Becca went above and beyond with our dinner Friday night. Everything was so good that even Eric was impressed with the flavors. She made vegan fried rice, with vegan spring rolls, and miso soup. Then for dessert, she made a loaf of delicious vegan banana bread. We all were stuffed happily by the end.

After dinner, Sasha and I stayed at the dining table to work on the seating charts. Eric and Becca had moved over to the couch to chat and watch basketball, which they both loved. Sasha and I both appreciated it since we weren't into sports in the slightest and always avoided watching it whenever we could.

So far, we had eighty RSVP's, and all confirmed they were going to attend the wedding. I started feeling nervous about my dad having to spend so much money. But I had to remind myself that my mom assured me that while my dad was frugal, he wanted to make sure my day matched the one in my dreams.

Sasha picked up the next batch of RSVP cards. "Okay, next we have Mr. and Mrs. Herman." As Sasha read the names allowed to me, her eyes darted to Eric then back to me. "The Herman's you work for are coming? You didn't invite all the brothers, too, did you?"

"What? No. Eric's parents are friends with his parents." I gave Sasha a look back that told her not to make a big deal of this.

Eric tilted his head back on the couch to glance over at us. "You can invite Peter, Adam, and Ryan if you want to, babe."

"No, that's alright." I was a little too quick with my response. I added, "My dad would have a fit if we added any more people. Plus, seeing them makes me think of work, and I don't need to think about any of that on my wedding day."

Eric chuckled and nodded before turning his attention back to the game.

"So, where should we seat them?" Sasha looked at the seating chart she created on her computer. 

I knew I needed to think strategically about where to seat them like I had with the other guests. I pointed at the table that was next to where my family and Eric's family were seated. That way, the owner of the company I worked for would feel like I put thought into where they sat. And it was good to keep them near people I knew they knew, in case they didn't know any of the other guests.

"Also, have the Upton's RSVP'd? If so, we should sit them at that table as well." I knew that would help solidify the company's relationship with the Upton's too.

Sasha flipped through the responses and found the Upton's had responded that they were going to attend. She instantly selected the two seats by Ryan's parents. Though they were the easiest of the rest. The more the spots filled up, the more we ended up having to play musical chairs. I dreaded that we'd have to redo it when we got more RSVP's over the coming weeks, but at least we had the bulk of it down.

We were finally done by ten, and we were wanting to head home. We hugged and kissed Sasha and Becca goodbye and made our way out. Eric didn't like us taking the subway so late at night, so we hailed a cab as it was passing. It quickly spotted us and pulled over.

Eric gave him our address, and we were off before I could get even relatively comfortable in the seat. Eric clasped his fingers between mine. "If you're this good at planning our wedding, I can only imagine how great you'll be when I decide to finally run for an office position."

"Well, you may have to hire Sasha to be your Campaign Manager. She's the real planner out of the two of us."

Eric wrinkled his nose slightly at the idea. Though he tolerated Sasha, he too was not her biggest fan. "I'll have to think about that one."

I laughed and kissed his cheek. "I hope one day, you two will be friends again."

"We're friendly enough. Besides, I don't hate her, I just couldn't be around her without trying to pull my hair out after too long."

"She says the same about you."

Eric chuckled. "Well, I'm glad we can agree on something."

We fell into a comfortable silence for the remainder of the ride home. 

As we approached the steps to our apartment building, Eric and I spotted a guy sitting at the top. He was bent forward, resting his head in his hands. Eric instinctively held me closer to him, almost so that I was halfway behind his back, so he could shield me if the person was going to harm us in any way.

"Excuse me, sir! Can we help you?" Eric shouted. The man didn't move, but a big empty bottle of Jack Daniels fell from his hand and clanked down the steps. I was surprised that it didn't shatter or break when it reached the ground, stopping just in front of Eric's faux leather shoe.

The sound from the bottle knocking on the concrete made the man stir, and as he tilted his head up, ever so slowly, we saw that was Ryan.

"Ryan?" Eric and I said together.

Eric approached Ryan. "Hey, buddy. What are you doing here? And drunk for that matter?"

"I. I. I. Came to thalk tooo yoo -" Ryan tried to stand but stumbled down the steps.

Eric caught him and his full weight before he hit the ground. "Whoa there. Let's get you upstairs and get some coffee in your system to sober you up a little."

I couldn't just tell Eric to leave him to fend for himself. So, of course, I agreed. I followed behind the men slowly as we made our way up the rickety elevator to our apartment. I swallowed hard as I shut the door, knowing this was not going to end well.

*****************

I was thankful that Ryan didn't get a chance to drink any coffee and ended up falling asleep on our couch. Eric was curious to know what he was talking about, and I, of course, played stupid and pretended to wonder too.

While I was getting ready to head into work the next morning, I put on a pot of coffee and went over to his sleeping body. I tapped him lightly on the shoulder at first but got no response. I shook him gently, which also had no impact. I was feeling tense, wanting to get him to leave before Eric woke up, so I ended up slapping him on the face. I didn't realize it was going to be as heavy as it was, but I didn't regret it, and he woke up, groaning.

