As we ate, gabbed, and settled into comfortable positions on my old bedroom floor, I looked at the girls fondly. "So, ladies," I said leaning back against my bed, "it's reminiscing time!" Claudia finished drinking a can of orange soda, let out a loud burp and said, "Remember when we had to write those dumb essays one summer? About our most vivid memory? We just talked all night about them! I guess it really is like old times!" The girls all nodded in agreement. As we all started to explain the last ten years at once, I put my fingers in my mouth and blew (my whistle had mysteriously disappeared downstairs somewhere). As the eight women rolled their eyes at me, I cleared my throat. "I have an idea!" I said. "Big deal! When do you not?" Stacey teased. I smirked at her and continued, "I think we should go in officer order. You know, president, vice president, et cetera." Mary Anne immediately voiced her agreement and the others followed suit.
"Well, I guess that leaves me to begin," I said. "Okay, the last ten years of Kristin Amanda Thomas. Let's see. You all knew that I was going to Brown University. My grades were good, but since Watson's an alumnus, he put in a good word for me. After I graduated cum laude, I landed an internship with a firm in New York. Since I am just an Idea Machine, advertising was a natural choice. I manage a lot of important accounts and I have a lot of staff under my command, just like the good old days of the BSC. You know, meetings every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:30 to 6:00, one phone call, a host of great babysitters –"
"Kristy, we know all about how the BSC came to be and its history, must we rehash it?" Dawn interrupted me. I huffed, "Okay! Back to my life. Well, I had some good friends, went out on some dates. I started volunteering at the local YMCA, coaching softball and swimming. Even with my life as full as it was, something was missing. I wanted romance. My dates were so flat, though. There was never any chemistry. That all changed when I met…Alex…" I trailed off.
"Alex?" Claudia asked interestedly. "Is he cute? Does he have a hot car? What about money?" I nervously glanced at Mary Anne. She knew how serious I was about him, and I wasn't quite ready for Stacey and Claudia to overanalyze every little detail. I cleared my throat and just plunged in.
"One Saturday afternoon in early April, I had a softball game. I am currently coaching middle-school girls, and after losing an 11-inning game, I decided to take them out for ice cream. Alex Montgomery was the coach of the other team and was taking his girls out, too. We thought it would be good sportsmanship to each treat the other's team, so as we walked to the ice cream parlor, we got to talking. He's an investment banker, from a larger family too, with similar finances to Watson's. We had a blast, pigging out on Rum Raisin-"
"It's true love for sure!" Claudia interrupted, "If he likes that awful ice cream as much as you!" I glared at her and went back to my story. "The girls had all gotten picked up by their parents and I headed towards the subway when Alex called after me. I stopped to let him catch up, wondering if I had forgotten something. He looked at me, a slight blush on his cheeks and said, 'Kristy, I had a lot of fun this afternoon. I was uh, wondering if you want to maybe catch the Yankees home opener with me next month. My brother and I always go, but he has to go away on business, and I thought it would be fun for us to go.' I was a little surprised, but also secretly excited. I had been crushing on him all afternoon, so I immediately accepted. Now, you girls know me, the shy modest type, so this next part might surprise you-"
I was rudely interrupted this time by a snort from Abby. "You?" she cackled, "when have you ever been shy?" "The last time you weren't allergic to something," I retorted. "Anyway, if you'll let me get back to my story, I'll tell you what happened next!" She stuck her tongue out at me, but kept quiet. "I wasn't sure I wanted to wait a whole month before our date, so I took matters into my own hands. 'You know, Alex, I'm not busy tonight, I was just going to order a pizza and watch one of the pre-season games on ESPN. Wanna join me?' He looked pleasantly surprised and said, 'Sure, I just want to go home and shower. When and where can I meet you?' I gave him all the info and that, as they say, was the start of a beautiful friendship. We've been dating ever since.
We've gone to baseball and football games, we take walks in the park, go to museums, concerts. We've gone to business functions together. I've gone to Greenwich to meet his family; he's come here to Stoneybrook to meet Mom and Watson. Last August, we even went to Cabo San Lucas for a week! It was so romantic there." The girls all looked skeptical about me gushing over romantic vacations. I ignored their looks and dropped the bombshell I'd been dying to tell them since we met at the alumni bonfire last night. "And…here's the best news…last weekend, he invited me for dinner at Il Tinello. Even though he's wealthy, he is very down-to-earth, so I was surprised he mentioned such a fancy place. After we ate, he looked at me very seriously and said, 'Kristy, you are a wonderful woman. You're smart, beautiful, easy to be with. I've really enjoyed the last 5 months.' I started to panic, thinking this was a break-up speech. He cleared his throat and very seriously said, 'Having you as a girlfriend isn't enough. I want you to be my wife.' He pulled a blue velvet box out of his pocket and handed it to me. 'Will you marry me?' he asked. I nearly dropped it - I was so shocked. I opened it and there was a beautiful diamond ring. I looked at him and choked out 'Yes!'"
I stopped to catch my breath and saw the girls looking at me in shock. "You're engaged!" Mary Anne squeaked. "Yep," I answered. I got up and rummaged in my suitcase. I pulled out the Tiffany box and showed off my engagement ring. Claudia gasped when she saw it. "A two-carat princess cut diamond? The man has good taste!" she said. Suddenly, all the girls bombarded me with questions about the ceremony and reception. "We haven't planned much," I interrupted, "but we want to set a date about a year from now. It's going to be a big wedding, since we both have big families, lots of friends, and a ton of business associates. Plus, it gives his family a moment to shine in their social circle. Now, I have some favors to ask. Mary Anne, will you be my matron of honor?" She beamed at me before her eyes welled up with tears. "Of course!" she said. "Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Abby, Shannon, Mallory, and Jessi, will you be my bridesmaids?" The all answered affirmatively. "That's all my news…pester someone else now!" I dug into a piece of pizza when Mallory shouted, "Pizza toast to Kristy's engagement!" We all laughed, but joined in anyway.