Wedding: Received.

I stood near the dirt path on a patch of grass, my long black skirt billowing against my legs. Tiffa was next to me, looking as if she felt just as out of place as I did. Seven or eight months ago, we wouldn't have felt like that. Things change.
I felt a strong arm push at my back, and noted another one doing the same to Tiffa. I looked up to find Larry laughing down at us, urging us to join the rest of the girls in the bouquet toss. We protested, swearing that we were going to be old maids for eternity, it was a silly superstition, we really didn't want to, Liesl and Heather weren't doing it, why should we? But we found ourselves at the bottom of the hill, waiting for Cathy to throw the bundle of flowers in her hands.
I dropped my keys and slipped out of my sandals, knowing that if I didn't make a good show of being excited, I'd look like a fool. I whispered to Tiffa under my breath that we should duck, and she wholeheartedly agreed.
The bouquet broke into several tiny nosegays in midair. We all managed to get one. I laughed, scolding Cathy, and unrolled the ribbon to discover the message written on it.
"You must find yourself before you can find your spouse."
I flatly stared at it for a moment, then raised my head to look for him in the crowd. He was acting like himself, being a ham, his hair a complete mess. I thought absently that if it had been my brother's wedding, I would have stayed in my wedding clothes and not changed to go play football. He never did have many social graces.
I twirled the stem of the purple nosegay in my fingers, letting the wired ribbon flutter on my hands. A sharp stick from it, however, made me look down. The wire had worked itself loose and had embedded itself in my hand, drawing a faint, painful white line down near my thumb. I winced a bit and rubbed at it, looking up again.
He was looking at me. We met eyes for just a split second...
... only this time, it was me that turned away. Unsure of what had been the problem, the heartbreak, the pain... unsure if that person even still existed in his brown eyes.
Karen gave me a warm hug, laughing as I told her I found the Tori Amos song that she wanted, asking us to come over and watch the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I promised to return her books. I hugged Steve, smiling at the glow in his eyes. Embraced Cathy as she crowed, displaying her ring, "I'm finally a DeBirk!" I couldn't even be resentful... didn't even feel a twinge of pain, as I might have once.
As we left, Larry embraced me tightly, placing a fatherly kiss on the top of my head. I felt a lump rise in my throat.
I don't miss him so much as I miss them.