That Wedding

He and I had a very short-lived romance, well, maybe more of a booze-filled romance. It lasted all of about two weeks. I never slept with him, really we didn't do much more than kiss. The one night I thought things might go further, he threw up on my shoes as we were staggering back to his apartment. I spent the night with him, cleaning up his puke, and constantly cursing myself for goading him into those last two shots.

He never asked me out again, but we became good friends. I guess when you clean up someone's puke, it sort of bonds you, but it also makes me wonder.

I greet Nick with a hug and blurt out, "Why didn't we work out romantically? Is it because I got you drunk?"

He laughs. "No, that woulda been a good reason to keep you." He moves his head back and forth, like he's thinking how to say what he's about to say. "There's a couple reasons, I guess."

"And they were?"

"I wasn't going to listen to Da

"Da

We stroll through the gallery and look at the paintings.

"When it was just us, sure, but when Phillip was around, seriously, it was obvious who you were into."

"No way."

"You're delusional, still. And no offense, but I just don't see how a bunch of colors swirled around equals art."

"Give me an example of how I was into Phillip when we were all sitting at the bar, and I was ru

"Yeah, that turned me on. Like you were this bad girl, who wanted me, and your boyfriend was sitting right there, clueless." He laughs. "And the art is making me feel like I need a drink."

"My boyfriend?? That's dumb. Phillip and I were JUST friends!!"

"Jay, you freaking light up like a Christmas tree when you're around Phillip. The way you two look at each other. The co

I stop and look at him. "You were two-timing me? I'm appalled!"

He laughs at me, shrugs his shoulders, like it's no big deal. "Jay, we didn't do anything. How could I have been two-timing you?" We stop to look at a bright modern painting, and he changes the subject. "So what are you freaking out about? And why the museum?"

"I always come to the museum for inspiration, and I do think contemporary art is the way to go in the new building. But honestly, I probably shoulda gone to a church."

"You need religious inspiration?"

"Nick, has God ever spoken to you?"

He looks at me kinda fu

"Um, uh, no. Well, I don't know. Maybe once, but I didn't know if it was Him or like my own brain."

"That's exactly what I've been wondering!! Tell me!"

"In high school, besides kicking, I played wide receiver. I got tackled when I was up in the air. Helmet to helmet, knocked me silly. I fell hard to the ground, had a concussion, and for a few scary minutes, I couldn't feel my body. I thought I was paralyzed. They wrapped me up on one of those back boards and carted me off the field. My mind flashed, I can't move. I'm paralyzed. Then quickly another voice, that wasn't my own, flashed in my head. It said, You're going to be fine. And then I like knew I was. At the time, I thought it was God's voice, but who knows. So did God talk to you?"

"I think he did in a dream. He turned me into a burning bush, set me on fire when I told my friend that Phillip was the one for me. And in my mind, it was like He felt that was blasphemy. And I've been having a lot of dreams that are like tragic. At first, I thought, you know, I'm freaking, but I don't freak over guys. I really never have."

"You never used to, but Phillip is different. You're different with him. Probably because for the first time in your life, you have skin in the game. You care about him. You're in love him. You want it to work. Plus, you're pla

"I can see that with the other dreams I've had, but not this one. I really don't know if I should marry Phillip now. I'm almost positive God was trying to tell me not to, or he was threatening me or something."

Nick bursts out laughing hysterically and extremely inappropriately for a museum. "You're fu

"Stop laughing. I'm telling you this because you're my most openminded friend, and I thought you wouldn't laugh at me."

He regains temporary control, wipes tears from his stupid eyes, looks at me, and then starts laughing again.

I walk away, pretending to be intrigued by a Pollock painting.

"I'm sorry," he chokes out while trying to control his giggling.

"Are you high!? What's with the giggling?"

He straightens out his face and says seriously, "Keggers, it is. I can't have this conversation here."

We leave the museum with very little architectural inspiration and zero divine intervention.

Maybe the bar is a good option.

We walk in Keggers, and there behind the bar is my favorite hot and former fairly regular hookup, Bradley. He's drying a glass with a white rag and has a phone cradled on his shoulder. He looks irritated when Nick and I walk up to order drinks.

But when he sees me, his green eyes sparkle. "Jadyn, baby, you looking for drinks or a little fun?"

Nick holds out my engagement ring and says with a tone that's way too serious for a bar, "Definitely just drinks."

Buzz kill.

Bradley says, "Phillip?"

And I was like, "How'd you know?"

"Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know who you've always had the hots for," he says as he pours three tequila shots.

"Bradley, in this bar, I always had the hots for you," I flirt.

Sorry, I can't help it.

"You wanted to hookup with me, yes. But you've always had the hots for Phillip.

"Of all the boys I've kissed in this bar over the years, you tell me I had the hots for the one boy I never kissed?"

Bradley ignores my question and raises his shot glass. Nick and I follow suit. He says, "Here's to hookups."

"Here, here," I say.

He pours us each another shot. "And here's to finding true love. Congrats, Jadyn."

"Here, here," Nick says.

Bradley leans across the bar toward me and lowers his voice. "Although, I'm still extremely available if you came here for a hookup."

Nick gets a disgusted look on his face. "We're going to our booth. Bring us a pitcher, okay?" Then he drags me away.

"God, you're a flirt, and what's all the Jadyn babyyy bullshit?"

"I don't know. He just always called me baby. It was cute, but I wasn't flirting with him. I said one sentence, and it was about Phillip."