Her Best Men

“I’m ready to start tonight, if you are,” Tommy said.

“Did you bring a hair tie?” Chanel asked.

“Hair tie?” I asked.

“Shut up, Chanel,” Ana said.

The slideshow began, and it filtered through pictures I had forgotten about. Pictures of Tommy and me running down the hallway in dresses during Spirit Week, and pictures of the cheerleaders at the football games. There were a couple of Chanel and Ana that popped up during prom, and I felt myself tense at the memory. Chanel’s eyes darted over toward me, scanning me like she had that night before she got into the back of

the car with me.

I was ready for this ‘fun’ little slideshow to be over.

The longer it went on, the antsier people got. Dinner was being served over the drawn-out project, and some people began to talk amongst themselves. Soon, everyone was talking and getting more drinks while the slideshow lagged on, and I could tell it was pissing Connie off.

Which, of course, became the topic of conversation.

“If she didn’t wanna piss people off, don’t make it four hours long,” I said.

“I was done after thirty minutes,” Chanel said. “How many pictures did she have from high school?”

“And where did she get them all from?” Ana asked. “It’s not like she walked around with a camera.”

“Was that a jab at me?” Chanel asked.

“Hardly. You’re not snapping pictures every second. But this thing’s been going on for, like, an hour and a half. That’s a shit load of pictures,” Ana said.

“That’s true,” Tommy said. “Plus, who the hell wants to be reminded of high school when we’re grown and making memories of our own?”

“Everyone on this cruise,” I said with a grin.

“Maybe we’re just on the cruise to make new memories with old friends,” Ana said.

“I’m here to flesh out this story I promised people and to move on from things,” Chanel said.

Her eyes connected with mine as our food was set in front of us. The four of us ate and caught up a little bit, asking each other about the past ten years. Chanel talked a little bit about her years at Cornell and what she had been doing afterward, and Ana talked about how she had somehow fallen into marketing. Tommy regaled Ana with stories of his real estate business, but I could feel Chanel’s eyes on me.

“What have you been doing the past ten years?” she asked.

I downed the rest of my drink before I picked up my fork.

“I just retired from the Navy,” I said.

“Oh, shit. You enlisted?” Ana asked.

“Enlisted and became a SEAL,” Tommy said.

“What? You’re a Navy SEAL?” Ana asked.

“Was a Navy SEAL. My contract ended about a month ago, and I didn’t re-up,” I said.

“Why not?” Chanel asked.

I turned my gaze back towards her as I drew in a deep breath.

“Only so much of that shit I could take,” I said.

“I can only imagine,” she said.