Secondhand Boyfriends

by Jessa Jeffries

  “Oh, there you are, Ayla.” It was Olivia. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  Bennett and I stepped back away from each other. Our magical little moment had just been so rudely interrupted.

  “So, um,” she said. “People are wondering what the heck is going on.”

  Bennett and I exchanged looks.

  “So what are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I can’t marry Sam,” I said as I turned towards Bennett. I knew he’d been dying to hear those four little words.

  Bennett leaned in and kissed my mouth hard and with passion.

  “I’m tired of the games,” I said to him. “I just want to be with you.”

  “Really Bennett?” Olivia interrupted our moment once again. “After everything we’ve been through? The talks we’ve had?”

  I didn’t know why Olivia was fighting for him. He clearly didn’t want to be with her. It was a lost cause, and now she was just making a fool out of herself.

  “I was an idiot to believe a single word you ever said to me,” Olivia added. “Good luck with that, Ayla.”

  She pointed to Bennett like he was some sort of repulsive toad and spun around on her heel only to bump into Sam who was standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face.

  “W-what’s…” Sam stammered. “What’s going on here?”

  “Yeah, you two definitely owe him an explanation,” Olivia said with her hand on her hip. I wished she would just butt out. She was really starting to annoy me.

  Bennett stared down at the ground awkwardly as I fidgeted nervously.

  “I don’t know how to say this, Sam,” I began as I looked up at him. “But I can’t marry you.”

  Sam looked devastated, but I knew this was just the way it had to be. There was no easy way to go about this and there was nothing more that needed to be said. Nothing he could say or do would talk me out of my decision to be with Bennett.

  “Ayla,” Sam objected. He was going to fight for me, I knew it. “Can we speak privately?”

  He shot me a look before nodding to Bennett and myself in an attempt to ask us to leave.

  “No, Sam,” I said. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing more to talk about. Let’s not make this harder than it is.”

  “So that’s all I get?” Sam said with a huff. It was rare to see him get angry, but I could tell he was reaching his boiling point. “A year together. A whirlwind romance. And this is what I get? No explanation and you won’t even talk to me?”

  “Just go, man,” Bennett said to Sam as he slipped his arm around my waist. “Let’s not make this harder than it is.”

  I saw tears well up in Sam’s eyes and watched as Olivia reached over to take his hand. He promptly yanked it away and walked off. The sight of Sam stomping away in his black and white tuxedo, throwing his blue floral boutonniere on the ground, was nothing short of heartbreaking.

  I felt bad for him, but I knew his happiness wasn’t going to come from a marriage to me. Somewhere out there was someone else better suited for him. I was doing the right thing for the both of us. I was sure of it.

  I turned towards Bennett and stepped into his embrace once again. I could stay wrapped up in his arms forever.

  “Take me out of here,” I said to him.

  He slipped my hand into his and pulled me towards the nearest exit where we ran off towards his car.

  Driving away from the church, from the awful scene that had just taken place, was like a breath of fresh air bringing new life into me. It was a new beginning with an old love, and I was sure I’d done the right thing. The life I’d nearly resigned myself to would have been filled with boredom and malcontent. That life would’ve turned into one of resentment and self-loathing.

  Sitting next to me was my future. Things with Bennett were never going to be perfect, that I knew, but they would always be fun and exciting. Bennett injected the passion in my life that I had missed so much.

  I reached over and squeezed his hand.

  “Where to?” he asked.

  “Out of Harrisville,” I said.

  “You got it,” he replied as he merged onto the interstate.

  Flying down the road at 70 miles per hour with the windows down, my tightly pinned curls loosened and my hair was flying everywhere, but I finally felt free.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jessa Jeffries is a writer/daydream believer with a million stories floating around in her mind at any given moment…this just happened to be one of them. She has a passion for tasteful melodramas, love stories that stay with you long after the book is done, and exploring the what-ifs and what-might-have-beens in fiction and in life.

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