And This Is Just The Intro
Brooke sat in her car outside Tessa’s house for a full minute before turning the engine off. Her hands were still shaking, and she wiped them on her jeans like that might somehow steady her chest. She hated showing up anywhere like this, raw, unraveling, but Tessa was her best friend. If there was one place she could fall apart, it was here.
The front door swung open before Brooke even reached the steps.
“There you are,” Tessa said, pulling her into a hug that was warm and familiar and exactly what Brooke needed. “You sounded terrible on the phone.”
Behind her, Ryan leaned against the doorway with a soft smile. “Hey, Brooke.”
“Hey,” Brooke said, her voice already cracking.
They ushered her inside, settling her onto the couch like she might break if they moved too fast. Tessa disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, handing it to her without a word.
“So,” Ryan said gently, “what happened?”
Brooke stared at the condensation sliding down the glass. “Carly invited me to her wedding,” she said. “Which is great. I’m happy for her. I really am.” She laughed once, hollow. “But she gave me a plus one.”
Tessa’s eyebrows knit together. “Okay… and?”
“And I don’t have one,” Brooke snapped, then immediately winced. “I don’t have anyone. And I don’t want to show up alone. Everyone’s going to be paired off, slow dancing, posting photos. I’ll just be… there. Alone.”
Tessa sat beside her and rested a hand on her knee. “Brooke, that doesn’t mean anything about you.”
“I know that logically,” Brooke said. “But it feels like it does.”
Ryan nodded, thinking. “Well… you don’t have to go alone.”
Brooke looked up, hope flickered in her eyes just for just a second. “How?”
“I could ask Adam,” Ryan offered. “He’s free that weekend, and it’s just a wedding. No pressure.”
The hope vanished instantly.
“No,” Brooke said, too fast.
Ryan blinked. “No?”
“Absolutely not,” she said, sitting up straighter. “Adam hates me.”
“That’s not true,” Ryan said. “He just—”
“He’s been nasty to me since the day he met me,” Brooke cut in. “He made fun of my music, my piercings, my tattoos. He once asked me if I was ‘trying too hard’ to be different.” Her jaw tightened. “I’m not spending a wedding pretending to have fun with someone who’s made it clear he doesn’t respect me.”
Tessa shot Ryan a look. “Yeah, that’s a hard no.”
Ryan raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
Brooke sank back into the couch, exhaustion washing over her. “I just don’t want to feel like the odd one out,” she said quietly. “But I also won’t drag myself through a night with someone who makes me feel small.”
Tessa squeezed her hand. “Then we’ll figure something else out. You’re not doing this alone, wedding or not.”
Brooke swallowed, nodding. The knot in her chest loosened just a little. She still didn’t have a plus one, but at least she had this, people who chose her, exactly as she was.
And for now, that was enough.
