"The next time she says she's only five minutes away, I'm going to time her." Sarah began. "Because we both know she's on that CP time and her ass is just barely getting out of the shower!"
Sarah, Jane, and Trisha waited for Sydney at Socola Chocolatier. Sydney promised her friends she had some major news to share and wanted all of them to be present when it happened.
"Well, maybe she's still in that post-nookie cuddle," Jane shrugged, "Dean's leaving tonight to head back to L.A. and I don't know when he and Syd are going to see each other again."
"They see each other every two weeks," Sarah replied, "I know this because I just booked her flight to go to L.A. this morning."
"Why did you book her flight?" Jane asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Sarah eyeballed her friend, "maybe it's because I'm a travel agent in addition to working at Macy's. I'm really sorry the thought of me having two careers while you're stuck at home playing a pretend Housewife to shitty poo-poo rat with a tail doesn't qualify you enough to understand."
"You know I'm getting really tired of your shit, Sarah!" Jane admonished. "You get mad at me for marrying up. You get mad at me for driving a Mercedes while you're rolling around in that tired-ass Prius! You get mad at me that I would rather enjoy the finer things in life while you're content with your Happy Meal dinners! Just shut up!" Sarah picked up her phone and began dialing in it. She then showed the screen to Jane. "And what is that?"
"That's my bank account balance," Sarah mentioned, "you see those three numbers before that comma in the middle? You see those three numbers after it? Yeah. I live like a hobo now so I can live like a queen in the future. So please…kiss every inch of my ass."
"Will you two stop for a moment?" Trisha intervened with a somber look on her face. "I have some news to share."
Jane and Sarah glanced at each other. "What's going on, Trish?" Jane asked.
"If I tell you guys something you, you gotta promise you can't tell Syd," she quietly replied.
"Oh, this is gonna be good," Sarah's eyes twinkled, "what?"
"I may have given Roman Sydney's number." Trisha sulked down in her chair. When she looked up, she was met with glaring eyes from Sarah and an open mouth from Jane. "Do you think Sydney is going to be mad?"
"Is water wet?" Sarah retorted. "You may have given Roman her number? How, Sway? How?"
"He came into the hospital when I was on clinicals and he threatened to harm himself if I didn't give him her number!" Trisha defended herself.
"Did he actually threaten suicide?" Jane inquired.
"No, but he said he would find ways to keep coming back to the hospital to get her number if I didn't hand it over."
"Well, the good news is that he hasn't called Syd yet or we would've heard about it by now," Jane shook her head, "we need to warn her the call is coming, though."
"She'll be here in the next few minutes so that's going to be fun to watch," Sarah sat back in her chair and sipped lemonade, "I ain't got shit to say."
"He kept threatening to harm himself!" Trisha defended.
"And you know what? I would've been, 'here's a noose, here's a chair, here's a Sylvia Plath book and I'm ain't gon' judge.'" Sarah shook her head.
"Let's all calm down here," Jane played the voice of reason, "I'm sure there's a good explanation why Roman wants to get in contact with Sydney now." She felt Sarah's glare. "There has to be!"
"Ain't nothing good that can come from evil," Sarah warned, "nothing." She fully enunciated the word. Just then, she spotted Sydney rush down the street. "Here she comes."
"Let's break it to her gently," Trisha suggested.
"We?" Sarah shook her head. "Uh-uh, girlfriend. This is your sinking ship and I'm gladly getting the fuck out of it."
"There are my girls!" Sydney approached her friends. "I'm so glad you ladies came to join me today!"
"After waiting for my 40 acres and a mule, I'm a little tired," Sarah commented, "so what's the what, buttercup?"
"This!" Sydney showcased her ring, which she wore on a necklace. She took it off and showed it to the ladies. "I'm not wearing it on my finger because Dean is going to get it sized but he proposed and I said yes!"
The ladies hollered in delight and each gave a congratulatory hug to Sydney. "I so called bridesmaid!" Sarah added.
"Well, that's why I wanted you ladies to meet me here." Sydney motioned to a barista inside and he brought out three boxes of chocolates. Using Dean's celebrity to her advantage, she called Socola to schedule the surprise for her girlfriends. "Open them!"
The ladies each opened their box. Inside Jane's and Trisha's box read a note, "Will you please be my bridesmaid?" Inside Sarah's read, "Will you be my maid of honor?" "Well?" Sydney bounced in her seat. "Will you?"
"Hells yeah!" Sarah laughed and hugged her friend again.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Jane clasped her hands. "I have a ton of resources you can use."
"And I'm going to pick your brain for those!" Sydney smiled before she turned to a quiet Trisha. "What's your answer, Trisha?"
"Um…"Trisha closed her box and leaned forward. She interlocked her fingers and exhaled a deep breath. "There's something I need to tell you."
"Oh? What is it?" Sydney asked. Her cell phone suddenly rang and it was an unknown number. She sent it to voicemail. "What is it?"
"I have to preface this by saying it totally wasn't my fault and I really didn't want to do it but I had no other choice," she exhaled again and her shoulders dropped, "and I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
"What?" Sydney narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?" The mysterious number left a voicemail and Sydney checked it. "Hold onto that thought. I need to see what this is about."
"Could you drag it out just a bit more?" Sarah quietly chided.
"Oh, and you wouldn't?" Trisha replied.
"Straight and to the point like a number two pencil," Sarah replied.
"She's trying the best she can," Jane defended Trisha, "cut her some slack."
"Yeah, okay." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Why couldn't she give Roman her number instead of Sydney's?" Trisha looked away and covered her arms. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
Jane intervened. "Sydney could react nonchalant to all of this. She just got engaged, she's about to plan a million-dollar wedding, and…"
"You fucking gave Roman my number?" Sydney yelled at Trisha.
Sarah sipped her lemonade and smiled. "Yep, that's a nonchalant reaction, all right."