Chapter 14
The day of the wedding went by in a flash. As soon as they woke up, it seemed, Kelley was pulled away to get her hair and makeup done with the rest of the bridal party. Erin had gotten the bridal suite in the same hotel that they’re staying in, so that’s where everyone flocked to. Hope and Lily went along, but mostly just stayed off to the side while everyone else moved around them. Hope and Lily made themselves busy for a few hours, before heading back to their own room to get themselves ready.
The ceremony went perfectly. Hope had to strain to hold back the tears that were begging to make their way down her face. Seeing Kelley walk down the aisle in that god-awful bridesmaid dress did nothing to help her cause. “Look, it’s mommy!” Lily had whispered to Hope, as Kelley made her way past their row. Hope can feel the love surrounding Erin and Jackson, the groom.
She watches the ceremony with a smile. At one point, she and Kelley make eye contact. Hope gives her smile, which Kelley returns, before glancing at Lily. As the ceremony comes to a close with a kiss, everyone watches as the bridesmaids and groomsmen walk back down the aisle and out of sight. This is what Hope’s been dreading. From here, everyone heads inside to greet the bride and groom briefly, before heading in to the bar area for cocktail hour.
Before long, Kelley disappears with the rest of the bridal party to get ready for the reception, leaving Hope alone with Lily and a bunch of people she doesn’t know. “You thirsty, Lil?” She asks the child, who nods. The goalkeeper orders a Shirley temple and straight whiskey, for herself. She leads Lily through the crowd of conversing people and into the reception room, where she finds their seats. Thankfully, she and Lily are placed at the table with the bridal party so she’ll be sitting with Kelley.
Hope and Lily busy themselves by looking around at the different decorations surrounding the ballroom. It’s when they’re looking at the wedding cake that Hope notices a man enter the rather empty room. He walks in and starts looking for his table, when he sees Hope and Lily. A look of realization covers his face and Hope watches as his face turns pale. Hope locks eyes with the man, who looks nothing short of panicked, before he backs out of the room and disappears down the hallway.
Dread fills Hope’s stomach as she puts the pieces together. It’s him. Kelley hadn’t mentioned him attending the wedding.
As the ballroom starts filling with people and cocktail hour comes to a close, Hope and Lily take their seats. Hope watches the entrance like a hawk and sees the man reenter the ballroom and takes his own seat. He sneaks a glance in their direction, his eyes settling on Lily for a split second, before turning his back to the pair.
Everyone watches as the bridal party dances their way into the ballroom. Kelley makes her way to the table, as the bride and groom share their first dance. As soon as Hope locks eyes with Kelley, she knows that Kelley saw him. Her eyes are flickering between Lily and Hope, clearly panicked.
Hope stands up to greet her. “You look beautiful.” She says, sweetly. Kelley smiles and gives her an appreciative peck on the cheek, before taking her seat. “You look like a princess.” Lily says, smiling up at her mother.
Kelley’s face lights up. “Thank you, baby.” She replies. Lily watches her aunt dance with Jackson, smiling and waving at her. Erin sends her a quick wave, in return, before returning her attention to her husband. Hope and Kelley lock eyes over Lily’s head while the child is distracted by the dance:
‘Kyle is here.’
‘I know.’
‘What do we do?’
‘I don’t know.’
The silent conversation happens quickly, before Lily interrupts it with a tug on her mother’s dress. “I have to pee.”
Hope watches from her seat, as Kelley and Lily dance. Kelley tried to drag her out there with them, but Hope wasn’t having it. She feels nothing short of unwelcome here. Kelley’s parents haven’t even acknowledged her presence, which is probably for the best.
After about a half hour, Hope looks up from her phone to see Kelley talking to Kyle. It looks rather friendly, but Kelley looks over to her and motions to Lily. The goalkeeper gets the message and nods, before watching Kelley follow him out of the ballroom. “Where’d mommy go?” Lily yells over the music.
“She had to talk to her friend for a minute, Lil. Why don’t we get you some cake?” The child nods, enthusiastically, and follows Hope to the cake table to get a slice. They don’t even make it back to the table before Kelley walks back into the ballroom and meets them at the table.
“I’m meeting him for dinner tomorrow night.” She says, as Lily happily eats her cake. Hope tilts her head, a bit, but nods. “Do you mind watching this little monster while I go?” She motions to Lily, who giggles at the term. Hope rolls her eyes, jokingly. “If I must.” She says, dramatically, pulling a laugh from Lily, who grins at her mischievously.
