Loving My Best Friend

Ch 20 - The After Party

After the ceremony, the party started. Everyone enjoyed the food and drinks and wished the newly wedded couple happiness. The wedding cake was cut and Eleanor and Rickard danced their first dance as a married couple.

“Do you wanna dance?” Raymond asked Emily as she watched Oliver pull his date to the dance floor and she reluctantly nodded to Raymond. He watched her gaze and sighed.

“Come,” he took her to the dance floor and together they began to sway with the music.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?” Raymond said to Emily and she chuckled.

“Yes, you did,” she said with a nod.

“Just a reminder, you look ravishing,” Emily chuckled more and averted her gaze, blushing.

Her gaze fell on Oliver and his date, but what surprised her was that Oliver was staring at her. His blue eyes were like icy daggers as he stared at her and Emily blinked. Her smile vanished and she gulped.

She felt intimidated by the anger in his gaze and looked away and tried to hide from his stare. What had she done that made him furious with her? Shouldn’t it be the other way? She recalled him being the one throwing the gifts in the trash.

“Emily? What happened?” Raymond asked and followed her gaze. He glanced at Oliver and smirked.

“You two need to sort out whatever it is you’re going through,” Raymond said in a whisper to Emily as she looked at him. She was surprised he noticed, but then everyone would see the way Oliver was glaring at her.

“Sometime else, maybe. He’s busy with his date right now,” Emily said, looking down.

Raymond noticed the sullen expression on her face and sighed. “He won’t be busy for much longer.”

Emily looked at him with a frown and shook her head. “You don’t know him.”

He nodded and then pulled her closer. “But I know myself.”

Emily’s frown deepened when he pulled her closer and she pushed at his chest lightly to create some distance. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just go to him and sort it out.”

Emily and Raymond got off the dance floor and Raymond went in the direction of the corridor where several rooms and restrooms were located. She looked at him and then back at Oliver and his date, who were no longer on the dance floor.

“Where did they go?” Emily muttered to herself and when the obvious answer appeared in her mind, she felt her heart sink to the deepest. Grabbing a glass of wine from the waiter, she gulped down the liquid in one sip and slammed the glass on one of the tables while she proceeded towards the corridor where Raymond went.

She had no hope for her and Oliver and that was it. Feeling her eyes tear up despite her efforts to bury her emotions deep within her, she blinked to clear her vision.

Just as she opened the door to the restroom, she heard loud moans coming from within and she halted in her tracks with wide alarmed eyes. There were several stalls and Emily was unsure where the moans were coming from.

Confused, she walked out of the restroom and glanced at the symbol of Female Restroom to make sure she hadn’t stepped into the wrong place.

She was thinking when Rebecca suddenly came beside her and asked, “Who are you waiting for here?”

Emily turned to look at her while startled by her voice. “No one. I am just making sure it's a female restroom.”

Rebecca shrugged and walked inside, not waiting for Emily to reply. “Of course it is. Come on.” She said, walking inside and closing the door.

Emily stared as the door closed and she winced, knowing what Rebecca had walked into. She wondered who it was she had heard in the restroom. Previously, she had only seen Raymond going in that direction, but Raymond was with her. Then who?

Was it Oliver and his date?

Her hands began to shake and she gripped the skirt of her dress in her fists to keep them steady.

Feeling suffocated and in need of fresh air, Emily glanced around on the way towards the terrace and opened several doors, finding empty rooms. The last door on the left turned out to be the terrace and Emily stepped out.

She took in a huge gulp of air and exhaled loudly, placing a hand over her heart. She opened her eyes and walked forward. It was then she noticed another presence on the terrace in the dark of the night. For a second, she got scared but then she made out the black tuxedo and the sharp eyes staring at her.

Slowly her eyes adjusted and she blinked, stopping in her tracks.

He just stood there staring at her while she blinked at him. His gaze moved up and down her body for the hundredth time that evening. She looked so beautiful in that yellow dress that he was unable to keep his gaze from moving in her direction. The way those blonde tendrils teased her cheeks, Oliver’s hand itched to tuck them behind her ear. And it was getting increasingly difficult for him to avoid her anymore.

