Page 16 of I Love You, I Hate You

What followed was no less than four photos of Owen’s best friend in different ties for his upcoming wedding, two of which appeared to be exactly the same. Fortunately, Mark had replied already, saving Owen the trouble of deciding which indistinguishable tie the groom should wear.

Mark Olsen

#3

Trust me

Owen Pohl

I’d go with Mark’s opinion since he maybe cares more about this wedding than you do

Mark Olsen

He’s not wrong

Andy Lee

In that case would you make a playlist for the wedding? It’s the one thing neither of us wants to do.

Mark Olsen

HELL YEAH I WOULD

Andy Lee

I’ll send you me and Cassie’s must plays.

I love you.

Owen Pohl

Why am I in this text chain? I feel unnecessary

Andy Lee

You’re in it because I value your contributions.

Even if I should have just texted Mark directly since he’s the one who has opinions on all things wedding.

Mark Olsen

Look I just wanna get married okay

But until I find someone I have to live vicariously through you

Owen Pohl

Vicariously is a pretty big word for you, bro

Did you get a word of the day dictionary?

Mark Olsen

Fuck you

Also yes

Owen snorted and Andy turned the conversation towards going out sometime soon, since the three of them hadn’t gotten together in a while. Owen had met Andy during a summer internship at a white-shoe firm downtown in law school—Owen had gone to Harvard but interned in Minneapolis, while Andy had gone to the U of M—and Mark had been Andy’s college roommate. But Mark was smart enough not to go to law school and instead was a high school gym teacher out in Apple Valley. They were the closest friends he had, save Nora, but Owen hadn’t mentioned Victoria to them either. For one thing, Andy almost certainly knew her from law school—and if he didn’t, his fiancée Cassie definitely did, on account of her only being one year behind Andy in law school—and for another, he didn’t really feel like dealing with the trash talking that would ensue once they found out he had a fuckbuddy, even if it was good-natured.