His wedding day (you aren’t the bride)
Description: the titles pretty self explanatory
Word count: Just under 2k
It was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. He would have that permanent bond with Zoe. He would see the family he so desperately missed. He would get to spend an eternity remembering this day. He’d remember the small flower girls and the groomsmen and the bridesmaids. Yes, Michael Clifford was getting married.
And everyone was so overly excited, waiting in the pews of the small chapel or the designated area for bridesmaids or groomsmen. Except for her.
You waited in the area where groomsmen were. Mostly because Zoe refused you to be a bridesmaid. But Michael had played it off saying “oh you would’ve been a groomsmen anyways”. You knew it wasn’t true, but you wouldn’t miss being in his wedding for the world.
Of course, you’d always hoped you’d be the bride.
You were so hopelessly in love with him, you’d never guessed how he didn’t realize. Ashton was the only one who had picked up on your flirty banter, your loving stares, and your feelings of jealousy whenever Zoe was around. You hated the way they acted together. You wished so badly it was you feeding him off of your fork, cuddling him, and laughing with him. You wanted him so badly, but you can’t always get what you want.
You sat in one of the chairs they had set up in the room, staring blankly at the floor. This was it: you’d had your chance to say something about your feelings, and you didn’t. “Excited?” Calum asked Michael. Michael was fixing his tie in the mirror as a slight smile escaped onto his face. Obviously he was excited. Who wouldn’t be happy to marry a model-like girl such as Zoe.
“Yeah, mate. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. She’s the only girl I’ve ever loved like this. She makes me so happy, Cal,” he smiled. Calum laughed and they continued their conversation about how fit Zoe was. You had to force yourself not to eavesdrop anymore. You didn’t want to literally vomit from the sick feeling you get in your stomach when her name is mentioned.
“(y/n), are you alright?” Ashton quietly whispered in your ear when he sat down next to you. There were tears in your eyes and a lump in your throat, so you did what was best and just shook your head “no”. Ashton took your hand in his, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb. “You’ll be alright,” he comforted. But you wouldn’t be.
How were you supposed to sit through hours of a ceremony attaching Michael to the love of his love? How were you supposed to be friends with Michael ever again? You had no clue how you’d even cope. You loved Michael, and he loved some one else.
“I’m going for a walk,” you abruptly blurted out, standing up and running off. You had to get out. You couldn’t sit there for another moment listening to Michael and Calum.
“I got it,” Ashton spoke firmly to Michael who was about to run after you. Ash knew that Michael going after you, wouldn’t help your situation in the slightest.
And he eventually found you, sulking on a bench in the garden area.
“(y/n),” Ashton said with a pleading tone to his voice. He pulled you in with out hesitation, wrapping his strong arms around you. But they weren’t as comforting as Michael’s arms. Nothing compared to him.
“Ash, I-I can’t do it,” you cried, into his chest. The makeup you had gotten professionally done was washing away with every fallen tear. But why would you care? The only person at this wedding to impress was the groom and he had Zoe.
“Listen to me,” he spoke into your hair. You tilted your chin up, straightening yourself out, but still sulking. “You’ve made it this far. You can do it. Michael would be broken if you left,” Ashton explained.
“I’m going to be broken if I stay,” you whispered.
“I’m not letting you leave,” he firmly said, wiping tears from your cheeks.
“Please let me go,” you sobbed, putting your head into your hands. “It hurts too much, Ash. I love him and I can’t watch him be happy and in love with her,”
And then Ashton’s body tensed, making you feel uncomfortable entangled with his body. Then you heard some one clear their throat. It was none other than Michael. Your eyes went wide. How much has he heard? Does he care? No, (y/n), of course he doesn’t.
“Weddings about to start,” Michael awkwardly spoke, before you could say anything you heard his heavy foot steps fade away in the direction of the chapel.
After a moment of awkward tension between you two, you whispered to Ashton,“How much do you think he heard?”
“He heard enough to know,” Ashton sighed. “C’mon, we don’t want to miss this,” he said lightly. He was the first to get up, gently pushing your body off of him. You did want to miss this wedding, so badly. You wished it was all a dream-no a nightmare-, but this was reality. And in reality Michael and Zoe were getting married.
You sat next to all of the boys in the front row, getting a clear view of Michael. Damn, did he look great in a tux.You could hear his heavy breathing and his sighs. The way his fists were balled together and the way his foot was gently tapping, you could tell he was nervous. You looked at him, biting your lip gently. And his head slightly turned towards you. He gave you a small smile, but it was so sympathetic. He knew you loved him now, and every thing had changed. Shit, you’d been staring too long.
