Partners In Crime

•See you at the next one•

I'm a big fan of hotel stories if it wasn't obvious-

=/=

Everyone knew better than to invite Alex Turner and Marina Rodriguez to a wedding at the same time.

Sure, the two were fine on their own. Together at any other social event, a bit of a nuisance duo, but still manageable.

At weddings, they were a bad omen to any foolish couple who'd made the fatal mistake.

It started off as coincidence. The Sandersons' wedding began as a delightful event in an Italian chapel. It ended as the infamous Goat Uprising after a stampede of them charged down the aisle, chewing the bride's dress and terrorising the screaming babies. The mother of the groom had nightmares for weeks about a goat who had cornered her to a wall.

The battalion of goats was in no way connected to what Alex and Marina were doing on their farm the night before. The farmer had just about enough of the kids who came for the wedding. They kept jeering and making stupid faces at his precious flock. Alex and Marina were just there. They weren't doing anything suspicious with the locks on the gates. They weren't snickering to themselves on the roof of the chapel, gazing skyward afterwards.

Soon it was undeniable the two had an uncanny power to ruin weddings. After the food poisoning at the Ivanovs' wedding, the sudden appearance of a drunken ex at the Hashims' and the concussion of the priest from a falling guitar at the Rodriguez wedding (yes, her cousin's wedding), almost everyone got the hint: Never invite them together.

And it was the Murphys' fault. They'd skimmed their guest list, not double checking that they weren't summoning the omen.

Alex and Marina were at their reception, sitting beside each other at a long, wooden table, after Alex had performed a set with his band only moments before. They were barely known at that point, having rarely left Matt, the drummer's, garage. 

Glasses upon glasses faced them amidst floral decor and flickering candles arranged in the middle of each table. Most people were celebrating on the dance floor. Everything had gone smoothly, no kinks yet.

The maid of honour, clearly drunk, approached them, grabbed a candle and let them know of the speech she was about to make. Alex and Marina glanced to each other. She stumbled her way towards the DJ set. They were in a furnished wooden barn for the reception. And she was incredibly drunk.

Her eyes blinked heavy. Her grip on the miniature fire loosened, dropping with a thud.

The next second a thick layer of fire crawled up the wall beside her. Everyone began screaming, rushing out of the barn, older guests fainting all at once.

That time, it wasn't their doing. The bride had a stalker who'd scorned her since she first got engaged to the Murphy man. His vendetta came in the act of drenching the barn walls with petrol.

"They're going to pin it on us, aren't they?" said Marina, as everyone loitered outside the barn, the police cuffing a deranged looking man and stuffing him into the police car.

Alex shrugged. His hair had just started to grow out, falling over his eyes and framing his smirk.

"I wonder if we'll ever go to a wedding and have nothing insane happen, just for once," she remarked, wrapping the leather jacket he'd given to her around her. Her short black hair danced in the warm breeze. He chuckled.

"That'll be the day, Rini." He glanced off into space, his teeth fumbling with his lip. He reached and pulled a pre-rolled cigarette and lighter out of his jacket's pocket, fixating his gaze to her as he went to balance the stick in his mouth.

"See you at the next one?"

Marina returned the look in his eyes, trying not to smile too noticeably, for God knows what someone would think if she started smiling at this time.

"See you at the next one."