*10 Years Later*

A heavy knocking on my apartment's door jolted me away from the T.V.

I slowly stood up, and the knocking became even more intense.

"Just hold on!" I yelled, before I unlocked it. I knew exactly who it was, just from the knocking alone.

Dahlia stood at the door, smiling from cheek to cheek with tears running down her face.

My eyes widened, as I met her eyes, "He didn't..." I said.

Dahlia's smiled even wider, as she brought her left hand up and my eyes shot straight towards the shiny rock on her ring finger, "He did!" she exclaimed.

I yelled out of excitement, and so did she! She embraced me in a tight hug, and I held her tightly. No way was my best friend getting married.

After a long hug, and a couple of sore throats later, I ushered her inside of my apartment. "Figures my brother would full on propose to a girl and not even tell me about it," I joked in an anonoyed tone.

Dahlia guiltily scanned the room, "Well, maybe he knew that you'd probably tell me," she said, trying to excuse his behavior.

"Hey, you may be his fiancé, but you're my best friend first," I snapped.

She jokingly put her hands up, and nodded. I grabbed her a glass of water, and we both sat on the couch. She gave me the details of her proposal, and I couldn't help but be shocked that we were talking about the same Ajit that was my obnoxious brother.

To be fair, a lot changed after I graduated college, six years ago. Ajit seemed to mellow with age. He didn't control my love life as overbearingly as he once did; in fact he just took no interest in it. If he even knew I was talking to a guy, he just didn't care. Dahlia really straightened him out.

To be fair, after my freshman year of college Varun fiasco happened, Dahlia reprimanded Ajit for what he did. It's what made us become closer. How Ajit landed a girl like her was unfathomable to me. I guess Ajit was just a magnet for really good people.

"I know it's pretty premature, but have you even given a little mind to wedding planning?" I asked, feeling silly for even asking.

Surprisingly, Dahlia nodded, "Oh yeah, that's what Ajit and I did for the remainder of lunch," she joked.

"Do tell," I urged. I wanted every detail I could get about this iconic wedding.

"Well," she said, scanning around, trying to remember, "We were thinking about which side you'd join the festivity's on mine or his.... And then we just thought we'd share you between events fairly."

I chuckled, "Joint custody, nice," I said.

She laughed, "And we just talked about our favorite bridesmaid colors, groomsmen colors, and stuff like that," she said.

"Hmm, yeah," I said.

Dahlia spoke again, "And we even— well, actually," she paused.

"What?" I asked, curiously.

"Oh, uh," she paused, "I forgot what I was going to say."

The cheekbones on her face began involuntarily rising, and her cheeks were turning a faint pink. She was lying. She didn't forget.

"What is it, Dahlia?" I asked.

She sighed, dropping her shoulders, "Fine," she said, "We were just talking about whether or not we should invite Varun to the wedding."

Varun. I hadn't heard the name spoken out loud in years. Varun and I's history was a turbulent one. The climax of our relationship was the whole fiasco that occurred in my freshman year of college. After that all went down, Varun slowly began distancing himself away from Ajit, and I saw him less and less. Eventually, Ajit and I just never saw him at all. He graduated early, and I think he moved countries.

Ajit was fine because he had Dahlia, so he never really had enough time for Varun anyways. I was also fine because at that time, I remember being really mad at him, and not really wanting to see him around either. I guess he got the hint and just slowly left our lives.

Sure, he definitely popped up in my memories, and I'm sure Ajit's, too, but it was all in the past. One of my fondest memories of him was the time he threw me a little prom. Those were the simpler times.

If I told myself ten years ago that there was a possibility that Varun might not even be invited to Ajit's wedding, I wouldn't have believed you. He was supposed to be Ajit's best man.

"Really? You think Ajit would be cool with not inviting him?" I asked.

Dahlia nodded, "Yeah, he doesn't want to make you uncomfortable, and it's also because they haven't spoken in so long," she said.

"Yeah..." I said, "But they were best friends."

"Yeah, like a decade ago," she said.

I guess she was right, but it just felt off to not have him there. Though they hadn't spoken in a decade, it still, for some reason felt like they'd been speaking all along. Varun was such a prominent figure in their lives for so long.

"Would you guys even know where to find him?" I asked. I wouldn't be able to; he wasn't really a social media guy, and he obviously didn't tell us where he was going.

"Yeah, actually," Dahlia said, "Ajit actually ran into one of his cousins a while back, and she said he was in Switzerland. I'm sure we could trace her down again she's a—"

"Make up artist," I answered.

