I never thought I’d be sprinting down Crenshaw in a suit, chasing a runaway groom. Roland’s missing, the wedding’s in two hours, and Slim’s cursing up a storm beside me, muttering about how marriage is a scam. We got a call from Tanya—Roland’s at her place, wasted, babbling about ‘fear’ and ‘freedom.’ We found him slumped on her couch, tie loose, eyes red. ‘You’re throwing away everything for what?’ Slim yelled. Roland just laughed, then puked on both of us. Now we’re at the cleaners, suits dripping, laughing like we’re sixteen again. And just like that, the past comes rushing back—Alicia, Stacey, the dance, the bet, the night I won her… and lost her.

I was shy back then. Awkward. Roland and Slim were the ones who pulled me out of my shell. We were inseparable—three boys from the Wood, thinking we’d rule the world. We made bets about everything—whose girl would give it up first, who could steal a pack of Newports without getting caught. I had a girlfriend, Alicia had a boyfriend, but none of that mattered the night we danced to ‘If This World Were Mine’ and everything changed.