The gray skies overhead depict how I'm feeling today. We're ten days out from the wedding, and I'm standing in front of the bridal shop in town. White dresses fill the window display. A-lines, ball gowns, bling and not. It's staring me in the face in a mocking way.

I'm not sure if I scared Danny after our sleepover with all our confessions, but his texting has been less and less frequent. We've also both been busy. I'm a working girl now, and a bookseller at our local bookstore. For now, it will help me get back on my feet, but between that and him learning the ropes at his dad's hardware store we've barely had time to talk about what happened that night. Maybe it's for the best.

Loud rambunctious voices come walking up the street, and I know who each of them belongs to. When I glance up, the three of them and Julia are headed towards me. I'd contemplated telling Bennett that my heart wasn't into being a part of the wedding party, but then I realized that if it were the other way around, he'd do it for me. Of course, he would, because he's not in love with me like I am with him.

"Oh good, you found the place," Julia says, smiling.

"Yeah. Easy peasy." I try to put the same smile on my face, but I'm sure it comes up short. If she noticed, she didn't make it known.

"I'm so excited to show you the dress. It's a little different than my bridesmaids, but I think you'll break a lot of hearts in it."

As if we were besties she grabs hold of my hand. I don't even have a moment to say hi to the guys as she tugs me inside. Aside from bridal dresses they offer a wide variety of men's suits, so we are also here to pick up Danny and Everett's too.

"Hi, Susan. Good to see you." She's got a pep in everything she does. I never imagined him being with someone like that.

"I have the best men, oh and lady, here to try on their stuff."

Susan is an older woman with a silver bob. She definitely knows who Julia is. Her face lights up as she makes her way out from behind the desk to show us where we need to go.

"Right this way, Ms. Murphy. Mr. Dixon." She gives Bennett a wink.

Bennett scoots around me, grabbing hold of Julia's hand, and when he does, she looks up at him, and their eyes lock, and I swear I see fireworks exploding around them. Lucky me, I'm stuck right behind them as they lean in for a kiss before following Susan to the back of the store.

I don't know why, but I expected the place to be brightly lit with fancy furniture and a well-kept carpet, but really, it's the exact opposite. The building itself could use some work, the interior brick chipped in some places, the carpet at my feet looks like the nineteen-seventies threw up, and the seating scattered around reminds me of something from my grandmother's house growing up.

Behind me Everett and Danny are engrossed in a conversation about the latest MMORPG that just came out on PC. While their babbling about video games doesn't interest me much, the sound of their voices is what is keeping me from running out the door.

In the very back of the dimly lit store is a large open area. There are several mirrors set up in a half circle and a couch across from it.

"Come on." Julia breaks from Bennett's grip and pulls me ahead of the guys.

A metal rack stands before me with two suits, and one dress. The delicate fabric and long length tells me that most of her friends are model-tall like herself. As if I wasn't self-conscious enough this will make it ten times worse.

I hate that she's nice. Kind of wish she was a bitch to me, because then it would be easier to not like her. While our personalities clash, and we'd never be true friends, we can definitely get along.

"So, they have no issues taking it in, even though it's a bit late in the game. Um - I think size wise you should be good to go, it's just the length. I don't know." Her arms move a million miles an hour as she talks me through it, and hands me the dress.

"Boys, grab the tuxes. Um - Benny, can you make sure they have the right ones?"

"Of course, baby."

She prances over to him, kisses his nose then hops back over to me.

I shiver, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Over my shoulder I catch Danny's attention glued to me. He's hunched forward like he's waiting for the moment when I ask him to rescue me. It would be now, but I can't let Bennett down. He's my best friend, and although it sucks that he doesn't feel the same as I do, I still want to be there for him.

I hold up the plumb colored, one shoulder dress, hoping to God I don't look absolutely ridiculous in it. To get to the dressing room I have to walk by Danny. He's pretending to get a better look at his suit as he folds it over his arm. Our shoulders brush as I pass, and with the free hand he's got at his side, he grips my hand. My breath hitches, even though it's only for a second. His touch is all I need to square my shoulders and move forward.

Staring in the mirror I can't get over the way the dress falls in all the wrong places on me. It was clearly meant for someone taller with less curves. The fabric is comfortable, but other than that it's awful. My love handles pop, and my non-existent breasts in their push up bra don't quite fit right.

"Fallon, sweetheart, we're ready for you."

Julia knocks on the wooden dressing room door with a loud thud. Not just once, but several times.

"I want to see you all together."

I swing the door open, and I catch the surprise in her wide eyes. She clearly wasn't thinking when she picked out the dress. Lifting the dress from the middle of the skirt I shrug at her.

"It's a little long. Are you sure they will be able to take in that much?"

"No worries, we can improvise," she says, holding up a pair of white shoes. The heels are lethal. If I stabbed someone just right, I'd probably could kill them with it.

