Me, You, & The Party Rock Crew

“But I say that I hate you with a smile on my face. Oh, look what we became.” – Olivia Rodrigo

“Izzie, I promise, with everything Martín has planned, the only time you and Simon will even interact is on the actual day, if that,” Hala’s voice was soothing and reassuring as always on the other end of the receiver. 

Meanwhile, Izzie was relentlessly hammering the boxing bag like she was in the ring, going toe-to-toe with Floyd Mayweather or Canelo. 

“I never said I was bothered,” she huffed, landing another sharp punch. “Just surprised he’s showing up.” 

Her tone was tense, but then again, as an adult, she wore tension like her favorite sneakers–settling into the upper back and shoulders, right where it always did. 

“Isabella, I can hear it in your voice. And I’m pretty sure that poor punching bag has taken some professional boxer-level hits by now.”

“I’m just mildly tense. Mildly,” Izzie half-admitted.

“It’ll be fine, I promise you. We’ll be so busy we’ll forget Simon even exists. Especially when his wife—sorry—fiancée—dared to even attempt to ask me to be included in wedding festivities,” Hala admitted.

“She. Did. Not.” Izzie froze mid-swung, the shock pulling her straight to the floor. Stelly trotted over and curled up in her lap, purring loudly. 

“To make it worse, she didn’t even ask me herself. She told Simon to ask Martin on her behalf.” 

“Because she knows you’d tell her to kick rocks and she’d be butt hurt.”

“Obviously, but it just shows her character too, you know? I’m just still unsure why he decided to marry Elaine of all people–especially after everything. Even Martín finds her incredibly grating.”

“Wait, he does?”

“Oh yeah. Remember the one New Year’s party they invited us to? We barely lasted half an hour. Sure, Elaine’s a great party hostess, but the moment she opened her mouth, we both wanted to punch her in the face.”

“God, that sounds torturous.”

“You can imagine how annoyed she is about the wedding being around the same time as their annual party,” Hala laughed, her voice bubbling with amusement. 

It made Izzie smile. No matter how bad her mood was, hearing Hala’s laughter always made things better. 

“She can eat shit for all I care—” Izzie stopped herself exhaling sharply. “Let me stop. This isn’t me. I need to let go of this anger–it’s been four years for crying out loud.” 

Four years. And here she was, still letting it gnaw at her, letting it turn her venomous–the complete opposite of who she was. 

Because, truthfully? Izzie did feel for Elaine. 

Most of Elaine’s disdain stemmed from her own insecurity. She hated how Izzie could walk into a room without caring who was watching. She especially hated how Simon always seemed to follow, practically hypnotized by her presence. 

She did not want to spend the rest of her life playing second fiddle to Isabella Wallace. 

But if she was being honest, this wasn’t the first time Izzie felt like Elaine was trying to stake a claim where it wasn’t needed. 

Memories flickered in her mind like an old digital camera, pulling her back to a moment that felt both a lifetime ago and just yesterday to when she shopped for her first homecoming dress. 

Hattie’s words echoed in her head even years later, but Izzie shook them off. It didn’t matter now. She smoothed her hands over the fabric of her bridesmaid’s dress, standing in front of the mirror. Hala’s vision, but damn she looked good in it.

“Alright, be honest,” Izzie said, adjusting the bodice before stepping back to appear on the screen for Hala.  “How do I look?

“You look so HOT!!! Oh my god, the groomsmen might just lose it over you,” Hala beamed excitedly via FaceTime.

“I’m in absolute awe of this dress. I look killer!” Izzie twirled a few times, soaking in the way the fabric shimmered.

“The concept comes from your freshman homecoming dress, and of course, your prom dress. I just adore how blue looks on you, clearly,” Hala chuckled.

“Well, you’re absolutely not wrong and I am obsessed with the concept you came up with,” Izzie grinned.

“Daaaaaamn, look at you, Izzie!” Martin’s voice was heard off-screen.

“Oh hush, you!” Hala playfully scolded.

“Now I know how I’ll have my makeup, I just have to figure out my hair for the big day!” Izzie was already strategizing. She was meticulous when it came to looks–especially for big events like her best friend’s wedding.

