.
PROLOGUE:
I couldn't move. The room was incredibly crowded, bridesmaids and flower girls running around at the last second, trying to look their prettiest. Photographers scampered past the door, running to the backyard to get in place. The cake rolled past, and I felt like I was going to throw up.
So I stood there, frozen in the back corner of the room, staring at myself in the mirror. My hands kept smoothing down my dress even though there were no wrinkles. Two months ago I thought this dress looked absolutely beautiful on me. Today I wanted to tear it into shreds. It was the day I was getting married and I had this growing feeling that the wrong man was waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
So yeah, you could say I had cold feet.
Aaron was a wonderful man and I loved him, I really did. From the moment we met, two years earlier. He the All - Star Giants player, I the loved celebrity asked to throw out the first pitch. We were America's Sweethearts, and he was great for me. He made me smile, laugh, and he made me completely forget about That Night. That was the biggest thing that attracted me to him. When I was around him I didn't think about Chris at all… and it was the first time in ages that I did.
At the time I just didn't know if the love I was feeling was real, or if I was just trying to run away from the man I loved who didn't love me back for so many years.
"Wow," said Phil, standing behind me in his tux. "if Aaron wasn't twice my size I'd totally punch him out and marry you myself."
My heart was going to pop out of my throat. I looked at him from his reflection in the mirror. "Tell me I'm doing the right thing."
Phil's face turned and he looked around at all the people in the room. The room was so loud I could barely hear myself think. Maybe that was a good thing, and I could just get on with this wedding not thinking about it at all.
"Okay everybody." Phil said in his loudest voice. "I need to talk to the blushing bride alone for a few minutes so please, just file out, okay? Thanks very much."
Everybody nodded and smiled at the two of us mouthing "you look beautiful" to me. I smiled, waved and tried to hide the paralyzing fear growing inside me.
"Zooey." Phil said in his calmest, fatherly voice.
"Tell me." I said a little louder, now pacing the empty room. "Tell me I'm doing the right thing, marrying Aaron."
Phil took off his dinner jacket and sat down. "You know I can't do that."
"Phil!" I whined, and collapsed down next to him.
"Hey, hey relax." Phil said, wrapping his arms around me, giving me a light kiss on the head. "Zooey, this is your choice. You don't have to do this."
I scoffed. "Badgley Mischka custom designed this dress for me. There are hundreds of paparazzi out there- vans, buses and helicopters of them- waiting to get our picture after we take those damn vowels and worst of all, it would absolutely shatter Aaron. I can't hurt him like, like some people have hurt me."
"Sounds like you care about him a great deal."
I looked up at Phil's warm smile. "I do."
"And he loves you more than anything, and I mean anything in the world. He never stops talking about you, thinking about you, I honestly thought he was going to ditch his own bachelor party the other night and go find you." Phil stood up and handed me a tissue. "You two are perfect for each other."
I'd stopped crying. My heart was back where it belonged and I had a smile on my face. Phil was the older brother I never had, and he always knew how to make my tears stop. "Thank you." I whispered, and begun to wipe my makeup and get on with my wedding day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris woke up at 10:30 with a massive headache. His house was quiet, too quiet. Usually at this time in the morning, Phil, Guy, Jonny and Will were in his house, making themselves at home, making music. Apple and Moses were at their mother's for the week.
Why isn't anyone here?
He rolled over to the coffee table and grabbed his cell phone. No missed calls. Then, he started to get suspicious. Chris pressed "Phil Harvey" in his contacts and put the iPhone to his ear.
A few rings and then voicemail. Phil was the kind of guy that constantly had his phone on hand and picked it up within the first ring.
Something was up.
"Jonny Buckland", no answer there.
"Guy Berryman", straight to voicemail.
Lastly "Will Champion", and Chris could feel himself starting to get sweaty. Was everyone avoiding him? Finally, someone answers the phone. "Eh, hello?" Chris could hear Will whispering to other people, he was somewhere loud.
"Will! Where the hell are you guys?" Chris said, rolling out of bed to the kitchen.
More whispering, and Chris started to get annoyed. "We're uh, we're in Cambridge. Yeah, ssh, I know just shut up."
Chris chuckled. "Why?" He thought about it, and didn't think he'd ever been to Cambridge.
"Chris," Will said, and the other noises started to get more faded. "Zooey's getting married today."
His knees almost buckled underneath him and his face felt numb. So many things started racing through his mind. He never thought she'd do it. The arrogance in him made him think that she was just with this prick for revenge against Chris, and what he did to her two years ago. "Will," Chris said, throwing on his shoes. "you have to give me the address right now."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"These shoes are awful." I said, holding onto Phil's shoulder as I adjusted my stilettos. "I should've just done a hippie wedding and gone shoe less."
"C'mon, they're hot. Shoeless would be a little creepy, too. And the kiss would be so anti climactic, because you'd probably have to climb a ladder to reach Aaron's lips. I really do think he's a commoner giant."
I giggled and smiled at Phil as we stood in front of those giant double doors that led out to the ceremony. "Thank you, by the way."
Phil looked back at me. "For what?"
"Everything." I said. "For always being there for me and, for walking me down the aisle today. I couldn't think of someone better to do this."
He smiled at me as the double doors began to open, and the audience of two hundred got on their feet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris was breaking an unbelievable amount of laws as he sped to Cambridge. He was planning his own version of The Graduate but hadn't figured out the details yet. All he knew was he needed to stop this wedding.
He finally arrived at the address Will gave him and put his hood on, trying to hide his face from the paparazzi. It was jam packed with fans of the couple and paparazzi, waiting for a glimpse of the happy two. They were all rushing towards the front gates of the gigantic mansion that was holding the wedding. Something was getting them all stirred and excited and Chris realized what it was- wedding bells. He ran up to the gate to get a glimpse of what was going on. At the top of the hill, in front of the ancient mansion was the audience, spilling out into the front, clapping, holding umbrellas to block themselves from the sun. It was so far away that Chris couldn't make out anyone specifically, but knew he'd know it when he saw her. The guests filed around an old white convertible and suddenly, there she was. Dressed in a long extravagant white gown, holding the hand of the man Chris hated more than anything. She was waving, squeezing people's hands, kissing her new husband on the cheek.
Chris couldn't believe it- he was too late.
No comments:
Post a Comment