I slowly started to open my eyes, or at least tried to, but I was having a lot of trouble. Not only was the lighting just too much, but my right eyelid was in a lot of pain. In fact, the entire right side of my face was in pain. My eye, my cheek, even my nose and I was really praying that it wasn't broken. And although I couldn't open my eyes completely, I could tell someone was standing over me, probably ready to finish the job and smother me with a pillow, and maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing because right now I was afraid to even look in the mirror and see the damage.
God, breathing through my nose was a bitch.
"Guys, he's awake!"
"Ouch!" I hissed in irritation.
It's one thing to get punched in the face, having Emmett scream near you after getting punched in the face is something else.
"Oh God, can't you keep it down?" I barked, slowly trying to sit up. Needless to say, I was fucking dizzy. I immediately tried to look around and noticed we were in a different room. They probably moved me so the rehearsal dinner could happily carry on. Fucking great.
"Christ, Brian, are you okay?" I heard Michael's concerned voice and turned my head in his direction. He was blurry, but I could imagine the look on his face.
"That depends," I let out a nervous laugh. "How bad is it?" No one answered, so I figured it was bad. "Great. There goes the face modeling."
"That should be the least of your worries." Melanie pointed out somewhere behind me. "When I told you to fight for him, this wasn't what I had in mind."
"Well, you know Brian." Debbie said, her voice full of irony. "When he wants something, there's no stopping him. He just have to take everything to the fucking extreme. I'd punch you myself if your face wasn't already swollen."
"Ma!" Michael rushed to my defense.
"Swollen?" I asked, horrified.
"You look like you just had plastic surgery that went really, really wrong," Ted laughed out loud.
"Fuck!"
"Well, I can't say you didn't deserve it."
"Thanks, Deb. Just what I need." I pinched the bridge of my nose and immediately hissed in pain. "So I take it I pissed off the fiancé?"
I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind that maybe it was Justin who threw the punch, it happened so fast I simply couldn't be sure, but I really hoped they would confirm my guess.
"Aren't you a genius?" Deb was the first to respond and I immediately felt a huge sense of relief. I mean, it still hurt, but it would have hurt a lot more coming from Justin. If you know what I mean. "I'm actually surprised he was able to control himself for so long, considering you had your hands all over Justin."
Somehow I couldn't help myself and smiled, only to be reminded that my facial muscles weren't quite working right now.
"I knew he'd do something, but I didn't expect him to do this... trying to kiss him... in front of everyone... at his rehearsal dinner..." Lindsay made it sound so dramatic.
But what if I've actually gone too far? What if Justin really hated me now? God, I suddenly had the urge to punch myself. What the hell was I thinking?
"It's Brian. We can't be surprised." Ben reminded.
"I think it was pretty romantic." I was surprised to hear Daphne's voice. "Stupid, but romantic."
"It may have been romantic, but it was definitely a suicide mission," Emmett chuckled. "I seriously didn't know Scott had it in him. I almost got hard when he threw that punch." He wasn't even ashamed to admit it.
"You and me, both." Ted laughed.
I rolled my eyes, but somehow I couldn't help hoping that they would seduce Mr. Perfect and solve my problems. Not a threesome I'd want to watch, but I'd pay gold to make it happen. Then Justin would see that his future husband wasn't so perfect. But it would only make me a bigger jerk, so let's leave it to my imagination.
"You know I can hear you two, right?" I growled.
I could hear their muffled giggling, but decided to ignore it. It wasn't worth my time.
"Where is he?" I asked, almost embarrassed. I wasn't even ready to face him, but I needed to know if I had really killed any chance of us ever getting back together.
"Probably with that asshole who punched you." Michael said angrily.
Not that it was surprising to hear, but I'd like to think he was at least worried about me. I mean, I could have a concussion! But it's probably more of a bruised ego.
"The last time I saw him he was on the floor with you trying to wake you up, but then we moved you here and he hasn't shown up since." Lindsay said.
Knowing that he was there by my side when it happened gave me such a warm feeling, but the fact that he didn't even check up on me for I don't know how long because who the hell knows how long I'd been out felt like an icy shower. I mean, I could be dead! Was he even aware of that?
