Alright, I’m done, you like ? Imara asks and I look in the mirror in front of me to see that she slicked it to the side, giving me more volume than I usually have.
I smile. I love it, thank you.
I get up from the chair, letting Imara continue to do the girl’s makeup. Lila hands me my suit, instructing me to go put it on in my room. I walk in there, closing the door. Before I can start changing, I notice the note on the bed and walk over to pick it up and read it. When I pick it up, I see that it’s Joey’s handwriting and my heart flutters as I start to read.
Well, good morning, my soon-to-be husband,
I just wanted to let you know that I have never been this excited about something in my life. I’m marrying my best friend, I mean, what else can compare to that ? I can’t wait to see my beautiful boy all dressed up in his suit, so you better be prepared because I’m going to freak out when I see you. I’ll see you soon, my fiance. Love you !
-Joseph (p. s. don’t tell anyone that you got this because I don’t want Cody to get in trouble)
I smile, holding the letter to my chest as my eyes start to get watery again at the idea that I’m literally marrying my best friend in, like, two hours. I hide the paper in the bedside table before starting to get dressed. I put on the dark gray pants first, loving how slimming it made me look. I slip on the white button-up shirt before tying the maroon tie around my neck, securing it with a silver tie clip that my dad wore when he married my mom.
I decided to do the whole something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue thing because it’s supposed to bring good luck. My dad’s tie clip was the something borrowed, the something old was a book that Elder Collins will be using for the ceremony that the elders have been using for centuries, which changed every few years to accommodate the change of time. The something new was me changing my last name to Brooks-Laine since I didn’t think I could part with my last name. My mom said that I had to incorporate the name somewhere, so the inside of my tie actually has the name woven in there. The something blue was the socks that Joey and I were going to wear that was a dark blue color.
I slipped on the gray suit jacket, buttoning one of the buttons since I thought it looked fancy when I did that. I put on my socks and shoes before going into the closet to look in the full length mirror at how I looked. If I do say myself, I thought I looked pretty damn good with my hair all fancy along with my clothes.
I made sure everything looked right and walked out the room, gaining everyone’s attention. Lila and my mom both gasped, immediately starting to tear up as they saw me in what I was about to get married in. My mom stepped forward, taking my hand in hers as she looked over my suit again before pulling me into a hug. My boy’s getting married.
Yeah, he is, I whisper to her, closing my eyes as I embraced the hug.
I noticed that my mom was wearing a gorgeous purple dress that fell just below her knee along with silver heels that made her taller than me. Her hair was curled and her makeup was beautiful, matching with a pink lipstick that made her seem young and fun. She let out a sigh, pulling away from the hug to wipe at her eyes. First, you graduate and now, you’re getting married. My baby’s growing too fast.
I chuckle, remembering when she cried the entire time during the graduation ceremony. Joey, Melissa, Cody, Tyler, Isaac, and I graduated six months ago after focusing our final months on school since we had been distracted the rest of our senior year on pack stuff. None of us got the best GPA, besides Tyler, because we rushed through a lot of stuff because we were just so excited to graduate after going to school for our whole life.
After this, nothing too big will happen for a few years, I promise, I tell her, gripping her hand to ease her panic that everything was happening so fast.
She stepped away before Lila came up, giving me a hug. She lets out a sigh as she probably feels the same way about her own son because not only did he graduate and is getting married this year, but he became the alpha last year. She’s probably feeling very overwhelmed with how everything happened so fast.
I can’t believe you’re officially going to become my son-in-law today, she tells me, pulling away from the hug to look at me with wide eyes as she thinks about the idea.
I chuckle, nodding my head. It’s crazy.
I look at her dress, which is a long-sleeved lace green dress that hits the floor when she walks that matches Conner, who I saw earlier in the day. He was wearing a matching green bowtie with his black suit and looked great. Lila had her hair up in a bun with a few curly strands purposely laid in front of her ears.
Tyler, you’re next, Imara said to her daughter and I was brought back to the present at all the people in the room that were there for Joey and I.
The front door opened and my dad walked in in a dark brown suit with a purple tie that matched my mom’s dress. When he saw me, his eyes softened and he let out a big smile as he stared at his son in his suit that he would get married in. Well, don’t you look dapper.
I chuckle, nodding my head. I guess.
Nice tie clip, he said, motioning to the silver clip that he had given me a few weeks ago when we first went to try on suits.
I look around the room, noticing how claustrophobic I was starting to feel with all these people. It might also be nerves because this was supposedly the biggest day of my life and I was already starting to feel it as I started at everyone moving around in the living room. I clear my throat, feeling like I was kinda being choked by my tie as I start to sweat.
Can I go outside ? I ask Melissa since she was in charge in making sure Joey and I don’t run into each other. When she notices how I was looking, she nods her head, placing her hand on my shoulder and ushering me outside where the semi-cold air hits me to bring me fresh air to help ease the choking feeling on my neck.
Let me speak with him alone, please, I hear my dad whisper to Melissa as I sit down on the brick steps to look out at the trees in front of the house. I can see in my peripheral vision that people are still setting up in the courtyard, probably placing the huge flowers we got to stand on both sides of the arch where we would stand during the ceremony.
My dad comes out with a sigh, sitting next to me on the steps. Melissa walks past us with her phone up to her ear as she rushes somewhere, probably to the guest house that Joey was at to make sure he doesn’t come outside. I look over my dad as he leans on his elbows, staring out at the trees as he lets out a sigh before looking over at me.
Do you feel like you kinda can’t breathe ? Like you’re super fidgety and needed to move from where you were ? He asks, completely knowing what I was going through when I was inside.
Yeah, I whisper, feeling terrible because even though I’m not having any second thoughts about marrying Joey, I’m just like, ‘is today a good time’ ?
That’s normal, okay ? Don’t feel wrong for being nervous because you’re about to make a huge life decision and that’s totally okay to feel nervous about. But you love him and you’re happy and you wanna get married, so you will, even if you feel like you shouldn’t be doing it, he tells me, placing his hand on my shoulder.
You felt this way ? I ask him.
He nods his head. Yeah, I thought I was going to have a panic attack because I couldn’t get my breathing under control. Like I was so excited to marry your mom, don’t get me wrong, but the day that we were actually going to do it, I froze and got so nervous. But once everything actually started happening, I was so happy and excited. I think it’s the waiting that’s the most nerve-wracking part because you build it up for so long and whatever.
I nod my head, letting out a sigh. Yeah, that makes sense.
You got this, Kade. You’re marrying a wonderful man and I know you’ll be so happy once it’s all finally done, he tells me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder to kiss the top of my head.
I use the palms of my hands to rub my eyes as the choking feeling finally starts to leave my body. I look up when I hear heels on the brick sidewalk to see Melissa coming back with her phone in her hand. When she sees my small smile, her look of nervousness clears up and she comes to stand in front of me. You doing alright ?