Chapter 199: Friends After All

Everyone was a wreck after playing two games of Drunk Jenga so Aaron loaded everyone into cabs and sent them home. Finally, FINALLY, he had peace and quiet.

He had to admit though, the party games weren't nearly as bad as he thought they would be. Aiden had done a decent job. He would have to tell him so later.

Was this what it was like having friends? He had never really had male friends in either life before. There were acquaintances he talked to when he saw them but that was the extent of it. Even Aiden and Cameron were work-only friends until he got asked to be best man out of the blue.

Aaron hadn't seen it coming. He didn't realize Cameron actually valued his presence. He had been under the impression that their relationship was strictly professional even though Cameron did tease him from time to time.

It warmed his frozen heart a bit. Yes, those two frequently annoyed him, but he couldn't deny things would be much more boring without them around. Maybe they really were friends after all. How novel.

He sprawled out on the couch and sighed. The Keeley of the past would have been so proud of him for making friends. Right now she probably didn't care one bit.

Things had changed so much—he had changed so much—but she refused to see it. She was stuck in the past. If only she could accept that he was really different now and be willing to move forward with him. They might actually have a chance to be a normal couple that way.

It was a stupid thought. She wasn't going to forgive him any time soon. She wouldn't even care that he got hurt when he saw her in the morning.

===

Keeley was up all night tormented by Jennica's parting words so she wasn't in much better shape than the other bridesmaids the next morning as she got her nails painted.

They all got French manicures with little orange and red flowers painted on since Jennica wanted to include all the wedding colors and the bridesmaids' dresses were hot pink. Keeley was all for bright colors but this was a bit much. At least this dress didn't have as terrible a design as the last one.

historical

She wanted to rub the sleep out of her eyes but couldn't because her nails were wet. Why had what her friend said bothered her so much?

There were two questions that came out of that little conversation. Were their issues resolvable? And did she still care about him? She couldn't come to a satisfactory conclusion, which is why she was up all night.

The first one was a bit easier to answer. Their personalities, values, and lifestyles were too different to reconcile. Their first life had proved that already. But did she still care?

Originally she didn't think so. She was too angry. But Jennica did have a point—if she was really completely past him wouldn't she have at least developed feelings for someone else in the five years they were apart even if she was too afraid to act on them?

Keeley hadn't so much as had a passing crush during all that time. She was too busy living her life and trying to forget Aaron permanently.

She certainly hadn't expected having any sort of positive interactions with him ever again but when he came back he was different. He was the way she used to wish he had been all along.

She had actually started developing a teeny crush on him again before finding out he retained all his memories. That knowledge instantly killed it and her desire to be left alone returned full force.

But did she still care? She wasn't sure.

Admittedly, she had hoped he would move on and be happy but that was mostly because she didn't think he would leave her alone otherwise. That didn't necessarily mean she cared about him as a person.

Curse Jennica for making her think too much! She didn't even know a fraction of what had gone down between them. So how could she confidently claim that Aaron was desperately in love with her? He had never done a single thing to show that to her personally. Ever.

Being nice was a far cry from being desperately in love. Especially when that niceness was most likely motivated by guilt. He had said that he wanted to make things up to her in this life. That definitely seemed like something someone burdened with guilt would say.

"Keeley, come on! We're going to be late for the rehearsal," Jennica said impatiently.

She realized she was the last one sitting in one of the fancy nail chairs. Everyone else was out the door and waiting on her—she had been lost in thought yet again. It was an awful feeling.

She hoped that the rehearsal format wouldn't be too different from the one she had already practiced for Lydia's wedding so it wouldn't matter if she was spaced out. One major difference was that as the maid of honor, she would be closest to the bride and the first one down the aisle.

And she had to walk with Aaron. Ugh. The last thing a person wanted to do after thinking too much about somebody was see them right after.

Keeley was unaccountably nervous when she saw the back of his head at the venue. She figured she may as well try to be friendly; they would be stuck together for the next couple hours.

"Hey Aaron!" she called out.

He flinched but didn't turn around. Did he not hear her?

She tried again. "Aaron?"

He continued to ignore her. A flicker of annoyance went through her. She was doing her best here, okay. What was his problem? Wasn't he the one who was constantly bothering her? Why wouldn't he respond?

She marched over to him, ready to demand an explanation, when she got a good look at him. She certainly wasn't expecting the worst black eye she had ever seen.

"What happened to your face?!"