F2F ⇆ 001
chelsealewis:
It all felt like a dream as she rushed down the aisle – a very bad dream, at that, a dream she wanted to wake up from right this second. She saw the surprised faces of her family and friends, and his family and friends, as if it all was in slow motion. No one did anything, no one acted after he had left her standing there, and if anyone reacted to her leaving, she didn’t see it. She just needed to get out of there, to get as far away from this situation as possible. How could he just leave her there? This man that she was going to marry had chickened out and left her there, looking like a fool in her white dress, because she had expected him to follow through. There had never been any doubt he would, because he had been the one to ask, he had been the one to blow it out of proportions and invite everyone they knew. And he left her.
Once she reached the doors, she dropped her bouquet to open them, not knowing where to go next. Outside was no use – it wasn’t like she had her car keys anyway, and even if she did, her car wasn’t here. She could only assume Preston had taken the car they were supposed to leave in, and so she was stuck with no options. Maybe- just maybe, if she was lucky, she could get the keys to her parents’ car, or even Sam’s car. Oh god, what would they say? It was humiliating, and even if she knew they would support her, she had no idea what they really thought.
She didn’t wait a second longer, hurrying down the hallway and up the stairs to reach the room they had done the finishing touches on her make-up to see if she could find any way to just leave. There were plastic bags lying around with shoes the girls had changed out of, make-up everywhere along with a few coats and- her vision blurred with tears. She couldn’t take it anymore. She sat down on the couch, hiding her face in her hands as she started crying. What was she going to do now?
Sam didn’t know where to begin in processing what he had just witnessed, and it was clear from the absolute silence in the room that he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. He wasn’t sure he’d ever forget the sinking feeling in his chest as Preston muttered something to Chelsea before taking off, leaving his former bride alone up at the altar in front of all of their friends and family. The worst part was that nobody stood to do anything, leaving his best friend up there all alone, and Sam couldn’t even imagine how she felt in that moment. He didn’t even know how he felt. It was like something out of a nightmare, and everything seemed to be happening in slow motion until suddenly Chelsea was running down the aisle, leaving nothing but whispers and her bouquet of flowers as she was out of sight. Without giving himself time to doubt his decision, Sam stood up from his seat and ran after her, ignoring the whispers around him as he followed where he’d watched his friend run off to. He had no idea what he was going to say, but Chelsea meant too much to him for him to not do something. He hesitated when he finally reached the door, listening to the sounds of Chelsea crying as he tried to figure out what he was going to do once he was with her. His go-to was typically to make people laugh, but he knew there wasn’t going to be an easy fix to this. None of it even felt real. It seemed as though for months they’d talked about nothing but the wedding. Chelsea had been the perfect bride, and Preston the seemingly perfect groom up until moments ago. After one last deep breath, Sam slowly opened the door, silently letting himself in and closing the door behind him, his eyes never leaving the crying young woman on the couch. If she wanted to be alone, she could scream at him to get out and he’d respect that, but there was no way he was going to make her deal with this on her own. He cared too much about her to just sit around and wait for things to sort out on their own. Without saying a word, he made his way over to the couch and cautiously sat down next to her, his hands clasped in his lap as he watched her. Even if he wanted to make her laugh, there wasn’t a single thing he could think of to say. Instead of speaking, Sam wrapped an arm around Chelsea’s shoulders, leaning into her as he rested his cheek against her shoulder, unable to come up with the words that would make this all go away. Part of him was hoping it’d be a matter of moments before they woke up or before Preston came into the room to ask if they were ready to get on with the wedding, but he knew that was only his optimism speaking.