if Quinn’s words were hurtful, but he only chuckled, too. “I promise I’m not going to propose to Tuck.” He slumped back in his chair. “I’m going to ask you all not to tiptoe around me and act like everything’s going to be okay. Treat me the same way you always have. Also, I—Quinn and I, that is—we’d really like you all to be at our wedding. It’s going to be the weekend after graduation, down at the shore, at the Russells’ beach house.”
“Of course.” Gia nodded. “I’ll be there.”
“Good.” Nate hesitated. “If you want to bring Matt, I think—”
“There’s no need for Matt to be there,” Gia interrupted. “I’m not an idiot, Nate. I know he’s never been a friend to you.”
“Thanks. If you change your mind, though, let us know.” Nate turned to look at Eli. “Tuck, will you be my best man?”
“Hey, sure.” Tuck forced a grin. “Just don’t ask me to stand up for you.”
“Funny.” Nate shook his head and reached for Quinn’s hand. “I’m going back downstairs to lie down for a while, if you’re okay with that.”
“Of course.” Quinn pasted on a happy face, and we were all silent and still until after Nate had left. Once the door closed behind him, it felt as though the only boundary holding us all back had been removed.
“Quinn.” I stood up and paced the small room. “Are you sure about this?”
She looked exhausted, I realized; dark shadows were painted under her eyes. “I am, yes. Zelda, I already know how you feel about the whole situation. But right now, I need you to be my friend and support what I’m doing. I’ve made up my mind. Just—both of you—” She glanced at Gia. “Please just be here for me.”
“Of course.” Gia jumped up and crawled into Quinn’s chair, wrapping her arms around our friend. “What else can we do for you?”
Quinn shrugged. “I’d like you to both be my witnesses at the wedding ceremony, if you don’t mind. And otherwise . . . just promise you won’t leave me.”
“Never.” Gia drew Quinn into a tight hug, her eyes meeting mine. “We promise.”
Watching your best friend destroy her life was not easy. And for me, who had always found it a challenge to keep my thoughts to myself, standing silently by while Quinn moved closer to marrying Nate was torture.
Complicating the situation was the fact that Eli was obviously conflicted about the entire deal. I understood; he and Nate had grown close over the past four years. While he agreed with me that this marriage was crazy, he also had some empathy for Nate’s feelings.
“Babe, I gotta to say, if I only had six months to live, I’d probably do the same thing. I’d want to marry you, because I’d never want to miss that experience.”
“Uh huh.” I nodded. “But what if you knew I was actually crazy in love with another man? What would you do then?”
“What other man?” Eli pretended to glower at me. “Tell me who he is so I can beat his ass.”
I rolled my eyes. “This is a hypothetical situation. Be serious.”
“Okay.” Eli’s grin faded. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. You’re right. It’s fucked up seven ways to Sunday. But what can we do? They’ve made their decisions, both of them. We just have to be good friends to them, for as long as we can.”
I was still brooding about that conversation a few days later, as I sat on our sofa, my laptop propped on my knees, working on a research paper that was due on Monday. Gia wandered out of her bedroom, stopping in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before she dropped into the recliner in the corner of our living room. She had on yoga pants and a worn, baggy T-shirt, not the usual Gia outfit.
“Hey, gorgeous.” I studied her, frowning. “I thought you were going out tonight. Isn’t it Saturday?”
“It is,” she sighed. “But I decided I didn’t feel like going out. I’ve got a shit ton of work to do. I’m behind on reading in two classes, and I have a paper due in four days that I really should get started on.”
“Hmm.” I nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I’m doing the same.” I didn’t add what I was thinking, that it was about time Gia started paying attention to her classes. She’d been ignoring her homework and neglecting her studies for a while now. For the past couple of weeks,