. : : Charlie : : .

October 5, 2021 7:43 PM

He fumbled with the buttons on his shirt and had a very anxious look on his face. He almost choked himself with his tie, unable to make the knot correctly. I finally stepped in front of him and helped him. In the background Fulton checked his watch.

"We're late," he said in his deep voice. "We should have been there thirteen minutes ago."

"Well, if Banksie over there hadn't tried to drown himself in the shower, we would have been on time," Averman said from next to him.

"Or spent so much time on his hair," Dwayne chimed in.

"Or changed three times," Goldberg added.

"Give him a break guys, he's just nervous," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "But nervous or not, we have to leave, or else he won't be getting married at all."

"Okay," Adam said, his tone a little timid.

"Okay to what, leaving or not getting married?" Luis asked from his spot in the corner.

"Hey, if you don't want her I'll take her!" Goldberg said with a grin.

"No, no, no, no, no," he said, reminding me of a crazy person or something. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He grabbed his jacket from the chair, promptly knocking the chair over. He tried to pick it up, but only succeeded in knocking it over the other way. Fulton stepped over and set the chair down with a look of finality. Adam gave him a sheepish smile, and turned around and walked into the door. I shook my head as my friends laughed. If Banks was this nervous before the rehearsal dinner, I didn't want to know what he was going to be like the next day.

We entered the restaurant way past fashionably late. I was at the front of our seven-person train, and Banks was lagging at the other end. I caught Maya's eye. She looked just as anxious as I had expected. Who could blame her? Her husband-to-be was forty-five minutes late for their rehearsal dinner. I gave her a thumbs-up sign, and let Les, Luis, Greg, Dwayne, and Fulton pass me to sit in their reserved places. I could see Adam hiding behind the doorway, looking a little ill. I pulled him over to me, and put a strong arm around his shoulder. He was looking at the floor. I led him over to our table. He looked up at his fiancée, and I could almost feel his knees give out. He grinned at her and all of his nervousness seemed to go away, reminding me of a certain 10th grader with his first girlfriend. He walked on his own to his seat, and took her hand.

"Sorry we're late," he said as I took my seat next to him.

"Don't worry about it," she answered. "But don't let it happen tomorrow."

I smirked across the table to Lena, the maid of honor. She rolled her eyes at the couple, who were now just smiling stupidly at each other.

I watched them as they stood at the imaginary altar, holding hands and practicing what was going to happen tomorrow. I couldn't believe that this was happening already. It was almost as if I was the one getting married- it all seemed so soon. We were both still kids, what the hell was Adam doing getting married? I sighed to myself and shook my head to clear it. Okay, so we weren't kids anymore- we were 26 years old and full grown adults. Just because I remembered Adam as the kid with the side part and too-big polo shirts didn't mean that he was still that kid. I'm sure that he didn't still think I was the little skinny kid that needed a haircut, constantly wearing my Ducks jersey.

Remembering the Ducks, I looked around the rest of the room. We were all here. For the first time in five years, all of the Ducks were in the same place. We had come from all over the world; some from far away, some from close by. Nobody would have missed this for anything. Maya and Adam came back to sit down for dinner, and I forced a smile onto my face. They brought out the food for the buffet, and I made a point to leave the table quickly. I grabbed a plate from the stack on the long buffet table and felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Connie Moreau, a face I hadn't seen for at least a couple of years.

"Connie, hi," I said.

"Hi Charlie."

Connie and I had never been especially close, but there had always been a good bond between us, probably because we were always around the same people. Her childhood sweetheart, Guy Germaine, had been one of my good friends since I was seven. Connie was now a pediatrician specializing in sports injuries in Milwaukee.

"Are you okay? You look a little sick," she asked me.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm fine," I said, taking a piece of chicken and putting it on my plate.

"Big shindig, huh?" she asked from behind me.

"Yeah, Banks' mom went nuts, and Maya's mom wasn't exactly too calm either…and both of their father's went crazy when they saw the prices."

Connie laughed, but my mind was still elsewhere. I finished getting my food, and headed back to my table. I sat across from the bride and groom, who were surrounded by relatives and close friends. Connie apparently wasn't finished talking to me, though. She pulled a chair away from the neighboring table and sat down next to me.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah."

We looked at the couple for a few minutes until Connie broke the silence yet again.

"This is so weird. They're-"

"Just kids," I finished for her.

"Actually, I was going to say that they're so happy around each other," Connie said with an amused look on her face. "But I do think that I've gotten closer to solving your problem now. Are you mad?"

I shook my head no, but stayed silent.

"Jealous?"

No again.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing, okay?" My tone was much more insistent this time.

"Alright," Connie sounded slightly taken aback. "Well, I guess I'll talk to you later." She got up and left the table. I sighed, finding myself alone even in the midst of tons of people. The next half an hour passed slower than any other I had ever known, with friends coming and going from next to me. I felt bad, totally blowing off the Ducks like that, and I knew it was totally out of character. When I was younger, the Ducks were everything to me. Now, they still were, even if we hadn't seen each other in a really long time. I wanted to be able to smile and laugh and share stories of the past few years, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to spend time with Banks. But Banks was too busy for that now; Banks had other priorities at the moment. I knew I sounded mean and cynical, but he was my best friend.

Connie came and sat by me again, as I was cleaning off my plate.

"Charlie, please talk to me," she almost pleaded. "Everyone's really getting worried by you…you're not usually like this."

"Like what?" I asked, forcing a smile onto my face. "I'm fine."

"If you're fine, then come hang out with us."

"What is this, seventh grade? Yeah, sure." I followed her over to a small table that was crammed with twelve chairs around it instead of six. I squeezed myself into one in between Russ Tyler and Dean Portman, who both patted me on the back as I sat down.

"Hey Spazzway, glad you decided to join us," Averman said from across the table.

I gave him a smile and the finger, and tried to settle myself into the conversation. But of course the conversation was one that I'd rather not have been discussing right then.

"They're so great together," Julie said dreamily. "Just like in high school."

"Oh Julie, what the hell are you talking about? You hated Maya in high school," Fulton snickered.

"Only because she made Banks suck at hockey," Julie sniffed.

"Or else the Cat-Lady had a little something for him," Goldberg teased.

"Get real," Julie said, rolling her eyes.

I laughed, remembering exactly how much Julie had hated Maya. It really was because of the hockey thing, but we still loved to tease her about her weeklong crush on Banks during the Goodwill Games.

"How much of part did you play in their romance, Conway?" Guy asked me.

"I almost proposed for him," I answered. They laughed. Maya and Banks had apparently noticed our little gathering, because they were making their way over to our overloaded table. I tried to hide my disgust as they stood next to us, their arms around each other. God, they were attached to the hip.

"Having a party without us?" Banks asked.

"Never! Come on, pull up a chair or two," Connie said, trying to move her seat over. They sat down into our not-so-little group, and the conversation immediately swarmed around them. I leaned my head on my hand, not concerned on how bored I looked. If that's what it took for Adam to notice me, fine.

Best man, huh? I felt more like a foreigner in the middle of an unknown country.