They sit at the table for a while, watching people drunkenly dance their way through the night. Erin finally makes her way to their table, after circulating around the many guests. She sighs, dramatically, as she plops down on the seat next to Kelley’s. “No one told me how fucking exhausting a wedding is.” She says, tiredly. “You guys having fun?” She asks, her eyes flickering between Hope and Kelley.
Kelley nods. “It’s been good. You didn’t mention that Kyle was coming.” She states, looking pointedly at her sister. Erin grimaces, guiltily. “Dad told me I was obligated to invite him. I should have let you know. Sorry.” Kelley just rolls her eyes at the insincere apology.
“You talked to Mom and Dad, yet, tonight?” Kelley shakes her head, without hesitation. “I don’t want to argue with them on your wedding night and we both know that’s what it would come to.” Erin’s eyes flicker to Hope for a second, before landing back on Kelley.
“I mean, when I told you that she could come, I didn’t expect you to flaunt your relationship in their faces. I get it, you don’t want to hide, but it’s like you’re trying to pick a fight.” Hope stiffens at the change of tone, while Kelley just raises her eyebrows, challengingly.
“If she were a man, would you be saying the same thing?” The bartender spits out. “Obviously not, Kelley, but you know how they feel. All I’m asking is you don’t make a show of it. It’s my fucking wedding day, for fucks sake.” Erin says, clearly frustrated, before standing up, abruptly, and stalking away.
Lily stays silent throughout the argument. She doesn’t really understand what they’re arguing about, but she knows when her mom uses that tone, it means she’s really mad. So she plays with the bracelet on Hope’s wrist and tries remembering what time the pool closes at the hotel.
After Erin leaves, Kelley gives Hope a look that says ‘we’ll talk later’ and stands up to go grab another drink. “Mommy is mad at Aunty Erin.” Lily says, looking up at Hope. The goalkeeper nods, knowing the child is too smart to try and deny what happened. “They just got in a little disagreement, Lil. They’ll be okay.” She responds, trying to be as reassuring as she can be.
The rest of the ceremony goes by without any more confrontation. Hope and Kelley avoided talking to anyone who they know disapproves of their relationship and kept mostly to themselves. They took a taxi back to the hotel with Jerry being much too drunk to drive them.
“I thought Erin was okay with us?” Hope asks, after they finally got Lily to drift off to sleep for the night. She’s sleeping, soundly, in her own bed, while Hope and Kelley sit on theirs. They both already showered and changed into much more comfortable clothes.
“I did too.” Kelley says under her breath. She flicks through the TV channels, trying to find something worth watching. “Maybe she was just stressed out about the wedding. I’ll have to talk to her about it tomorrow or something.” She shrugs, brushing it off.
Hope nods, knowing by Kelley’s tone that she doesn’t want to talk about it. “What time are you meeting Kyle tomorrow?” She asks, curiously.
Kelley finally settles on a show and tosses the remote to the bottom of the bed. She stretches her legs out in front of her and leans back on the headboard. “6:30. He said he wanted to talk about Lily. I’m not sure what, exactly, he wants, though.”
“Do you think he wants to meet her?” The goalkeeper asks, in response. Hope doesn’t know much about Kyle. All she knows is that he left Kelley as soon as he found out about Lily. He looks like a normal guy, from what she saw of him, but something about him doesn’t sit right with the keeper.
Kelley shrugs and wipes her face, tiredly. “I don’t know. Maybe?” She says, questioningly. “I don’t want to think about it. It’ll just stress me out. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
With that, Hope takes the hint and stops asking the difficult questions that Kelley clearly has no answer to. They sit, silently, and watch the show that Kelley had picked until they succumb to sleep.
“Babe, I need you to help me.” Kelley calls from the bathroom. Hope and Lily were looking through the menus from delivery restaurants that they could choose from, for dinner. “Coming.” Hope responds, as she stands up from kneeling on the floor.
“Will you zip this?” Kelley asks, as Hope walks in the room. The goalkeeper’s eyes trail down Kelley’s body. She’s in a tight, peach colored, dress that goes down to mid-thigh.
Hope lets her hands drift down Kelley’s back to the zipper. “Why are you so dressed up?” She asks, lightly, trying to hide the worry in her tone. Kelley shrugs. “He told me to dress up.”
Hope rests her chin on Kelley’s left shoulder and wraps her arms around her waist, as they look at each other through the mirror. “He trying to charm you?” She asks, semi-jokingly. Kelley rolls her eyes and turns around in her arms.
