The following morning, I accompany Sydney to a shop for her bridal dress. I’ve never been to one but have seen more than my share of them on television.

The boutique is spotless and outfitted in every possible color of creme. The floor is made of marble and there’s a pedestal in the next room with a large three-panel mirror where the bride can stand and look at herself.

Under normal circumstances, this would be a joyous occasion to share with my best friend. But this day is covered in ominous clouds. Sydney is not getting married for the right reasons, in fact she’s getting married for all of the wrong ones.

I’ve tried to talk to her about this before and I want to say something again but now is not the right time. She knows exactly how I feel and re-stating all of those things will just make her feel worse about herself.

No, now she needs me to be a friend and that’s exactly what I intend to do. A tiny, size zero sales associate dressed in black, from head to toe, approaches us smiling from ear to ear with her pearly whites.

She asks Sydney a million different questions about the kind of dress she wants to get. I wait for her to waiver and hesitate but she comes right out and tells her she wants something with a mermaid cut that accentuates her hour-glass figure. The sales associate sweeps her over to their inventory against the wall and somehow peruses through the piles of identically colored dresses to pull out the ideal contenders.

While I wait for Sydney to get changed, I lose myself in research on my phone. My mother said that she had no idea what Pink Eye’s real name was but someone has to, right? I go through Facebook and look at every person who Owen is friends with. Most of them don’t have the privacy settings set up so it’s easy for me to peruse through their friends list and look for any identifiable names.

When I get started, I think that I might actually stumble onto someone named Pink Eye but I quickly give up that notion. After Sydney comes out in one dress that makes her look so beautiful I practically tear up, I turn my attention back to the phone and start contacting every one of his friends with the same prewritten message.

Hi, my name is Olive Kernes and I’m Owen's sister. I am looking for an old friend of his who used to go by the name of Pink Eye. It’s very important that I get in contact with him. I hope you can help me. Do you happen to know his real name? Or a current address and/or place of employment?