Casual Sabotage

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Caleb and I were sat waiting outside of the chapel, clasping the now signed documents in our hands. I could feel the nerves tingle up my spine and I think Caleb could tell that my anxiety levels were through the roof. He placed a hand to my knee and looked at me.

"Are you feeling okay, Sal?" He asked.

"Yeah..." I stammered, smiling nervously at him.

"I can tell that you're worried about something." Caleb sighed.

"Marriage is just scary to me." I explained. "In a good way. Obviously."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He agreed. "Staying with someone all because you signed a contract and throwing your life away."

"Well, no...not throwing your life away." I cut in. "It's just a massive commitment to make."

"But it proves how much we love each other, right?" Caleb questioned.

"Right." I nodded.

The doors open and a newly-wedded couple came out, smiling at each other before the ordained minister turned to us. My breath held in my throat when she called Caleb's name. We stood from our seats where we had been waiting and Caleb took my hand in his. He guided me towards the chapel, but I took a moment to turn back to the entrance. Why did I feel like I was making a mistake all of sudden?

The minister closed the doors behind us and proceeded to direct both Caleb and I to the front. This felt wrong. I always dreamed that my wedding would be this big fancy event to celebrate the love between myself and my soon-to-be husband. But...this wasn't anywhere near to what I wanted. My mom wasn't even here to see her boy get married and that fact alone should have made me realise that this was not how I wanted things to play out between Caleb and I.

"Are you two ready?" The minister asked.

"Yes." Caleb answered, turning to me. I felt a huge amount of pressure to answer quickly.

"Sure." I panicked.

"Okay." The minister smiled. "We have some witnesses here since your family were unable to attend at such short notice. If you could please take hold of each other's hands and repeat after me."

We followed her instructions and looked towards each other. "Caleb, we'll start with you."

"I, Caleb Christopher, promise you, Salvatore Edward Anthony, that I will be your husband from this day forward. To be faithful and honest in every way, to honour the faith and trust you place in me, to love and respect you in your successes and in your failures, to make you laugh and to be there when you cry, to care for you in sickness and in health, to softly kiss you when you are hurting, and to be your companion and your friend, on this journey that we make together." Caleb proclaimed; his words bringing tears to form in my eyes.

"Sal, now it's your turn." She acknowledged. "Repeat after me."

"I, Salvatore Edward Anthony, promise you, Caleb Christopher, that I will be your husband from this day forward." I started. "To be faithful and honest in every way, to honour the faith and trust you place in me—"

"Stop everything!" A voice called as the double doors swung open and crashed into the wall with a loud bang. "I object to this marriage!"

Turning towards the back of the room, my heart was conflicted on how to feel when I saw Brian questionably dressed. His hair was a mess, he had thrown on a shirt that wasn't buttoned correctly and his pants were half hanging off him since he had rushed to even buckle his belt.

"Brian?!" I gasped. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life, Sal." He expressed, shuffling his way closer to where Caleb and I were stood. "I put it off for all of these years, but the truth is...I love you and I can't live without you."

I could feel Caleb's body tense after hearing the words spill from the man before us. I looked between the two and took a step back from Caleb, letting go of the clasp I had around his hands.

"Brian, I don't understand." I was beginning to cry. "You've had all this time to fix things between us and tell me the truth. Why now?"

"Because this isn't how it's supposed to play out." He replied. "Sal, I love you more than my words can ever express. I need you in my life and it should be me who you're marrying, not Caleb."

Brian took a step closer. "Sal, can't you see that he is using this as a way to hold your mistakes against you forever? It's a trap and you're falling right into it!"

"That's not true!" Caleb argued heatedly. "I love Sal."

"Liar!" Brian protested. "You're only doing this to force him into something that he's not ready for. He doesn't want it to be this way. He wants to have the perfect wedding day, not a midnight last minute ceremony!"

How did Brian know that? I had never once discussed my wishes with him before. "You almost got away with this stunt too but I saw right through your plans, Caleb. You were going to hold this against Sal forever and lead him through a life of misery."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Caleb snapped.

"Sal," Brian's voice caught my attention as I looked at him. "Do you really want to marry Caleb; right here and now?"

"Not really." I sighed. "Caleb, I felt forced into this just so that I wouldn't lose you. I was willing to give up everything for you and that should have been proof enough how much I loved you."

"What do you mean 'loved'?" He wondered, sounding particularly hurt by my choice of words.

"I'm not so sure that I do anymore." I admitted.

"Sal, this is your last chance." Caleb uttered. "It's me or him. Who do you pick?"

I looked to Caleb and searched his eyes. No matter how many times I had looked into them before, I had never seen such a conflict of hate, hurt, anger and mistrust contained within the blue colouring. This man had saved me from a deep hole that I was burying myself deeper and deeper into, but something felt incredibly off in that moment. This wasn't the Caleb that I had fallen in love with three years ago; he had changed but I was too blind to see that.

Turning my head, I looked to Brian. Oh, my sweet Brian. He had been my first everything and we had given it all up because I felt that he didn't love me anymore. But here was the truth staring at me right in the face. He had just poured his heart and soul out to me in front of Caleb, how was I supposed to make my choice? All these months I had spent falling harder in love with both men, but in reality, I should never have let things escalate this far between either of us. For months, I had put off making my choice, thinking that I could have the best of both worlds; but in reality, I was only making the outcome far more difficult than it needed to be.

"I choose..." I looked right to Caleb; I turned to the left towards Brian. I jumped into a committed decision and clammed my eyes shut, pointing towards my choice. "You."