Chapter Five – I Take Thee

Wobbling on lavender four-inch high heels Sara had assured me matched my lavender dress to perfection, I held on tightly to my mother's arm as we walked into the outdoor pavilion where Hop was due to wed in thirty minutes.

Everything looked so beautiful. They had set up two sections of folding chairs, one side for the bride's guests and one side for the groom.

The air smelled heavily of the lilies my mother had no doubt contributed, since her flora skills were practically second to none in the region.

Overhead, the sky was a deep purple, glowing reddish-orangish along the horizon. They had set lanterns in strategic locations around the small pasture and along with sudden bursts of light from fireflies, it made a lovely scene.

I couldn't stop the sudden lurch in my chest, the prickling in the corners of my eyes.

My childhood best friend was getting married! I could hardly believe it. I hadn't even had a real relationship. Yet here he was, already about to start his own family.

A string quartet were warming up in the corner near a large, flower-adorned arch. In front, the wedding officiant stood behind a skinny, white podium, flipping through his notes.

Mom steered us towards Hop's parents at the front row of chairs on the right hand column of chairs.

They looked older, more wrinkled, a little more faded.

I supposed my mother was the same.

In that moment, I truly realized I was no longer the little girl who unexpectedly became the next Champion.

I was an adult now.

For some reason, the knowledge was positively depressing.

"Oh, Rin!" Hop's mom gave me an almost bone-crushing hug while his father beamed. "You made it! Don't you look so pretty in that dress! My, how lucky my son is, having two champions at his wedding!"

She looked around the clearing, her head whipping back and forth. "In fact, where is that boy—"

I shot my mom a look of pure desperation.

Help me!

Mom cleared her throat. "Now, Cindy, I'm sure Hop's busy, there's really no need to—"

"There he is!" crowed Mrs. Riley. "Hop, look who's here! It's Rin!"

This time, I groaned out loud, but I don't think anyone heard me, over Mrs. Riley's exuberant shout.

A tall, muscular man with a wild mass of curling hair stepped out from a group of young men, who were sharing a bottle of whiskey between themselves.

"Rin? She made it?" Hop came towards us, grinning widely. "Hey! Long time no see, friend!"

I wondered if he had dropped the "best" part from best friend intentionally.

Or maybe I was just reading into it too much.

Looking like a million bucks in a custom tailored black suit, a white carnation in his breast pocket, he grabbed my hands. "It's been way too long."

"Uh," I managed to say. "Yes."

"How long? Five, six?"

"Se—seven, I think," I replied, honestly surprised to see how much he had changed in those years.

When we were fifteen years old, he had been this weedy thing, still the same height as me, and had as much bulk to him as a winter branch.

Now, he towered over me, broad-shouldered and attractively tan. Being Sonia's assistant really suited him.

"Come on, let's get a look at you!" He flicked his hand around, my hand still in his, and I had no choice but to do a slow three-sixty in front of him.

"Wow." He laughed. "Man, I still remember when we were little kids, running around, hell-bent on becoming the next Pokemon Champion."

The corners of his eyes crinkled. "Even if it wasn't me, I'm glad it was you. At least, one of us got to knock my brother off his throne, right?"

Was that a note of sarcasm I heard? Wasn't it?

Jesus, I really was a basket case.

"And besides, if it wasn't for Sonia giving me her assistant job, I would've never met Jessie. You're going to like her. She kind of reminds me of you. She's tough. The word impossible isn't in her vocabulary. I can't wait for the two of you to meet."

He looked over his shoulder and then smacked himself on the head. It was so reminiscent of our childhood that I was taken aback.

"Ah, that's right. She's waiting for the ceremony to start."

"Of course she is," I remarked, giving him an almost cautious smile. Maybe...maybe we were back to normal again? "It's bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony, you know."

"That's what they say," he replied. "Me personally, I don't believe in crap like that, but my fiancée is kind of nuts about observing traditions."

He tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow and led us away from our smiling parents.

Mostly, I was just relieved to be A: away from his mother who vacillated between laughing like a mad woman or scrunching her nose as if she didn't know if she wanted to cry and B: seemingly back to friend status with the guy I had turned down seven years ago.

Hop was a figure of great passion, even as a child. It was either all or nothing for him; so of course I assumed he'd still be smarting from my rejection when we were teenagers.

Clearly, I had been silly for assuming as much.

We were adults now.

Bygones should be bygones.

Hop led me to the edge of the clearing, well away from the crowd and let go of me to brush a speck of dust off the shoulder of his jacket.

"I'm really happy for you, Hop," I said earnestly. I gave him my first real smile of the day.

It felt good.

"Thanks, Rin." He looked away, his gaze distant. "Thanks for coming. I—I wasn't sure you would."

I stiffened.

Surely, he wasn't referring to the events of a time that was better forgotten? "Why wouldn't I?" My laughter sounded patently false. "I mean, we're best friends."

He turned back to me.

The look in his eyes made my throat tighten.

Oh god.

He hadn't forgotten.

Bygones weren't bygones.

"I haven't forgotten."

His voice was soft, barely above a whisper, but I felt each word as though he had screamed it into my ear.

I fought the urge to step away, to run back to the safety of all the people who would tell Hop to get his shit together, that tonight was his wedding of all things…that he had lost his mind.

My laughter was nervous, stilted. "Oh my God, are you still on that? Come on, Hop, we were kids."

