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"What do you mean you're not coming?!" Aspen yelled through the phone, half damaging my eardrum.

I winced, holding the phone away from my ear for a moment. "I never said I'm not coming, you idiot," I huffed. "I just said I'm not sure if I can be there for the whole trip. I might come in a few days later."

"Adam, we're only going for five days. If you skip days out of that, then don't even bother coming."

"Really? Should I not come then? Would that be okay?"

"Adam," he hissed.

"I'm joking," I sighed exaggeratedly. "But I don't understand where Spain came from. Who's idea was this? To have a Spanish wedding?"

"Remy's. Are you kidding me? She's been wanting to have a Spanish wedding ever since we started dating. Plus, Marbella is actually really beautiful, everybody's excited to go on a free holiday. Don't you want to come?"

I stopped at the cereal aisle of the grocery store and adjusted the black baseball cap on my head, grabbing a box of Oreo O's. "It's not that I don't want to come, of course, I do. It's your wedding, Aspen. It's just that I have to talk to my coach, my manager, the team—"

"You didn't play this past season because of your injury. The next season starts in September. The trip is five days. You can train for the rest of the five months when you're back. Don't use football as an excuse. You're either coming or you're not. Tell me quickly, we have other people to call and bookings to make. We're not even sure of the wedding date yet, the church has to be booked. It's why we're only making family calls first. So hurry up and tell me."

I paused for a minute, slowly walking down the aisle, taking whatever I needed. It's a horrible day for my assistant to be on leave. I had no groceries left at home, hence I'm here, buying them myself. "Won't she be there?" I asked.

"Who?"

"You know who."

"No, I don't know what you're talking about, Adam. Say it."

"Emilia," I mumbled, glancing at the shopping cart I was pushing along. "She has to be there, it's her sister's wedding."

"Wow... it's been years since I heard you call her name. Hell, you never called her Emilia anyway. It was always Emmy or Ruby or—"

"Aspen," I cut him off, standing in one spot. "Didn't you call me to invite me to your wedding?"

"You're the one who brought her up but fine. Yeah, she is coming. Of course, she's coming. I mean, I think."

"Explain."

"I'm not the one calling and confirming with her, Remy is. You can ask her."

"Yeah... Well, Remy doesn't speak to me much."

"Yeah... Well, I don't speak to Emilia very much either."

"You fucking liar," I snickered.

"Adam, are you coming to my wedding or not?"

"Aspen, I'm going to try but—"

"No excuses. I'm your fucking brother. If you can't make it to my wedding... Then who's going to be the best man? And if you don't come, you can forget about having me at your wedding."

"Like I'd ever get married."

"Yeah, actually. Now that Emilia's gone, not that you'd ever get—"

"Stop talking," I cut him off.

"I will if you can tell me if you will be at my wedding," he said, his voice getting louder with each word as he got more frustrated.

"Fine. Fine. I'll be there."

"Swear it."

I huffed, rolling my eyes. "Swear it. I'll be there, one way or another."

"Mm-hmm. By hook or by crook. Convince your coach, manager, whoever you have to, just make sure you're here. We're flying out on the fifth of May. Wedding's on the tenth. Hopefully."

"Noted. But don't you think you're rushing into this a bit?"

"No," he said without any hesitation.

"No?"

"Adam, I've known her my whole life. I've been with her since we were fourteen. It's never been any other girl. Remy's the one for me. Even when we broke up and went our separate ways in college, the first Christmas we saw each other, we were back together. Fourteen years is a long time to figure out if you love someone and when you know, you know. I've been wanting to marry her for as long as I can remember. I bought her a promise ring years ago. It's about time I replace that with a wedding ring."

"Is fourteen years really enough time?"

"In any other case, yes. In your case, no. You've known Em for what? Twenty years. And you—"

"She was my friend, Aspen. And stop bringing her up, I hate talking about her, I hate... her."

He paused. "If you say so."

"Plus, I haven't spoken to her or seen her in five years. So, take five out of that twenty," I scoffed, rounding the corner and entering the next aisle, my cart crashing right into someone else's. I instinctively ducked my head down, fixing the hat as I heard a gasp.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry." It was a girl.

"It's okay," I mumbled.

"Sorry about that," she repeated, walking past me and into the aisle I just came out of.

"Who was that?" Aspen asked.

"No one. Just someone I bumped into. I'm grocery shopping."

"Yourself?" he scoffed.

