"Well, check the bathroom. Is he hanging from the shower rod?" Luke asked, talking into his cell phone.
"He's in the tub-no slit wrists-just sitting there."
"This is...going to kill him," Grady whispered to Luke. He unconsciously bit his lower lip, tasting blood.
"Saw the invitation and, blaaahhh, all over himself," Will said, giving a first-hand account, complete with extra-added sound effects. Grady put his phone on speaker for Luke to hear. Luke, put his hand over his mouth in a sudden dry heave motion. Even Jinx, my cat, raised his head at the sound of these uncommon vocals.
"And on such expensive stationery," Grady protested, holding up the soiled invitation.
"Guys, I've got to split."
"All this talk is killing my hard-on." Luke tossed his phone on the bathroom sink, splashed cool water on his naked body, and returned to his "fourgy."
"I'll be right out," Luke called toward the door. Even in the middle of sex, an orgy for four, there is always time for a friend in need.
The pleasantries of a bum stomach and swollen brain didn't make a long train ride back to the Sayville terminal, to catch the ferry, any worse than complete death. To add to my morning marriage-misfortune, it was another sweltering ninety-five degree day.
Ryan Green. I scribbled that name, my first to his last, like a heartsick fourteen-year-old, enough times to still see the indentation on my desk blotter. My first love came swiftly, like a change of season, and stayed long after the usual off-to-college, Indian Summer goodbye. It was the great romance of my life-the one you never forget, for better or for worse. Right now, it's worse.
I watched Finn enter and, pushing back the shower curtain, step over the bathtub edge. His bright blue eyes danced under the fluorescent overhead fixture.
"The guys said something about an invitation and your upset, and pointed to the bathroom door."
"It's just a old boyfriend and I'm invited to the wedding."
"First love. I kind of figured," he said, with the hint of a question, as he rested his hand on my knee. "I had one of those, too, you know. Don't give me that face. You think you're the only guy that has ever come along and swept me off my feet," he laughed.
Finn turned on the shower nozzle, lifting me to stand. Finn marveled at the warmth of my body in his arms, as the icy water sprayed down. Saying nothing, I peeked out, pulling the shower curtain to the end of the rod, all my insecurities leaving with the warm fancy of a much-needed, afternoon delight.
"I love you"...........