I should've walked away.

But my feet were rooted into place. I don't think I could have run if a rampaging Rhydon was barreling toward me.

His hand wrapped around my wrist, painfully tight.

"Don't make me do this," he begged. "I'm only getting married to her to forget about you."

If only I could plug my ears and scream continuously until Hop gave up.

"Hop, it's just nerves. I promise."

I sounded just as desperate.

He was begging not to get married, while I was begging him to get married.

Besides, the scandal that would ensue if Hop walked away from this marriage would literally send his mother to her deathbed.

And if it turned out he'd walked away with me…

I shuddered, not daring to consider the ramifications.

Surreptitiously, I tried to twist my wrist out of his grasp. Okay, maybe not so surreptitiously, but I was trying to do in a way that didn't make him angry.

"Please, Hop, if you're getting married for the wrong reasons, then I think you should stop this ceremony," I replied. "But don't blame me. I have never once given you any idea that I'd be interested in you as more than just friends!"

The moment the words left my mouth, I wanted to cram them back in.

A light vanished in Hop's eyes, and something in me wanted to crawl into the underbrush and die a slow, lingering death.

"Hop, I—"

His jaw tightened as he flung my wrist away, hard enough to make it slam into my chest. "You haven't changed, have you? Still the same old bitch."

The bottom dropped out of my stomach as I stared at him.

Suddenly, why did I feel like I was in the wrong?

I wanted to say something, but I was terrified of exacerbating the current situation.

Although, to be honest, I didn't know how much worse the situation could get.

Heat rose in the back of my eyes, but I clenched my jaws tight, unwilling to let him see how his words, his tone hurt me.

"Don't," I whispered, terrified to talk louder for fear that I'd start bawling. "Please, don't. I've already told you how I feel about you, about us. For our families sake, for your fiancee's sake, can't we just pretend like we're old friends?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath and ran a hand through his thick hair. "Why'd you even come? Did you come to watch me marry a woman who'll be a poor substitute to you? Did you come to taunt me with the knowledge that I'll never have you, no matter what?"

I pressed a fist to my lips, unable to meet his searing gaze. "Stop."

He jerked his head back toward the crowd that was slowly starting to take their seats as the quartet began to play in earnest. "Then go. Get out of here."

If only I could. But my legs were rooted to the ground. "Why'd you invite me?"

He was still for a moment. "Because…I thought if you came, knowing our history, it would…" He sighed. "I thought it would mean that you realized you made a huge mistake all those years ago. That you'd finally come to your senses."

His shoulders slumped. "I put everything on the line. Made the wager of a lifetime."

I couldn't stop myself.

I know I shouldn't have.

I should've turned around and walked back to the crowd.

Shown my ex-best friend no remorse, no quarter.

But he looked so downtrodden that I couldn't help but put a hand on his shoulder, unable to differentiate between this young man to the kid who tromped all over Galar with me.

"Hop, don't do this," I said quietly. "I don't know who your fiancee is, but if you go through this marriage, not only will you ruin your life, you'll ruin hers as well. Not to mention, the anguish you'll put your family through."

I glanced around his shoulder (since he now stood a half a foot taller than me now) and noted with alarm that people were starting to look around for Hop.

His mother looked especially frazzled as she leaned against his dad, whispering frantically in his ear.

No one thought to look in the thick copse of trees behind them, and hidden as well as we were behind a trio of particularly thick trees, it was likely they'd never find us.

Which was probably just as well, because Hop looked like a mess, with his hair on end, his naturally tanned complexion reddened.

"You should go." I gave his shoulder a soft push. "Whether you choose to continue this wedding or stop it is up to you, but at the very least, don't make the people who care about you worry."

I hadn't meant to hold onto him for that long.

It was supposed to be friendly. God knows how many times we've gotten into mock fights growing up, rolling around on the ground while we tried to get the other into a headlock.

His hand lashed out, grabbed mine just as I was pulling away.

He tugged, pulling me wildly off balance.

Teetering on those precariously high, delicate heels, I pitched forward.

Then Hop was there, right before me, smelling like gardenias and something more woodsy, almost spicy.

The front of his tuxedo was infinitely soft underneath my fingertips as I braced myself to keep from smashing into his chest.

His hand cupped the back of my head, tilted it up until the only thing I could see were his dark, fathomless eyes.

I knew what he was going to do.

I've seen enough tv shows to know exactly what he wanted.

But I was helpless to stop him.

His lips were hard, cruel even, and he tasted faintly of whiskey.

Despite my rather inadequate experience with kissing, I'd done it enough over the years to know that, somewhere along the line, my childhood ex-best friend had definitely spent more time refining his technique than I had.

Had it been any other situation, any other person, I think I might have capitulated.

Giving in would have been so easy.

Snap.

The faint crackling of a branch being stepped on finally, mercifully brought me back to my senses and with a fortitude I didn't know I possessed, I wrenched away from him.

"No!" I staggered back.

My left foot went down at an awkward angle, the heel digging deep into the soft dirt, and then my ankle bent in.

Oh god, I was going to fall!

I saw Hop, wide-eyed, his mouth open wordlessly, as he tried to grab me.

But at that point, I think I would've rather let my self fall than let him touch me again.

And risk that happening again.

But I didn't.

Fall, I mean.

Instead, something cradled me from behind.

No, someone.

Someone with strong arms who smelled faintly of grass and my mother's special lilies.