“He wanted to go somewhere that we’d be able to talk without being bothered. We used to go to this place all the time. It’s quiet. We’ll be able to talk without having to yell across the table to each other.” She explains, smirking up at Hope, who’s clearly uncomfortable with the arrangement.
“You can’t go to a park or something?” The brunette mumbles, just loudly enough for Kelley to make out what she said. The bartender smiles. “You’re jealous.” She chuckles out. Blue eyes snap down to meet hazel.
“I’m not.” Hope responds, defensively. Kelley leans up to peck Hope on the cheek. “You’re cute. But you have nothing to worry about.” She shrugs. Just as Hope was about to respond, Lily walks into the bathroom and tugs on Hope’s hand.
“Hopey, come here. I know what I want for dinner!” She says, excitedly. Hope follows her out of the bathroom, shooting Kelley a look over her shoulder.
Kelley, nervously, exits the hotel. She said her goodbyes to Hope and Lily, who were about to head down to the pool. She smooths the invisible wrinkles in her dress, as the elevator takes her down to the first floor. Kyle offered to pick her up so she didn’t have to spend money on a taxi and even though the bartender doesn’t necessarily want to have to ride in the car with him, it saves her money.
She’s a little bit early, so she sits down on a bench in front of the hotel and waits for him to arrive. It’s been a difficult trip home, for Kelley. She’s had to face demons that she never wanted to have to face. Her parents want nothing to do with her, her sister clearly has an unspoken problem with her relationship, and now she’s coming face to face with her first love, her first heartbreak.
She sees a car pull up and looks through the passenger window to see Kyle looking back at her. “Hey.” She says, in greeting, as she gets in the car. He’s wearing black dress pants and a blue dress shirt. His short, dark brown hair is styled nicely and his bright blue eyes are looking right through her.
“You look good.” He mentions, as he drives away. She smiles, appreciative, but guarded. She knows the hold that Kyle used to have on her. He was her everything, at one point. Now, he’s a stranger with eyes that cut through her like a knife.
They sit in silence, the only sound coming from the radio, until he finally pulls up to the restaurant. They make their way inside and the host seats them at the same table that they always used to sit at.
“Déjà vu.” Kelley jokes, as she sits down in the chair. Kyle smiles at her and nods, in agreement. “So what have you been up to?” Kelley asks, genuinely curious. She hasn’t heard much of anything about Kyle in years.
“I just got out of rehab, actually.” He says, too seriously. Kelley’s eyes widen. “Rehab?” He nods. “A lot has happened since…” He trails off. “…since-well, everything.” He shrugs, knowing Kelley got the point. Since Lily. She thinks.
They place their food order, both ordering what they had always gotten. Kyle explains his situation. He tells Kelley about the dark time he went through after leaving her. The drugs, the partying, the arrest that led him to a rehabilitation program in Arizona.
Kelley listens, trying to ignore the fact that Kyle is trying to make her feel guilty. He speaks, as if it’s her fault that he ended up addicted to heroin. She doesn’t mention it, trying to avoid an argument. She, honestly, doesn’t care enough to try and dispute his ‘woe is me’ act.
They get their food after around a half hour of listening to Kyle’s sob story. “So…how’s…uh….how’s Lily?” He stutters out. Kelley suppresses a smile at the mention of her name. “She’s great.” She states, shortly.
“I saw your friend with her at the wedding.” Kelley rolls her eyes at the term he uses. Friend. Kyle knows good and well that Kelley’s bisexual and it was always an unspoken disagreement between them. Kyle didn’t like having to compete with men and women and he was convinced she was cheating on him with a girl.
I forgot how unhealthy that relationship really was. She thinks, before finally responding. “She’s my girlfriend.” She corrects, lightly. His lips tighten. “I always knew you’d end up with a chick.” He sneers.
Kelley shrugs. “Not like it’s your problem anymore.” She gives it back to him. He pokes at his pasta with his fork. “Is she good with her?” He asks, knowing Kelley knew what he meant. “She’s great.”
With that, they fall into a short silence, while they finish eating. “So why did you really invite me here? We both know it wasn’t to ‘catch up’.” She says, bluntly. Kyle’s eyes light up at the question, as if he’d been waiting for her to ask.
“I want to meet her.” He states, with a smirk. Kelley’s face drops, her stomach turns to knots when she realizes how this could impact Lily. “No.”