Ashley had heard it a thousand times before. She'd heard it before the wedding, and she suspected she'd be hearing it for a while after. The groom's best girl. He had never planned to have a best man. He'd said it was because he didn't want to make Isaac or Zac either one mad at him by choosing one over the other, but Ashley knew better. She'd always been his best girl. She ought to be at his wedding, as well. Except for this time, she'd been one-upped by the bride. Someone whose room she'd been living in for the past 9 months. Someone whose family she'd come to know so well and to love.
All that was left to the reception now was the bride and groom's first official dance as a married couple. Ashley had promised Taylor she'd stay and watch, even though she knew it would kill her all over again. She was ready to get home and get out of these clothes that reeked of the wedding that was meant to be hers. As the first few chords of "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain drifted through the reception hall, Taylor and Chloe stepped onto the cleared floor. Everyone watched as they danced awkwardly, smiling at each other.
Midway through the song, Ashley got up and went to the door. She turned back just before leaving, and was surprised to find that Taylor was looking at her sadly. She could feel the tears coming to her eyes as she bravely looked back at him, trying to hide her emotion. So this was how it would be. She could now see that there were 3 divides in her life. Before her mother's cancer, after her mother's cancer, and - by far the greatest divide - life after Taylor.
There was nothing she could do to change it now. Taylor wasn't hers; he belonged to some other girl. She could no longer stop the turmoil that had been caused by this wedding. The wedding that was not meant to be, but that went on anyway, unchecked and without a hitch. It was too late...
A look came over his face just then, as though he'd realized something was wrong. Ashley felt her heart clutching in her throat, but flashed him a small smile anyway. She mouthed to him, "Good luck, Taylor."
Before he could see her tears, she turned and walked out of his life.