Lowering herself to one knee, she helps me put the monstrosities on my feet. While the bottom is no longer draping over the floor, it doesn't fall right on my body. A pained expression crosses her smooth acne free face.

"It's perfect." She turns away from me, but it's easy to see that she's pinching the bridge of her nose, like she knew it wouldn't work.

"Okay boys, here she is!"

I stumble out behind her. Danny and Everett are standing in front of the mirror. Their suit jackets match the plumb color of the dress, their pants are black, and each of them wears a bowtie.

The heels are not working, and neither is the dress. A woman with a small kit ready to measure me shakes her head, wincing in the process. Julia steps aside, fully exposing me to all three men, including Bennett, who chokes. Danny shoots him a glare, and if looks could kill his best friend would be dead on the spot.

I pick up the pace, needing to get out of the spotlight, but go too fast. The stupid million-inch heel gets stuck in a thread on the carpet. Out of the corner of my eye, Bennett takes the steps forward, but it's not him who gets there first, it's Danny.

His strong arms grasp me, my cheek landing directly on his chest, where his heart is beating wildly. He helps me get steady, and then leads me over to where he and Everett are standing in front of the mirrors.

"Oh, Benny, would you look at that?" She fans herself as if it were such a dramatic moment. "Your party is stunning. And Fallon, with an up-do and some smoky eyes, maybe some bright red lips, you would be drop dead gorgeous."

Bennett snaps his head in his fiancé's direction, like he knew it was more of an insult than a compliment.

"Baby, I think she looks-"

"Oh! I almost forgot." She squeals, cutting him off.

"You are more than welcome to join the bridesmaids to go get your hair and makeup done."

Bennett grins as if her idea is the best in the world.

"She's right, Fal. You should. You could hang out with the girls, while the guys get ready."

It's so hard to smile, to keep going, but I manage.

"Oh. That's kind of you, but I don't have a lot of money to-"

"Pshh," she says, flicking her wrist. "It's on us. Right?" She does that thing again where she stares lovingly at Bennett, then taps his chest with her hand, commanding his full attention.

"Ya, ya, yeah, of course, it's on us."

Bennett can hardly look at me. I'm getting brief glances, but that's it. My heart sinks into my chest. Once Julia's satisfied with the guys, she sends them off to get changed. I'm stuck standing here while the woman with her lip turned up at me attempts to make me beautiful. Apparently, it seems it won't ever happen.

Julia drags Bennett off somewhere, and Danny is the last to leave the area. Before he steps away, he glances back over his shoulder and smiles wistfully. I suck my bottom lip inward, probably looking like a complete idiot, because let's face it, nothing I do is sexy like Julia.

My eyes flutter as I shrug. He stands there carefully observing me with that inward gaze again, and I'm not sure if I'm reading him right, but he seems even more annoyed with Bennett than usual.

It takes the woman at least a half an hour to measure everything.

"Please dear, don't prick yourself when you take the dress off. I did what I could, but I can't work magic on everything."

Shaking her head, she gets to her feet and leaves me standing there. Wow. I get it, this dress is so not me, nor does it look good on me, they don't have to rub it in anymore. The urge to punch the glass mirrors behind me hit hard, but instead I head back for the rooms.

I'm already trying to tear the shoes off, but they have this stupid buckle that I can't get loose. I slam into a rock-solid body. Arms that I've spent far too much time in the past few weeks hold me protectively.

My breathing quickens as my hand lays flat against his chest. I close my eyes and grip the fabric of his gray tee. He leans down allowing his breath to dance along the outer part of my ear.

"Take it off," he growls through gritted teeth.

I jump back, shock radiating through me. Inside there are tiny flutters in my stomach.

"Excuse me?" I ask, unsure I heard him correctly.

Danny licks his lips, his eyes focused on the bare skin on my chest.

"The dress. Take it off." There's a low grumble to his voice, that I've never heard him use.

"Chillax, I was just about to."

As I move forward, he grabs me, lifting me off the ground like it's the easiest thing in the world.

"Danny, what the fuck?"

When the door slams shut behind us, clicking into place, he sets me down and starts clawing at me to take it off.

"They don't get to do that. They don't get to tell you that you're not perfect."

His lips quiver while he's trying to figure out how to get the dress off.

"Huh? What does that... why?" I'm stuttering through my words, having a hard time comprehending what he's talking about.

"How do I get this fucking thing off of you."

"Zipper," I squeak.

With a strong grip he spins me and starts unzipping the dress.

"What's the matter?" I ask, turning to him.

Lifting my hand, I press it to the side of his face. He covers the hand with his own and leans into my touch.

"If I was Ben, I would have told her to fuck off, that lady fixing your dress too."

Again, his fingers are frantically tugging at the one strap on the dress, trying to maneuver it off me.

"Danny," I whisper, pressing my hand even harder against him.