“Knowing you, you’ll make magic.” 

“Speak for yourself!” Izzie exclaimed. “You’ll be the magical one and the only one, future Mrs. Sanchez!” 

 ”That’s what I keep telling her and she doesn’t believe me! Help me out, Iz!” Martin said off camera. 

Hala nudged him off-screen and it was followed by a loud,

“Hey! Ow! Babe!” coming from Martin.

Izzie grinned. “Thank you for the free comedy show.”

“Any time! You feeling any better?” Martin asked. 

“Loads better now that I’ve tried on the dress,” she chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already got my primas on Elaine watch duty. If I have to burn a bridge, I’ll do so. I honestly don’t care, I want this day to be as effortless for Hala,” he pointed out.

“That…is so disgustingly cute,” Izzie smiled brightly. It made her heart swell knowing her best friend had found someone who truly understood her. 

“All bases are basically covered,” Hala chimed in with a laugh.

“You guys know this isn’t about me, right?” Izzie pointed out matter-of-factly.

“It’s the principle of respect. She’s coming in as a repaid debt, but otherwise?” Hala explained.

“Hm…you’ve got a point, I guess,” Izzie shrugged.

Before Izzie could say anything else on the matter, her phone was interrupted by an incoming call.

“Oh crap, it’s Hattie!” Izzie breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Ooh, three-way call?” Hala offered.

“Annnd that’s my cute to go,” Martin called out loudly. 

Once again, Hattie was not beating the striking fear to the hearts of men allegations. Martin would insist he wasn’t scared–just that he found Hattie ‘polarizing’. Another word for scared, if you asked Izzie. 

“Wimp!” Hala called after him, the door closing in the background.

“The theory still stands,” Izzie teased as she added Hattie to the call.

“Hey, bitches!” Hattie’s voice was heard very loud and clear.

“Hey, hoe!” Izzie responded with a laugh.

“Heyyyy!” Hala joined in.

“Wait, IZ, is that THE maid of honor dress?!” Hattie all but screamed, her excitement palpable.

“Yup!” Izzie did another twirl.

“I am in love with it. The beadwork, the color, the design. It’s perfect! I will forever be in awe of Pakistani and South Asian designers,” Hattie sighed wistfully.

“I’ll be sure to pass the message along to my cousin,” Hala chuckled.

“Not Noora, right?” Hattie asked.

Hala winced, and Izzie grimaced. Noora had been a sore spot for both girls since their falling out in 2018. That…was a rough time. Even now, the mere mention of her name made Izzie’s stomach twist tighter than it did with Simon. 

“Sorry, I had to double-check,” Hattie genuinely apologized.

“It’s fine, it’s in the past. My cousin Yasmin is the one who designed it! She had it done in Pakistan and flew it out to her boutique in LA just to get it to Izzie in record time!” Hala explained in detail.

“That’s amazing. Like, wow! Kudos to her!” The excitement returned between the three women. 

“It really is! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get out of it before I sweat through it,,” Izzie chuckled, disappearing into the bathroom. 

“I wanted to call to let y’all know I’ll be flying in town by Friday, so if anyone needs any extra wedding support, please don’t hesitate,” Hattie offered.

“You are an absolute saint!” Izzie called from the bathroom.

“I could seriously cry with joy right now,” Hala smiled graciously.

“I honestly wasn’t expecting to be back soon, but just know I have your backs,” Hattie reassured them.

The sound of Hattie’s voice, steady and familiar, stirred something in Izzie. It had been so long since she’d heard that kind of assurance from anyone, and the warmth seeped into her. Her mind drifted, as it often did when the weight of the past crept in, to a time when things felt simpler–when friends were always around, and life was full of moments like this. 

The next afternoon, Izzie had made a quick run to the local super mercado when she realized she had run out of sazon and avocados for taco night and she knew damn well Riley would never let her live it down. As she strolled through the aisles, the radio speaker overhead began to play classic cumbias, but her heart nearly stopped upon hearing that damn song from many moons ago. She could still remember the dance moves, practicing in the living room, her mom counting her steps—being twirled by Simon—the elation on her face, the endearment in those green eyes of his. The laughter and the memories all echoed in her head. It seemed so long ago when things were simpler, things were easier, her life seemed more put together as a teen than she felt it did in adulthood.

