Pretty Face

Part 6

And would you be there?

To help her push on through

And would you know her?

If she didn't know you

Are we eno-ough?

Do we measure up?

Are we enough?

Do we measure up?

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It's been roughly six years now since their prom night, and today is a big day for them. These two have finally graduated college together, Anita now living with Anson and his family, have been engaged for three years, and now, finally, it was their day to bask in the shine—they were getting married. Tying the knot. Getting hitched. Eloping.
Whatever the heck you wanted to call it, that's what today was for them.

Anita stands in front of the mirror, looking herself over with her maid of honor, Odessa, behind her.

"Anita, you look stunning," she comments, cooing.

Anita turned in the mirror to look at her back. "I guess..."
"Don't 'I guess' me, Anita! You know I speak nothing but the facts!"

Anita huffs and steps away from the mirror. "I'm nervous..."

"I know," Odessa responds, "it's normal to be. It's the biggest day of your life. Something could go wrong, and..."

"Don't say that!" Anita spits out rather nervously, "It's just going to make my anxiety worse!"

Odessa puts her hands up in surrender, "Sorry?"

"You're lucky I love you," Anita responds, "because I could've just kicked you out."

Odessa gasps playfully, "So lucky."

Meanwhile, Anson was waiting out in his dressing room with his best man, Erin, right outside the room. He was adjusting his bowtie and taking a breather before Eoin steps into the room.

"It's just about time, Anson," he says, looking over at him and brushing a hand through his own ginger-colored hair, "Are you ready?"

Anson turns to his friend, his eyes glazed over with nervousness, "I think so."

Eoin patted Anson's shoulder. "Everything will be okay, man — this is supposed to be the best day of your life! There's no need to be nervous," Eoin took a step closer, "Let's head out there and wait for Anita and Odessa, yeah?"

Anson nods and steps out of the room with Eoin. They make their way up to the altar and stand side-by-side, the groomsmen all in a line with Eoin next to Anson. They turn to face the opening of the gazebo—the entrance of it, anyway—and await the girls. The bridesmaids arrive not much sooner, following the same motions the guys had. The only girl who wasn't out, other than Anita, was Odessa.

While normally the bride's father would walk with her down the aisle, Anita's was different—her Maid of Honor was taking on that honor; her father passed away just a few months prior. Of course, he probably wouldn't have wanted to join her anyway (at least that's what Anita thought. Whether it was true or not, she wouldn't ever know).

"You ready?" Odessa turns to Anita with a smile.

Anita takes a heavy breath before looking up at her best friend, "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Chin up, beautiful! It'll all be worth it, I promise," Odessa reassures, helping Anita out of the seat she was in, "I'll make sure you get the best send-off. It's my honor to do this for you."

Anita smiles gently as Odessa helps her up. She takes another breath, tucking her arm through Odessa's, "Let's do this," she says.

"There's my confident girl," Odessa smiles, leading Anita out of the room and into the main gazebo. Or, at least, to the end of the runner that led them to it. The two girls look at each other and smile again. A familiar song starts to play, cueing the two to begin their walk. Odessa takes her first step forward, Anita right next to her and following her lead. They take it slow, allowing them to soak in the moment that they totally deserve. Anson and Anita both deserved this. They worked so hard to get to this moment, especially with the households that they'd come from. While Anita's household is much worse than Anson's, there's still a lot of busyness in the Jesper household that sometimes even Anson just couldn't catch a break.

But look at them now. Anita Bellamy and Anson Jesper. So close to uniting as one.

It was something Anita never believed. She never even thought that—for one moment—Anson would even notice her existence. It was so hard for her to not even pinch herself the day that he had first talked to her. Or any moment after that.

Heck, even now she's resisting the urge. It's seemingly all a dream—and any moment now, she's going to wake up and go back to the "normal chaos" that she calls her life.She wouldn't believe it wasn't until everything was back to normal. But, it would never be "normal" again. Now began her new normal.

Anita and Odessa reached the edge of the runway at the edge of the gazebo, Odessa stepping up first and placing herself at the front end before Anita stood in front of her, then watching as Anita began staring at Anson.

Anson couldn't help but stare back at Anita. "Nita... You look stunning."

That was the same thing Odessa had said to her. So she wasn't lying, huh?

Anson turned himself counter-clockwise to face her.

Anita did the same, smiling softly. She could feel her face getting warmer as Anson took her hands in his, lifting them gently and smiling back at her.

Anita giggled a little, "You look so handsome."

Anson flipped the swoosh on the front of his hair back in response, chuckling, "Only for you."

Anita blushed slightly, rubbing her thumbs over Anson's hands subconsciously, "Are you ready for this?"

"Born ready. I should ask you the same thing," Anson glared softly at her.

"...Yeah. I'm ready," she nodded, looking out at the crowd.

She couldn't believe the rest of her family had decided to come. After years of constant abuse from them, they decided they wanted to show up. It was hard for anything to happen within this family, especially anything having to do with Anita being in a relationship. But here she was now, standing in front of her family, Anson's family, Eoin's family, and Odessa's family. Making a huge step in her life everyone told her she'd never make it to. She put all of those things aside to marry her new favorite person (but don't tell Odessa that).

The ceremony went on; vows made, rings exchanged. Everything went smoothly for the couple, without a single bump in the road. Hopefully the marriage stayed that way; they were definitely hopeful for that. And they were sure of it, really. It's hard for them to really say they were 'soulmates', but that's what everyone called them. Many people knew that Anita had been hardcore crushing on Anson since freshman year of high school. Odessa had even made that known in her little speech during the reception to the entire party. Anita hadn't approved of her saying that, but Odessa had made a way to sneak it in. And only because it was Odessa, Anita didn't try to beat her up over it.

By the end of the ceremony, Anson and Anita were both trying so hard not to cry—especially Anita. So they didn't really try that hard—everyone knew that this was big for them. They all knew they truly loved each other, too. Every single moment they spent together, Anson made this known. Always was showing Anita the love she needed and deserved. Luckily for him, Anita never pushed away from it—she was, to put it lightly, touch-starved. All of it felt amazing to her and she was so glad that she was finally getting it. They were, as Odessa put it, made for each other.