"You sure you want to do this shit?" Brent asks as he drains his beer and signals the tender for a refill.

I'm not sure what he's talking about so I just sip my own beer casually and wait till he goes on.

"Fuckin' wedding shit, man," he tells his new beer.

Oh. We're doing this again. I get it.

"What is it now?" I ask.

Brent's been dragging me down to our favorite watering hole about twice a week for the last month now. Apparently the honeymoon phase is over and he realized he's getting married.

Actually, getting married doesn't seem to be the issue. He's still smitten with Kay-- talks about the life he's looking forward to having with her "as soon as this thing's over" all the time.

It's the wedding that he's not so much a fan of now.

My buddy shakes his head and rolls his eyes, "Her fucking mom, dude," he says like it ought to be enough to answer my question.

"What about her? I thought you got along with her folks?"

"Yeah, I mean, usually, but since this wedding shit started her mom and her are at each other's throats all the time." Brent takes a pull of beer, "Like her mom is just all up in our business, telling us how to do every fucking thing, man."

"Isn't that what mother in laws do?" I probably shouldn't give him such a hard time. The guy is clearly stressing the fuck out and I'm his best man. I think I'm supposed to keep him drunk until the whole thing's over and make sure he goes through with it or something.

I dunno, I think I heard that was the best man's job on like Jeopardy or something.

I just can't help give him some grief, "I mean, Kim and I are planning a wedding too, and you don't see me getting all bent out of shape."

Brent gives me the evil eye, "Bro, you do not know what kind of hell you have gotten yourself into. You wait. You think Kimberly's cool now, she's rational and chill and shit, but give it a few months. You are not going to recognize her."

Laughing with a shake of my head I reach over and give my buddy a pat on the back.

"It's gonna be cool, man, trust me," I tell him.

I've met Kay's mom, she's kinda high maintenance. I can totally see how she'd be trying to take over the wedding plans and make everything the way she thinks it oughta be.

Brent and Kay's wedding is only a couple weeks away now, that's gotta be stressful to have someone up in your business this close to go time.

Makes me grateful that my own future mother in law hasn't been bad at all. At least, not about the wedding plans.

Thinking about Kim's mom has me finishing off my pint and calling for backup as well.

Nah, Crystal's deal is that she won't shut up about grand babies. Which is cool, I mean, my mom's giving us hell about that too. And kids are part of the deal. Kim and I are on the same page about that-- we want 'em. We definitely plan on filling the house with babies.

It just might be nice to have a house first, you know?

Kim and I both rent our places. We've been house shopping for a few months, since we got engaged, but we figured we'd get through Kay and Brent's wedding first, then worry about our own wedding, then we can get serious about what neighborhood we want to raise our kids in and which school we want them to go to and shit.

Fucking Crystal's already bringing us applications for day care places.

Meanwhile, my mom is determined that she's going to be our full time baby sitter, since she doesn't work.

I don't care either way, but dammit! Could we get through the getting married part first?

Stacy. Kim's sister, Stacy, is the one that's driving us crazy about the wedding plans. It's all she talks about.

I told Kim the wedding is all her decision. Anything she wants, just give me a tux and tell me where to stand.

Watching Brent and Kay plan their wedding and all the hoops they're jumping through just to throw a big party and pay the bill for their friends and family to watch them get legal has been a huge eye opener.

That's not what's important to me. All I want is Kim as my wife; license signed, ring on her finger, and-- after we get settled in-- my baby growing inside her. How we get there isn't that big a deal to me.

I see the arguments Brent and Kay are having over the dumbest shit, like, whether they're going to go with chocolate cake or white or whether they're going to take pictures before the ceremony or after.

Who cares?

Starting off fighting isn't my idea of a good plan though, so whatever Kim wants to do I'll stand back and let her plan her big day.

My phone goes off and I read Kim's text asking if I know where Brent is.

"Sitting next to me." I type out.

I get a happy face in reply that doesn't look happy at all.

"He's supposed to be at a tux fitting." She replies.

Oh shit. Ordinarily it'd be my job to make sure he makes it to all those appointments, but I don't remember seeing it on the calendar.

I type that out to Kim.

"No prob...glad our wedding is going to be easier...luv you."

She always makes me smile when she says that, even when it's just a quick text.

"Don't do it, man," Brent's a beer past being good company now, "just shack up and live together forever. Getting married sucks."

"Yeah well, it will when your tux doesn't fit right," I settle our bill and drag him off his barstool.

"Shit dude, I totally spaced that," Brent wobbles on his feet and I give him a minute to find his balance before I drag his ass out of the bar and hope the tux shop will fit him in.