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Chapter 20: Memorial Day

She's perfect, so flawless
I'm not impressed

Comfortable - John Mayer

"I SWEAR I didn't know Liv," Lena insisted, opening the menu as the waiter leaves our table, "he never said he was bringing a 'plus one,' she kind of insisted on being invited but I never thought they were together."

Stretching my neck, I sighed, "Whatever, he has the right to be with whoever he wants, I just wasn't mentally prepared to see him with another girl, my bad..."

We were meeting for lunch downtown summoned by J, although she was still to arrive. I skimmed through the menu unable to concentrate on ordering anything; the image of Harry with that girl haunted me ever since the fundraising.

"Are you sure they were together?" Amy asked, unable to drop the matter.

I nodded with full conviction, "Absolutely, I mean, they were glued to each other, and then she was questioning him for talking to me."

"Yeah...but he followed you to the bathroom, that's at least odd," Lena offered, and I couldn't blame her, I also kept going back to that small detail.

"He does have a history of being quite reckless..."Amy reasoned.

Lena nodded her head in agreement, " Yeah, I guess you are right...I'm sorry Liv," she said while squeezing my arm.

"It's alright."

"We could ask J, though..."Amy suggested weakly.

"No! Please keep J out of this, I don't want her to feel like she is caught in it again, we already had issues because of that," I begged.

They both nodded in silence and the three of us went awkwardly back to our menus. I imagined none of us was really paying attention to the lunch options but used it as an excuse to put an end to that topic.

"Why did you two stop talking altogether?" Amy blurted out, "sorry, but I never quite understood why you just cut him off."

"Well after I had that phone conversation with his sister-"I started explaining before I was interrupted by Amy.

"Ugh yeah, that cockblocker," She muttered between her teeth with full anger. Pregnancy made her even blunter than she already was.

Lena almost spat her water and I opened my eyes wide, "Amy!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"What?! She was a bitch for talking to you that way and definitely a cockblocker," she argued.

"She happens to be a nice girl who was probably just looking after her brother, not cockblocking!" I cringed, "Can we stop using that word now?"

"As I recall, her brother knew exactly how to take care of himself, and many other things, if you know what I mean," she said wiggling her eyebrows.

"We are ending this conversation right now," I stated as I watched J making her way toward our table, a huge grin on her face.

To our waiter's relief, we ended up finding enough concentration to pick something from the menu and place our orders. Even while overwhelmed by my thoughts, I could tell J was particularly spirited that day. She was fidgeting in her chair, beaming for no apparent reason. I pushed my salad around the plate with my fork while Amy was explaining how her first ultrasound went and watched as J impatiently waited for her turn to speak.

"So, there's something I need to tell you," she said as soon as Amy made a pause, "I'm getting married." 

There was a joint gasp, Amy, Lena and I exchanged glances in awe. I tried my best to think of something to say but nothing seemed appropriate enough. I assumed my friends were struggling with the same conflict.