You turned towards the other 3 boys, to find them already looking at you with comforting eyes and gentle smiles. “We know, (y/n), it was so obvious,” Luke smiled lightly, trying to bring his humor into this.
“Apparently not as obvious to him,” you mumbled, as the cheesy classic wedding song started playing on the piano. Ashton grabbed your hand for comfort, as he saw you look down with devastation.
Zoe was last down the aisle with her dad clinging to her arm. You couldn’t bear to look at her. Your eyes were too glassy and if you looked up some one would for sure notice. “You’ll be okay,” Ashton whispered to you. And yeah, maybe you would be eventually.
You glanced up to see Michael one more time. You just wanted to capture what he looked like one last time before Zoe came into the picture. You glanced up through your tearing eyes, and saw him staring at you. Not staring at Zoe. You briefly made eye contact, before his eyes wandered away from you, and onto her.
“Ashton, I can’t,” you whispered harshly to him, your voice on the verge of breaking. “I have to leave,”
And this time Ashton let you. So you hurriedly waved to the boys and excused yourself. As you made it to the back of the church with out causing a big distraction, you looked back one more time. Michael was holding her hands with a fake smile on his face, but he was watching your every step. Little did you know, each time you came closer to the door, his heart broke even more.
You were crying- sobbing- by the time you ran down the marble church steps. You sniffled and wiped your nose, trying to keep some composure. You found a small sitting area adjacent to the stairs. You sat on a bench, not caring if your pale pink dress would be stained. You sobbed into your hands, just waiting for this day to be over. Your heart couldn’t handle it anymore.
“(y/n),” an out of breath accented voice called out your name. No, it couldn’t be. Your head whipped up, immediately you wiped the tears freely flowing. A few feet away, stood your best friend- the groom.
“Michael?” you questioned harshly. He was supposed to be inside. He was supposed to be getting married and saying his vows.
“Oh my god, there you are,” he sighed in relief. He sat down next to you, almost too close for comfort. His eyes were scanning you.
“Shouldn’t you be in there?” you falsely smiled. You looked into his pale green eyes. the same ones that could read right through you.
“Shouldn’t you be in there too? I stopped the wedding to make sure you were okay” he remarked. He bit his lip. The silence between you two was so unnerving. You fumbled with your hands, looking for some type of distraction.
“Yeah, I erm just needed air,” you spoke quietly. “You can go back in, I’ll be there in a minute,”
“We need to talk…. about what I overheard,” he sighed. Gently, he put his arm around your shoulders.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m too late. It’s your wedding day for god sakes,” you shouted, throwing your hands into the air, as tears welled in your eyes.
“(y/n) if you would’ve told me it would be different,” he explained.
“Different?” you scoffed. “How?”
“I wouldn’t be with her because I would’ve told you I loved you back,” he yelled, silencing you. Did he just say what you’ve been waiting for all this time? Now on his wedding day, he decides to tell you.
“You what?” you whispered in disbelief.
“It wasn’t supposed to come out like this. It wasn’t supposed to come out at all,” he mumbled to himself. Michael got up and started pacing back and forth in front of the bench.
“You should go back in there,” you told him. No matter how much it hurt you, you would always put Michael first. His happiness was what was important to you.
“No, I can’t,” he snapped at you. The frustration was evident in his eyes. You were taken back by his tone, but you understood. “Sorry, I’m just so torn. I love you and I guess I just thought you’d never feel that way and now that you do, I don’t know what to do,” he rambled on.
“I’m gonna go in there and postpone the wedding. It’ll buy me some time to think,” he told you. Before you had a chance to say anything, he ran in the other direction towards the church.
A happy feeling rose inside of you. Maybe there was a chance you and Michael would end up together.
It had been 10 minutes and Michael still hadn’t come out of the church. It surely didn’t take this long to postpone a wedding. Curious, you went back into the church. You expected to find Michael speaking to Zoe privately, but what you saw was so unexpected. The sight made you sick to your stomach.
“You may now kiss the bride,” the priest announced as everyone clapped with joy. And Michael leaned in and sealed their love with a passionate kiss.
You sunk down onto your knees drowning in sorrow, hoping this wasn’t really happening. Was this some sick joke?
But it wasn’t. Michael had married Zoe. There was no more hope.
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