Let It Go: A Love Story (Part Two)

Let it go, the smallest bridesmaid told herself, on the morning after the wedding.  The tallest groomsman hadn’t asked for her phone number.  It wasn’t meant to be.  But as she sat up in bed, the bridesmaid couldn’t suppress a nagging thought.  Her feelings about the groomsman weren’t mistaken.  There was something between them.  She glanced at the clock beside her bed.  Maybe it wasn’t too late.

Let it go, the bridesmaid told herself, as she rushed to get ready.  Chasing him was foolish.  Didn’t she have any pride?  The groomsman should make the first move, but there was nothing wrong with casually bumping into him downstairs before he left.  The elevator’s descent to the hotel lobby took an eternity.  Heart pounding, she stepped onto the first floor and tried to appear nonchalant.  One glance around the lobby proved fruitless.  The tallest groomsman was nowhere to be seen.

Let it go, the bridesmaid told herself, as she pulled out of the parking lot.  He had left the hotel without saying goodbye to her.  She tried to shrug off the mantle of disappointment, but the drive home was long and uneventful.  There was too much time to brood over the events of the previous evening.  Her analytical mind scrutinized every glance and word that they had exchanged.  She arrived at a harsh conclusion.  It was one conversation at a wedding.  That was it.

Let it go, the bridesmaid told herself, on entering her quiet home.  The silence offered no refuge from her thoughts.  She sat down on the couch and pressed her face into her hands.  A range of inexplicable emotions threatened to overwhelm her.  She tried to squash them with common sense.  This was real life, not a movie.  No one fell in love with a stranger after one conversation.  So why did the thought of never seeing him again make her want to weep?

Let it go, the bridesmaid told herself, as the hours passed into days.  How was this infatuation different?  She had crashed and burned before.  With time, her broken heart had healed.  It would be the same again.  She would forget about that groomsman if she buried herself in work and school.  But as the days turned into weeks, she couldn’t stop wondering what life with the groomsman could have been.

Let it go, the bridesmaid told herself, as she stared at the number on her phone.  What was she thinking?  This was a very bad idea.  He was a stranger who didn’t reciprocate her feelings.  Maybe his heart belonged to someone else.  Her life was already complicated.  It wasn’t worth the risk.

Let it go, the bridesmaid thought, as her anxiety grew.  A few deep breathes did little to calm her nerves.  The cell phone felt like a brick in her hand.  She remembered his warm smile across the dance floor, those hazel eyes that changed color with what he wore, and the warmth of his shoulder when it brushed against hers in the limo.  “He has a heart of gold,” her friend had told her at the wedding.  “You two would be happy.”

I can’t let it go, the bridesmaid realized.  She hit the send button on her phone before lifting it to her ear.

TO THE READER:  If you want to find out what happens next, please check out What Do I Say?:  A Love Story (Part Three) for the conclusion.  Thank you for reading!

Have you ever had a gut feeling about someone?  Did that instinct make you say or do completely irrational things?  (Not in a scary stalker way….)  Were your instincts correct?  Please share your stories with me!