Page 32 of Perfect Chemistry

“It’s not a fucking request. You will attend substance abuse counseling, or you will lose your scholarship,” he finished.

For the second time since sitting down, I felt like I had been punched in the gut. The university knew how fucked up I was. My parents weren’t just trying to help me with school, they were trying to save my future.

“Can we go home?” I asked.

“Yeah, we can go home. But you can forget about using Bradley to cover for you anymore. If you show up here drunk again, you can forget about staying in school. You can forget about playing baseball, you can just forget about all of it,” my dad was calm again.

I watched in shame as he apologized to Bradley and his parents for my conduct, and then thanked them for keeping me alive when I didn’t value my own life. I couldn’t look at Bradley or his parents when they pulled me in for a hug and wished me well. It was almost Christmas break. I had drunk away my sorrows for the last year and a half. It was time to get my shit together and move forward.

* * *

“How much do you have left?” my brother asked, looking over my shoulder as I typed away on my laptop.

“Um, I think this one is about done. Just need to run through and double check it, but then I can submit it and that’s it,” I said. “Why? Do you need help with something?”

My brother smirked, “Yeah, I’m gonna ask Sissy to marry me at Thanksgiving. If she says ‘Yes’, I was hoping you would be my best man.”

I slammed my laptop shut and jumped up to give him a hug. “Holy shit, bro! Congrats, well not yet, but holy shit.”

Reggie laughed. “Yeah. It’s crazy right? I mean we’ve been together for a year, but I feel like she is it, Kai.”

I knew what he meant. It had been three years since I let Katie get away. “Well, what do you need from me? Is there anything that I can help with?” I asked, giving him another hug and patting him on the back. “I’m really happy for you, Reg.”

My brother told me about how he asked Sissy’s dad for his blessing and even taken Sissy’s mom to pick out the ring. I couldn’t believe he was ready to get married.

“When do you think you’ll tie the knot?” I asked.

“Honestly, I am going to let her decide,” he chuckled.

We went out to dinner and talked about how he was going to pop the question after dinner. I offered to help in any way that I could, including hiding the ring. He started laughing when I offered.

“Thank God!” he exclaimed, rummaging in his coat pocket. “This thing is like carrying the ring of the nine around.” He handed me a small black box as we finished eating.

I put the box in my jacket pocket without even looking at it. We talked for a bit longer before he dropped me back at my apartment and went home. There were two weeks until Thanksgiving, and four weeks until my end of term exams.

I had six months until graduation. I had managed to recover my grades with two summer semesters and a lot of hard work. I would start my practical as a physical therapy assistant in January, and hopefully qualify for the doctorate program in the fall. My life was finally getting back on track.

I heard a buzzing noise and found my phone still jammed in my jacket pocket. Bradley.

“Hey, man. What’s going on?” I asked.

Bradley had transferred universities last year, so contact had not been nearly as often as it used to be. “Hey. What are you doing for Thanksgiving?” he asked.

I told him how Reggie was proposing to his girlfriend and the two families were in on the whole thing. Bradley laughed and asked a few questions about how Reg planned on popping the question.

“That’s awesome. Tell him we said congratulations.”

I paused for a second. “Who’s this we?” I asked.

Bradley took a deep breath and then left me stunned with his next words. “I asked Amy to marry me and she said, ‘yes.’ We’re getting married the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I was calling to ask you to be my best man.”

“Seriously?” I asked, stunned at this news.

“Yep.”

“In two weeks? How long have you been engaged?” I asked, feeling like everyone was getting their happy ending except me.

“Well, I asked her last night, and we decided to keep it small and just ask a few witnesses. We’ll have a real wedding after graduation.”

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