Page 113 of It Couldn't Be You
“How was it spending time with just Gabe? I know you’re used to the two of you kind of revolving around Katie,” my mom asked, her voice suggestive.
“It was…” I didn’t want to start crying at the party. “It was complicated. I’ll tell you all the details later.”
Mom raised an eyebrow. “Was it good?”
“It was good…and then also bad,” I whispered the last part.
Dad looked confused and worried. “Wait, what happened? Why was it bad? I’m lost.”
“Bad, how?” My mom lowered her voice.
Out walked Katie and Terrence like a breeze of fresh air. Guests had been ordered by Mama Linda to be normal and tohold all cheering and applause until after the proposal. But tons of people started cheering.
Terrence started laughing, being a good sport about the lack of chill. Katie looked a little confused, eyeing the number of guests to her little family barbecue. I was sure she wasn’t expecting this big of a “get to know each other” party.
She turned to Terrence, grinning expectantly, asking, “What’s this all about?” He shrugged mischievously.
She then said loudly for all of us to hear, “This is an awfully big backyard barbecue, Mama!”
Linda cackled from somewhere I couldn’t see.
“Why is everyone staring at us and clapping?” I heard her ask him.
“Let’s go for a walk.” Terrence pulled her away from all of us, ignoring her questions for now.
We all watched them walk toward the proposal spot, hand in hand. Katie kept glancing back at us, the wheels in her mind turning.
She stopped looking back once Terrence started talking. We could see he was making an impassioned speech, and then he dropped to one knee—lots of guests gasping and excitedly whispering when it happened. Katie put her hand to her mouth as some of us clapped and hollered. Then Terrence was holding up a ring box.
Katie jumped up and down, then stopped so he could slip the ring on her finger.
Then, as he spun her around, Terrence shouted, “She said yes!”
On cue, we all clapped and cheered as they ran toward us. Everyone immediately began crowding them, so I made my way out of my seat and got into the hug line to wrap my arms around the happy couple.
The air was cooling down. The sun was so low that the sky was shades of plum and amber. My best friend, the girl I knew when she was an eight-year-old learning how to ride her bike, a twelve-year-old when she got a period, who I went bra shopping with, cried to over boys, and had done life with all this time was now…engaged. To be married. To a grown man.
You know things like this might, or probably, would happen as you grow up. I knew logically that someday, my closest confidant might get married. But I don’t think I ever knew in my heart that the girl I’d done everything with would someday promise to do everything with someone new. I wasn’t upset about this; it was just surreal.
My mom and dad stood beside me, excitedly murmuring about the coming wedding. Everyone was laughing. I could see Katie’s dad, Ozzy, had tears in his eyes. As Katie excitedly gestured to someone, I saw the new ring glittering on her finger. In a matter of days, I would hear this story from Katie’s perspective in detail.
I finally got up close enough to give the couple hugs. I got to Terrence first, and he said, “The girl who brought us together,” and wrapped me up in his warm arms.
“Happy to,” I said as my eyes fell on Katie. She was hugging Gabriel as he whispered something in her ear. She smiled softly and said something I couldn’t hear in response.
She pulled away, and Gabriel turned to leave. There he was. Gabriel’s eyes landed on mine; my heart stopped for a second. But he quickly moved on. He walked away. His back to me.
And I was moving into Katie’s arms because this moment was her moment, and she was squealing. I clicked back into the reason I was here. I was here to jump up and down and cheer on my best friend’s upcoming marriage.
“Isn’t this the perfect night?” she said, eyes big and watery.
“I knew it would be. Terrence knows you. I thought that when he told me the whole proposal party plan,” I said, my eyes brimming with tears, too.
“Look at this ring. Can you believe it?” She held out her hand for me, wiggling her ring finger.
“I helped him choose, you know,” I said, proudly.
She looked happily down at her ring. “This all feels like a dream. Like I’ll wake up tomorrow to real life.”
