Page 41 of Rewriting the Story

“Let us know if you need anything, mate,” Leo says with a smile.

“I will,” I say before I open the door to my suite. “I didn't mean to make this week about Amelia. I’m sorry.”

“If anything, I’m glad the spotlight is off me. I just want to marry Paige as soon as I can,” Oliver says. “Don’t apologize, Hen. This was bound to happen someday, right?”

“I’m not too sure about that.” I was fully prepared to never get any answers, but isn't that why I came here? I knew she would be here. I guess I just assumed she would know I was here too.

“What the hell am I doing?” I say as I slump down on the bed.

I glance over at my laptop bag before I decide to decompress inside Mitch’s manuscript. I need to live inside someone else's mind for a few hours before I have to face the person who used to know everything about me.

Three hours and multiple chapters later, and my brain is so fried, I hope the anxiety I’ll inevitably feel won’t show up.

As I exit my room and head down to the lobby to meet the boys, I can already feel my heart rate pick up as I await seeing her again. The last time I physically saw her was when she told me she never loved me.

It really can’t get worse than that, can it? Fuck, I hope not.

As I take a deep breath before exiting the elevator, I notice only Paige and Hads are down here conversing with Oliver, Grant, and Leo. Paige notices me first.

She rushes over and throws her arms around me. “It’s good to see you again, Henry.”

“Uh, thanks,” is all I can get out as I nervously adjust my glasses on my face. Hads throws a small wave at me that I return awkwardly, eventually putting my hands in my pocket because I don’t really know what to do with myself.

“I’m happy for you and Oliver,” I tell Paige.

“Thank you,” she says, her eyes gleaming as she looks over at her soon-to-be husband. God, they still look at each other how they did back in college. I can’t imagine loving someone so much, it spans years, still looking like it’s brand new.

Good for them. I barely scratched the surface of what all these people have been through, but from what I saw our senior year of college, Paige and Oliver deserve this happiness. They’ve been through enough in this lifetime.

“I forgot how tall you were,” Paige tells me with a laugh.

“Our boys are tall, but Henry is the tallest,” Hads says.

“Leo could pass him—if his ego counted toward his height,” Ella says as she appears from the corner of my eye.

“What was that, darling?” he asks her, a mischievous look in his eye.

“Nothing!” she says to Leo with a smile before turning back to me. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Sorry about the awkward elevator ride.”

She laughs to herself. “It’s alright. I was a little shocked, that's all.”

“Henry,” Grant says as he slips something into my hand. “I forgot something in the room. Would you mind getting it for me before we head to the restaurant?”

“Sure,” I say, a little confused. “What is it?”

“I got Oliver and Paige a present, and I wanted to give it to them when we were all together.”

“Is it just a box?”

“With a red bow on it.” He smiles at me before grabbing Hads’ hand. “Thanks, dude.”

As I head back to the elevator, my breathing picks up. Amelia is nowhere to be found. I was fully expecting to see her when I got down there, but I didn’t see her.

I’ve been on the edge of my seat since we got here, and I can’t keep hyping myself up for when she finally appears. Although, if she’s the same Amelia she’s always been, she’ll probably run the other direction as soon as we lock eyes.

I wonder if the guilt of what she did keeps her up at night. I have to think it does, especially since she did the same thing to the girls that she did to me. At least she’s consistent.

---