"My assistant is on leave. You don't think I can do my own grocery shopping?"

"Whatever. Look, I'm hanging up. I have to call a few more people and confirm. I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up, pocketing my phone. I grabbed the last of the items I needed and headed towards the counter to check out and buy everything. I stood in line, taking a look around. My eyes landed on a light pink hoodie in front of me.

She was lined up next for her turn but it wasn't the hoodie that caught my eye, it was the red hair. I blinked, staring at the curly-haired bun, hating who it reminded me of. The girl let her hair down, taming a bit with her hands, and then pulled the hood up as she reached the counter.

"Hi," the cashier smiled at her and began scanning her things.

"Hi," the girl replied softly.

I forced my eyes off of her.

Every redhead isn't her. Plus, it's not like she would ever be in New York. She hated the east coast.

I was still waiting for my turn and the redhead was still paying when my phone rang again. I answered it, reading Aspen's name flashing across the screen. "What is it?" I huffed softly.

"Change of plans."

"I just spoke to you barely two minutes ago, what do you mean 'change of plans'?"

"I mean, Remy just spoke to her grandparents. She was talking to them while I spoke to you. They're the ones booking the church for the wedding."

"Okay, so?"

"So, the church is all booked for the tenth of May."

"Okay... now?"

"Now the wedding is on the eleventh of May and we fly back on the twelfth. The trip is now seven days instead of five. Pack for seven days. Thank god we're only informing the family first."

"What? I can't be gone for seven—"

"Seven days! See you then, bye!" He hung before I could say anything.

I stared at my phone before tucking it into my pocket.

"Next!"

The redhead moved towards the exit, stopping to my left when her phone rang. "Hello?"

My head whipped as I turned to look at her. But before I could hear her say anything else, she left the store.

She sounded familiar.

I had to stop myself, I had to stop thinking about her every time I crossed paths with a redhead girl.

Once I paid for all my items, I left the store, heading towards my car. I got in the car, synced up my phone to Bluetooth, and called my manager, Joshua. He answered after a few rings. "Hello."

"Joshua, I need to meet you and Coach Bobby now."

"Now?"

"Yeah. It's urgent."

"Um... all right, sure. I'm at practice with him and the rest of the team. Why don't you come here?"

"Okay. I'll be at the field in fifteen." I wasn't too far from it anyway. I took the hat off and continued driving, stopping at one light on my way there. I got there, signed myself in, and headed out to the field. The rest of the team was only warming up, running laps for the time being.

Joshua was sitting with Coach by the stands, so that's where I went. We moved up a bit higher and then I had to lay it out without beating around the bush. Coach hates that. "I'm going to need to leave New York for a week. From the fifth of May to the twelfth."

"Are you joking? You're supposed to be back on the field by then. You just took seven months off," Joshua huffed.

"I didn't take seven months off, I had to," I corrected him, my jaw clenching.

"He's right," Coach Bobby nodded in agreement with me. "He broke his Achilles tendon, it wasn't exactly his fault either. We even won that match with the penalty. Go ahead."

"It's my brother. He's getting married. I have to go. I'll be back in a week and I can start training again until I have to leave. But once I'm back, I promise, the remaining five months until the new season, I'll work my ass off. I always do, Coach. But it's family, I can't skip it."

"Are you here for permission?" he asked.

I lifted a brow. "No. I'm here to inform you."

He chuckled softly and then nodded. "Thanks for letting us know. But, since you're missing a week, be here tomorrow morning. We're putting you back on the field a little early. After your injury, you're seven months behind. You were supposed to resume training next week, but you'll be leaving soon. So, get back on the field and warm yourself up a bit. Once you're back from the wedding, you'll be training extra hard."

I nodded in understanding. "Got it." I stood up to leave after telling them a bit more about the wedding plans, including where I would be. Marbella seemed to impress them both.

"Tell him congratulations. Your brother," Coach said before walking off, blowing the whistle loudly and gathering the rest of the team.

Joshua stood up, watching me carefully. "Why does it look like you don't want to go to Spain for this wedding?"

"That's not it," I mumbled, scratching the back of my neck.

Then it clicked in his eyes. "She'll be there, won't she?"

I stared at him, grounding my teeth.

"The Emilia I've heard so much about," he mused.

"Is this funny to you?" I gritted.

"Not funny. I just think you've been running from this long enough. It's about time it came back to bite you in the ass." He patted my shoulder. "Have fun in Spain," he smirked and strutted off.

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