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Choking on my punch, I coughed. “You already tried to get a vasectomy?”
“Fuck yeah,” Ken replied.
“Fuck yeah,” Romeo echoed.
Clamping my hand over his crumb-covered mouth, I gaped at my boyfriend.
“Let me guess; you don’t believe in marriage either,” Juliet sassed.
“I don’t,” Ken said matter-of-factly, his expressionless eyes trained on Juliet. Then, with a shift, they were on me. “But I get it.”
“Oh, you get it?” I took another sip from my drink to hide my defensiveness.
“Sure. People want security.” Ken glanced across the pond at his best friend, who was grinning from ear to ear as he pretended to throw his fiancée into the fountain for the camera.
“When you look at them, you see two people who want security?” I asked with a little too much snark. “I see two people who make each other insanely happy and want to be together forever.”
“What’s sick-urity?” Romeo mumbled into my palm.
“Let’s go to the bathroom, buddy.” Juliet reached for her son while giving me a look that said, Calm your crazy.
Once they were gone, it was just me and my new boyfriend and the elephant in the garden.
Ken doesn’t want to get married or have kids.
I should have stood up, wished him well, and walked away from his love-aversion forever. I should have listened to Maya Angelou when she said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” I should have found myself a nice guy with a full sleeve and an entry-level job who would give me all the weddings and babies I wanted.
But do you know what I did instead? Of course you do.
I looked at Ken’s beautiful, joyless face, straightened my spine, and thought, We’ll see about that, asshole.
When the party was over, I hugged Allen and Amy goodbye, gushed over Amy’s ring one more time, and turned to find Ken standing three feet behind me with his hands in the pockets of his black slacks.
He was giving the happy couple his don’t fucking hug me stance.
When I glanced back at Allen and saw the disappointment on his face, I decided Ken needed to get the fuck over himself.
“Hey, babe. Hold still,” I said, walking around behind him. “I think I saw a little piece of fuzz on your—Allen! Quick!” I grabbed Ken’s arms from behind, restraining him, while Allen tackle-hugged him from the front.
Ken tore his arms out of my grasp effortlessly, but not before Allen got one good, solid second of cuddle time from his BFF.
Allen, Amy, and I laughed hysterically as Ken retreated to the other side of the manor house’s foyer, fists in his pockets and scowl on his face.
“It’s like bull riding.” I cackled, trying to catch my breath. “Next time, we’re going for two seconds.”
Ken walked out the front door while we continued to laugh at his expense, but as he passed me, I swear I saw a ghost of a smile on his face.
I chased after him, wiping tears from my cheeks as I hustled across the poorly lit gravel parking area in my stilettos. I only wore heels to weddings and funerals, and it showed.
“Hey, wait up,” I called, grabbing his arm for stability once I finally caught up.
Ken’s bicep tensed in my grasp, but he didn’t pull away. He slowed down so that I wouldn’t bust my ass.
I expected him to be pissy about the forced hugging, but much to my surprise, he wasn’t thinking about that at all.
“I didn’t see Jason here, did you?”
Dread slithered into my veins. “No, I didn’t.”
