Brizee sat there at her computer looking at pictures of the wedding of her ex, Nick, to his new wife, Lauren.  She sat there with tears running down her cheeks.  It had been five years since she and Nick broke up.  He broke up with her because she wanted to get married and he didn’t.  Now she sees that he did get married and he called Lauren the love of his life. She closed her laptop and laid on the bed. Her cell phone rang.  She looked and saw Leighanne’s number.  Leighanne and Kristin kept in touch with her as they are still best friends with her.  She answered the call and they talked and made plans to get together. She hung up.  The next day, Brizee sat in a café not far from her place. She looked up and saw Leighanne, Kristin, and Leigh coming towards her. They hugged her and sat down.

        “I guess you saw the news,” Leighanne said.

        “Yeah,” Brizee said.

        “I’m sorry,” Kristin said.

        “I guess he didn’t want to marry me, that I wasn’t the one for him, although he said that I was the only one for him, obviously not, he dumped me as soon as I talked about marriage,” Brizee said. Leighanne looked at Kristin.

        “Nick came over the day after you guys broke up, he and Brian talked, I could tell Nick had regrets of breaking up with you but he didn’t want to get married then,” Leighanne said.

        “But he got married now, I saw the story, Howie pushed him to propose when Nick told him that he loved her and didn’t want to lose her,” Brizee said.

        “I heard that conversation,” Leigh said.

        “After I read that, it broke my heart all over again,” Brizee said.  The girls looked at each other.

        “We are here for you, Briz,” Kristin said.

        “You know people still come up to me when I’m out, asking me why Nick and I broke up, it’s been five years, and people still come up to me,” Brizee said.

        “Because they all loved you and Nick together, we have people come up to us and say they miss you and Nick together,” Leighanne said.

        “I miss it, too,” Brizee said.

Three weeks later, Brizee got an invite to Leighanne’s birthday party.  She knew Nick and Lauren would be there. She called Leighanne up.

        “Hey, I’m sorry, I can’t come to your party,” Brizee said.

        “Briz, you will have to face them sometime, you are one of my best friends,” Leighanne said.

        “Leighanne, it’s best that I stay home, I don’t want to make a scene and if I come and see them, I will, I want you to have fun and maybe in the new few days, you and I could go shopping or hang out,” Brizee said.

        “Brizee, please, it won’t be a good birthday without you,” Leighanne said.

        “I’m sorry, Leighanne, I can’t come, I’ll talk to you later,” Brizee said. She hung up.  An hour later, the doorbell rang. She opened the door and saw Brian and Kevin.

        “Oh great, your wives sent you two to get me to come, I can’t,” Brizee said.

        “Briz, it’s okay, Nick and Lauren can’t make it, so it’s safe to come to the party,” Brian said.

        “Oh,” Brizee said. She got ready and went with them to the party.  She walked in with Brian and Kevin.  Leighanne came over and hugged her. Brizee looked around and saw Nick and Lauren talking with Howie and Leigh.

        “You said they weren’t going to be here,” Brizee said glaring at Brian.

        “They just showed up, they weren’t going to be able to come due to Aaron coming into town but he missed the flight and couldn’t get one until tomorrow,” Leighanne said.

        “I’m going home,” Brizee said.

        “Briz, stay, please,” Kevin said.

        “Fine, but I will not be held responsible for anything that happens tonight,” Brizee said. She went to the bar and ordered a drink. She sat down on a stool and waited. 

        “What the hell are you doing here?” a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Lauren standing there.

        “I was invited, by the guest of honor,” Brizee said.

        “You don’t belong here,” Lauren said.

        “Oh but I do, Leighanne wanted me here, it’s her party, not yours so leave me alone,” Brizee said.

        “Nick doesn’t want you here either,” Lauren said.

        “I can speak for myself, Lauren, if Leighanne invited her, she is welcome to stay,” Nick said.

        “Nick, you said you never wanted to see her ever again,” Lauren said. Howie, Leigh, AJ, Rochelle, Brian, Leighanne, Kevin, and Kristin had gathered around them. Brian and Leighanne stood with Brizee.

        “I never said that, Lauren, I probably never would see her again, but I had forgotten that she’s best friends with Leighanne, Kristin, and Leigh, so there would be chances that I would see her from time to time, but I never said I never wanted to see her again,” Nick said.

        “I’m sorry but I think we should go because I can’t be in the same room as her,” Lauren said.

        “What did I ever do to you, Lauren, I never actually met you in person, so how can you judge me and belittle me when we never actually met face to face,” Brizee said.

        “You broke Nick’s heart,” Lauren said.

        “Actually Lauren, I broke her heart, I am the one who broke up with her,” Nick said.

        “What,” Lauren said.

        “Five years ago, before I met you, she wanted to get married and I said I never wanted to get married so I dumped her,” Nick said. Lauren looked at Nick and looked at Brizee.

        “But you married me, why me and not her,” Lauren said.

        “I wasn’t wanting to get married then but I was ready now,” Nick said.

        “Because obviously he didn’t want to marry me, I wasn’t the one for him or the love of his life, I was nobody important, just a phase he went through, this was a mistake, I shouldn’t have come, Leighanne, thanks for the invite but I have to get out of here,” Brizee said. She went out the door. Lauren looked at Nick.

        “Go talk to her,” Lauren said. Nick went out the door and saw her walking down the street. He ran to catch up to her.

        “Briz, wait,” Nick said.

        “Just go back to the party and have a nice life with your wife, Nick,” Brizee said.

