It had been a while since you woke up and felt at ease with yourself, but waking up next to her made every day worth it. Seeing how her lips were slightly parted as she slept, how her eyes were delicately closed with her long eyelashes feathered out and how her skin glowed with the light streaks from the sun. Mornings with her were perfect and it made it THAT much harder to leave in the mornings.

“You’re going to be late if you keep laying there just looking at me.”
She opened one eye and looked at him; he’d been caught, but how could he help it when she was the light of his existence? It was so hard not to get caught up into her and he loved that he was the one who got to experience all that is her.

“Yeah you’re right, but I still do it every day. Will I ever tire of you?”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her nose gently as he wrapped himself around her.

“…you make it so hard for me to leave every morning. How am I ever going to get anything done if I can’t even leave you in the morning?”
He looked into her eyes as he placed his body atop hers and she s her arms around his neck.

“Maybe when you’re your own boss then it’ll be okay. But for now, hurry and get ready. I’ll even make you breakfast.”
She pulled him down onto her and hugged his body to hers as she wrapped her legs around his back. He responded by burying his face in her neck and placing light, teasing kisses and little flicks of his tongue.

“You’re DEFINITELY going to be late if we stay in this bed.”
She giggled as she pushed him off the bed and threw on one of his tshirts.

“Awe, but it was just starting to get fun.”
He whined as he sat on the floor of the bedroom watching her dress into his clothes before she left the room. He followed her to the kitchen where he took a seat at the table and unfolded the newspaper.

“Coffee?”
She offered as she began to steam a pot. It wasn’t early but she was already so energetic, being that they both had just rolled out of bed. He continued to look through the papers as she prepared his breakfast for him.

“Anything interesting?”
She asked as she placed his cup of coffee on the coaster and sat down across from him.

“Not really, but I did see a sign when I was coming home yesterday that the coffee house I used to work at closed down. You remember right?”
That coffee house had held so many memories for him; he used to go there all the time during his school days and study or just to hang out, and he even got a job there with his friends. It was something they all enjoyed while they were in their college years. Even her, he brought her there a lot, and she would even visit them a lot while they were working. It held a lot of meaning and news of its closing felt bittersweet. He wondered if the other two had known about it.

“Yeah I remember, wow that was so long ago. Do you think the others know about it?”
At the mention of them he went stiff. They hadn’t talked to each other in so long; it’s been what… five years, seven years? It’s been so long since the three of them even spoke or met with each other.

“I don’t know…”
He answered. Her expression became sympathetic, she knew it was a sensitive topic for him. The three of them had been friends for so long, so long that it was almost hard to believe that they’d gone this long without any contact whatsoever.

“I’m sorry…”
She apologizes immediately as she knows she hit a soft spot. With the news of the engagement he’d lost ties with the two people he cared for the most. She knew it was hard for him and often times he would try to brush it off, but she knew that it bothered him; there were just some things that a person needed friends for. And with their limited contact, he pondered the thought of whether having a best man was even worth it or not.

“No it’s okay. I told you it’s old news now. I figure one day or another we’re going to have to talk about it anyway so I’m not worried about it.”
There he goes brushing it off again, but you can see the disappointment and sadness wash over his entire body. Often times she wondered what it would have been like if she never said acknowledged her feelings; the three of them would have still been friends.

“Yeah, anyway have your breakfast. I’m meeting with your mom later to do some more dress shopping and I think we’re having a tasting too, food and wine.”
She came over and gave him a soft kiss as she gently tugged his bottom lip with her teeth causing him to pull her into his lap.

“You’re a little too playful today.”
He whispered as he looked down at her through wild eyes.

“What’s life without a little fun?”
He crashed his lips to hers in a powerful and possessive embrace leaving her breathless as she ran her hands through his slightly dampened hair.

“Gotta get outta here; as much as I want to finish what we were starting, duty calls.”
He placed a light kiss to her forehead and stood her up as he took two bites of his breakfast, grabbed his briefcase and waved as he made his way out the door. 

Since the topic of friends came into play this morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about it…
Back then we’d always make jokes about how we’d all be together, even on our wedding day and seeing as mine is in the midst of being planned and neither of them have made an effort to contact me makes me feel bitter. This was supposed to be a happy time, all our friends and family were excited; how come mine were the only ones who were distant? I knew it back then when it was the four of us… I knew they liked her too, hell who didn’t like her?! But really, why was it my fault that she chose me? I thought friends were supposed to support each other. But I guess from their standpoint, they’d argue that love should have come second… 
How do you control who and when you fall in love though?

*Bzzz Bzzz*
The vibration of my phone interrupted my thoughts; thank god.

“Hey beautiful, aren’t you supposed to be busy today?”
The sound of her laughter over the phone almost makes my thoughts of ‘friends’ disappear.

“I am, but your mom and I wanted to see if you’re free for lunch?”

“Though that sounds like a great idea, I thought I’d attempt calling the guys… it’s just been so long you know? I mean I do want them to attend the wedding.”
It may have been some years but I do still consider them to be the two most treasured people in my life; they’re still my best friends no matter what feelings they hold against me.

“Of course, I think that sounds like a great idea. Good luck and remember, it isn’t your fault okay?”

“Of course, thanks my love. I’ll see you at home later; enjoy dress shopping and the tastings!”
After we hung up the sound of her voice saying ‘it’s not your fault’ rang in my ears. She always said it wasn’t my fault, and though I knew it to be true I still blame myself for it, especially since I’ve held back on mending the situation. I should have contacted them a long time ago, hell I should have reconciled with them while I was just dating her. That definitely would have been the good and proper thing to do, but instead I reigned in it without noticing or even caring about what it did to my friendships. Now that I think about it, I really got tired of sharing everything with them, especially her. But all that sharing was only I my head. I never had to share her attention, we just made it out to be that way; she always had it equally distributed. We were just all so selfish in wanting her attention that we competed for it, we made our friendship with her a competition.

I’m staring at the walls of my office and almost hesitating on calling until my eyes land on the picture of us three on my desk: we were at the beach in our surf gear holding our boards and looking out at the waves; she took that picture of us, she always took pictures of us… 
I can’t keep postponing this, it has to be done before they decide to cut our ties completely.

“Hello?”
Hearing him answer made me lose my train of thought, he never answers.

“Hey…”
My voice trails off as I’m still trying to regain my conscience.

“You with –”

“Yeah.”
He cuts me off before I could finish.

“Thought we could talk over lunch? Are you guys free?”

“About your wedding?”
I’m surprised he’d even mention it, and though I wish that was the reason for this call, it wasn’t.

“No, about our friendship.”
There was a brief pause and I could hear their little spat over the phone.

“Since the coffee house we used to go to is closed we’ll meet you at the diner across the street at 1.”
Though he hung up before I could respond and kept his answers short and to the point, I was really just glad to get to see my friends again and talk to them after all these years we let get by between us.

Today was the day, and it was finally going to be settled. 
Finally.