“It’s not the eleventh hour.”
“In wedding time it is! You’re getting married in three weeks.”
“Stop holding childish crap against him, Kay. He’s my oldest friend and I want him there with no drama from you.”
All my brother knows about that day at the pep rally is that Brick and I fell out over John Dixon. He knows nothing about the kiss and never will.
“I thought I was your oldest friend?” I say, throwing back the words my brother has told me a million times over our lifetimes.
“Can you cut me some slack? I have enough to deal with regarding this wedding. Dena and I are arguing more than we ever have in our entire relationship. She wants to spend more money than we have, but I don’t want to tell her no. It’s the biggest day in her life and I want to give her everything she wants, but I also want to be able to buy groceries afterwards. We’ll be broke!”
Kyle is a commercial plumber and makes a good living, but he isn’t rolling in cash. Neither of them can really afford the wedding they’re having, but I think my brother is willing to put the whole thing on his credit cards because Dena put up with a lot from him over the years.
The way I think he is rationalizing it is that giving Dena the wedding of her dreams is his atonement for all the crap he put her through over the years. That’s fair though. I have no sympathy for him either. But Kyle is also right about one thing: I’m acting like a brat right now. After all, this is his big day too, and he should be able to have anyone he wants there without any interference from me. The bad blood between me and Brick was a million years ago.
“I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just that I thought I’d be standing up there with you by myself,” I say in an apologetic tone. “I’ll do whatever you want me to.”
“If only you could be that cooperative all the time,” he responds sarcastically.
“Can I hang up now?”
“There’s one more thing.”
“Kyle, I’m not wearing that ugly dress.”
Dena and my mom want me to wear the ugliest lavender dress, which would not complement anyone’s shape, in my opinion. I think Dena picked it because it matches her purple hydrangea flower arrangements, but it’s awful. Thankfully, I was able to convince her to at least give me a chance to show her how a tailored tuxedo will look so much better. My mom, on the other hand, is having a Generation X hissy fit about it.
“It’s not about the dress. That fight is over as far as I’m concerned.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m throwing a small pre-wedding thing at my place tonight and I need you to come.”
“This is very last minute. What kind of thing?”
“It’s for Brick. He flew into town tonight, and I wanted a few of us to welcome him home.”
Holy hell, he’s here?
“If it’s not wedding mandatory, I rather skip it.”
“Seriously, Kay? You can hold a grudge like no one I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m not holding a grudge. I’m just not interested in coming.”
“But you just finished saying that you’d do whatever I wanted.”
“I’ll do whatever wedding things you want.”
“This is a wedding thing.”
“I don’t want to come. Don’t make me,” I basically whine.
“I swear I don’t understand you. You’ve known Brick your entire life. He’s more than a friend. He’s like family.”
Not my family.
Not even close.
