Buck can't believe it when he falls head over heels in love with the guy of his dreams, the only problem is, he's employed him to arrange his marriage to another woman.
“Hey, boss!” Ali greets Buck, as he finishes packing his toiletry kit, handing him a hot drink, “Got you a macchiato.”
Buck whines good naturedly, “Aliii, I told you, you’re not my assistant. Here, we’re all equal.”
Ali sets the drink down, joking, “Oh yeah? Then I’m giving myself a raise. My treat.”
Buck rolls his eyes, “Nice try.”, then checks his watch, with a hiss.
“Oh man, I’m gonna be late.”
Ali checks the clock on her phone, “Wedding’s not till 9, isn’t it?”
Buck picks up the kit and the coffee, saying as he walks past her, “Uh huh. Meet up in 2 hours?”, and when Ali nods, Buck moves faster towards the front door, past the sign that proudly displays Buckley’s Bridal, and begs, eyeing her clothes, “And please tell me you’re not wearing that ?”
Ali puts a hand to her chest, “What kind of friend would I be if I upstaged the grooms?”
Buck laughs, then kisses her on the cheek, “See you then.”
After Buck’s hair has been properly gelled, he orders into the phone, “Do the run through, and I’ll take care of the groom.”
Ali replies quickly, “ You got it, boss. ”, allowing Buck to hang up, which Maddie uses to grab his arm and ask,
“Hey there, little bro. How you holding up?”
Buck sighs in relief, “Amazing. Everything’s happening exactly how it’s supposed to.”
Maddie holds up a pair of cufflinks shaped like fire trucks, “May I?”, to which Buck holds out his arms.
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There’s a small snag when Maddie almost pokes him, “Whoops, sorry!”, before she finally snaps them both on. “Buck, you look so handsome.”
As Buck looks in the mirror for the umpteenth time, he has to agree, “Thank you.”
Buck, always prepared, walks right over to the toiletry kit, and pulls out a handkerchief, holding it out to her, “Need a hand...kerchief?”, which gets her to snort in surprise.
“But for real, Buck, I couldn’t be happier for you.”
Buck lifts his eyebrows in surprise, “What happened to misery loves company?”
Instead of answering, Maddie picks up her bouquet and his boutonniere, “We should get going.”, then quickly pins it to his tuxedo.
Buck looks at the final product, as Maddie asks behind him, “Ready?”
And Buck, who had gone through so much just to get to this point, can only muster up a response of, “As much as I can possibly be.”
The path down the makeshift aisle on the boardwalk is illuminated by fairy lights, coupled with splashes of color from tulips, as Patty walks him to where the other groom is waiting.
Neither one of them can stop smiling as they approach the other guests, all standing in two rows by the Big Wheel to represent the aisle and altar.
In reality, once they reach the guests, the rest of the walk had to have only taken less than a minute, but for Buck, it felt like everything slowed down, and what else could he do but stop to take it all in?
There’s Ali, who apparently decided to take his advice and wear something far nicer than her work clothes, trying to stop herself from crying.
There’s Maddie and Corey, not doing much better, but Corey stopping to blow him a kiss for luck.
And one has to wonder, what’s the real lesson to all of this?
The answer can actually be found in rule number 10:
Never forget that when it comes to matters of the heart, in the end, the wedding is utterly pointless. The cream colored invitations or the hideous bridesmaids dresses? Meaningless.
Something Buck can’t help but remember as he passes by Kayla and Adriana, the former now visibly pregnant as she holds Adriana’s hand.
The real love, the one that makes everyone want to throw caution to the wind just to keep it, that love only ever happens when it wants to happen. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth risking the chance of it all ending in heartbreak.
It’s about standing in front of everyone you know and love, like Buck is doing as he makes eye contact with Eddie, and joining hands with the one that knows how imperfect you actually are, and is still willing to look you right in the eyes and tell you, “I’m not scared to face this with you.”
If you’re lucky enough to find a love like that, you’ll never have to face it alone ever again.
Take now, for example, when the rest of the 118 amongst the guests pull out their pagers, and call out, “Duty calls!” “Sorry!” “Congratulations!”, as they take off.
Eddie just smiles, and assures the priest, “They got this. Please, continue.”
As the priest starts his speech, and Buck lets the words melt away, his only thought is on the man standing next to him, who, even after being accused of being engaged to someone else, along with the one that same someone else cheated with, is still right here with him, ready to recite vows as beautiful as the man himself.
And as he waits for the priest to give them their turn, Buck already knows that if Eddie can still stick with him after all that, nothing will truly ever break them up for good.
The fairytales and romcoms had to get it from somewhere, didn’t they?
