I stare at him.
"We choreograph something subtle. Cool. Classy. Maybe a remix of her favorite song."
"She'll kill you."
He squints. "Okay, fine. No flash mob."
"I can't tell if you're joking or not."
"Plan B," he says. "I get Nick to dress up as Cupid."
"She'll kill you and Nick."
"Alright, alright." He sighs. "No costumes."
He leans forward, lowering his voice like he's revealing state secrets. "Rooftop dinner. Candles. Fairy lights. Her favorite pasta.I'll tell her it's a work thing. She shows up in heels, annoyed, but hot."
"That part's accurate."
"I give a heartfelt speech. Minimal crying."
"Unrealistic."
He chuckles. "Then I get down on one knee and ask her to marry me like a normal, emotionally stable adult."
I nod. "That's the one."
He sits back, suddenly quieter. "You think she'll say yes?"
"When," I say. "When she says yes."
His smile softens. Real this time.
"Okay well, when she does," he says, "will you be my best man?"
"Of course," I say.
His eyes shine, but he doesn't make a big deal out of it.
"Give me a hug, you dickhead."
We stand and pull each other in. It’s the kind of hug built on history.
For a second, I let myself feel it. All the nights he dragged me home. All the calls he answered. All the mess he stayed for.
We became brothers in every way that counts, and seeing him excited over the future he's about to create with the woman he loves makes me real fucking proud of the man he's become.
The drive home is quiet,the hum of the engine steady, predictable.
Then the radio clicks on, and"Name"by the Goo Goo Dolls filters through the speakers. I huff out a breath, a quiet laugh slipping past my lips.
Timing like that never feels accidental. Life has a way of dropping old songs into new moments, asking questions it already knows I'm not ready to answer.
It's strange, the way everyone around me seems to be movingforward in visible ways. Marriages. Babies. Plans stretching years into the future.
And me? I'm steady now. Successful. Needed by a lot of people. I've built something solid, something I protect with careful hands.
And yet there's a quiet in my own life, a stillness I can't shake.
