CHAPTER EIGHT
wedding blues

____________

CHLOE'S EYEBROWS LIFTED as the group flipped through the thick photo album of Stu's wedding.

There were way too many—excessive, some would say—images of a drunken Stu and the pretty blonde woman he married, several of them containing Chloe and Phil firmly holding onto one another, Phil carrying Chloe bridal-style, Chloe and Phil kissing, Chloe straddling Phil, and Phil's arm slung around Chloe's waist, to name just a select few—the doctor from earlier was right, they seemingly didn't let go of each other all night.

What struck Chloe as interesting, however, was the fact that, while they were extremely high and drunk out of their minds, there was a glimpse of true, unbridled happiness within both of them.

She turned to fleetingly glance at Phil, noting how his unspecific gaze was firmly set on the pictures of the two. It looked as though he was trying to piece together a string of thoughts, possibly connect his emotions to the images, but Chloe couldn't tell from the unreadable expression on his face.

"Aww, would you look at that?" Alan praised affectionately as he gestured to a photo of Phil and Chloe sloppily making out in the background of an image of Stu and his wife at the alter, Chloe's legs wrapped around Phil's waist, Phil firmly gripping onto her ass, and Chloe's hands cupping his cheeks, the shiny ring on her finger displayed to the camera. "I just love newlyweds. So sweet."

Stu groaned in frustration, the man not believing his luck, or lack thereof, in this case.

"Congratulations Stu, you got married." Alan unsuspectedly grinned.

"This- this can't be happening." Stu let out an overwhelmed breath as he twisted around and walked away from the other three, completely infuriated by the entire situation, which seemed to worsen with every new lead they found.

"I'll tell you one thing, you look seriously happy here, man." Phil chimed in, pointing to a picture of Stu widely beaming, with his wife holding onto his shoulders.

Stu dejectedly groaned again. "That's it. My life is over."

"Stu, it's okay- look, shit happens!" Phil tried to comfort him as he gestured to himself and Chloe, "We didn't plan on getting married, but we did anyway, it's not a big deal. Melissa's not gonna know anything about this."

Chloe nodded in agreement as she kept her eyes on Stu. "He's right, you didn't plan on marrying this girl, and, hey, it makes for a funny story."

Phil gestured to Chloe with a tilt of his head to signify that she was right. "This never happened. I'll take care of it."

As the boys continued to pointlessly bicker, with Phil still trying to reassure Stu, Chloe's gaze wandered outside, only to find a familiar figure getting out of his car and hauling boxes out of the trunk.

She widened her eyes, the woman excusing herself from the group as she just hurried outside to join him without waiting for either of her friends to say another word.

"Lyle!" Chloe excitedly called as she huffed a relieved, and surprised, chuckle and broke out into a light jog.

The man—Lyle—turned to face the direction the voice came from, and his, once neutral, expression now twisted into one of exasperation as he shifted his focus back to the boxes. He now grabbed one, beginning to make his way to the entrance of the chapel.

"Lyle, hey, it's me." Chloe grinned as she caught up to him, not understanding why he wasn't engulfing her into a hug, like he usually would. "What are you doing here?"

Lyle just let out a deep breath as he placed the box on the ground, now turning to face the woman, and it seemed as though he was struggling to maintain his patience. "I'm helping Eddie clean up the place, considering you all trashed it."

"What?" Chloe huffed out a perplexed chuckle as she didn't understand the context behind his words.

Lyle disbelievingly raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? You don't remember me offering to help Eddie restore this place after you and your dumb fucking friends broke almost everything?"

"I can't remember anything from last night, I have no idea what you're talking about." Chloe started to get slightly defensive at the sharp tone behind his words, and her eyebrows creased inwards in utter confusion. "Are you mad at me, or something?"

Lyle just huffed a spiteful chuckle as he shook his head and glanced away, signifying that he was, indeed, incredibly furious with her.

Chloe went to touch his shoulder, eyebrows furrowing deeper as she did so. "Lyle-"

"No, Chloe." Lyle scoffed, shoving her hand off his shoulder aggressively as he fully faced her now.

Chloe's eyes flickered between his, and she tried to rack her brain for what she could have possibly done to deserve this kind of treatment from her on-and-off-again boyfriend. "What did I do?"

"What did you do?" Lyle raised his eyebrows in utter incredulity at her words. "Let's review, shall we? You call me in the middle of the night to join you at your stupid bachelor party, considering I was here for business, and the whole time you're all over him, first of all."

Lyle angrily gestured to the space behind Chloe as he spoke, causing the woman to turn briefly around to find Phil, Stu and Alan a fair distance behind her, the group finishing putting a bunch of boxes in the cop car and now slowly approaching the pair in curiosity.

Continuing his furious rant, Lyle coaxed Chloe's vision to him again, "Then, we all end up here, you fucking get married to the guy right in front of me, and I couldn't even do anything to stop it because you didn't let go of his fucking arm the whole night! You don't love me, Chloe!"

"Wh- of course I do." Chloe stuttered out a defensive response.

