5: Long Time No See

Zoey excused herself to go to the bathroom and locked herself in it for close to thirty minutes. She called Zach in the middle of the panic attack she was having. Of course, Zach was always her go-to confidant in times of distress because he always knew what to tell her, even if it was a lie.

And now, she needed that convincing lie more than ever.

“The bride is Amanda,” she told him, almost tearing up.

“Who's Amanda?” Zach was lost and didn't really pay attention to Zoey since he was getting tipsy at a friend's place.

She wanted to reach into the phone and claw his eyes out in frustration. Didn't he know how serious this was?

Well, no, he doesn't because he isn't the one who had made the stupid decision to ruin a potentially great marriage, Zoey! she thought.

“If you don't listen to me, I am going to kill myself right now,” she threatened him.

“Well, sheesh, don't do that,” he objected.

“Come on, you know Amanda. We went to CAL-U together. I told you about that time she said she was going to—”

“The one where she was going to kill off the nerd for taking her boyfriend?”

“Yes, her. She's here.” Zoey wished the wall would open up and swallow her whole. How could she face Amanda after three years of silence?

“She's the bride? Oh, this is messy, sweetheart. Abort mission, I repeat, abort that mission. It's suicide,” Zach advised wisely.

“I know, but I need the money. Rent is due, and I can't just grow ten freaking thousand dollars in my backyard.”

“You don't have a backyard.”

“Zach, focus!”

“Wait, why didn't you tell me you were behind on rent? I would've given you the money,” Zach questioned, feeling slightly offended that his bestie would rather be homeless than suck in her pride.

“You did that the last time. I couldn't possibly…”

“And I would do it over and over again until you get some sense of survival and decide to take that man for yourself,” Zach said.

Zoey rubbed her temples. She didn't know if Zach was actually helping her or lecturing her. But she couldn't deny that the idea of stealing Jordan hadn't crossed her mind. She just didn't think she would be stealing him from Amanda Richmond.

She was psychotic and would probably haunt Zoey till death did them part.

Yet, anything was better than constantly having to be a financial burden to anyone. Especially Zach.

“You don't have to worry about me, Zach. I'll get the rent sorted out and move back to Richmond before Amanda gets her hands on me,” she told him. It was the first time she had talked to him about moving back home in a very long time. She had always wanted the studio, but pet-sitting and serving drinks hadn't really given her the motivational speech she needed. The money Jordan offered changed that.

“Plus, it's not like I would actually take Jordan for myself,” she added quickly, just in case the walls were thin.

“Mmmh, I don't know. I think I like both ideas,” Zach said.

“I just need you to talk me through walking out of this bathroom and summoning the courage I need to face her,” she said.

Zoey heard a few of Zach's friends scream playfully in the background, with one of them calling him to do more shots.

“Look, babe. You're going to be fine. For what it's worth, you of all people know how much of a beyotch Amanda is. Jordan obviously deserves better, and you deserve to get that bag. Just sit with that, and I'll call you later, okay?”

That was it.

Zoey wasn't sure she felt any better by the time she ended the call and walked back to the pool area. Her guess was that Amanda would be sitting right in her spot and laughing with Jordan, just as she had been doing minutes before. And she was absolutely right.

There she was, her hands tightly locked with Jordan's as she kissed him by the poolside. She didn't see Zoey walk in and cross over to the other side to join the others at the open bar.

It wasn't like Zoey needed to be in a hurry to say hi. The more time she had away from the bride-to-be, the better, and honestly, the less guilty she felt.

She saw Ray at the bar stand and talked with him instead. “So you're both a chef and a barman,” she commented lightly.

“Hope you're impressed,” he said to her, a cheeky smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

“I don't know. How good can you make a margarita?”

“One margarita coming right up, ma'am.” He bowed playfully, which made her laugh, and gave it to her when he was done.

She spent the next twenty minutes staring at the perfect couple from a distance and wondering why Jordan had paid her. They looked fine from her view. They were the kind of couple that walked the red carpet on TV and posed for the internet to fester on. Even now, Amanda hadn't turned away from Jordan and clung to him like an obsessed wife.

Zoey felt sick to her stomach and sipped the last drop of her drink.

“They look cute, right?” Ray said.

He had watched her watch them for most of her time sitting at the bar and waited to gently chip in.

“Yeah, they do. Could you even imagine them not being together?”

“I think every couple has their dark side,” Ray said.

“They don't look like they do.”

Ray stared at her for a moment, grinning with his chin on his hand as he leaned over the table. “I think you might want to get into that water,” he said.

She laughed awkwardly and shook her head as if someone had just offered to buy her kidney. Although, truthfully, she would have sold it a long time ago.

“Come on.” Ray took her by the hand and led her to the pool.

Even when she playfully refused the idea, she still found herself stripping.

“Fine, you win.”

Who was she kidding? Ray freaking Buchanan was holding her right now.

“Cannonball. On three,” he said as he lifted her onto his broad shoulders.

Her heart raced with excitement as she stared at the neon blue below her.

“One… Two…” She held her nose.

“Three!”

The splash rippled through the entire pool under their combined weight, with parts of the water sprinkling onto Jordan and Amanda. Brandon ducked right before the water could reach him.

“Dude, that's the fifth time,” Brandon yelled while Amanda laughed.

Zoey swam to the surface moments later, and a laugh tore out of her belly as Ray cheered her on. Amanda heard the laughter then and turned to see who it was.

“Zoey?” she said in shock, her tanned skin turning pale immediately.

Zoey was even paler and froze as she stared at her college best friend for the first time in three years.