She shook her head, quickly grabbing what she needed and a bottle of tequila reposado. She’d need it after the countless flashbacks she had had after the song haunted her again. After paying and sitting through what was the longest 15 minutes of her life, the memories started to trickle back in, like the rain drops she missed from back home. She began to appreciate the rain more after moving to Southern California, after all.

The memories, like the rain, came slowly at first, just a drop here and there–until they flooded her thoughts all at once. The drive was filled with nostalgia, the laughter of a misfit group of teens just trying to get by echoed in her head. Sunwoo’s inappropriate jokes, Carter’s deep metaphors, the way Callie would hide her face because her face got too red from laughing. Daisy’s exasperated eye roll. She missed it all. 

Once Izzie arrived home, dropped her keys off into the fruit bowl–that held no fruit, just her work and car keys–she made her way into the kitchen. Stelly hopped down from her cat tree to greet her favorite person, her long striped tail running across Izzie’s leg leaving a trail of hair with it. Izzie shook her head with a laugh and knelt down to lightly scratch the spot in between Stelly’s back that she enjoyed before heading to wash her hands and get the food going. 

Already feeling nostalgic enough, she threw on her throwback playlist that played Far East Movement’s Rocketeer in the background softly. Homecoming echoed in her head all over again. She shook her head, trying to push the thought aside. The past was in the past. They were no longer kids and she needed to accept the fact that they couldn’t be friends anymore. She had 6 weeks to get her feelings in check. 

That was when she got an email notification that read: 

s.mankowski@srccorp.org

Subject: Long Time, Old Friend

Izzie nearly dropped her phone into the pan and caught it, nearly burning her hand.

“No no no no no, this is not real. I’m dreaming. Dreaming. Yup. I’m delulu, clearly,” Izzie rambled to herself when the doorbell rang and looked from her window to see Riley had just pulled in with her husband, Tony. What a time to be alive, Izzie thought to herself. She’d have to figure out how to explain her current existential crisis to her best friend.

Before she could go and answer the door, Izzie scrambled for a shot glass, cracked open the tequila, and took a shot. She made sure to turn off the fajita mix that she had made because the last thing she needed was crispy onions and well-burnt peppers. She would need it to survive the night. The last thing she needed was to be a frantic mess. Taking a breath she ran to open the door with her dazzling bright smile. 

“Riley! Tony! Hey, thanks so much for coming on by again! Wait, where’s Max?” Izzie asked curiously. Max was their very bubbly 2-year-old who loved to torment Estelle with his toddler antics but was Izzie’s youngest best friend.

“Please, thank you for having us over! How could I pass up the perfect opportunity to gossip over tacos and tequila am I right? Oh, and Max’s with Grandma for the evening, the big kids are out to play today!” 

Tony snorted and shook his head. “I’ll let you girlies do all that, but I’m gonna be watching the game on your TV if that’s cool?” 

“Totally, I’ve already got the channel on, make yourself at home,” Izzie stepped aside to let her friends in and the smell wafted them in the face. All their stomachs began to growl. 

“You…wouldn’t happen to have some chips and dip, right?” Tony asked as he and Riley kicked off their shoes at the door. 

“I do, it’s already set up. I even made Riley’s favorite dip–” Izzie began and within an instant, she ran towards the dip area. 

“Big back,” he grumbled after his wife who proudly flipped him off. 

Izzie always found their relationship amusing. Both of them were very outgoing, although Tony was much more reserved, but held a quiet strength. He was sarcastic, but very much matched Riley’s energy. She was louder, fiery, and as they all joked, a certified hater–but she was the one who kept it real. She called out whatever she didn’t like. That was what made them work. Izzie often joked in another life they would’ve been enemies to lovers, but other than that, they were great together. 

“Hey, Iz?” Riley said in between bites. “You okay?” 

“Girl,” Izzie gave her best friend a knowing look. 

“Oh. OH. Okay, I’m sitting,” She ran over to the balcony area where the meat was still grilling, plopping into one of the seats. 

