wide awake//[t.j.]

Rehearsal Dinner.

two months later

-night before wedding-

"don't worry, (y/n). it's just the rehearsal dinner, you don't have to be anxious." tyler told me as we drove to the venue.

"yeah, mommy. it's just rehearsal dinner." caroline added. i smiled at their attempts to make me feel less anxious. they were right. it was only the rehearsal dinner. if i messed up, it wouldn't matter then. that was the whole point of the rehearsal dinner.

"you guys are right. i'll be okay. how are you twins feeling?" i asked.

"i'm excited!" caroline enthused.

"me too. our cousins are gonna be there, right?" noah asked me.

"yup. everyone is gonna be there. even nana." i told them. my mom arrived to columbus the night before. the kids loved when she came, because they loved her interesting italy stories.

"nana's home from italian?" caroline asked. i giggled at her attempt to say italy.

"sissy, it's italy not italian." noah informed her.

"an italian is someone born in italy, honey." i told caroline. she nodded in acknowledgment.

tyler pulled into the driveway of the venue. he parked next to kelly who was waiting for us in her car with chris. my mom texted me saying how she was taking an uber and would be slightly late.

i unbuckled my seatbelt and went to the back to unbuckle the twins. tyler had already unbuckled noah so i just unbuckled caroline.

"grandma!" the kids exclaimed when they saw kelly. they ran up to her immediately and tyler and i just chuckled.

"geez it's only been a couple weeks. you'd think it's been two years." i joked. tyler chuckled.

"yeah? just wait til they see your mom. it really has been two years since they've seen her." he replied.

"true, true." i agreed. we walked up to kelly and chris, and greeted them before we all made our way into the venue.

everything was almost completely set up for the following night. all we had to do that night was set up the rest of the dinner decor and then practice speeches. although, tyler and i were saving our vows for the ceremony.

kelly, tyler, and i began to set everything up. maddy, will, and their kids arrived after a few minutes which was fortunate, given the twins were getting bored. once they arrived, caroline and noah went to play with their cousins while maddy helped us set up.

after a couple of hours, we finished setting everything up and everyone finally arrived. i went to sit with my mom and the twins when i noticed she was telling them one of her stories.

"..and then the man began speaking to me in italian. i tried using the italian i knew to tell him that i didn't speak italian very well, but i must have insulted him. boy, he began yelling so many italian words i didn't know. but from what i could understand, he thought i said something bad about his mom." the twins stared at her in amazement. i sat by them and passed my mom a glass of champagne.

"catching up with the kids, i see?" i asked. she nodded and smiled.

"nana had an encounter with an italian man." noah said, as-a-matter-of-factedly. i chuckled.

"so i heard." i replied. just then, tyler sat by us.

"we're going to do a few speeches soon. i'm a little nervous, because God only knows what story josh is gonna bring up." he told me. i giggled.

"i'd be more worried about zack." i said. tyler's eyes widened.

"oh no." he groaned. i felt my phone vibrate so i took it out of the pocket of my dress.

tori: my plane lands tomorrow at 10 am! can't wait to watch you get married. love you girly!

i smiled. so she was arriving at 10 am and jesse at 7 am. jesse would get ready at his parents house, tori already had a hotel booked, and my mom and step dad were also staying at a hotel. at least those parts were settled.

i told tyler about what tori said and he gave me a simple thumbs up.

a few minutes passed of me catching up with my mom when i heard someone talking through the microphone.

"h-hey is this on?" i snapped my head to look at the stage. surely enough, it was josh mic testing the microphone.

"i was told that some of us could do our speeches tonight so i decided i wanted to go first." josh started. "so one night a couple years ago, tyler and i had a competition. we wanted to see who could drink more redbulls. so of course, we drank a lot. i ended up having seven but of course, tyler outdid me and had about twelve or thirteen. i felt fine after our competition but tyler got sick. i remember having to call (y/n) so she could pick him up. i expected her to be annoyed because yanno, he only got sick because of some stupid competition but she actually just laughed with us. she didn't seem annoyed at all. and once the two of them left i was like 'man, she just laughed it off and wasn't pissy at all. if they don't get married someday, i am gonna be so upset.' and now, obviously, they're getting married. so thanks for making my dreams come true, haha." everyone laughed a bit. "but seriously, i really am happy for you two. congratulations, and i love you guys."

everyone cheered and laughed. tyler and i looked at each other and smiled. i remembered that night very well. and i could tell he did too.

after josh's speech, tyler parents did one and then so did my mom. their's were more heartfelt but we still loved the speeches nevertheless. once the speeches were done (well, the ones that were being done that night) everyone decided to get going so we all had enough sleep for the big day.

as tyler, the twins, and i were about to leave zack came up to us with a big smile.

"don't you two worry, i still have a great speech planned for tomorrow. just you wait." he told us.

"real assuring, zack." tyler sighed. i giggled.

"can't wait to hear it." i said. "but for now you gotta go home and get some rest. see you tomorrow, zack."

"yup, see you both tomorrow. bye." zack told us, leaving to go find tatum. i wrapped my arm around tyler who had caroline by his side and took noah's hand as we all walked to the car.