ALICIA
"I'm getting married!" she sang out at the dinner table.
"What?" Len Rivera stood up authoritatively, banging a hand down on his gold plate, which promptly slid to the floor and shattered. "You're what?!"
"Getting married," she explained, as though she hadn't even considered that there might be an argument. "Casado." Maybe Spanish would help her father understand.
"Who- married- are you sure?" Ally breathed, sliding down in her seat.
"No, I imagined it," she replied sarcastically.
"You're in high school!" Len exploded. "Over my dead body are you getting married!"
Alicia turned pleading eyes on her mother.
"I'm sure they're not having a ceremony in two weeks," she pointed out. "Will you wait until you've graduated?"
Alicia nodded.
"Then you're fine. Len-"
"No!" he roared.
"Len!" Ally grabbed his arm and pulled him upstairs toward their bedroom. "Let's have a little talk."
Alicia sat alone now. As soon as she heard her parents' door close, she crept upstairs and dialed Josh. "Did you tell them?"
"Yes," he answered. "You?"
"Yeah," she replied. "Didn't go that well."
"Me neither. Too young, no education, shit like that."
She sighed. "My mom said we had to wait until we graduated."
"Yeah, that's pretty much where I got to. See you tomorrow?"
"Um-hmm." She snapped the phone shut, dropped it on her night table, and curled into bed. Now she had to time to think about what had been bothering her all day: Massie. They'd been such good friends for so long, but everything had drifted apart. She missed having the brunette to confide in. Slowly, she dialed her number. "Mass?"
"Leesh? Hold on." There was some shuffling, and then a, "'Kay, hello?"
"Mass, listen, I'm... engaged." She smiled in spite of herself.
"I know. I rang your doorbell earlier, and Josh told me."
"Isn't it great?" Then she took a leap of faith and decided to trust her old friend. "You wanna help plan the wedding?"
"Ehmagawd, I'd love to!" she exclaimed. "Can I come over?"
"Now?"
"Can I?"
"Sure." Alicia thought back with excrutiating fondness to the times where she'd go over to Massie's house on a dime, and they'd spend hours together, giving each other mani-pedis or just talking. "Can't wait."
Then something happened that hadn't in many years. The thought of Massie Block made her smile.
