“I don’t know. He’s talking about moving to New York. I mean, he wanted me to meet all of you. I know it’s fast, but,” she smiled, “I can’t stop thinking about him. He just has this positive energy about him. I really need that in my life. He just makes me so happy.”
“I’m so happy for you guys,” I said. “You just seem so nice and sweet and understanding.”
“Can I ask you something personal, Penny?” asked Daphne.
“Of course.”
“Before you dated James, did you date Rob?”
I laughed. “Wait, what? Why would you ask that?”
“He just talks about you in a weird way. Like super flirtatiously, I guess. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just wondering.”
“No, I never dated Rob. We’re just like… the best of friends. That’s just the way he is.”
“It’s true,” Bee said. “You should hear some of the inappropriate things he’s said to me. But he doesn’t mean it. He’s just being funny. We barely notice it anymore.”
Daphne laughed. “Oh, good. I was just worried you had all slept with him. I mean, not you Jen, obviously.”
Jen pretended to vomit.
Melissa shoved a huge handful of popcorn in her mouth and nodded along. I was hoping she wouldn’t mention the fact that she had slept with Rob a few years ago. Especially since it meant nothing to Melissa or Rob. Surely Rob would tell her eventually, but it wasn’t necessary right now. I wanted us all to be able to be friends.
“Okay, truth or dare, Penny?” Daphne asked.
“Truth.” None of us were choosing dare. We all just wanted to talk. This was just a fun way to do it with a new person in our group.
“Are you nervous at all about tomorrow?”
I had some unanswered questions about James. But the answers wouldn’t affect my decision to marry him. I had wanted to be with him ever since I had run into him in that coffee shop. It had always been us. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about that. “Not about marrying him. More so just about everything going smoothly. It’s silly, but I don’t want him to be thinking about his first wedding at all. I want it to be perfect so that there is no comparison.”
“He won’t be,” Jen said and squeezed my knee. “I’m pretty sure he was stoned when he married Isabella.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I doubt he even remembers it. He was mess.”
I thought about that for a second. “And even that makes me a little nervous. I’m worried he’s going to change his mind at the last minute and not show up. I know it’s ridiculous. But you know, like if he realizes he’s making a mistake again.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Melissa said. “James has been obsessed with you ever since you first met. He wanted to marry you as soon as you moved to New York. The only reason it took this long was because you wanted to graduate first.”
“I know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s still scary.”
“Mason would never let him skip town,” Bee said. “I actually made him promise not to lose track of him tonight after what happened this morning. “I got your back, girl.”
I laughed. “Thanks. I have no idea why I’m nervous, I just am. I feel like my stomach is filled with butterflies.”
“That’s why you should be drinking with us,” Jen said and raised her glass.
“No way. I don’t want to have a hangover for my wedding.”
“I sure do.”
I laughed. “Okay, Jen. Truth or dare,” I said.
“Since everyone is being super lame, dare!”
“I knew you’d say that. I dare you to ask Ian on a date tomorrow.”
“Ian? As in, your driver Ian?”
“What other Ian would I be talking about?”
She laughed and took a sip of her drink. “Ian’s not interested in me. Besides, even if he was, I live on the other side of the country. And it would just never work.”
“See. You didn’t say anything about not liking him.”
“Of course I like him. He’s sweet and funny. And he always goes out of his way to help me. But that’s his job. He doesn’t like me like that.”
“Trust me, he likes you.”
“Did he say that?”
“You should hear how excited he gets whenever you’re coming to visit.”
“Stop messing with me, Penny.”
“I’m serious! Besides, you have to ask him out tomorrow. You can’t break a dare.”
“Fine, I’ll ask him. But he’s going to say no. And then I’ll be mortified and never be able to come back to New York.”
“He’s going to say yes and then you’ll be the first ones running about with grandchildren for your parents.”
Daphne laughed. “Good. That was too much pressure for me.”
We all laughed.
“Geez, kids,” Bee said. “I can’t even picture that right now. That seems like a million years away. We should seriously all plan to have kids at the same time. They can all grow up and be best friends too.”
“I’m not even dating anyone,” Melissa said.
“It sounded like Matt wanted to change that,” Jen said.
“Matt isn’t interested in a relationship. He just wants sex. It seems like that’s all anyone ever wants with me. Tyler and I lasted for like 5 seconds. I don’t even know how to be in a relationship anymore. I really liked him. I thought… God I don’t know what I thought. He was such a nice guy. And even he just used me. I’m such an idiot.”
I knew that Tyler didn’t use Melissa for sex. He did like her. He just didn’t love her. It still hurt to think that Tyler wouldn’t be at my wedding tomorrow. And it hurt to know that he was hurting and Melissa was hurting and it was all because of me.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “Melissa, I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it, but…”
“I’m not mad at you. It’s not your fault. It’s me. Everyone always leaves me. I have some internal flaw that disgusts people or something.”
Daphne laughed.
Melissa glared at her.
“I mean, Melissa, I know I don’t know you very well. But couldn’t your flaw be that you expect everyone to leave you? So maybe you push them away a little bit?”
“I don’t think I do that. Do I do that?” she looked at me.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Do you?”
She bit her lip.
“I’m sorry,” Daphne said. “It’s just that I’ve always been terrified of losing people. So I stopped getting close to people. And if you’re doing that too, you should stop. You’re going to miss out on someone great if you don’t.”
“Maybe I push people away. I don’t know if it’s that exactly. I don’t mind being alone. I’m kick ass at being single.”
“Here’s to that,” Jen said.
“I’m just worried about getting hurt. I’m defensive. I hate feeling like I’m not in control of a situation.”