UTOT- From This Day Forward

4- Morning Of

Author note: sorry about the delay with writing this chapter. I work as a professional writer as my day job so I get a little burned out on fanfic sometimes. Enjoy!

It was finally the day of. The sky was a painfully brilliant blue and the clouds in the sky looked like something out of a classic era painting. Riftan slept over at Ruth's apartment. They woke up bleary eyed and excited. Hebaron and their old friend Uslin took over the kitchen making breakfast and drinks for everyone and intercepting texts from Max's friends as her half of the wedding party ate breakfast at a friend's apartment.

Hebaron clapped Riftan on the back as they sat around his living room in sweatpants eating their breakfast.

"You're looking a little stressed boss man... what's on your mind."

Riftan paused and looked down at his mug of tea.

"What if she gets tired of me one day," he muttered. "I don't think I could ever get tired of her... but I just don't want her to get bored."

"Rif you should give yourself more credit," Hebron teased. "I didn't know if you were into men, women, or if you were asexual before Max and you used to get mad when we would ask... but if I'm behind honest... if I was into guys, I'd so go for you."

A few of the men nodded.

Riftan felt his face and ears burn.

"Damn, Ruth, you too?" he groaned.

"Should I lie?" Ruth teased, slurping his overly sweetened mug of black coffee. "I'm not into anyone and even I can tell that you're not bad to look at."

"If it makes you feel better, you're not my type," their friend Elliot chimed in from his seat on the floor. "Like no offense, but until you started dating Max, you were kind of somber for someone who's only around 30 years old."

Riftan took another sip of his green tea and rolled his eyes.

"I'm being serious," Riftan said. "What if I age horribly, or what if she decides one day that she doesn't like that I'm quiet sometimes."

"You'll be fine," Hebaron reassured him. "Eat your eggs before they get cold."

Riftan scowled and took a bite of his food. They ate in silence for a few seconds.

"She's crazy about you," Hebaron said, cutting through the silence. "Don't tell her I told you this... but do you remember last summer's BBQ where she had all those wine spritzers?"

Riftan nodded. He had to take Max home a little early from the festivities. The drinks were sweet and fizzy, like a kid's soda and so she had downed four of them before he was the wiser. Riftan had found her red faced at the corner of the backyard huddled with Hebaron and Elliot laughing in amusement at whatever she had told them.

A small wave of jealousy had rippled through his chest when he saw his usually shy girlfriend openly laughing. He walked over and she reached up around his neck and pulled him into a sloppy kiss that he later reciprocated when they had finally gotten home.

"She said you were, and I quote, the loveliest man she had ever seen in her entire life."

Oh. That's what they had laughed about together.

Riftan's body was on fire. His face twitched and he looked back down at the plate on his lap in a last ditch effort to control his face from splitting into a wide grin. The nervous twinge in his chest turned into the flutter of his heart beating faster as he tried to imagine her in a white dress.

"She said your hair looks so good when it's parted to the right," Elliot said around a bite of his toast.

Everyone roared in laughter.

"Oh god, tell them the rest," Hebron laughed, snorting into his whiskey spiked coffee.

"He's so warm and so strong," Elliot said in a falsetto voice. "It's like I'm on fire when he's in the room."

Riftan didn't look up.

"Listen man we're just fucking with you... but hey you know what. Cheers to this big fucking idiot who didn't know women existed until Maximillian came into his life," Hebron told the room, lifting his mug.

The group cheered. Riften sheepishly smiled as they turned and looked at him expectantly. He cleared his throat, trying to hide how flustered he was. Riftan lifted his mug.

"Thank you for being here for the happiest day of my life."