Youth hatred

I got the invitation in the mail -- my old friend C. was having a wedding. I was very happy for him! C. was one of my great friends in grades one through eight or so, and good friends in grades nine through twelve, but since then we'd drifted apart. He lived in another state now -- Oregon. It was going to be great to see him after all these years! And all my other old friends, who I soon found were invited. C. included a note in the invitation -- it read "Attention to all my old friends! I hope you can make it to my wedding so we can all see each other again." The invitation was simple and classy, with gold script on a cream paper. It also had a secret message in invisible ink that you could see with lemon juice -- it was a picture of a spider stomping on a skyscraper.

I went to the tuxedo store to rent a tuxedo for the wedding when I ran into my old friend J. It had been years since I had seen J.! We talked about our lives, which took about six minutes. I wondered aloud if M. would be there. M. was a girl I'd been around the block with a couple times back in high school. J. asked me what "been around the block" meant, in that context. I ignored him and said I hadn't seen M. in years, I wonder how she is doing, had he seen M.? He said he had no interest whatsoever in M. I nodded. I asked him what he did for a living. Something about gravel -- I wasn't listening.

"Where's S.?"
"I think he couldn't make it. Is A. here?"
"Yeah I think I saw A. earlier. She looks awful."
"Ha ha. Is L. around?"
"Yeah, I'm L."
"Oh, hey, L."

I was one of the last ones at the chapel. The chapel was full of old friends from high school and C.'s family. I found C. getting ready. I told him he looked very sharp in his tuxedo! He said thank you, it's good to see you, and embraced me warmly. There was ink all over his hands because he'd just broken a pen. I asked him who he was marrying, and he said oh no, I'm not marrying anyone. I'm just having a wedding. I wanted to see all my friends and family and thought the best way to do so was to throw a wedding! I wished him good luck and left to find a seat.

C. had gone all out for his wedding. He'd gotten a harp player and an organ player. They were both playing different songs, both beautiful. There were little candles and little glass balls filled with dirt or something all around the chapel (the dirt had some kind of special significance, I don't remember what it was). It was very pretty! C.'s groomsmen came down the aisles, one at a time. Then his father. Then C. walked down the aisle with his mother. He took his place at the altar. There was no one to actually marry C. to so the priest was instructed to just say some things: "Today is a very nice day. Wonderful weather. It's been raining a lot recently, so it's very lucky that it's sunny today. This is a very nice wedding you're having, C. You seem like a very nice guy and I'm sure you're going to have a good time today. All right? Have fun, everyone!" Then we all cheered. The balcony collapsed, but no one was hurt too bad.

I remember C. looked very nice coming down the aisle. He walked down the aisle arm-in-arm with his mother, as tradition dictates. I remember his mother was frowning.

"I liked the part where they released the dove."
"His niece is adorable. With that little dress!"
"What did I miss? I was throwing up the whole time in the bathroom."
"It was very nice. How was the bathroom?"
"The bathroom was nice."

C. held a big reception at a hotel near the chapel. It was all decorated with streamers and banners that said "FUN WEDDING." He sat at the head table by himself. C. called on his best man K. to make a speech. K. was already several beers deep. He told a joke about how he couldn't believe his little brother C. was having a wedding. C. laughed and clapped his hands. K. thanked everyone for coming and thanked C. for having such a nice wedding and bringing all his friends together like this. A murmur of assent rippled through the reception hall! Then it was time for C.'s first dance. He danced to the song "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden. He swayed back and forth with his eyes closed, waving his arms around. After the song was done we all applauded quietly. He said "EVERYONE LET'S PARTY!" and the DJ played a more upbeat song and people started dancing, except for D., who was wearing a large cast on his leg, and looked very sad.

"It's so sad about R."
"What?"
"Oh God, I'm sorry, I thought you knew."
"Knew what?"
"R. passed away."
"Oh yeah, I knew that."

I went to get a drink and noticed that M. was standing in line in front of me. I asked her how she was. She said she was fine. I said it was funny seeing her again after all these years! She said yeah. She got her drink and went off. I asked the bartender for a drink and he told me he was sick of serving drinks, so he wasn't going to do it for the rest of the night. I said, please? He asked me if I realized how pitiful I looked, standing down there, begging for a drink. I said I just wanted a drink. He told me to make one myself. I poured some whiskey in a glass and added some cream and a couple packs of sugar.

I went back to my table and started up a conversation with B., who had lived on my street many years ago. I asked B. what he was doing these days. He said he was playing Tetris on his phone. I saw that he was. N. asked me if I was keeping busy these days. I pretended I had to mail something and stepped out.

Are you having a nice time? / Who cares.

Everyone started leaving at midnight. C. was standing outside, thanking everyone for coming to his wedding. I shook his hand and he told me it was really great to see me, he was sorry we didn't get to spend that much time together but we should keep in touch, and I said yeah. I told him he had a big night ahead of him and he laughed. He'd taken a week of vacation for a honeymoon in Europe. I decided to drive right to the airport. On the way there I hit a dog that just ran out onto the street.