Jennie
Bambam shares the bench with me and stretches back against it. "So I hear that you all had quite a wild night last night."
"Yeah, the girls had fun."
"Too much fun, apparently. Mina wouldn't get out of bed this morning. I let her sleep through the brunch."
I guess I'm not surprised that we had one casualty. Still, of all people, the bride shouldn't be the one stuck in bed all day. I feel my mouth screw downward, and then I say, "I'm sorry. I should've been watching her."
Bambam just scrunches his eyebrows at me. "Don't be sorry. I'm glad that she had a fun time." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette. No, not quite, it's an electric cigarette. When he takes a puff of it, a small cloud of vapor escapes the tip, which burns neon blue.
"It's a crazy thing, huh?" he says and motions to the e-cig. "I used to smoke the real thing, but it turns out that's just one vice too many. I told Mina that I'd cut it out, so she got me one of these things." He balances it between his fingers and flicks the end habitually as though knocking off ash from the tip. "It's not half-bad if you ask me."
I smile lightly at that. "You must really love Mina." I tell him.
"Oh, yeah." he agrees and nods. "I'd do anything for that little lady."
"Tell me about it," I say and curl my knees up to my chest. My heart aches for a happy story right now. "When did you know that it was the real thing?"
"That first day." He must see me screw up my face, because he holds up a hand and says, "Hear me out. You don't know the whole story."
"I want to know it. All of it. Spare no details." Right now, Bambam and Mina are my only champions for real true love left in this world, and I'm clinging on to them by my nails.
"I met her at a party... we both had this mutual friend. The truth of it was, she wasn't there for me."
"Wasn't she?"
"Hell no. You keep that detail to yourself, she'd die if she knew that I told you." He takes another blue-tipped suck of vapor. "She was trying to make it with the host of the party. He's this real handsome, socialite kind of guy. Can't say that I really blame her, I'd probably go for him if I swung that way myself. Anyway, this fella knows how to party, so she spent the whole night trying to impress him, knocking back shots, drinking all this expensive liquor. And I'm watching the whole thing, right? Mina and I, we talk a little, but not much more. I don't think that she was real interested in me, at least not right away."
I rest my head in the palm of my hand as I listen to his story. "How did you convince her?"
"Blueberry pancakes."
I let out a laugh. "What does that mean?"
"She got real drunk by the end of the party. I mean, sweet Mina was a hit. So me, being a gentleman, escorted her home. I made sure that she was all tucked away. And then I spent the night on the couch... you know. Just in case she needed anything."
"Did she?"
"No. She was out like a light. The next morning, though, I figured that I'd make her something to settle her stomach. Blueberry pancakes. I used whipped cream to make a little smiley face on it and everything. That was the first thing that we bonded over, those pancakes."
"And what did she do?"
"She cried. Big, dopey tears. Not the pretty cry either. Said it was the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for her." He shakes his head at the recollection and laughs. "I fell in love with her. Right then and there. Never looked back."
By time he's finished his story, I'm wearing a giant smile and I'm holding back tears. I sniff and dab the corners of my eyes. "That's beautiful... it really is," I tell him.
He cocks a grin. "I guess I just got lucky that's all."
