Still the One

POV: Sloane

“Marry him! Marry him! Marry him!”

The rhythmic chanting echoed off the high vaulted ceilings of the vibrant, overly crowded living room. Surrounded by a sea of cheering friends holding half-empty champagne flutes, the scene unfolding in the center of the floor was supposed to be a memory I would cherish forever. It was the exact, picture-perfect romantic scenario I had envisioned in my dreams countless times over the last ten years. My childhood best friend, Rowan Hayes, was down on one knee. He looked incredibly handsome in his sharp, tailored jacket, his dark eyes shining with devotion as he held up a small velvet box containing a diamond ring.

The dream had finally come true. The setting was right, the man was right, and the ring was beautiful. But the girl standing in front of him, gasping with perfectly manicured hands covering her mouth, wasn't me.

It was Vanessa.

Vanessa, the very same girl who had relentlessly turned my entire high school experience into a suffocating, living nightmare. She was the reason I had spent my teenage years feeling utterly invisible, the reason I had fled San Francisco for college four years ago, and the reason Rowan and I had drifted so far apart. I hadn't expected to ever see him in this context. When his name flashed on my phone screen a few days ago with a personal invitation to his homecoming party, my heart had foolishly skipped a beat. For a brief, pathetic second, I felt sixteen again. I wanted to see him so desperately that I didn't even bother checking his social media profiles to see what his relationship status was. I had no idea they were still together. I deeply regretted showing up now.

“I love you,” Rowan said, his deep voice carrying over the dying chants of the crowd as he waited for her answer.

His words forced me to peek out further from behind the decorative hallway wall where I had been hiding like a coward ever since I arrived and assessed the situation. They were completely surrounded by a circle of eager guests, entirely wrapped up in their own little world.

“I love you too, Babe,” Vanessa squealed, her voice carrying that same high-pitched, grating tone that I still found incredibly annoying. “Yes!”

Her gleeful giggle, his wide, relieved smile, and the passionate, full-mouthed kiss they shared right in the middle of the living room cut so much deeper than I ever expected. Rowan’s hands gripped her waist, pulling her flush against his body as they kissed deeply, celebrating their new milestone in front of everyone. Watching his lips move against hers, watching him claim her so publicly, shattered whatever fragile hope was left in my chest. My fingers curled around the leather strap of my handbag, my nails digging into my palms so tightly that the skin burned. I was already fighting back the hot prickle of tears threatening to spill over my eyelashes.

Even though he was the only boy I had genuinely loved for more than a decade, and even though my heart was currently being ground into a fine dust, I wasn’t going to stand here and cry. It was his official engagement party. I absolutely refused to behave like the clumsy, weeping, pathetic Sloane from high school. I wasn't that girl anymore.

Right as the enthusiastic applause and whistling began to fade into a low hum of chatter, I let go of my handbag strap. I rolled my shoulders back, took a deep breath, and held my head exceptionally high. Stepping out from the shadows of the hallway, I confidently walked further into the brightly lit living room.

The sharp, rhythmic clicking of my stilettos against the hardwood floor instantly made heads turn. I hadn’t seen most of these people in years, but I had never forgotten the way they used to mock my baggy, oversized sweaters, my thick glasses, and my desperate attempts to fade into the background. They used to whisper about my unappealing presence whenever I stood next to Rowan.

But as I stepped fully into the light, the mocking whispers of the past instantly vanished. A stunned, heavy silence swept through the room, dropping the temperature by several degrees. All eyes turned toward me, raking over my figure in absolute disbelief. One of the girls near the front leaned over, her jaw practically unhinged, and whispered loudly to her friend. I heard my own name echo in the quiet space as she realized that the woman standing before them was actually Sloane Delaney.

Being the center of attention was the one thing I had actively avoided for as long as I could remember, but tonight, it couldn’t be helped. Honestly, a small, vindictive part of me expected this reaction. I had spent four years finding myself. I wasn’t the invisible girl anymore. Even the guys in the room were looking at me with widened, appreciative eyes, tracing the lines of my body.

I played it completely cool. I let a relaxed, confident smile curve my lips, and then, my gaze landed directly on Rowan.

