I sit in the back seat with AJ while John drives and Rusty sits shotgun. The buzz from the hotel room pre-party carries into the 4 door hatchback. The four high school friends reminiscence about the days of prom, homework, and hot lesbian Spanish teachers and eventually due to the nature of the celebration that had brought the four together the conversation drifts to the future.
"We're all single. So who do you think will get married next?" I ask.
"Definitely, not me" Rusty proclaims.
"I actually think you'll be next," John says to Rusty, "You've been spending a lot of time with that new girl."
"No way. She's just for fun."
"Well, if you asked this question 6 months ago," AJ says looking at me, "I would have definitely said you were the next one."
"Yah, you were practically married," says John.
Now I wish I had didn't asked the question just one minute ago. They were right though. That's what I thought. That's what our families thought. That's what our friend's thought. Apparently, no one really knew what the hell Alyssa was really thinking.
"####. That was the plan. If you asked me how 2012 would play out I'd tell you that sometime around now Alyssa and I would have enough money to start shopping for a house or even own our by now. Then around October or November I would have planned a trip to Paris and proposed to her there. But #### it. That's life. It's not what I envisioned, but I am having hella fun."
"On to the next one," Rusty adds while giving me a smirk.
We arrive to the hotel where the reception is being held. We're actually the first car there. We walk into the hotel bar and notice some people from the wedding. Most are older and appear to be the family of the bride and groom. Rusty walks to the bar and orders Jameson and Ginger Ale for the 4 of us and we head out to the outdoor pool area where the appetizers are at. A few moments later the rest of the hotel pre-party arrives and the festivities continue. The spunky Filipina Chick, Demi, walks up to the table we're standing at with a champagne flute in hand and places herself right next to me with her companion off at the appetizer table. The conversations and drinking continue with the only break in action is posing for an ungodly amount of pictures to be spammed onto Facebook.
After about 30 minutes, I finally notice that coral dress at the cocktail hour sitting on a bench. She is sipping on champagne as well, but is in a smaller group with her old college friends, 3 of them to be exact. They look like they're enjoying themselves like friends would by the backyard grill, but it's no where near the level of the group that I am in, partying like we're at club. Her back is to me and maybe that's why I didn't care about her presence, but I was having a good time with my friends and I had a new target right next to me.
I wish I could say it was by some master manipulation or planning, but I finally got Demi isolated as we were leaning against the hotel fence, overlooking the lake. We started talking and she was telling me her story. She grew up in Southern California, went to undergrad at UCLA, and got her masters in Chicago where she currently works and lives. She's been there for 5 years now and is planning to move somewhere. She has a dog. Normal girl. Nothing crazy, but hey she's opening up. Eventually, our time alone is broken up by the Chinese dude and the two of us join the rest of the party.
Dinner is finally about to begin and members of the wedding party start to herd us all inside. As I make my way towards the reception hall walking and talking with Demi, Alyssa comes out of no where, squeezes my shoulder, and obviously a little buzzed says, "How are you?"
"I'm doing good," I reply as I give Demi an apologetic look.
"Good. That's good." Alyssa says and continues to walk with us as we make our way to the check in table to find out where we are seated. The good news is I'm not seated at the table with Alyssa. The bad news is that I'm not at the table with Demi. The extra crappy news is that Alyssa, Demi, and chinese dude are at the same table.