I’m Just a Nice Guy in This Holiday Romcom Who’s Worried my Fiancée is in Love with Her Best Friend
By: Kyrie Gray
Tags: Relationships, Humor, Culture, Christmas, Entertainment

When I met Annie, I couldn’t believe my luck. A beautiful, smart, and funny girl from a nondescript small town? She was perfect. For five years we got on great through the good and the bad. I stood by her through career hurdles, a cancer scare, and a few low times. She supported my dreams of starting a business. We couldn’t have been more happy. Which is why I proposed.

I was sure it would be smooth sailing to the wedding day. Yet when we went back to that quaint flyover town to meet her family I had a rude awakening. Her childhood best friend, Daniel, was there. He was a handsome man with a square jaw who was at least as handsome as I. Wanting to be friendly, I stuck out my hand to greet this obviously important person from her past. Unlike some men, I refused to feel threatened by the boy-next-door turned swimsuit model.

Yes, he’s good-looking. However, he kept annoying my fiancée with mean spirited remarks about her looks. 90% of those insinuated how much better looking she’d grown over the years. How rude! Or at least I thought it was mean. When I tried to defend her, he turned his wit on me. Since my love laughed so did, I. Obviously, it was all an inside joke of some sort. I didn’t get it, but I wanted to be a part of Annie’s world. Even if it included this long-time friend who knows everything about her.

Later we sat by a roaring fire wearing matching sweaters and sipping on hot cups with exactly the right amount of marshmallow to cocoa ratio. Annie assured me that the two were simply old friends. She could never see them as a couple no matter how much fun they had.

Except…well…I’m kind of starting to worry. It might seem crazy, but I actually think she wants to throw away what we have so she can be with this guy who peaked in high school. He still works for his dad’s pizza parlor in this quaint little town where everyone hangs up Christmas decorations because it’s the law or something.

At first, it was small things. I walked into the kitchen one day wanting to show my dearest the new sweater I’d bought for her mother’s holiday party. The two of them were in the kitchen, throwing flour at each other, and laughing like giddy children. Wanting to play along, I grabbed some flour and tossed it lightly into her hair.

“ANDREW! WHAT THE HELL?” Annie gazed at me with fiery eyes.

“But you are already covered in flour. I don’t under — ,” I began to say before Daniel broke in.

“Is that how you treat the woman you love? You sure know how to pick them, Annie. Of course, he’s not worse than that football player.”

“No! Don’t bring up my adorably awkward past!”

With that he ran out the door, threatening to call the ex I knew nothing about. Annie gave chase. I stood alone in the kitchen amongst a mess of flour and dough. Not sure what else to do, I cleaned up. Might as well prove how useful I could be as a partner in household tasks. I’d kiss her and apologize later at the party.

That was not to be. For neither Annie nor Daniel were present at the party. Annie’s and Daniel’s mothers (friends who didn’t bother to keep their voices down when they discussed how disappointed they were that their respective children hadn’t ended up together) began to panic. Seeing it as my moment to shine, I stepped up.

“I shall go find them!”

“Thank you, Andrew! Please see if they are stuck in a snowbank. They were coming back from the vacation cabin we shared every winter when they were growing up. It’s horrible to think that a private trip down memory lane could end in disaster.”

“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “That would be terrible.”

With instructions in hand, I drove slowly up the icy roads scanning each ditch and dimly lit road shoulder for a broken-down car. None could be seen. I made it all the way to the cabin. No one there, only an open picture album and two empty glasses of mulled cider.

While making my way back down to Annie’s home, the car sputtered. NO! The car was out of gas. Now I was alone, my fiancée in the only protected by the man who I was seriously starting to feel threatened by, and I could do nothing. Then I remembered that everyone at the party knew where I had gone. If I wasn’t back in another hour, someone would raise the alarm.

Hours passed. I started walking so I wouldn’t freeze to death in this horrible little town where everyone seemed to know each other and didn’t care about outsiders. A truck stopped to pick me up eventually.

Lindsey, the driver, handed me a blanket. “Where you headed?”

I gave her the address. “I am supposed to be celebrating the holiday with my fiancée and her family.”

“That’s very sweet. Let me guess, you two were friends as kids, drifted apart and one of you fell in love with a boring city stranger. Only for you to realize you’d been perfect for each other all along? That about right?”

Trying very hard to contain my shock I asked, “Is that a pretty common courtship story in this area?”

“Oh yeah! Happens all the time. In fact, that’s my parent’s love story. My ex went to Seattle 4 years ago and is now engaged. So I’m guessing we’ll be married in two years.”

I was silent for the rest of the ride. Annie dropped me off in front of a brightly lit house, full of music and laughter. Through the window, I could see everyone was inside, family, friends, Daniel, and Annie. They were hugging and pouring drinks.

When I walked in everyone looked at me. Then they looked at Annie. She put down her drink and walked over.

“Hey…I thought you’d left. We need to talk.”

I hate this town.