"Say it, then!" Lyle practically shouted, wide-eyed and practically red-faced. "You never tell me you love me! We're stuck in a bullshit cycle of breaking up and getting back together, and you still haven't told me you love me!"

"We keep breaking up because you keep cheating on me with anything that moves, Lyle." Chloe assertively answered, not understanding why he was suddenly being so aggressive with her, "And, to be brutally honest, I don't even know why I keep forgiving you."

"Have you ever stopped to consider why I keep cheating on you, Chloe?" Lyle scoffed humourlessly as he repeated his previous statement and ignored her sentiment. "Tell me you fucking love me, and I'll stop."

Chloe just raised her eyebrows in pure bewilderment. She was utterly speechless at the ultimatum, and she could feel frustration now weigh heavily on her chest. She couldn't force herself to feel anything, let alone love—especially for the man who continuously took advantage of her, seemingly boundless, kindness and empathy.

This current moment was the first time that the realisation of the fact that she was settling had now dawned on Chloe, the ugly feeling now sharply stabbing her right in the stomach and painfully twisting itself into nausea. Whether that was the effect of the substances from the previous night still lingering within her, or if it was the sickening experience of being used time and time again, Chloe still prominently felt it. And it was killing her.

"Well?!" Lyle raised his eyebrows at her lack of response, throwing his arms out to the sides in fury as he spat out another demeaning statement, the man slightly jolting forward out of anger. "Do you realise how much of a bitch you are?"

The vicious words hit Chloe like a truck, and as if she couldn't be pummelled more into the ground than she currently was, her heart practically sank. She didn't love Lyle, she knew that, she just expected that she'd develop those feelings for him if she stayed with him long enough—his previous assertion, however, steadfastly dispelled any hope for the two of them to ever be happy together again.

"Hey, woah." Stu interjected, one hand moving up to try and settle the situation, tone disgruntled as he now wore a deep frown, Phil mirroring the expression with vexed furrowed brows of his own.

Budding tears began to prick the corners of Chloe's eyes as she tried to blink them away, suddenly very aware of the public nature of this confrontation, but that didn't stop Lyle from proceeding to destroy their relationship even further.

Lyle just gestured to Phil as he kept his cold, harsh glare entirely fixated on Chloe. "He's a dick, and you're just the fucking whore you've always be-"

Without further warning, Phil's fist roughly connected with Lyle's jaw, consequently causing the man to violently double over in seething pain, his hand now holding his stinging cheek, and his face filled with utter shock.

Chloe approached him, leaning down slightly to grit out an aggrieved, hateful statement, the words accompanied by a sharp glare. "Fuck you."

Not being able to hold back her upcoming tears any longer, Chloe just turned around and hurried away from her ex boyfriend, not wanting him to see her cry.

As she made her way over to the cop car, standing to the side of it that was concealed from Lyle's vision while she crossed her arms tightly over her chest, Chloe just sniffled, glanced down at the ground, and huffed out a saddened breath, a few stray, silent tears only just beginning to slip down her cheeks.

A short moment passed before Chloe heard the footsteps of her friends approach her, and she cleared her throat as she forced herself to stop crying, the woman trying to remain her usually tough self in front of them.

"Hey. You okay?" Phil's voice pulled her out of her desolate thoughts as he stopped right beside her, and Chloe just met his concerned eyes for a brief moment with her glassy ones, internally taking note of how sympathetic they were before flickering them between Stu and Alan—both men mirroring Phil's expression, though to a slightly lesser degree.

Just moving her hand up to wipe her salty tears off her face, Chloe nodded, breaking the intense eye contact as she looked away. "Fine."

Phil just reached over to softy touch her forearm, gently squeezing it in an effort to send her some form of comfort—a sign to let her know that he was there for her if she needed him.

"He was an asshole, anyway." Stu voiced, attempting to lighten the mood as he implemented his own form of support for her, Alan nodding frantically in concurrence.

"Yeah, if he didn't want to be with the hottest girl I've ever seen in my entire life, then he's stupid." Alan shrugged, eliciting an involuntary chuckle from Chloe.

"Hey, uh..." Chloe cleared her throat after a moment as she decided to change the subject, the woman gesturing to the cop car as she did so, "What's in those boxes you guys brought out?"

"Oh, just a bunch of merch with Stu and Jade's faces on them." Alan simply answered. "You know, coffee mugs, baseball caps, calendars, the normal stuff."

"Jade?" Chloe perplexedly furrowed her eyebrows at the man, seeking a clear answer to her inquiry.

"Stu's wife." Phil's eyebrows quirked upwards as he succinctly provided a well-needed explanation of everything Chloe missed inside. "The baby-"

"Carlos." Alan firmly cut him off, expression entirely earnest as he stared at Phil.

Phil just briefly shot the man furrowed brows before turning his head to face Chloe again. "Carlos is hers. We're heading over there now."

Chloe's eyebrows raised as she slowly nodded, taking in all the information. "Huh. Makes sense."

•

© voidvaleska