The Love She Never Earned

At the reunion, someone asked when I was getting married.

Grinning, I pulled out the invites. "Mid-October. Be there."

Cheers broke out. Everyone peeked at the girl next to me.

"You've been with Daphne forever, right? Finally making it official?"

Daphne hurled her drink at me. "Ethan Everett, is this your idea of pressuring me into marriage?"

The room froze.

I wiped my face, cool as ever, and opened the invite in front of her.

"Maybe check the name. It doesn't say you're the bride."

Every reunion, someone'd toss out the same question—when were Daphne and I finally tying the knot?

Ten years in and no wedding? People thought we were basically mythical.

So when I dropped the wedding date and started passing out invites, jaws hit the floor.

After a beat, the congrats rolled in.

Then the invites got closer to Daphne. I paused—should I even give her one?

That's when a glass of water smacked me dead in the face.

"When did I ever say yes to your proposal? Ethan Everett, is this your idea of pressuring me into marriage?"

The whole room froze.

"I said no, and I meant it. Pulling stunts like this won't change anything! Why don't you try waiting a few more years like a normal person?"

I wiped my face, met her glare, and flipped open the invite right in front of her.

"Maybe check the name. It doesn't say you're the bride."

By now, people were cracking open their invites, glancing around, whispering.

"Wait, the bride's not Daphne?"

"It says... Alana Anderson. That name rings a bell."

"Is this for real? Weren't they together like ten years? How'd it flip to someone else outta nowhere?"

Daphne yanked the invite, skimmed it, and her face lit up with pure rage. She crumpled it and chucked it at me.

"Oh, so you're really committing to the act now, huh?"

A couple classmates rushed in, trying to calm the storm.

"Seriously, what's going on? You two fighting again? Ethan, can't you cut Daphne some slack? This could really mess her up."

"And Daphne, come on. Everyone knows how good he's been to you. Maybe chill a bit? Give the guy some credit."

She shoved one of them out of the way, jabbing a sharp nail at my face.

"This is what you wanted, right? Humiliate me in front of everyone so they'd all gang up on me!"

"Daphne Jent," I said flat, "unless my memory's broken, didn't we break up a long time ago?"

She froze, face draining like she'd just remembered her own words from six months ago.

We ended it then. I was clear. Some of her close friends even knew the deal.

Six months back, she rolled into a party clinging to some boy toy—and ran straight into me.

I was at a business dinner when one of my business partners nodded behind me. "Ethan, isn't that your girlfriend?"

I turned and caught her laughing, draped all over some younger guy, heading