        “Briz, stop,” Nick said.

        “Just leave me alone, Nick,” Brizee said. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm to get her to stop.

        “Briz, I can’t,” Nick said.

        “Why not, Nick, you had no problem moving on and getting married after that was the reason you dumped me,” Brizee said.

        “I wasn’t wanting to get married then,” Nick said.

        “But you got married to Lauren, you decided she was the one and you didn’t want to lose her, but you said that about me so many times but you had no problem letting me go,” Brizee said.

        “It’s a long story, Briz,” Nick said.

        “Well don’t worry about it, just go back to your wife and let me be,” Brizee said.

        “Where’s your car,” Nick said.

        “At home, Brian and Kevin came to get me because I didn’t want to come until they said you and Lauren weren’t going to be there, I should have just stayed home,” Brizee said.

        “I’ll take you home,” Nick said.

        “No, I’ll walk,” Brizee said.

        “Briz, come on,” Nick said.  She sighed and he walked her to his car and drove her home. He pulled up in front of the building. He saw it.

        “This is Howie’s condo building,” Howie said.

        “Yeah, you may have dumped me but that didn’t make the guys and girls stop being my friends, Howie gave me a great deal on it,” Brizee said. She got out.

        “Thanks for the ride,” Brizee said. Nick got out and followed her. Brizee turned and looked at him.

        “I can get to my condo on my own, been doing it for five years,” Brizee said.

        “We need to talk,” Nick said.

        “Why bother, Nick,” Brizee said.

        “I need to explain everything,” Nick said. She sighed and led him to her condo. He walked in and looked around.

        “Gave you the best one, huh,” Nick said.

        “Yeah,” Brizee said.  He sat down at the counter and looked at her. She sat down and looked at him.

        “So start explaining,” Brizee said.  He told her everything that had happened and why he decided to get married. 

        “If I knew what the future was going to be like five years ago, I would have been on board with marriage and wouldn’t have hurt you,” Nick said.

        “So losing Leslie helped you realize that it was time to get your life in order, to make every second count,” Brizee said.

        “Yeah, and the whole deal with my family, they blamed me for her death, because she overdosed, they said because of my past with drugs, it was my fault,” Nick said.

        “You didn’t force the drugs down her throat,” Brizee said.

        “I know, but they still blame me,” Nick said. She got out her phone and sent a text to BJ and asked her to get the family to come down to meet with her.

        “Briz,” Nick said.

        “I will talk with them,” Brizee said.

        “Briz, it’s okay, I’m okay, I’m doing okay,” Nick said.

        “Nick, this is your family, your blood, blood is thicker than anything, just let me do this, think of it as a way to mend the fences and we can be friends,” Brizee said. Nick looked at her.

        “You want to be friends?” Nick said.

        “Yeah, we can’t be more, you are married to Lauren, you clearly have moved on, so have I, officially, us talking tonight got me past all the hurt, I understand why you didn’t want to get married back then but now I do understand why you wanted to get married now,” Brizee said. Nick smiled.

        “Friends forever and always,” Nick said.

        “Okay, so I will call you when or if they come down,” Brizee said. Nick nodded.

        “But if they want to see me, I’ll come,” Nick said. Brizee nodded. He hugged her and left.

Two days later, there was a knock at the door. She opened it and saw Bob, Ginger, Kayden, BJ, Aaron, and Angel standing there.

        “Hi guys,” Brizee said. They hugged her.

        “Briz, we missed you so much!” BJ said.

        “I missed you guys too,” Brizee said. They all came in and sat down.

        “So, I guess you heard about Nick getting married,” Aaron said. Brizee nodded.

        “Yeah, I did,” Brizee said.

        “We haven’t heard the reason why you two broke up,” Bob said. Brizee looked at Aaron.

        “Aaron didn’t tell you?” Brizee asked. Bob looked at Aaron.

        “Oops,” Aaron said.

        “Aaron,” Bob said.

        “I forgot, I’m sorry,” Aaron said.

        “Nick broke up with me because I wanted to get married but he didn’t want to get married, he said he would never get married,” Brizee said.

        “So he dumped you for that,” BJ said.

        “Yeah, but I talked to him two days ago and he explained why he changed his mind,” Brizee said.

        “What was the reason?” Bob asked.

        “Leslie, losing her is what made him changed his mind, that life is short, he realized that he needed to make every second count, he also told me that you guys blamed him for her death,” Brizee said.

        “We did but not anymore, we know it wasn’t his fault,” Bob said. Brizee smiled. Her phone beeped.  She looked at it and saw a message from Nick. She replied to come over. 

        “Sorry, so you guys don’t blame him anymore,” Brizee said.

        “No, we were hoping we could talk to him while we were down here,” Bob said.

        “You can, he’s on his way over, that was him texting me asking if you guys were here,” Brizee said.

        “Good, I miss him,” Bob said. They talked until the doorbell rang. Aaron got up and opened the door and saw Nick and Lauren standing there. Nick smiled and he and Aaron hugged.

        “I’m sorry for not making it to your wedding and reception, I did my best, stupid plane had mechanical problems,” Aaron said.

        “It’s cool, Aaron, you were trying to come,” Nick said. They hugged and came in. Lauren came over to Brizee.

        “Hi, Brizee, Nick told me you guys were friends, I’m hoping we can be as well, I don’t want it to be awkward between us,” Lauren said.

        “I think we can work something out,” Brizee said. Nick came over to the group. BJ and Angel hugged their brother.