Chapter 3 – Begin from the End

True enough, I had a splitting headache the morning after, and my body was on the verge of dehydration when I woke up. Somehow I ended up in Danas' queen bed with a couple of Aspirin tablets and a glass of water within my reach on the bedside table. I looked back in the bed and heaved a relieved sigh after confirming that I somehow didn't go and spray puke on her bed, or I would never hear the end of it.

I slowly walked out of the bedroom, careful not to move too much or too suddenly, or else my head would spin.

"Glad you joined us in the land of the living, C!" Dana cheerfully greeted me with her back to me as she flipped some pancakes. "Coffee?" she asked.

I nodded ever so slightly. Dana has always looked strikingly gorgeous, no matter her clothes or state. How this girl managed to look so put-together is beyond me. I'd marry her if I were playing on the other side of the field. She's that beautiful holistically—physically and mentally—and she's the most level-headed person I know.

On top of that, she's intelligent and funny. I know some girls who would kill for that long, silky, deep red wine hair of hers, smooth, supple olive skin, and not to mention her thick, dark lashes that, indeed, emphasized her almond-shaped eyes. Above all, though, Dana inherited her mother's unique eye color. This electric, vivid green gives her almost an ethereal look.

Compared to my unruly brown hair and brown eyes, I have nothing compared to Dana. I have a thin dusting of freckles on my face, and I don't wear makeup to cover them; my face sometimes looks blotchy in the cold. It looks like someone sprayed specks of copper dust on my skin. While Dana stands tall at her five-foot-10 height, I looked short when we walked together, with me being only five-foot-3. Danas' skin has a natural glow that I just could not understand how she gets, given that we live in New York and not in sunny Florida. A few shades lighter than Dana's, my skin looked pale and blotchy.

She worked on piling the beautiful and mouthwatering pancakes as I slowly sipped my freshly brewed coffee. Geez, I missed this. Dana and I lived in the same apartment before I decided to move out and live with Jake. Dana got a new apartment alone, saying the two-bedroom apartment we rented before was too costly. However, I knew she could afford it. I later admitted that it felt lonely with two rooms and just one person around the apartment. Our morning routine in our little kitchen apartment was different when we shared the same flat.

"Feels like the good old times, huh?" Dana almost whispered.

"It does." I smiled. "I honestly missed this," I said, pointing at the pancakes, the badass cup of coffee she always makes, and Dana herself.

She laughed and hugged me before she sat next to me, handing me the butter plate, a massive bottle of Canadian maple syrup, and a bowl of blueberries. We ate silently for a few minutes and talked about the weather and her neighbors, avoiding the topic we needed to discuss the most. Another thing I liked about Dana is that she understands that I have to have food in my stomach and coffee before I can talk with sense.

Honestly, the silence as we ate felt refreshing, for a start.

After Dana fed me a sumptuous meal, I gathered all our dishes and cups and started washing them, just like our routine before. This is another thing that Dana and I always agreed upon: no dirty dishes in the sink is the ultimate rule.

Dana is waiting for me on her couch. Her living room looked decent again, with all the furniture in place and no bottles of tequila, leftover pizza, or Chinese takeout boxes from last night. Dana always had great but practical tastes in things, and her apartment always felt cozy and warm, just like her. She even decorated the place through her endless DIYs, and the site looked authentically beautiful and charming.

Alright. It's time to face the music, as they say.

"So, what's your plan?" she asked gently.

"Where do I start?" I asked, this time with no tears rolling down from my eyes but rather a firm resignation in my voice. I know I have to face this alone, but I am glad Dana is here to help me sort out everything. I want to finish this and move on with my life. I'll start all over again if I have to.

We spent the entire morning planning and discussing the reverse engineering of wedding planning. Dana even has her calendar pulled up to map out the whole schedule for undoing everything. We then called my parents, Joe and Lidia, to let them know firsthand what was happening and that the wedding was officially off. I didn't explain it in detail, but they must have guessed my reason for calling it off from the bit of detail I provided. Both my parents understood and didn't ask too many questions. My mom, in particular, didn't say a thing, but I know she's seething from what I hear in the background. All my dad said, to my surprise, was, "Good riddance."

I then called Jake's parents, letting them know I was officially calling off the wedding, and told them the truth in the simplest terms I could think of about Jake cheating without sounding crude. In all fairness to Mr. And Mrs. Tremaine, Jake's parents, they were good people, and they didn't deserve any disrespect in any way. However, I couldn't say the same to their son.

My phone had been blasting all morning with Jake's attempts to call and text me, but I ignored them and left the messages unread. Later that day, I blocked him altogether, including all my social media accounts. I have nothing to do with this bastard of a man anymore.

The following two days went by in a blur. I was glad my parents helped send messages of cancellation to the people we sent out the invitations to, and we finished all the cancellations in just three days. By Sunday of the following week, I had already moved out of Jake's apartment and moved in on Danas' couch. However, I had no problem since it was significant; it would fit us both. I didn't even have to show up at Jake's apartment to get my stuff; Dana did all that. I wondered how she could tell where all my things were, but I was impressed that she did get all my items. The timing was perfect, too. Jake always goes out on a Friday night with some buddies from work, doing god knows what, and doesn't come home until late Saturday afternoon. Dana only took about two trips to get all my stuff and loaded everything in her truck while I waited outside, and that was all about it.