"What the fuck?" He held his hand against his cheek. He opened his eyes, trying to take in his surroundings, probably trying to figure out where he was. Then he looked up and saw me standing in front of him. He smiled and then groaned again, moving his hand from his cheek to the top of his head. "Am I in your apartment?"

I gave him an annoyed look, but he was still too disoriented to really understand my expression. That or he completely ignored it and sloughed back against the couch. I went over to the coffee and poured a cup in two of my Yeti tumblers. I handed him one, which he graciously accepted. 

"You have to leave now."

"Okay, just give me a fucking second to wake up, will you?" He looked up at me again, suddenly really seeing me. "Don't you look extra fuckable this morning."

I blushed feeling slightly flattered but mostly pissed. "You can't talk like that, Ryan. Eric could walk out any moment," I warned in a hushed voice.

He just looked pleased with himself as he sipped at his coffee. I didn't put anything in it, even though I knew he took his with a touch of cream and three sugars. Seeing him cough at the strength of the dark roasted black coffee, pleased me.

I proceeded to put on my black ankle boots and jacket. I grabbed Ryan's coat from the closet and walked it over to him. "Let's go, Ryan!"

Before I knew what was happening, he pulled at his coat so fast that he proceeded to pull me down onto his lap. Ryan quickly wrapped his arms around my waist and stole a kiss just as I was opening my mouth to curse at him.

I shoved myself off of him and stood up flustered, just as my bedroom door opened. Eric stood there, wearing a pair of boxers and a white tank-top, with a look of confusion and concern. "What the hell is going on?"

Ryan finally stood or tried to, as he was still trying to recenter his body to gravity.

"It was nothing, babe. I fell trying to give Ryan his coat." Even I knew that lie sounded like complete bullshit.

Eric looked between Ryan and me multiple times. I could see that he was piecing the puzzle together. His expression was changing from concerned and confused to completely pissed. "Did you fucking touch my fiance Ryan?"

He took a step further into the room. I could see the muscles on his arms stiffen and knew this was probably going to end badly.

"Why don't you ask her." Ryan was standing strong now, inflating his chest slightly.

Fuck! Why Ryan?

Eric looked at me again, keeping his stance secure, but not like he wanted to hit me. Just more like he wanted to protect himself. More specifically, his heart. I looked away from his searching eyes to the ground. "Vicky, please tell me that what I'm thinking, isn't what is actually going on."

Keeping my eyes down, staring at nothing in particular, I took a short breath in. "Ryan and I had sex. A few times over the last month."

"Seriously! The fuck Ryan!" Eric's anger rose tenfold. "Was this your way at getting back at me for fucking with your high school girlfriend? To seduce the love of my life?"

Ryan showed no emotion and just shrugged his response.

Eric shoved Ryan forcefully back onto the couch. "Get the fuck out before I fucking end you!"

Ryan didn't respond by shoving or fighting Eric back. He just quietly grabbed his coat from the couch and his shoes from the floor by the door. He walked out without looking back, closing the door behind him.

Now it was just Eric and I standing at opposite ends of our apartment living room. I wanted to say something, but every thought I had was worse than the next. Nothing I could say could fix this. But Eric was the first one to speak. "I think you should leave too."

"I understand," I squeaked. "Can we talk about this when I get home later?"

He huffed and shook his head. Squeezing the back of his neck a few times and letting out some deep staggering breaths. "I don't think you should come home."

I looked at him in disbelief at his words. He was kicking me out. "Are you ending us?"

"You did that on your own." 

I rushed over to him, closing the space between us. But he backed up as I went to embrace him. "Eric, please, I ended it. I want you, and no one else."

Eric started pacing. He spotted the yeti coffee I had made for Ryan sitting on the coffee table. He raised his hand, crossing it over his chest, and swung at the mug with the back of his hand, knocking it and it's contents all over the floor. "You shouldn't have fucking started it, Vicky!"

I jumped back to avoid the splash from landing on me. "I know, Eric! If I could take it back, I would."

Eric coiled onto the couch. Clasping his hands together and resting his head on them. "I need some time to think all this over. Please go stay with Sasha or anywhere else but here until I'm ready to talk about all this with you."

I nodded, thinking that it was actually a pretty reasonable request. Not wanting to get into anything more then, I apologized deeply once more and left the apartment as fast as my failing strength would allow me.

Ryan was still there when I reached the ground floor, standing at the bottom of the steps. It took all my restraint to stop myself from picking up the empty Jack Daniels bottle that still rested on the ground and smashing it over his head.

"Can we talk?" He asked as I charged past him.

"Leave me the fuck alone!" 

I quickly hailed a cab, got in, and requested the driver drive before giving him the address. I didn't look back once. I just buried my face in my hands and began to cry.