I slept on the floor for a week until my dad was able to haul my stuff from Fort Collins in his truck. “Don’t forget the terms of our agreement,” he said to me before leaving.
How could I forget?
A week later, I finally called Penny.
“Hey.”
I could hear her breath catch in her throat before she uttered a single word. “Hi.”
“So you want me to be in your wedding? I’ll only accept officiant or ring bearer.”
She laughed. It had been too long since I’d heard her laugh. “I want you to be a groomsman. Will you do that for me? Lance’s sister is going to be a bridesmaid, so we have to even out the two sides.”
“I want to be on your side.”
“Gavin, I want you to be in the wedding. This is what I’m asking, and it would mean a lot to me if you said yes, okay?”
“Okay.” I’d do anything for her. “I’m wearing Converse, though. I’ll do the suit, but I’m wearing Converse. Okay? No arguments.”
“Come barefoot if you want. I just want you there.”
“Aren’t you ready to pop?”
“I’ll be very close on the big day. Don’t laugh at how I look.”
“I would never.” I was lying. I planned to devote the entire day to making jokes about Penny wearing white over her gargantuan belly.
PENNY’S WEDDING WASin a cheap hall where they held senior dances and Bar Mitzvahs. The centerpieces were decorated with fake flowers and the whole scene just screamed “shotgun wedding.”
I showed up with my dad an hour before the ceremony and found Penny sitting in a backroom on a couch: legs spread, giant belly making her already-huge dress look silly. “My mom picked everything out. Can you tell?” she said, laughing.
She tried to sit up to hug me, but I reached my hand out and said, “No, you stay there. How’s your knee?”
“Hurts like a motherfucker.”
I looked around the backroom, with makeup and curling irons strewn about. “Where are the bridesmaids, and who’d you partner me with? Please say Ling.”
“Don’t kill me. We just did it based on size. You’re so tall, and Ling and Kiki are so short.”
“Well, who the hell is left, Penny?”
“Lance’s sister, Isabelle. She seems nice. Really pretty. Looks like Christina Ricci, but taller.”
For I moment I thought it didn’t sound so bad. All I had to do was walk down the aisle with her arm linked through mine, and if she was cute... but then I remembered she was Lance’s sister.
“Whatever.” I plopped down next to Penny on the old floral couch. “Where are they anyway? Aren’t they supposed to be back here, giving you moral support or primping you or something?”
“They’re on a far more important mission: buying me ice cream.” She smiled wide and then turned her body toward me and rested her bare feet on my lap.
I laughed. “Okay, so what’s up with the dress? It’s not Penny-like at all. Why all the taffeta and tulle?”
“Because I was lazy, and I told you, I let my mom do everything.” She shivered. “Ahh, he’s rolling.” She put my hand on her belly.
“What’s this?” I said, feeling a hard spot.
“It’s a foot or something.” I felt a forceful movement in her belly. It was freaky but magical.
Why can’t this be our baby?
