Free Not Quite A Bride by Kirsten Sawyer Page B

our freshman year of college. Until eight months ago, when she and Rob got engaged, we were the ever-complaining singletons ... together. But then the second she had a ring on her finger, she forgot our bond completely. At first I was hurt—I mean, Lauren and I had suffered through countless bouquet tosses together—but I realized that she wasn’t being insensitive ... she was just so thrilled and excited that she forgot how it felt to be, well, me. Their wedding is now two months away and I’m sure she is bouncing off the walls.
    Justin and I look into each other’s eyes and clasp hands.
    â€œReady to be deeply in love, Girlfriend?” he asks.
    â€œAbsolutely, Boyfriend. Ready to talk about their wedding all night?” I ask with only the tiniest hint of sarcasm in my voice.
    â€œBe a good sport,” he gently reprimands me. “In a few months it’ll be you.”
    This reminder cheers me up enormously and we walk in, beaming (as a newly-in-love couple should), and immediately spot Rob (duh, we’d seen him through the window) waving us over.
    â€œHey, guys! Sorry we’re so late,” Justin greets them wholeheartedly.
    They promise it’s not a problem as we sit down and help ourselves to the already-open bottle of wine on the table.
    â€œSo,” Lauren looks at me, “can you believe the big day is only fifty-seven days away?!?”
    I steal a quick look at Justin before diving warmly into Lauren’s happiness.
    â€œNo ... time has just flown by. Tell me what else you have to do.”
    Lauren and I talk about dress fittings and wired ribbon versus satin ribbon, Jordan almonds, and mothers’ corsages versus mini-bouquets. I realize it’s in my best interest to really pay attention to all this stuff now! The boys scoff at our “wedding craziness” and then discuss wedding topics that interest them, like wine, music, and food. It is actually a fantastic evening that is only made better by how much Lauren and Rob clearly like Justin. We even have such a good time (and so much wine) that my heartbreak over Brad is out of my head.
    As we walk home, Justin and I are excited to start wedding planning after all the information we got from Lauren and Rob.
    â€œSo,” Justin begins, “Rob was telling me about how he and Lauren got engaged, and I realized that we need a really good engagement story.”
    This guy is amazing! This is why I’m paying him the big bucks.
    â€œYou’re totally right,” I agree.
    â€œAnd you’re gonna need a ring. What do you want to do about that?”
    â€œI haven’t completely figured that out yet ... I thought about it a while back, but I haven’t gone ring shopping yet or anything.”
    The truth is that it is going to take some budgeting on my end. My inheritance includes plenty of money to throw my dream wedding, but Nana had assumed that my engagement ring would be a gift from my fiancé ... a logical assumption. . . and so the wedding fund doesn’t necessarily have enough to cover the rock of my dreams, too. I am hoping that the additional money earned by my father’s wise investment strategy could fill this gap. Since I have no knowledge of what wedding rings cost, besides the common saying that it should be three months’ salary, some research is probably in order.
    â€œWant to go tomorrow?”
    â€œAbsolutely!” I squeal.
    Another amazing thing about a rented gay boyfriend: he’s so uncommitment phobic that he actually wants to go engagement-ring shopping!
    â€œAlso,” he adds, “I think I should ask your father for permission. You know, be really traditional about it.”
    I get warm tingles all over.
    â€œThat is brilliant.”
    â€œI thought you’d like it,” he says proudly, “but don’t worry ... not yet ... we’ll stick to the same time frame.”
    â€œAbsolutely,” I agree, “moving too