Dahlia nodded excessively, "Yeah how'd you know?" she asked.

She was referring to Arheer, the girl who did my makeup at her house for my fake prom.

"Uh, Varun introduced us once," I said awkwardly.

Dahlia awkwardly nodded, "Right..." she said.

I told Dahlia almost everything that happened between Varun and I, but I skimmed over and only briefly mentioned the fake prom. It seemed like such a sacred moment between us, and I felt like I couldn't tarnish it.

"I hate to say this, but you've got to invite him," I said.

I knew that the sole reason they weren't inviting him was because of me, specifically Varun and I's history. Sure, Dahlia could bring up the fact that Ajit and Varun hadn't spoken in so long, but wasn't that also kind of my fault? I couldn't be the reason why my brother didn't have his childhood best friend at his wedding.

So much time had also passed by since freshman year of college. We both had definitely gone through different relationships, and also matured, a lot. I definitely wasn't as hurt about all the events that went down anymore, as well. We all make mistakes as kids.

"Are you sure?" Dahlia asked.

I understood why Dahlia was so hesitant to invite Varun. When we were becoming friends, all she had heard about him was the negative things that he had done. I remember back in the day, she had the slightest crush on him, too, and how much I used to hate her for that.

Sure, Dahlia slightly knew Varun through her own experiences too, but I think with me being her best friend a lot of her judgment was clouded. She'd never want me to feel uncomfortable at her wedding. She'd want quite the opposite.

"Fine... I'll talk to Ajit about it and see what he thinks," Dahlia said.

"Fine," I said.

Hours passed by since our conversation, and Dahlia and I spent it the way we usually always did: watching reality television and talking about how stupid it was, while still relishing in all the drama. It was our mutual guilty pleasure. Something Dahlia could not indulge in while living with Ajit because he would simply mock her to the ends of the earth for it.

It wasn't unusual that Dahlia seemingly spent more time with me than with her fiancé, since Dahlia and I held a special bond between us. Ajit would probably show up here late at night and either spend the night at my apartment or take Dahlia home; either way it was not her idea to go.

As we were watching, a dumb infomercial came up on the T.V.

"Ugh," Dahlia groaned, "Stupid commercial, who even buys these things."

My cheeks began turning a light pink. The commercial on TV was about an automatic cooking mixer. The commercial had been playing all week, and I fell victim to its excellent marketing technique.

Dahlia's eyes widened as she noticed my embarrassed expression. "No, tell me you didn't!" she exclaimed.

I stood up, and headed for the door, "Oh but I did, "I said, suddenly, not embarrassed.

Dahlia groaned again at my stupidity. I left the door open behind me as I walked over to the mailbox planted right next to my apartment door. I reached for the letters and my brand new infomercial mixer in the mailbox and brought it inside.

"You've failed the test of T.V. commercials," she said, dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, as I placed the packaged mixer on the coffee table in front of Dahlia. I placed the letters down next, when one insufferably sparkly glitter-filled envelope caught my eye. It was a wedding invitation.

It had my name written on it, so I grabbed it and ripped it open. I let my eyes scan the words and my jaw slightly dropped. No fucking way.

Dahlia was laying down and she stayed watching me, "Who's wedding invitation is that?" she asked. It was that noticeable by the envelope.

I brought the invitation down to meet her eyes and said, "Ezra fucking Ashton."

Dahlia's jaw dropped, and she brought her hand over her mouth, "No way," she said.

Though Dahlia didn't know the complete truth about Varun, she knew every little detail about every encounter I had with Ezra. Of course she was shocked, too.

How did he know where I lived? Why was he inviting to his own wedding and how'd he even remember me out of nowhere.

After my freshman year business class, I luckily didn't run into Ezra too much in college. We were lucky enough to have different majors. We did share some other general education history class in our third year, but at that point, we hadn't talked in a while, so we kind of just ignored each other. It was pretty random for him to be reaching out again.

Was I sure this was sent to the right address? I picked up the envelope again, and there it was, my full name written all pretty, Tara Ahuja.

I lifted the invitation again. Who was he marrying? I read the invite again, "Ezra Ashton marries Sarah Thomas."

Someone I had never heard of. That was kind of fitting. Why was it that he invited me, though? Why was I getting so many blasts from the past?

Would it be inappropriate for me to go? Was this just a polite invite? I knew the best thing for me would be to not go. Just don't go, Tara. It was simple enough.