Art, Tashi and Patrick. The dynamic trio that was always meant to be together, no matter the mess of cheating and infidelity that somehow they managed to get through and somehow managed to bring them together. Married— all three were now married. It took a few lawyers, a hell of a lot of strings, but when you have money like they do there is always a way.

Now, as they stand in your engagement party to some dumb guy who totally doesn’t deserve you in any sense of the word, the three of them are reminded once more that it used to be four. Art, Tashi, and Patrick.

And you.

Of course, Stanford was years ago. The mess of people you were then is not who you are now. Still, when they see you after ten years of radio silence on each side, all they can think of is how beautiful you are. You’re glowing, a soon-to-be bride, and everything they have wanted and lost because they were too scared to rekindle the friendship that burned between you four in your college days.

Tashi should have never isolated you when she snapped her knees. Art should have never cast you away in Tashi’s favor. Patrick shouldn’t have left you in that parking lot, telling you it’s for the best that you don’t talk. The regret tastes as bitter as the beer you used to share in their dorm.

Still, they watch, transfixed by your brilliance— and aching with the need to fix what they broke, no matter how selfish it was. Ten years without you and they still loved you. They could never get over their greed to have you, even in a place like this.