Such a Surreal Place

“Ha, you what?” I stuttered thinking I didn’t hear him right.

“I wanna get married to Mel,” he said slowly as I took it in. Holy shit.

“You’re not joking, are you?” I said with a small smile, relaxing a bit. He meant no harm. He wasn’t going to break her heart after all.

“No. I seriously love her more than anything in the world, and I think it’s our time to take it a step further...” Zacky trailed off, focusing on his sandwich while I processed what he had just told me. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

“I would have to talk to her-”

“No! You can’t tell her!” he interrupted me very abruptly.

“Oh no! I won’t! Don’t worry about that!” I quickly comforted him and he relaxed also. He did seem a bit tense these past few days. I had thought it was just the tour finally catching up on him, but now I knew the truth. “I just have to make sure she’d be okay with it, so you don’t make a dick out of yourself.”

“Oh, okay, thanks,” he said sincerely but sarcastically (if that’s possible...). “You can’t tell the other guys too. I know they’ll leak it to her. And that includes Syn. I don’t care WHAT he bribes you with, you CAN’T tell him!” We laughed and then I realised that one of my best friends was most likely about to become a bride. Wow. As lame as it sounds, she had grown up fast. From hanging out with me and bands no one had heard of and having one-night-long relationships with some of them, to hanging out with a major band and getting married to one of the members. Shit.

“So, I have half a day to find out if she would say yes to you or not?” I asked, sipping my hot coffee. “Even though I’m sure she’ll say yes...”

“Please?” he looked up from his food, looking totally cute. “I’m thinking about proposing to her, and then actually getting married on the same day... What do you think?”

“I think I need to talk to her about it, and then we talk details,” I answered.

“Okay, fair enough...” he looked back down and kept on eating. My phone started vibrating and I checked the message. ‘Where r u?’ from Syn.

“I better go,” I said, finishing my coffee.

“Brian?”

“Yup,” I said, standing up. “Talk to ya later!” I left and text Brian back, saying I’d meet him at a clothing store I found a few shops down. I started sifting through the clothes, looking for something I liked, while I waited for him.

“You owe me BIG time for walking into a store like this...” Syn’s voice said from behind me. I spun around and saw he was blushing a little.

“Aw, sorry babe,” I said, hugging him, but he didn’t hug me back.

“So... Where did you go with Zacky?” he asked, trying to sound casual, but I could tell he had been wondering that for a while. Which must be the reason why he didn’t hug me back and is acting a bit awkward. I turned back around and was sifting through the dresses. I saw a long white one and got reminded that I was meant to be asking Mel about it, but very inconspicuously...

“To a cafe...” I said, trailing off while I held the dress up in front of me. I got lost in the moment, picturing Mel in it and walking down the aisle to Zacky. This could actually be happening one day soon...

“Do you like it?” Syn asked, placing his hands gently on my waist. That snapped me out of my dream and back into reality. I opened my mouth to answer and start talking about weddings, but then shut it again. “I’ll pay.” I was still quiet, so I guess he thought he had to offer to pay for it before I would admit I liked it.

“No, it’s okay,” I said, hastily shoving it back on the rack. “It’s like a bride’s gown. Thanks, anyway...”

“So what were you and Zacky talking about?” he asked and I saw Zacky walking past the store with his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground.

“Oh, you know, stuff,” I said, knowing that I wasn’t convincing. He would guess something’s up.

“About me?”

“No.”

“So why can’t you tell me?” he asked, sounding a bit annoyed. He dropped his hands from my waist and folded his arms across his chest.

“’Cause I promised I wouldn’t,” I said, picking up a nice red dress that I really liked. I wonder if it would look better on me than it did on the hanger... “It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it.” I turned around to ask him what he thought, but he was halfway across the shop, heading for the door. Heartbreak! I texted Mel, telling her where I was and asking her to join me. A few minutes later, she entered the shop and came over.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked, sounding worried. Syn leaving before must’ve bugged me more than I realised.

“Fine,” I said, faking a smile and holding up the red dress and white dress. “Wanna try them on?”

I focused on getting an answer out of her about getting married. That way, I wouldn’t be thinking of Syn. And why he unexpectedly stormed out on me.