Look at her. She is amazing. I could not believe she was now married. Mary my best friend in the world. I sat in my seat looking up at the bride and groom at their wedding reception. All I could think of was all the times, we had said to each other, that neither of us would get married. A smile crossed my face as we caught each others gaze. She waved and smiled. I waved back. We had been friends for our whole lives. When I was four my parents got divorced, my sister had gone with my mother and I had moved with my father. Still don't know how that was arranged but I have no regrets. We moved next door to Mary's family and had been friends ever since. We shared so many memories.
"Hey." a voice said bringing me back to reality.
"Hey Mrs Snow." I said standing up. Mary's mother smiled at me.
"Thank you for coming." she said as she took my hand and shook it.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." I said looking back at Mary. "She would do the same for me." I said.
"Absolutely." she said admiring her daughter. "For a long time, I thought it would be you two up there." she said looking back at me.
"Nah, we are like brother and sister." I said shaking my head. Which was partly true.
"No." she shook her head. "I think you two are way past that." she looked up at her daughter again. "Well I know she, did not think that way." she said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Nothing." she said shaking her head. "Just an old lady reminiscing. Enjoy the rest of the reception." she said before walking off towards her husband. I looked back at Mary who was looking at her friend Sally. The lady I had given my seat up for. Sally was pregnant yet again. And did not want everyone looking at her baby bump. So I had gladly given it to her.
"Hey bro." a deep voice said to me from behind.
"Jack!" I said turning around.
"Thanks for coming." he said. The groom looked good all dressed up. He had brown mouse hair, that was jelled down. I remembered the first time I saw him. He looked like a wild man that had come down from the mountains. Hair all out of sorts, long beard, and very unkempt. But now he looked almost human.
"Not a problem. Just take care of my sis." I said more as a warning than anything else.
"Will do." he said smiling and nodding his head, while he took a swig of his beer. "So when do you leave for ... China was it?" he asked.
"Thailand." I corrected him. I knew this was coming. He wanted me out of the picture. Most men did when they realized how close, Mary and I were. "In the morning. But she has my number and my new address. So she can reach me." I said. Looking back at her. "With my flying discounts, I can be back in here in a day or less." I said reassuring him, that there was no distance to far.
"Great. That's good. She does like being able to contact you." he said shaking his head. That was a typical response. Mary was one of the social media addicts. She had all of them. And never was too far from some sort of device that would let her online at a moments notice. "Well anyway. Thanks for coming." he said shaking my hand. I nodded, then went to the bar.
"Prick!" a voice said behind me as I ordered a beer. I smiled as I recognized the voice. I ordered a harder drink for my father. I turned around and handed it to him.
"So tell me how you really feel. Dad." I said. He was a tall man. He was graying on top. But he was still built like an ox.
"Can't believe that she settled for him." he said taking a long sip of the drink. "You know he wants to take a few months off. So that he can pioneer a new car engine." he said shaking his head. "Prick." he said again. I smiled.
"What was it before that?" I asked. I loved egging him on.
"The world's first. Peanut oil, driven car." he said shaking his head. "Should of stayed in the mountains, where she found him."
"Well he doesn't want to be taken control of by the establishment." I said putting up quote signs as I said establishment.
"Fuck off." he said. Shaking his head. "He is a loser. He doesn't want to work." he said looking at Jack dancing with his daughter. "If your father was here, he would agree with me." he said. I nodded. I had lost my father, when I was a teenager. He had put up a fight to cancer and lost. "Now that man was a worker. Never complained, never made excuses, nose to the grind stone every day." he said looking at me. "I am a better man, because of him. He made all of us seem small next to him." he said. My eyes teared as he spoke.
"Thanks." I said.
"And he would be damn proud of his son. You go over there and you keep doing what you always do." he said shaking my hand.
"Oh I will." I said. I had got promoted in my job. Working for one of the largest stock trading firms in the world. He glanced back at Jack and shook his head. "Go to your wife." I said laughing. He nodded and walked away.
I looked around there was faces that I knew and some that I didn't. Some that I probably will never see again.
"Saying goodbye?" a familiar voice said. I smiled and turned.
"You look great." I said looking at her face.
"You said that earlier. When I had the wedding dress on." Mary said. Her green sparkling eyes staring up at me.
"Well you still do." I said. She was much shorter than me. She stood at around 5'2, she was small in stature but her attitude was that of a giant. She once tried to fight a man almost 7 feet tall. She was the definition of small and spunky. She was wearing a tight green dress that flowed down to her ankles. Her long jet black hair was always straight and glossy looking.
"Jim" she said stopping a passerby. "Take a picture of us." she said reaching into her vast amount of cleavage to pull out a phone.
"I was wondering where you hiding it." I said. She elbowed me in the ribs.
