Best Friend’s Wedding

The day came when the invitation arrived.  The invitation I was heart broken to learn I would not be getting.  I was invited to my best friend's wedding, which was to take place this Sunday.  I scratched my head not knowing what to think.  I thought about the perplexing letter through the night and I did not fall asleep until nine-thirty the following morning.

I awoke at five on a Wednesday afternoon and decided to give my good friend a call.  I picked up the phone and dialed the number I knew so well.

“Hello?” said a familiar voice.  He sounded happier than he had in weeks.

“Josh?” I asked.

“Yeah?  Who is this?”

“It’s Mike.  What’s going on?  Why did I suddenly get a wedding invitation in the mail yesterday?”

“Oh, hi.  Janice and I are getting married.  You know that.”

“Yeah, but she…”

“She’s fine.  We talked and she’s doing okay.  Listen I have to go.  I’ll see you Sunday I hope?”

“Yeah, but listen…”

“Good.  I’ll talk to you then.  Bye.”

I heard a click, so I hung up.  I was now more confused than I had been the day before.  I knew what I had to do and I was afraid to do it.  I had no idea what kind of mental condition Josh was in, but I was going to find out.

I drove over to his house.  It was a large blue typical New England home.  Well, slightly larger than typical.  When Josh’s father passed on, a rather large sum of money was left to my friend.  Money can’t buy everything though.  Josh never wanted the money for himself.

I knocked on the front door and waited.  I knocked again a minute later the door swung open before I pulled my arm away.

“Josh, hey.”

“I told you I’m busy.  I have a lot to do before Sunday!”  Josh sounded aggravated.  He wasn’t the happy person I heard over the phone.

“Yeah, I understand, but could I talk to Janice?”

“She’s not here.”

“Could you tell me where she is?  It’s really important.  I have to talk to her.”  I tried to stress the importance of my plea.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure where she is.  She’s out doing errands,” Josh snapped at me.  I wasn’t sure what was wrong.  All of a sudden Josh was extremely moody and I wasn’t sure why.

“Josh…”

“I have to go.  Please excuse me.”  The door was shut in my face.

That guy has balls.  I’m going to fucking kill him, I thought.  Then I remembered the condition I was in after the accident.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the wedding.  I got little sleep and I didn’t get much done for the Boston Globe.  My exhaustion was reflected in my paycheck.

Sunday finally rolled around and that was the day that sleep decided to catch up with me.  I woke up half an hour after the wedding started.  I got ready as fast as possible and I arrived at three-ten.  I was an hour late and ten minutes late.

When I parked and started walking towards the church doors, I saw several people leaving.  Old friends made up a majority.

I walked up to a person I knew from high school and asked what was going on.

“He’s fucking insane.  Don’t even bother going in there.  He has lost it.  I am sorry though.  I heard.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.  I’m going to see what I can do.”

Just then I saw the Priest charge out the doors.  He had blood running down his cheek and onto his cassock.  I asked him what happened and he yelled, “He’s a bloody maniac.”

I could say the same about you, I thought.  I walked into the church and saw my best friend at the end of the aisle, kneeling on the floor, without his fiancé, as I earlier assumed would end up being the picture.  I slowly walked up the aisle and noticed my friend’s soft sobbing.

“Josh?” I asked.

He turned and said, “Mike?”

“Yeah.  It’s okay.  Listen, let’s get a drink.  My treat!”

“She didn’t show up,” Josh sniveled.

I sighed.  “You know she’s not coming and you know why.”  I didn’t want to say the reason because I, I must admit, hadn’t fully recovered myself.

“I saw her!  We set a new date.  We were going to get married.”  Josh broke down and instead of sobbing he started bawling.  I didn’t know what to do.

I walked up to him and held out my arm to assure him that I was here.  “Come on.  Let’s get out of here,” I said soft-heartedly.  Josh and I grew up together, we went to school together, and we suffered together.

“SHE’S GOING TO COME!” Josh screamed up at me.

“She DEAD!” I yelled back.  “She’s not coming back!”

“She’s not dead.  I talked to her.  She’s going to be here!”

I didn’t want to get into a screaming match with my best friend, but I didn’t know how else to react.  He wasn’t the only one with private pain.  I told him so.

“You’re not the only one who’s suffering, you know!  Sarah was in that car too!  She was wearing my ring, in case you’ve forgotten.  I’ve been able to live through this.  For the love of god, just try to be reasonable.”  I started to cry, finally coming to terms that I would never see Sarah or Janice again.

Josh looked up and our eyes met for the first time since I told him about the accident.  He had so much pain and so much remorse in his eyes.  I knew he was sorry for yelling, and he knew I too was sorry.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Yeah.”  That was his way of saying “me too”.  I didn’t press him.

I sat down next to my good friend and said, “Remember when we first met them?  The movie theater.”

“Yeah,” Josh smiled.  “We had never even seen them before and we just asked them to a movie.  We didn’t think it would work.”

It was nice to see a smile behind his tears.  I thought I might never see one on that face again.

“Neither of us would have ever expected a serious relationship to come from that.”  I was smiling now, as well.  “Let the good times roll, huh?”

“Yeah.  Good times.  I think we’ll be all right, Mike.  See?  You don’t have to go all crazy on me.”

“Heh.  You’re right, Josh.  No more craziness.  How about that drink.”

“I’ll buy.”

We got up and started to walk out of the church when Josh asked me, “So when do we start on that story you’ve been telling me we have to write since the ninth grade?”

“After the drink of course.  There’s no better inspiration than alcohol.”  I laughed.

“We’ve been through a lot.”

“Too much, my friend.  Too much.”