Emily couldn’t believe her eyes. Was she seeing something else in the dark? It was Oliver standing at the terrace staring back at her. She focused on him and moved forward, scared that he was some ghost.

When she saw him moving back to his position with his back to her, she was sure it was Oliver.

Her mouth pressed into a thin line, feeling her anger rising back up. But she refused to leave. It wasn’t his property, so she was entitled to stand there as much as he was.

Oliver glanced at her again and lifted an eyebrow, wondering what she was glaring at him for?

Emily rolled her eyes and walked towards the railing, enjoying the fresh air for a moment. She could pretend that he wasn’t standing there some distance away, but who was she kidding? Her eyes kept darting in his direction every second.

She wondered where his date was. And who was in that washroom if it wasn’t Oliver? Shrugging to herself, she thought it could be anyone, there were plenty of guests at the party. But she felt relief knowing it wasn’t Oliver and she hated herself for feeling that way.

During her inner monologue, both Oliver and Emily heard a commotion outside and turned back to glance through the glass door of the terrace in surprise.

Emily frowned on seeing Raymond with his hair messed up, his coat slung over his arm and a deep frown marring his forehead. She moved her head and her mouth fell open, seeing Oliver’s date in his arms and Rebecca standing in front of them with a disgusted face.

“What the hell is going on?” Emily whispered to herself, but Oliver heard and he snorted.

“Looks like your date ditched you,” he said, and Emily saw him smirk. She wanted to strangle him right there and kiss that smirk off his face.

“So did yours. Your charms didn’t work on her, huh?” She replied with a smirk of hers.

Oliver narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.

“I never tried to charm her,” he said, and his gaze traveled up and down her body, making her aware of him prancing towards her like a predator.

“Petty excuses,” Emily said, crossing her arms across her chest, rubbing her arms meanwhile.

Oliver’s gaze dipped down from her face and took in the gentle swell of her breasts. How he would love to taste every inch of her. He gulped visibly and Emily blinked.

“If I was interested in her, I would have seduced her long ago,” Oliver said, staring into her eyes and noticing the way she got nervous as he came closer.

There was still a lot of distance between them and she was still nervous. It only proved his point that she was afraid she would give in to the desire. He couldn’t understand what was holding her back. What was she afraid of? Perhaps she needed a push.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. And why am I even talking to you?” Emily asked herself at last. “You don’t want anything from me, then why do you care if my date ditched me or not? Mind your own business.”

“You can leave if you want to, I am not stopping you,” he said, waving his hand towards the door, and she got angrier.

“I am not going anywhere. You can leave if you want to. I came here for peace of mind but I found you!”

“I came here first.”

“So what? You had to taunt me and rile me up. You can’t see me peacefully standing in a corner and had to interfere,” Emily said, getting riled up, and Oliver saw the anger in her. He lifted his hand to calm her but she pushed it away and stalked closer with her eyebrows knitted together.

“Almost the whole month, you avoided me like a plague and now you want to talk to me about my date?”

Oliver stared as her eyes lit up fiercely in anger.

“You don’t even care to apologize after treating my heartfelt gifts like trash, and you kept glaring at me like I had done something to you,” Emily continued to spit fire and he winced. He was angry seeing her with Raymond Artair, but would he tell her that? No.

He put his hands on her arms and she pushed them away again. Oliver frowned and then his patience snapped. She was going on about her complaints. Did she have no idea why he was avoiding her?

“Emily? Enough!” Oliver snapped.

“No, you keep quiet. Because I have been tolerating you for so long.”

“Really, exactly what are you tolerating?” He taunted her and she clenched her teeth.

“You. I am tolerating you!” She said and he sucked in a sharp breath.

She jabbed a finger at his chest and he grabbed her wrist, losing his patience.

“That’s enough,” he said, and saw her panting.

“No, no. no. You don’t decide when it’s enough. I will,” she continued, but Oliver had enough.

There was no third warning and he hushed her the best way he could. He threaded one of his hands in her hair, tilted her face and claimed her mouth without any warning.