The wedding

Being part of a crowd of people that don't fit together, being forced to dance, listening to amateurs giving bad speeches and one professional who doesn't really know the people his speech is about: I just don't like weddings. However, when my best friend from college, Victor (see Butt buddies) got married to his girlfriend Sharon recently, I was very happy for them and took a day off from work so I could not only be at the evening party but also at the ceremony.

When I arrived at city hall in the morning I already met some people I knew. It was very nice to catch up with them and hear how they were doing. When Sharon and Victor I thought what I had thought fifteen years earlier: they form a great couple. Fifteen years earlier at a party I noticed how Victor kept looking at Sharon from a distance and I told him to go for it and offer her a drink. He said he didn't have any money on him and so I put (the equivalent of) fifty euro in his hand and sent him on his way. While he was talking with her, another guy and myself kept Victor's friends away from him, so he was not disturbed in his first clumsy seduction attempt. At the time I didn't realise I was gay, which was surprising because I had a huge crush on Victor. All I wanted was for him to be happy. 

Apart from me, all Victor's friends told him he could do better than Sharon and were very rude about her. In that light it's surprising that I was the only one of Victor's friends Sharon didn't like (see The climax). Victor's friends didn't like me much either: I was too much of science geek for their taste. Only when we almost finished our studies and I played guitar and sang rock songs at a party, they started to like me, as did Victor younger sister (see An angel on crack).

During the ceremony the minister suddenly mentioned my name: he told the story of how I lent Victor money and told him to order Sharon a drink. I felt both honoured and surprised: I had never thought Victor and Sharon would have remembered.

I wasn't looking forward to the evening party because of the reasons mentioned at the top of this post. It turned out to be a lot of fun though: I hadn't realised that I knew so many people in their lives. I came over to Victor's father's place very often (see Butt buddies), spent a weekend at his mother's (see In the cards), knew all his friends from secondary school and university, played card games with Sharon's parents and family, knew part of her family by coincidence and knew her friends because they were the younger sisters of some of my college friends. It was great to see everyone again and it was a nice surprise that they were very happy to see me again.

All my college friends had visibly gained weight; I was the only one who weighed less than in his college years. Some guys even got a bit grey. They look like responsible spouses, parents, scientists or computer experts, but as soon as the polite 'what do you do nowadays' chit-chat was over and we talked about real stuff, then it was obvious that they were exactly the people I had known in college. It was great to see that everyone was doing so well, and that everyone had enough money to live a decadent lifestyle. They radiated happiness and that made me happy.

For the bridal bouquet tossing all single women directed to the dance floor. "And gays," Victor requested through the microphone. I was the only gay at the party, but I passed. I've already been married once and that is enough for me. Instead I had a nice chat with Riccardo, a friend of Victor's that I want (see Slow play). I know he's straight, but a man can dream, no? Anyway, he's just divorced his wife but already has a new girlfriend. He's popular with the ladies.

I was one of the last to leave the party: it was just great and it got me in a good mood for more than a week.