The end of my best friend's wedding day felt like the longest day. Between watching Janet get married and having an almost blow-out with Vicky about not getting married made me exhausted. The one thing keeping me going was the champagne that Mr. Furley magically was able to afford and by afford I mean willingly fork over money for. I'm not surprised he has done this for Janet though, over the years they have developed quite a bond. Who wouldn't bond with Janet? She's so kind, warm and down-to-earth; why didn't I marry her instead?
I burped out loud when I thought that question. That was a blasphemous thing to think about. Her husband was five feet away from me. He was looking at me incredulously and my anxiety is about through the roof. Would he know what I was thinking? Is he a mind reader? Okay, this is my last glass of champagne...
"Are you all right, Jack?" Phillip asked with that douche grin of his.
"Yes," I say, sounding like a real wimp.
"Just asking," he said with a chuckle only to disregard me and go back to conversing with his friends.
His friends? Where was Janet? I looked around the apartment and I could not find her. I gulped down some air and got myself up. I tapped Phillip on the shoulder and almost lost my voice as soon as he looked at me.
"What is it, Jack?"
"Where's Janet?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't know," Phillip said again as he turned his whole body around to face mine. "Why?"
"I just would like to see her."
He just stood there with that incredulous look creeping back onto his face. His friends were starting to give me strange looks, too and I immeadiately felt small.
"She went to the bathroom," he finally answered.
"Huh?" I asked because I felt so humiliated that I couldn't even comprehend what he just said.
"I said she went to the bathroom."
"Oh," I answered as I trailed off.
Was it weird of me to think that he wasn't at all worried about where Janet was? It was almost as if he didn't care. Okay, I'm taking things way out of porportion. I should never drink; I do stupid things when I drink. And to think, Janet is the one that oughta know, she was there for every stupid, drunken stupor I've ever gotten myself into.
"Janet," I called out with a knock on Furley's bathroom door.
"Nope, it's Terri," Terri answered back. "I think she's using our bathroom, Jack."
"Our bathroom?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, thanks," I said as I gulped another breath of air. Granted, there was only one bathroom but why would the bride want to use a separate apartment's bathroom? Including the one she was staying in before she got married? Something seemed very wrong and I was going back to 201 to make sure Janet is okay. I walk out of Furley's apartment without a word to anyone and Phillip can trail behind me for all I'd like. Maybe that would make me feel better to know that he is actually going to care about Janet. I almost bust down the door and when I do, Janet sure enough comes out of the bathroom.
"Oh, hi, Jack," she said.
She was wiping her eyes. Oh God, she had been crying. Janet is not even wearing her wedding dress; she is wearing a red skirt suit with black leggings and black pumps. She had a suitcase in her hand and her purse wrapped around her opposite shoulder.
"Oh my God," I breathed. "You're going to run away."
"Jack!" She squealed. "This is my going away ensemble. If I was going to run away, I would have done it before the wedding, you moron!"
"Phillip said you had to go to the bathroom."
"Yeah, I did have to go but not anymore."
"Well, good."
That last comment I made broke the ice a little. It made her chuckle and I chuckled because of it. She began to wipe her eyes again.
"You've been crying, Janet."
"I know," she said. Fresh tears began to swim in her eyes and I could tell they weren't happy tears.
"It's going to be okay, Janet," I say as I take her face in my hands.
"God, Jack, I prayed so hard for this day. I prayed it would come and when it came, I prayed it all would end. What have I done, Jack?"
"You followed your heart," I tell her as I pull her hair back.
"I'm used to following with my brain. I don't think I ever knew what to do with my heart."
"Oh, yes you have."
"I have?"
"You don't know how kind and loving you are," I said as I took her face again. "I don't know where I'd be without your heart. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do without it."
"Vicky can pick up where I left off, I suppose."
"She's not you."
I made myself jump when I said that. That was not just an absent-minded statement, that was a confession. Even in my tipsy state I knew this. Janet just stood there and looked at me like a little lost lamb. God, I was not helping anyone here. I finally pull her into a hug and feel relief when she hugs me back.
"You're going to be just fine, honey," I whisper in her ear as I kiss her cheek. "You're going to be fine. I'm going to be fine. We both are going to be just fine."
"I want to believe it, Jack."
"If I can believe it, you can, too."
"Thank you, Jack," she tells me as she kissed my cheek back. I can only smile at her.
"What do you think?"
"I think I want to go see my husband."
My stomach churns and I try not to let my eyes roll. My husband, God! No, Jack, no. You have to be here for her.
"Okay," I tell her as I lend my hand for her to hold. "I'll take you to him."
"Why, thank you," she said as she kissed my hand that she took. We held hands all the way down the stairs and it was a miracle I didn't fall down them. As painful as it was, I gave Janet back to Phillip. I'm glad she's got love on the heart for him because I got love on the brain for her and it hurts.