His eyes widened in absolute shock. He physically jerked back, pulling his hand away from his brand-new fiancée as if her touch had suddenly burned him. Before he could even stop himself, he took two stumbling steps away from Vanessa and toward me, sheer disbelief etched into every line of his face. He parted his lips to speak, but no words came out. He just stared, his eyes traveling from the top of my styled hair, down the form-fitting length of my dress, and all the way to my heels, over and over again, like he couldn't process that it was actually me.

“Slo?” he finally breathed out. He pushed past two of his friends standing in his way, raking a trembling hand through his jet-black hair.

I swallowed hard, forcing down the lump in my throat. I tried desperately not to let my racing heart get too excited just by the familiar, intimate way he called my nickname.

“Yup, that’s me,” I forced a light, airy chuckle, crossing my arms loosely.

He slowly lifted the corners of his mouth, still looking entirely dazed. “Wow... you look...”

“Different?” I supplied, arching an eyebrow.

“Beautiful.” He blurted the word out far too quickly, the breathless compliment hanging heavily in the air between us.

Hearing him say that sent a violent jolt of electricity straight to my chest. I was twenty-two years old, an independent college graduate, but under the weight of his dark gaze, I felt sixteen and hopelessly in love all over again.

But before my brain could even fully process the validation of his compliment, Vanessa swiftly inserted herself right back into the narrative. She rushed to his side, tightly clutching his forearm with her manicured fingers. She plastered a massive, painfully fake smile across her face, her eyes narrowing as they locked onto me.

With a loud, exaggerated gasp, she tilted her head. “Oh, my god, it’s really you.”

Vanessa maliciously looked me up and down, taking her sweet time as she took in my outfit. I was wearing a short, form-fitting emerald green dress that hugged every single curve and left my toned legs completely bare. She hated it. I could see the flash of pure jealousy in her eyes before she buried it under a layer of thick condescension.

There was a time when Rowan and I were inseparable. But the moment he hit a growth spurt and became popular in junior high, Vanessa set her sights on him, and everything changed. She was rich, she was traditionally gorgeous, and she was everything I wasn’t back then. I became the third wheel, the annoying shadow, the invisible girl. Because she was in the picture, Rowan and I grew distant long before I ever packed my bags for San Francisco.

“It’s so good to see you too, Vanessa. Congratulations,” I said, keeping my tone flawlessly even, my own forced smile mirroring hers.

“You’re really back in town after graduation, huh?” She practically purred the words, stepping closer to Rowan to establish her territory. “It looks like college did absolute wonders. Just look at you. You’re almost unrecognizable in that tiny little emerald dress... but hey, I guess some things never change. You still radiate that pathetic, needy bookworm vibe despite the expensive makeover.”

The room grew even quieter, the tension thick enough to slice with a knife.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Rowan sharply cut in, his tone dropping as he shook his head in clear disapproval. He shot her a warning glare.

Vanessa just batted her eyelashes, feigning total innocence as she ran the flat palm of her hand slowly down the lapel of his jacket. “What? I’m just saying hi to an old friend.”

Rowan didn't say another word to reprimand her. He turned to me, offering a painfully soft, apologetic look. But despite his brief verbal defense, his physical actions spoke volumes. He gently pulled Vanessa to the side, wrapping a firm, intimate arm around her waist. He leaned down, whispering something secretly into her ear as he held her close.

Vanessa looked back at me over his shoulder with a vicious, triumphant smile. She looked exactly like she had won a prize and was parading it in my face. She was exactly where she wanted to be, and she was still the exact same old Vanessa.

As Rowan kept his arm tightly secured around her waist, completely focused on whatever she was saying to him, the last remaining fragments of my composure completely broke. That simple, prioritizing gesture destroyed me. Just like always, when push came to shove, Vanessa came first. I was immediately relegated back to the shadows, dismissed the moment she demanded his attention.

I suddenly wished that time machines existed. I wished I could rewind the last twenty minutes, turn my car around, and stop myself from ever stepping foot inside this house tonight. Every breath I took felt suffocating. The lingering stares of the party guests were burning holes into my skin. I desperately needed to escape the suffocating attention and my own breaking heart.

Without saying another word, I spun on my heel and quickly retreated through the sliding glass doors, fleeing out into the dark, expansive backyard.

The cool night air hit my flushed skin, but it didn't help calm my racing pulse. I wrapped my arms tightly around my waist, staring down at the manicured grass as I walked blindly toward the edge of the patio. I just wanted to be completely alone. I wanted to leave, but how could I just walk out the front door when I had quite literally just arrived and made a massive spectacle of myself?

