something we'd always done when we were younger after any occasion. Football games, spring formals, winter galas, etc. The night would always end with all of us cuddled around a bonfire eating s'mores, in Woody's back yard.

One by one everyone slowly found out about the run in between Jaime and Joshua. By the time we made it to the bonfire, it was the topic of conversation. A few of the guys high fived Jaime while the girl's cheered him on.

“I'm so glad someone put that boy in his place!” Eric called out.

“You know he was just doing that because you came here with that hot piece of ass” Lori pointed to Jaime. He began to blush.

“Hey!” Tom, Lori's boyfriend, nudged her. “I thought I was the only hot piece of ass here?”

“You were...before we started dating!” Lori laughed and high fived the girls around her.

“Honestly though, Josh has changed. This is the first time we're all seeing him in a while. I don't even know why he was invited to the wedding.” Rebecca shot a look at Lacey and Mark.

Lacey sighed, “I'm sorry Lynn. I had to invite all the old neighborhood kids.” That's what we'd refer to ourselves as. We all grew up in the same area, and no matter how much distance grew between us, we'd always come back together. “Even if I didn't my parents would've still invited his family anyway.”

“It's fine, I understand. No hard feelings” I reached into a cooler and grabbed a few beers for everyone around us.

“So what's y'all's deal?” Lori made googly eyes towards Jaime.

We both looked at each other and laughed. “We're just friends” We locked our arms and leaned back against a wood pile.

“Just here for moral support.” Jaime smiled as he glaced over at me.

I looked around the bonfire and noticed that everyone there, except Jaime and I, were a couple. It was around this bonfire that we'd sit and dream about who our future partners would be. It almost made me sad to realize how fast we were all growing up.

“Jaime, you got yourself some big ol balls the way you talked to Francy tonight” Woody shouted across the fire as he tossed in more coal.

Travis walked around the make shift stone bench and sat down. “She's a class A bitch!”

Renee, Travis' girlfriend, sat next to him and wrapped a blanket around the both of them. “Oh Jesus, don't get me started on that girl!”

“Oh, please spill!” Jaime sat upright and put his bottle of beer down to give his full attention. Everyone began laughing at his antics.

“Not a single one of us gets along with her”, Renee looked around the bonfire to confirm what she'd just said. “She fights with just about anyone. And I'm talking, dirty, on the floor bashing people's face in type of fights. She's been arrested a few times. She's as trashy as it gets.”

Lori added, “What do you expect from a girl that works at a whore house?”

“What!” Jaime gasped with disbelief.

I giggled at his confusion. “We call restaurants where the girls dress super skanky, whore houses”

“I don't understand though. Why is Joshua with her?” Kadie chimed in.

“His mama found out about everything he'd done.” Everyone quieted down as Woody began to speak. “So her and his daddy signed the inheritance over to his brother. That land's got oil you know. If he chose to drill he could make a pretty penny. They said they want someone responsible taking over it.”

I felt a pit in my stomach.

Woody continued, “He got depressed, started drinking and hanging around the whore house. That's where he met Francy.”

“Fucking Francy” Jaime added.

Everyone laughed and repeated after him, “Fucking Francy!”

I sat quietly tucked away in a throw blanket, lost in my thoughts. Rebecca noticed my sudden withdrawal from the conversation and tried to comfort me. “It was a good thing you left Josh when you did, Lynn. You were just the tip of the iceberg, he was doing a lot more fucked up things. It was only a matter of time before he was gonna implode. This is all his doing, not yours.”

“Yeah! Don't let no one tell you other wise. Joshua's been steering off the railway since before you two even broke up. I don't know about y'all but I'm glad she left that son of a bitch!” Woody proclaimed.

“Yeah!” Everyone cheered and raised their bottles of beer.

It made me feel slightly better to see everyone cheering for me. I have to admit, I was a little afraid coming back home, not knowing if I would be the blame for everything that had happened. But, my friends stuck by my side and were able to realize the truth behind the situation. And nothing felt better than that.

The next afternoon, Jaime and I dressed up in our Sunday's best and headed over to the venue. It was a small farm, mainly set up to hold wedding events. As we pulled up we both stood in awe. There was an arch way spilling with fresh flowers and a tent made of string lights and chandlers. It was beautiful.

Jaime and I waited for Kadie and Adam before we went inside a tiny little barn, where the ceremony was being held, and took a seat. Most of our friends were in the wedding party. The ones who weren't were out of towners like Kadie and I. We mingled with everyone around us as we waited for the ceremony to begin.

Our section grew quiet as Joshua and Francy walked in. I turned over to see Jaime making a disgusted face. He smiled then grabbed my hand to make me feel better. I smiled back and knew that if I had him, everything would be okay.

Joshua and Francy sat in the empty row behind us. I looked over my shoulder as I turned towards Jaime. Francy had caught my glace. “Boo, you whore” She hissed.

My jaw dropped open in shock that she'd been so blunt. Jaime, who's always ready to attack, fired back. “Who the hell are you calling a whore, you two dollar sleaze!”

Just as Francy was about to retaliate an elderly couple began hushing them. The music began playing as Mark made his entrance. Jaime gave Francy a brutal stare down before he turned back towards the front.

I looked over at Adam and Kadie, who were both (like me), biting their lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Once Mark walked in, Lacey and her bridesmaids came in shortly after. The ceremony was a sweet, but lengthy one. We were all just glad to step back outside. We waved the couple off as they headed back into the farm house to get ready for the reception. The area had cleared except for a man walking in the distance. Everyone's attention was set on him and trying to figure who it was.

“Ooh, who is that hunk of man?” I heard Francy say out loud. I looked over and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I turned over to Jaime, who had a wide grin on his face, which only confirmed my suspicion.

“Connor?” I called out.

“She knows him?” I heard Joshua whisper in disbelief to Francy.

I ran over to Connor and wrapped my arms around him. I didn't know why he was here, but I was just so happy to see him.

“Lynn!” He picked me up in his arm and swung me around.

“What are you doing here?” we stood with our arms still wrapped around each other.

“I came by to see you the other day. I ran into Jaime instead and he told me you'd be here.” I looked over at Jaime to see him holding two thumbs up. “I wanted to show you that I'm serious. I'm not in it for the short run. I'll take it as slow as you want.”

I felt my grin grow from ear to ear. I grabbed Connor's face and pulled it down to kiss him.

Everyone in the background began cheering.

**Make sure you stop by on Friday to enjoy a weekend post! Just a small gesture to show how much I truly appreciate y'all! :) **