Chapter 2

"You are joking right?"

"Nope, unless she lied to me about her name," he said and took his phone out. He scrolled through it for some time and handed it to me.

On his screen, I saw a picture of him and a blond girl, both with a wide smile on their face.  They had their cheeks pressed against one another. The blond girl, with her innocent-seeming hazel eyes, and slightly chubby cheeks, without a doubt, was the same girl who once told me I was too ugly to come to her sweet sixteen.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "You got rid of her, and you want her back? Are you a mental patient?"

"I love her and I know she loves me!" He defended.

"She loves herself and no one else. One time in high school I asked her for advice about talking to a crush and she somehow ended up on a date with him. She is pure evil!" I pronounced.

"That was in high school. She isn't the same anymore. She is kind, loving, and was always there for me!" He said breathlessly, like just the memory of her filled him with joy.

"How rich are you?" I bluntly asked.

"I do okay...I mean I have my own business..."

"Well there you go, she had the incentive to be all those nice things to you," I explained. "In any situation, she always found a way to make it work in her favor. Why did you 2 break up? Let me guess, it had to do with money."

"Not at all. It was because I worked too much. I was trying to get my second store open, I own a small hardware store that I am trying to franchise. So I had no time for her. She expressed this one day to me and I didn't react well. I yelled at her for not understanding my position and even told her she could leave if she wasn't happy."

"And did she leave?"

"No, not until she found pictures of me with my business partner's sister,"  he revealed, not meeting my eyes.

"Real nice, this is why I don't date. Guys are sleaze bags!" I reacted.

"But I can explain, I was drunk, but..."

I cut him off with a, "But that's not an excuse, right? "

"No, of course it's not, but I later found out we didn't even sleep together. A bunch of us, including my business partner's sister, had gone to Germany for his bachelor party and had so much to drink that I guess we threw up over ourselves and fell asleep halfway through cleaning up. She is into girls, so I am pretty sure nothing happened." He explained.

"She never did like being alone. I guess someone finally made her feel ugly, good job," I harshly said.

"No matter what I say, you are going to find something bad to say about her, aren't you?." He noted.

"Pretty much. I don't like her, but I have no choice but to go to her wedding because she is family." I said conclusively.

Just as I finished talking, the plane gave a rough jolt, knocking some of the passenger's drinks off the unstable tables to the plane's floor. The seat thief retreated to his position of fear.

"How do you plan on getting into the wedding? Because knowing my cousin, I know she wouldn't invite an ex. It would suck for you not to make it to your final destination after going through so much." I commented. 

This again seemed to have distracted him from his fears and he loosened his grip and opened his eyes. Again he faced me and gave me a cocky smile.

"I searched your cousin's name online and was able to find their wedding venue and website that had all the information. Now all I need is a reason to get into the wedding." He proudly said.

"Lord, I am seated next to a stalker," I said in disbelief. "Thank god I never told you my name. Who knows what you would find out about me!"

"Well I am not scared to give you my name, hey I am Stephan." He said, shakily extending his hand towards me.

"Nice to meet you!" I said vigorously, shaking his hand and enjoying the look on his face that mimicked a fearful child on a Ferris Wheel, wincing every time anyone would make even the slightest movement. “Try to get some sleep, this will make the flight go by faster,"  I suggested.

"Only three more hours to go!" He exclaimed. "Before I try to go to sleep, are you not going to give me your name?" He asked.

I shook my head into a no with a smile on my face. He responded to this by silently mouthing 'please' at me. I finally caved and said, "Lauren."

"Lauren, can I ask you one last thing?" He whispered as more lights started turning off, and general darkness filled the plane.

I nodded a yes.

"Let me be your date to this wedding?" He questioned.