"If you were mine, Fallon, I wouldn't tell you that you needed makeup, or force you to wear a dress. I'd let you wear what you wanted. Maybe even that pantsuit you showed me because fucking hell, I know you'd look bad ass in it. I also wouldn't force you to be in my wedding knowing it would break your heart."

His eyes glaze over, tears threaten to fall from them. Suddenly it all clicks into place. The only one out of the three of them who texted me daily, the one who offered to fly across the United States to kick my cheating boyfriends' ass, the one who-"

I stop moving, stealing my hand back, draping it over my gaping mouth. Memories flood through me like an old reel of film. How did I never realize?

"It was me?"

"What was you?" he whispers.

Since we got in here, his eyes haven't left mine. He's watching me like I'm his world. It's the way he always has. I chalked it up to being more like the big overprotective brother, but it wasn't that, it was so much more.

"You were talking to Everett a few days before prom. I overheard it, you said even though we talked about going together with no dates, there was someone you wanted to ask. You were afraid to ask, because it would ruin everything. You said, you loved her too much to destroy what you had. Was it me, Danny? Did you want to ask me?"

He drops his chin to his chest. His cheeks turn a deep shade of red. I refuse to let him shut me out now. Tucking my pointer finger under his chin, I lift it, so I can see the truth, because I know the answer is in his eyes.

"You love me?" I ask.

My nose tingles, causing my own eyes to blur with tears. Lips trembling, I ask again. "Danny, are you in love with me?"

Closing his eyes he nods, and a few tears escape. I wipe them away for him. I hate that he's ashamed of his confession. He shouldn't be.

"Take the dress off," he whispers.

Looking back, I make sure the door is locked. Then my gaze meets his and while I take the dress off, we never lose contact. Being in my bra and underwear in front of him doesn't scare me. His lip's part, as his eyes roam over the lacy push up and matching panties.

"These are perfect just the way they are too."

He reaches around with one hand, the clasp on the back of my bra snaps open, leaving it hanging loose in the back, and allowing my breasts to fall flat again. I shimmy out of the bra, and it falls at my feet. He sucks in a breath, eyes dancing all over.

"You're perfect. There's not a single thing about you that I don't love. I-"

I don't allow him to finish, I can't, so I jump at him, and he catches me lifting me up into his arms. My legs wrap tight around his waist. Spinning, he uses the wall to support my weight.

Our breathing falls in sync and I allow our lips to touch. The moment they do, everything outside of the space surrounding us doesn't exist. It's like time doesn't either. My mouth opens for him, welcoming all his love, and he pours it right in.

Kissing him is like breathing. It's easy, and familiar. His hands are in my hair, mine soon follow. His dark hair is soft between my fingers.

A knock startles us both, and he almost drops me but holds on. I suppress a snicker, because while whatever just happened was intense, him almost dropping me makes me laugh.

"Everything okay in there?" Everett asks.

"Good." My voice squeaks.

Danny snorts, making me snort too, and then we're both laughing so hard that it hurts.

"Okay, I don't want to know. When you two are done in there, Ben and Julia are ready to leave."

We wait for his footsteps to walk away before turning our attention back to each other.

"I got carried away," he says, placing me back on the ground.

"No. You wouldn't have ruined anything, Danny."

"But you loved him."

Biting my lip, I lift my head, hating the downcast gaze in his eyes.

"It doesn't mean I didn't have room in my heart for you too."

He clears his throat. "We should get back out there."

"Yeah," I whisper. "Maybe you should leave first, say you went to the bathroom."

Leaning down he picks up my bra and hands it to me. When I reach for it, our hands touch, and something inside makes me never want to let go. Reaching out I grab him pulling him back into me. When I press my lips to his he's hesitant to part them, but after pressing a bit, he does. I release a trembling breath into his open mouth.

I pull away, but there's still hesitation on his face. I hope he knows I'd never hurt him.

"See you out there."

He walks away, but as his hand grips the doorknob he turns back.

"Would you maybe want to spend some time together after the bachelor party?"

"Depends, will you lift me in the air, and do that thing with your tongue again?"

He chuckles and the sound fills the small, enclosed space. Seeing him smile is all I need to get through the day.

"In all seriousness though. Yes, I want to spend more time with you and figure out what all of this means."

Without another word, he throws me a smile, then retreats from the room. I know I should get out there, but my knees are shaking so bad, I don't think I can walk yet. Sliding down the wall, I rest my head on my knees and smile into them. Danny's kisses woke me from this long slumber. I almost wish he would have done that sooner, because honestly, I don't think I'd ever recover if he told me we couldn't do that anymore.

My heart is telling me it's real, but my brain is playing tricks, making it feel like it's me making Ben jealous. I'm convinced that my heart is the one telling the truth, a truth I'd been blind to all these years, one I want to explore. I just pray it doesn't destroy me in the end.