The sound of Aerosmith played in the background as I walked into the club. I looked around to see if Sydney was there yet. We had been best friends since Elementary school. It was Mrs. Harper’s third-grade class when Sydney asked if she could sit next to me. I didn’t know anyone then; I was the new student in a big place and Sydney was there. She always remained there and we vowed to be best friends for life.

I waved to her from across the bar, then hurried over to her. We hugged and made small talk, how’ve you been, what’s new, how are you enjoying the humid weather, things like that, until others started to join us. I hadn’t seen Sydney in nearly three months.

She had taken a trip to New York to visit her grandmother, who didn’t have long to live. Unfortunately, her grandmother didn’t make it much past the timeline the doctor provided, and now Sydney was back home.

She immediately reached out to her friends and asked them to go out to the bar and that brought them there this night.

“You look good, Syd,” I said, taking a drink of the beer that the waitress had brought me.

She smiled. “Thank you! I’m doing well, actually.”

I was relieved to hear that. I didn’t know how she was handling the passing of her grandmother, but she did seem to be doing better than expected.

“Have your parents come back from New York, yet?” Tracey, another friend posed the question.

Sydney shook her head.

“When grandma passed, they decided to stay back there and help to facilitate the sale of her property. But I didn’t want to stay behind. I needed to get back into work and it just was easier to make the escape back to Montana. How are you guys doing?” she asked.

Everyone eagerly chatted away about what they’d been up to, but I stayed mostly quietly. I didn’t have much to add. How could you when your job consisted of filing papers and phone calls and your life in itself was mostly struggling with not fighting with your boyfriend? Things were tough and the last thing Sydney needed was my problems piled on top of everything she had going on.

The waitress came back to the table and I ordered another beer, while everyone went on about their glorious lives. I just listened intently, drank my beer, and tried not to be jealous…too much. Sydney kept saying things like, that’s amazing, good for you, I’m so proud of you, sounds great, and I just indulged in my self-pity.

Yeah, jealousy was certainly prevalent.

After everyone else had gone about getting another drink, Sydney spoke up. “So, I do have some news and thought now would be as good of a time as any to let you in on it.”

I sipped on my beer, then swallowed it down and tried to be enthusiastic to hear about what she needed to say.

“What is it, Syd?” I asked.

That was when I noticed it. I’m not sure if I was the only one, but my eyes were directed to her left hand. She was playing with a ring that was on her finger. I don’t know if she was playing with that throughout the course of the night, but it was clear that she was extremely nervous.

My mouth hung open as the realization hit me. I didn’t want to blurt it out, but I was anxious to hear her spread the news. She then held up her left hand and sighed. “I’m getting married!”

A round of squeals came around the table, as she showed off her engagement ring. I couldn’t believe the news. The last I’d known, she wasn’t even dating anyone. “Who?” I suddenly asked.

She looked at me and there was a smile in her eyes. “You don’t know him. I met him in New York.” She paused, before continuing. “He’s a lawyer.”

I wondered if that meant she was leaving. She had made this big mention of getting back to her job and to her hometown, but if she was just going to turn around and leave again, I wondered what the point was. I was being a bit selfish, I’d admit that, but I didn’t want to see her go again. Luckily, I didn’t need to ask the question, because Mary had it on her mind.

“So, you’re moving to New York?” Mary asked.

Sydney looked at each of us, before shaking her head. “I’m not. Michael is getting a job in Maine. He stayed back home to finish up a couple different cases, but he’s moving here right before the wedding.” She glanced at me and it was like we had that inner connection where she would know exactly what I was thinking before I had a chance to say it. She smiled and nodded and I gave her a slight smile response back.

I wasn’t surprised to hear she was marrying a lawyer. After all, Sydney came from wealth and prestige, with her mother being a doctor and her father a chemist. It was like Sydney had gold in her blood. Great things came to her and I was always supportive of that, but it made sense that she would ultimately meet and marry a lawyer to continue her road to wealth.

We all congratulated her and I got up and walked around to where she was sitting. “Congratulations, Syd!” We hugged. “I’m so happy for you!”

When she pulled away, there were tears in her eyes. She had to wipe them away and I saw her hand shaking. “You’ll really like him,” she said.

I smiled. “All that matters is that you’re in love and if you are, then that’s good enough for me.” We hugged again and she nodded, I felt her shaking slightly. I knew that this was love for her, because Sydney wasn’t one to settle down easily. She’d never had a long-term boyfriend, let alone a man I could see that she would want to marry. I was truly happy for her and couldn’t wait to meet the man that stole my friend’s heart.