False Friendship

Daniel

Before i submit this I would like you to know this is my first time doing something like this and what I am about to write may seem pathetic but oh well.

We had been friends for a long time, 9 years if I remember correctly. We first met at a party my cousin had invited me to, I was standing awkwardly in the corner being the only stranger at this party and he came over and started talking to me. We got on well, we were both into pretty much the same things, similar movies, video games, comic books, fascination for weapons, cosplay, all that nerdy stuff. We exchanged numbers and decided to hang out later.

At this point in time we were both still in our third year at high school so we had our own friends but hung out as often as we could. When high school ended our friends drifted awayw from each of us yet our friendship grew stronger and stronger until it was at that point where we were best friends and did pretty much everything together. We had no one else to hang out with, it was okay though, not many other people understood us.

As life went on we got older but stayed just as immature as we were when we first met, we both managed to get girlfriends (how we accomplished that I will never know), and then we both moved in with our girlfriends, him one side of town, me on the other but we still tried to hang out as much as possible.

Then one day he rings me up and tells me something
"hey man"

"Sup assface, what you doing"

"I've kinda got something I want to run by you"

"Go for gold man, I'm all ears"

"I think Brenda's the one"

"Wait what? Are you serious?"

"Yea man I am. I wanna spend the rest of my life with her"

"Bro that's awesome. So when you gonna pop the question?"

"Probably tonight, I've already asked her dad and I'm taking her out to dinner"

"Mean bro, she's definitely gonna say yes"

"Cheers man, I'm so fucking nervous I think I'm gonna throw up"

"Hey, look, if you do throw up see how far you can get it, hahaha. Just kidding man, you're gonna be all good. Look, ring me later and tell me how it went"

"Sweet as, I'll talk to you later"

"Sweet, cya"

I hung up the phone and smiled. We had both been with our girlfriends for three years, I wasn't quite ready to commit but he was. I was happy for him, I wanted to tell everyone but I kept it a secret until I found out what she said.

A few hours later he calls back

"Sup you nervous wreck, how did it go?"

"She said no man"

My heart dropped, what had gone wrong? Were they still together? I didn't know what to say.

"Aw shit man, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

"I'm all good seeing as she said yes and all"

"What??!! You son of a bitch, had me going there for a second. Congratulations man, I knew it, I knew she would say yes"

"Cheers man, I'll ring you later, we're gonna go celebrate if you know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean, and I don't need to know that. Talk later man, night"

I hang up for the second time that night. I'm excited for him, after all we're like brothers, I'm proud of him as well, they're a good couple. I head to bed wondering what's in store for our friendship now.

I wake up the next day with the events of last night fresh in my head. My phone goes off, its him so I pick up.

"Sup old man"

"Hey man, so me and the fiancée were talking last night and we decided we wanna have our wedding next year in September"

"Holy crap man, are you sure? I mean, its December so you don't have long to do anything to get ready"

"Yea were sure, we got it all planned out"

"Okay, if you're sure then you're sure. You're gonna be busy as hell then"

"Yea I am so we won't be able to hang as often as we used to"

"That's okay man, I understand. I'll talk to you later, gotta get to work. Cya"

Hanging up the phone I thought about what he had said about not hanging out as often, and that was okay. I do understand that he will be busy and that was okay.

Fast forward six months and we get to June and we have hung out maybe twice a month if were lucky, which is all good, I completely understood. As we were hanging out one day he brings up in conversation the best man. I had been waiting ages for him to say something about that, I wasn't going to mention the subject, that was for him to do when he was ready

"Bro, about the whole best man thing"

"Yea?"

"I'm kinda gonna ask my brother to be my best man"

"That's all good man, I didn't expect it was gonna be me"

"You sure that's okay?"

"Its all good man, he's family, if I get married I'm gonna have my bro as my best man too"

"Cheers man"

I completely understood why he chose his brother as his best man. Family comes first, I know that I'm the same way. What I don't understand is what happened next.

We were hanging out one weekend when his missus wants to go do some errands so I tag along, while we're in the car they start having a casual conversation and I happen to hear the word invite. I assume that the errands she is doing is droping off the wedding invites, as the conversation continues I find out my assumption is correct. I start to thinking, sweet can't wait to get mine.

We finish some of the errand and head back to theirs. We have lunch and his missus says she wants to finish the errands, so I say I'll just chill at theirs and wait for them. They leave the house and I start watching t.v. after about five minutes I notice a pile of envelopes sitting on the table, I start to go through them, I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't help myself. I look at the names on each envelope Rebecca, Andrew, Mum, Dad, Steve and Jess. This is obviously the family pile. I look around for some more envelopes, as I search I see the table with which his missus had been using to write out the names all morning.

I get off the couch and walk over to them, on the table is a piece of paper with three sections on it 'Family', 'colleauges' and 'Friends' in each list are the names of those that have been invited that fit into each category, I take a look at the friends list
Rachel, Jason, Stew and Chloe, David, Sarah and James... The list goes on, but not one mention of Daniel. I think to myself, there must be a mistake, so I check under all the headings 'Family' nothing, 'Colleauges' Nada, I check friends again, again nothing. Nowhere does it mention my name.

I sit back on the couch staring blankly at the t.v. how can my name not be on the list? How am I not invited? Did I do something wrong? Did I say something wrong? What the hell did I just find out? Nine years, nine years of friendship and I get shunned like I'm nothing. I mean, I know I shouldn't be cut that deep about it but I am. We had been best friends for nigh on ten years and after seeing that list I feel as if it was all a lie, like I didn't exist, and I can't think of a reason as to why. I think maybe its his missus but then I think that it can't be, me and her always got on well, she liked me as a friend. She didn't hate me, I knew that much, or maybe she did, I don't know.

I grab my stuff in anger and walk out of their house locking the door and head home.

I get home, dump my things and sit on my bed, I'm no longer angry, I now feel as if I've been winded, like all the energy has been drained from my body, I don't want to do anything or see anyone.

My phone goes off and I look at who's calling, I begrudgingly answer the phone.

"Hey man" I say hiding the dussapointment in my voice.

"Sup bro, where'd you go, we got home and you weren't here"

"Oh I had a family emergency" I lie

"Oh okay, I'll talk to you later man"

"Yea, sure"

I place my phone on my bed and stare at the wall, I start to tear up. I can't hold it back anymore and start crying. Friendship to me is important and not seeing my name anywhere on that list cut real deep, its like he had thrown our friendship away. I had no idea what to do so here I am, writing this story to try and let out the pain, but its not getting any easier, the more I write and think about it, the worse I feel. I know this story may seem pathetic, but that's your opinion and you are entitled to it.


Daniel