Free Imperfectly Real (A Series of Imperfections) by A.E. Woodward

vowed that he would never be the asshole that his father had been. He believed in the sanctity of marriage and wanted nothing more than to marry Em. But he had met his match on this one. Emma, was a bit of an extreme feminist, and she never wanted to get married. If for no other reason than the sheer fact of her knowing what a spectacle her mother would make of it. Shane had spent the last year trying to convince her to marry him anyway, but every mention of it was instantly shot down. She didn’t think a piece of paper was necessary to prove that they loved each other. I kind of agreed with her on that one.
    “So when are you going to do it?” I questioned, my curiosity getting the better of me.
    “Today,” he smiled.
    “Holy shit!”
    “Yep. I’ve got the sitter coming over here later. How do you feel about a day trip to O’Malley’s?”
    I needed no further explanation to know what his plan was, and I had to hand it to him—it was absolute perfection. I smirked, imagining the shit-show that would surely follow his proposal. Hilarity would ultimately follow his public display of affection considering that Emma hated all things romantic. This was gonna be good.

 
     
    Rob skipped ahead of us as soon as he caught sight of that tacky little leprechaun dangling off the ‘O’ of the sign at O’Malley’s. He’d been giddy from the moment Shane had informed him of the day trip plan. Two consecutive days of celebration was right up his alley. Although Rob knew nothing of what was about to take place his excitement was infectious. He was always high on life, and you couldn’t help but join him.
    For obvious reasons, Elizabeth didn’t quite get it. “What’s the deal with this place?” she whispered to me, curious as to what all the excitement was about. To an outsider it was just a bar—and a skuzzy one at that. Nothing special. But to us, it was home. A place that linked all of our most precious, and special, memories.
    “It’s hard to explain, but this …”—I opened the door and motioned for her to go inside— “… this is our place.” We entered and started walking to our ‘new’ booth. Emma had insisted we still come here even after we caught ‘Mr. Wonderful’ in the act, but she had demanded that we claim a new booth. She refused to sit somewhere that some asshole had disregarded her—even if it had all been for the best. Our new spot was toward the front of the bar, and I liked it because it made it easier for us to make trips for beers.
    We slid into our seats and Elizabeth scrunched her face up with disgust. “It stinks in here.”
    “Ah, don’t worry about that. That’s just the smell of dreams come true. You get used to it,” Shane laughed.
    Rob, carrying a tray with pints of Guinness, joined us once we settled into our seats. “Nom nom nom. I just don’t get to drink this shit often enough,” he muttered as he proceeded to chug his pint. Once finished, he slammed the glass down onto the table and let out a loud belch.
    “You’re a pig,” Emma murmured as she grabbed her glass.
    “What is that stuff? It looks like chocolate milk.” Elizabeth questioned, her nose still scrunched up. We all stared at her again, completely in awe of her naivety.
    “You really have lived a sheltered life, haven’t you?” Rob muttered, shaking his head in shock and looking towards Emma. “How is it possible that the two of you are sisters?”
    Elizabeth looked on in disgust while Emma proceeded to chug down her pint of Guinness. She finished and slammed her glass on the tabletop. Emma laughed. “I ask myself the same question every day.”
    Rob entertained us for a while with his recounts of his latest conquest, who happened to be the daughter of one of the partners at his firm. We all threw our two cents in, knowing that this would surely not end well but, despite our concern, we laughed anyway. That man was a master with words, and I for one never got tired of listening to him tell a