Seeking a darker place to hide, maybe a downstairs bathroom where I could splash cold water on my face, I spun around in a frantic hurry to head back inside.

The moment I turned, I forcefully slammed face-first into a broad, incredibly solid chest.

The impact knocked the breath out of my lungs. I stumbled backward, my heels wobbling on the stone pavers. A pair of strong hands shot out, catching my upper arms to steady me before I could completely lose my balance. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision in the dim outdoor lighting, and let my eyes travel up the massive wall of muscle I had just collided with.

I froze instantly at the sight before me.

He was incredibly tall, easily towering over my frame even in my heels. He was dressed entirely in black—black slacks, a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, exposing thick veins and lightly tanned skin. His collar was casually unbuttoned, revealing just the right amount of a muscular chest. His honey-blond hair was pushed back effortlessly, perfectly accentuating a dangerously sharp, strictly masculine jawline. He radiated a dark, arrogant energy, his mere presence entirely overwhelming.

“Maybe if you kept your head up, you’d actually see where you’re going,” he teased, his voice a low, rough baritone.

A slow, highly arrogant grin spread across his incredibly handsome face. His mocking tone immediately sparked a vague, highly irritating memory in the back of my mind. There was something infuriatingly familiar about the way he looked down at me, like I was nothing more than an amusing distraction.

I wasn't in the mood. I stepped sharply to the side, trying to brush past him so I could get back inside.

He moved effortlessly, shifting his broad shoulders to completely block my path.

“Leaving so soon?” he taunted, his dark eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Especially when we’re finally seeing each other after so many years?”

I sighed heavily, my irritation completely overriding any intimidation I felt toward his imposing size. I tilted my head back, glaring up at his gorgeous face. “Do I know you?”

He scoffed, a deeply patronizing sound that grated on my nerves. “What’s this? Needy Sloane doesn’t remember me?”

*Needy Sloane.*

The nickname hit me like a bucket of ice water. My eyes narrowed sharply into a vicious glare. Only one person on the entire planet had ever called me that, and I absolutely loathed him for it. Instantly, all the locked-away memories flooded back. I just hadn’t realized it was him sooner because he had changed so drastically. At twenty-three, Kaelen was far more dangerous, broad, and terrifyingly attractive than the seventeen-year-old wealthy playboy I remembered from high school. He had grown into his features entirely, shedding the boyish charm for pure, unfiltered masculinity. But no matter how good he looked in a black shirt, I firmly reminded myself of who he was.

He was Vanessa’s older, wildly annoying half-brother.

“Kaelen,” I stated dryly, letting my arms drop to my sides.

“There you go,” Kaelen said, his arrogant grin widening. “You know, I still vividly remember how you used to follow Rowan around these parties like a pathetic, lost little puppy.”

God, I hated how brutally obvious my feelings had always been to everyone around me. I forced a dry, sarcastic laugh, refusing to let him see how much his words stung.

“Well, I certainly didn’t expect to run into you hiding out here in the dark,” I retorted, meeting his piercing gaze head-on. “But hey, at least I got to confirm with my own two eyes that you’re still a massive ass.”

His grin twitched, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his sharp features. He clearly hadn't expected me to talk back. He looked me up and down, taking in my posture.

“I guess college changed a hell of a lot about you,” Kaelen noted, his voice dropping a fraction lower. “You’re quite feisty now. The main party is inside, pouring champagne. So tell me, why are you out here sulking in the dark backyard when you should be celebrating?”

My heart skipped a violent beat. I quickly averted my eyes, staring off toward the glowing lights of the swimming pool. I crossed my arms over my chest defensively. “I’m not sulking. I’m fine.”

Kaelen simply scoffed again, the sound entirely dismissive. He took a slow, deliberate step closer, closing the distance between us until I could feel the heat radiating off his body. His piercing gaze seemed to strip away every single layer of armor I had painstakingly built over the last four years, seeing right through my carefully constructed facade.

He leaned down slightly, his face hovering just inches from mine.

“Oh, Sloane,” Kaelen murmured smoothly, his tone laced with a knowing, infuriating clarity. “I saw you when you arrived. You were practically glowing the moment you walked in. But hearing the news that your tragic childhood crush was officially engaged to my younger sister got to you, hmm?”