“You remember the story I told you about the infamous Simon?” Izzie sensationalized, wiggling her fingers around as if she were telling some horror story. 

“Yes…” Riley trailed off with a worried look. 

“He’s back. Well. Not back here, but he emailed me–” 

Before Izzie could even finish her sentence Riley held out her hands. “Let me see it. Right now. Don’t say anything else. I need to see this for myself!” 

Izzie hesitated for a moment as she pulled the phone from the pocket of her overalls. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t delete it or respond, you know this, but this is serious!” 

“Okay, okay!” Izzie unlocked her phone and quickly opened her email app and the email, shoving the phone into Riley’s hands before she could even catch a glimpse at what looked like a very long email. 

There was a very long, pregnant pause between the two women as Riley stared down at the phone, slowly scrolling, taking in every word that had been so meticulously typed out. There were moments where her ocean blue eyes widened other moments where her brow creased, or she’d run a hand through her dark locks and sigh. She had a tendency to do that when she was stressed and whatever was said in this email triggered the Riley Ruelle stress response. 

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Izzie sat down, sinking into her balcony seat, wishing the seat would just swallow her whole. 

“I–Look, Iz, ever since you told me the story of what happened with you and Simon, it just makes it so damn clear that he never deserved you and this just makes it so clear. I mean–” She let out an angry huff, the tips of her ears turning red. 

“How about we focus on eating tacos, we can revisit this once I read it tonight?” 

“Sounds like a great idea because I’m ready to cut a hoe!” 

“Max doesn’t need his mom in jail, queen!” Tony called out from the living room, the two women erupted into laughter. 

The night was filled with laughter, tacos, and the usual gossip of the two women’s lives, with the occasional chiming in of Tony and his own work antics. Everything from Riley running into Heather, their super religious former co-worker that the two had worked with during summer camp, to Izzie filling in on the gossip about Quinn and him getting back with his girlfriend Rosalyn and how it caused a rift in their old volleyball friend group. Not to mention, Izzie may or may not have been secretly crushing on Quinn–doomed from the start, but she knew she’d have to take the loss with it. 

“I mean, c’est la vie. Besides, Quinn’s like 6 years younger than me. I have no business as a 30-year-old dating a 24-year-old,” Izzie said in finality. 

“Besides, he was such a weenie and still has a whole way to go in life. You need a stronger personality guy,” Riley waved it off. She was not the biggest fan of Quinn–mostly because when he worked at her summer camp, he did great until Rosalyn came back into the picture and that amazing work ethic slacked so hard. He chalked it up to “grad school” until Nora tipped off Izzie that he was nearly flunking out of grad school. All that for a woman who dumps him and moves on with nearly half the Cal State Los Angeles student body…

Of course, as per usual, they’d yap their heads off and in no time, the sun had dipped past the ocean’s horizon. This signaled their evening of gossip ending and the two women were hugging at the door, with Tony heading to the car. 

“We’ll catch up next time I swing by and visit your school, right?” Riley asked. 

“You mean next week?” Izzie mused with a grin. 

“Duh,” Riley winked as she made her way down the walkway to the driveway. “I’ll text you when we make it home.”

“Please do! Drive safe,” Izzie waved and made her way back inside where Stelly was perched, half asleep on the counter. 

“Come on, Stell, let’s tidy up and head to bed.” Izzie was grateful to Riley and Tony for always helping her clean up everything, all she had to do was put her dishware and cups away and that was it for the evening. 

As Izzie finished putting the last cup into the cupboard, she looked over at her phone, maybe a little longer than she needed to. She unlocked it, her thumb barely hovering over the re-marked as unread email, thanks to Riley. All she had to do was open it. Read what Simon had to say. Her stomach twisted and the knot in her throat began to form. 

Instead, she turned away, distracted by the sound of Stelly running over to her water fountain. For a moment, Izzie stared at it, remembering their first argument in front of the freshman water fountain as they jokingly dubbed it. 

It was strange. Of all the memories to come rushing through. Their first argument wasn’t one she’d ever think of. 

Suddenly, she was back. 14, swinging on the edge of 15.