"We agreed. If I won, you'd marry me someday."
"Why'd you wanna marry me, anyhow?" I ask.
"So, I can do this for the rest of our lives," he stops walking with me in his arms, his radiant blue-green eyes flickering between my eyes and lips as the ons...
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I stand frozen.
Lost.
Paralyzed.
Unable to move with countless eyes witnessing my demise.
I feel the pity penetrating my feeble armor. I feel their sympathy puncture my pathetic defense mechanisms.
Their cheers for the sport's game on television is replaced with sorrowful whispers.
My face flashes hot, my ring-less hands begin to tremble as though I've been left out in the cold. My heart seems to beat faster and stop simultaneously.
My eyes burn from not blinking or holding back the painful stab of tears. I can't tell the difference anymore.
I blink once, twice, thrice and everything hits me at once. Feeling as though someone pressed play on a movie paused way too long.
"Carry on!" Tracey yells but the cheerful ambience is lost to the crackling intensity of my situation witnessed by drunken folks gifted with gossip for weeks to come.
I struggle to slip on my mask, concealing the emotions overwhelming me. Steadily breaking me bit by bit.
Don't give them the satisfaction, Lana.
Adjust those shoulders, raise your head higher, straighten your goddamn crown and fucking slay like the badass bitch that you are.
You can fall apart once their eyes no longer burn your skin.
I can do this. I slip on my mask with great difficulty, releasing a surprising cackling laugh. Alec's regretful eyes widen, shock swimming in pools of blue and green. His shoulders tense, his posture going rigid.
I place one foot in front of the other, each step more confident than the last. I approach Asher and Kaden recognizing Lily from one of my AP classes in high school.
Without a word I give each of them a hug and a smile, ignoring the potent pity in their eyes.
I approach a seething Dale already opening his arms for a bear hug. "I'm sorry, I tried talking to him," he says softly.
"It's okay," I whisper, tapping his back. "He's a free man."
"Who's married," I pull out of the hug I didn't know I needed away from the righteous lecture I know I don't need about a man who went for my jugular.
"How about a round of shots?" I cheerfully shout to Tracey who's raising a concerned brow.
"Comin' right up," she hesitantly lines up five shots, filling them with tequila.
I tap my hands against the gleaming bar as she fills the last one. "I'll bring the lime and salt."
"Mmhmm," I hum, reaching for the first one and gulping it down. I repeat the process until the last one when Tracey returns with the lime and salt. I shrug, downing it.