Well, maybe he was just in the middle of dumping Scott's ass for what he did to me. I know, I know, wishful thinking.
But just as I was about to make some salty remark, there was a knock on the door. I immediately straightened up and the door soon opened, and though I could barely see, I immediately knew it was him.
"I just wanted to make sure you're okay."
I am now, I thought immediately, glad that he still cared about me. "Yeah, I'm fine." I gave him a smile even though it was painful.
And he actually smiled back. But suddenly there was a silence, a really awkward silence. But Deb luckily saved the day. "I think we should give them some privacy," she suggested, but more like ordered.
And the fact that Justin didn't protest made me really happy. At least I hoped it was a good sign.
To say I was really impatient for them to leave would be an understatement, so when they finally did, I felt like I could breathe again. I mean almost, my nose was still in pain.
But suddenly I didn't even know what I wanted to say and from what I saw, Justin felt the same way. We just stared at each other awkwardly until it was no longer bearable.
"So..." We both said at the same time, which made us both chuckle.
"You first." Justin prompted.
So I nervously asked, " Are you okay?"
"Me?" He asked, almost in disbelief. "I'm not the one who got knocked unconscious."
"Yeah," I laughed softly. "True."
He laughed too, but then his face got serious. "I'm really sorry. He shouldn't have done that."
"Guess I shouldn't have tried to kiss you at your rehearsal dinner," I acknowledged with a shrug.
"Yeah, that probably wasn't the best idea." His mouth said that, but his face said something else. Or maybe I was just too dizzy.
"Sorry if I ruined your night."
"Really?" He cocked an eyebrow in amusement.
"No, not really," I admitted with a laugh. "I just... I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt you..."
"Brian," he breathed, closing his eyes for a second.
"What, Justin?" I urged, I just needed him to say something, anything. Because this was driving me crazy.
"I just..." I immediately got hopeful, but that feeling was killed the next second. "Your nose... it's bleeding," he suddenly walked up to me and pulled a tissue out of his pocket, then pressed it to my nose, making me hiss and instinctively grab his hand. "Sorry."
"It's okay," I managed to smile.
I might have danced with him today and had his body pressed right up against mine, but this, right here, felt much more intimate. Having him so close almost took my breath away. And all I wanted to do was pull him even closer and hold him, tight in my arms.
"Thanks," I said, trying to distract myself.
"You're welcome," he smiled. "After all, it's my fault."
"Yours? I was the one who tried to kiss you, not the other way around." He didn't answer, which got me wondering. "Or... did you want to kiss me?"
"Brian," he sighed. "You can't keep doing this."
"Doing what?" I rolled my lips in, trying to look innocent.
"I'm getting married tomorrow." He said it like he was tired of having to keep repeating himself.
"You think I don't know that?" I abruptly stood up and Justin took a few steps back. "Jesus Christ," I turned my back to him and took a few deep breaths before looking back at him. "I don't know what else to do here, Justin. I've told you everything, how I feel, what I want... but I'm starting to think that it doesn't matter what I say... or what I do," I paused, hating what I was about to say. "So I think it's best if I just stop. So if you want to marry him, then marry him. If you think it's the best thing for you, then I won't stand in your way... because if you think he can make you happy in a way I can't, then... you're probably doing the right thing. And I mean that sincerely. Because I've never wanted anything more than for you to be happy. Even if it means not being with me. But Justin," I took a few steps closer to him. "If there's a part of you, even the smallest part, that knows that marrying him will be the biggest mistake of your life, then... well, I guess you know what I'm trying to say. But from now on, it's up to you. Decide for yourself what you want... or rather, who you want."
I was about to leave the room, but at the last moment I stopped and, knowing that this might very well be my last chance, I kissed him on the cheek. I kept my lips there probably longer than I should have, but this kind of felt like goodbye (though I really hoped it wasn't) and I simply did what I needed to do. But even though I'd been wanting to kiss him for a really long time, this only made my eyes tear up.
And then I forced myself to leave, not just the room, but the house. I just couldn't stay there. So I packed my things and went to the hotel, hoping I hadn't just made the biggest mistake of my life. How ironic.