An Epilogue Before We're Done |Virgato|

Chapter 8

"I don't know about this one," Chris says, looking around the place.

The venue is beautiful, to Joel's taste. It's near the beach, the reception area opening up towards the ocean and allowing guests to venture out onto the sand. Joel deduces it would be a beautiful place to hold the reception, and then have the actual ceremony in the grand ballroom just a floor above them. It was positively lovely for a beach wedding.

Not to Chris, though.

"What's wrong with this one?" Joel asks, stepping around the ballroom and holding his arms out. "It's on the beach, which is what the two of you wanted. The venue is near a hotel as well, which we could use to accommodate any family that comes."

"That's the issue," Chris explains to him, pushing Joel's arms down. "Bryana and I don't have large families. We don't exactly need a venue this large for such a small amount of people attending, don't you think?"

Joel rolls his eyes. "I doubt you even have your guest list completed, Chris. The wedding isn't for another what, five months? I'm positive that in the amount of time given, your guest list will have expanded. Besides, getting a venue large enough, just in case, helps with figuring out colors and a theme so we can get started ahead of schedule."

Chris merely blinks at him as he speaks, and Joel grumbles. "Don't worry, Bryana gave me colors I can work with, as well as the beach theme. I'm guessing the beach is incredibly important considering it's where the two of you met, and what you want as a theme."

That seems to get Christopher's attention, as a smile spreads across his face at the thought of the beach. "I spent a good part of my college life at the beach," Chris explains to him, hands tucked into his pockets as they venture out into the sand. "Something about the ocean seemed to make everything better, make the bad stuff go away. It was a coincidence that I ended up meeting Bryana there." He blushes a little, and Joel has to pinch himself to stop himself from thinking how adorable it was. "A lot of good things happened to me on the beach. Why not have another good thing happen there?"

Joel makes notes in his head as Chris speaks, anything to keep him from imagining himself in Bryana's place. "There are a few smaller venues we can check out, I guess, though I still stand on having a bigger venue. Our next stop is a secluded part of the beach that Bryana recommended, so let's see if that will work out."

Chris nods, his brown eyes glimmering with ideas. "Is there a chance we could have a luau for the reception? Maybe some tiki lights, a bonfire, throw in an acoustic band?" He turns to Joel, excitement running through him. "Could you possibly pull that off?"

Joel grins, "I can pull off anything you throw at me, Chris."

His words make Chris chuckle, looking down at his bare toes buried in the warm sand. "Also, for colors? I always thought Bryana was beautiful in yellow. I understand keeping the bride in white, but maybe incorporate yellow in the background? Light colors, you know?"

Joel nods at Christopher's words, keeping the color in mind. He knows Bryana had yellow among the colors she wanted, but Joel had yet to decide whether or not he could pull if off with the other colors Bryana brought to the table.

"The next two beach venues are within walking distance," Joel explains to him, pointing down the beach. "How about we just walk for a little bit? We can talk about the wedding from your perspective a bit more, figure out what you want-"

"Joel," Chris speaks up above Joel's rambling, making the boy stop and turn to face his client. "If you don't mind, I'd really like to talk about you."

"About me?" Joel questions, hands in his pockets. "I don't think right now is an appropriate time to discuss my personal life."

Chris nods, though it doesn't seem as though he's allowing the subject to drop so easily. "I guess I'm just curious to how you've been. Ten years is quite a long time, Joel. How did college go for you? When did you decide you wanted to be a wedding planner instead of an accountant?"

Knowing Chris wasn't about to let the subject go away, Joel rubs the back of his neck as he searches for an answer. Thinking back to ten years ago was never Joel's favorite pastime, mostly because of how much it still hurt to think about the past. "Well," he begins, continuing to walk towards the next venue. "College was wonderful, graduated with a degree in accounting, but it was after graduation that I realized that I wasn't very fond of doing that for the rest of my life. I wanted something more eventful, something spontaneous that I could see myself doing forever."

"And that ended up being wedding planning?"

Joel laughs, "Strange, I know. My assistant, Zabdiel? I met him after graduation. He worked at this run down accounting firm that I went to apply to, and as I was applying, he began talking about how it was his dream to help create something for couples. Zabdiel loved the idea of creating a day to remember for people, from start to finish. As he was rambling on and on about his idea to start a wedding planning business, it got me thinking about how much fun it would be."

"You became a wedding planner because a giant guy with bleached hair got you into it?" Chris chuckles, though it doesn't sound rude. It's more an amused chuckle, one that sounds disbelieving. "Joel Pimentel, taking a risk and doing something no one expected? That doesn't sound like you."

"Yeah, well, people change after a while," Joel snaps, though he didn't intend for it to sound that harsh. "Sorry."

Chris waves him off. "Don't be. I deserve a little hostility from you."

It's then that the inevitable conversation begins to make its way. It would be so simple, to bring up the very thing that broke them up and finally talk about it, figure out from the beginning what had made them go from happily ever after to a terrible end. It's not that Joel doesn't know himself what made them break up, because he does. He just wants to know if there were any regrets, if there could have been something, anything, that could have changed their minds.

He doesn't get a chance to ask before they have arrived at the next venue, and the waves have begun to tickle his feet. "A place like this is a little costly, but I can promise you that I can get you a wonderful deal on it."