deadly nightshade | fever in, fever out

chapter 64: the wedding

"it's a nice day for a black wedding.
it's a nice day to start again!"
-"black wedding", in this moment

Joey held the car door for Sam once they had posted up before the big church on the corner, across the street from an ice cream parlor. It was a large white steeple with stained glass windows more vast than anything Sam had seen at the school: the spire up top shone high and bright in the hazy midday sun. Just another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and the neighborhood consisted of Rhode Island, and it would be a true steampunk wedding.
She recalled everything Aurora had told her during dress rehearsal the day before, but she wondered if she could carry it out well enough for her, especially since they had to hurry back to the hotel and help out with all the band equipment. It was the only show she was to make so far, given finals for spring term took place right when they toured in upstate New York and in New Jersey. But she vowed to follow them on a few dates elsewhere in the country.
If all else fails, Sam thought about asking Zelda if she could be manager to the Cherry Suicides and Stormtroopers of Death, that is if the latter did something further than the one album.
She kept her sunglasses on over her face to better add to her maid of honor outfit, while Joey had put on a small tuxedo that he borrowed from one of his old hockey friends. She also had put a yellow tulip pin on the bolero in honor of Cliff.
Sam asked him why he still hadn't dry cleaned his other tuxedo when Anthrax had a month off between the release of the new album and the official start of the new tour.
"I told ya—it's a bitch to get to the dry cleaners," he explained, flustered. "I've also had shit to do, too."
"I'm gonna need you to watch your mouth, Joseph," she commanded. "There's gonna be a few kids here—Aurora's an only child but she has a cousin and he has three little ones with him."
"Yeah, yeah, sure—I'll stay away from the booze, too."
"Okay, good." She rested a hand on his back, and they walked up the steps in unison to the front door. They stepped inside of the large spacious church: the ceiling hung high over their heads in those strong wooden rafters; right above the rafters was a portrait of the madonna and several cherub. On the far side of the room was the altar as well as a big black Latin cross upon the wall. They strode towards the cross in awed silence, given the sheer size of the church.
"If I didn't know better," Joey started, and his voice echoed over the pews and the vast floor, "I'd swear they were Catholic."
"Emile is," Sam recalled, "I guess Aurora wanted it outside by the harbor but he was like 'no, we need to have it in a church! It's for my faith!' and so they compromised on it. The wedding is here in this church while the reception is by the harbor itself."
"And then we've got the show tonight," he added.
"Right, we've got the Anthrax, Testament, and Cherry Suicides shows tonight—which means the bride and groom better get here soon so we all can get there quick enough." Sam nibbled on her bottom lip when she saw that they were the only ones there for the time being. They had left their room rather early, given the wedding itself was at three.
She also thought about that show that night. She hoped things would not be so awkward between Joey and Alex, and also between Zelda and Louie, and yet hope could only get her so far. Things needed to play out and she knew that she need not be in control of it all. Joey gave his black curls a little toss back with the back of his hand.
"So where do I sit?" he asked her once they reached the front of the church and right beneath that tall cross on the wall.
"I think you guys sit up here, up front—you being high up on the guest list of course. Aurora went over it with me yesterday, but I can't remember if it's the right or the left side—"
"Oh, here we are," he pointed out the little paper sign on the pew on the left side: on the front, in Aurora's neat penmanship, it read "reserved for ANTHRAX and METALLICA". He stooped over a bit to pick it off of the heavy dark polished wood.
"Kirk and Rebecca aren't gonna be here, you said?" he asked her with a glance over his shoulder.
"Nope. They've got things to worry about on their end."
"Huh. Well, I call dibs on this spot on the bench closest to the altar."
"I think her dad sits there," Sam recalled as she lingered behind him. "Her mom probably does, too."
"Damn. Well, it makes sense."
Right as the words left his lips, the front door of the church opened and Belinda poked her blonde head inside of the church.
"You guys doin' it silly in the middle of a church?" she called out; and Sam noticed she stood right behind Joey as he was stooped over.
"Yeah, you wish," he retorted with his index fingers above the crown of his head, and that brought a laugh out of both girls.
Within time, Marla showed up with her iridescent hair bright and shiny and even more colorful from the stained glass windows around them. Given she was the maid of honor, Sam whisked them behind the altar and to the small cozy room where Aurora had told them to meet up at, and so they could help her out with the dress and the bouquets. The other guests took their places in the church outside, including Aurora's parents, both of whom had flown in from San Diego bright and early. Sam poked her head out to see them for herself and their short little statures next to the towering giants of Frank and Charlie; Mr. Young wore a red and black suit and a dark red velvet hat upon his head, while Mrs. Young had done her inky black hair into a beehive style upon the crown of her head.
"Aurora, your parents are here," Sam told her, "and they look so cute next to Charlie!"
Frank bent down towards Mrs. Young and gave her a smile, and she nodded at him in response.
The door on the other side of the room there swung open and Alex almost stumbled inside, wrapped up in that full suit: his jet black hair sprawled over his shoulder like the tentacles of an octopus. She had no idea if it was her eyes fooling her, but she swore that black hair dye was wearing off: the little pearl of white was returning just in time for the summer months and the heart of that big extensive tour. He left the top two buttons of his silk shirt undone so the Star of David glimmered under the soft ceiling lights.
"And there's our man," Belinda announced.
"I wondering when you'd get here," Aurora told him.
"Testament's van is having some moments," he told her, out of breath: he took off that ring so his hands didn't stand out so much to Sam when he adjusted the lapels of his coat. He gave his hair a slight toss back with a flick of his head and the ceiling light shone into those deep eyes. His otherwise milky skin had a slight rosy bloom to it.
"Are you warm?" Aurora asked him as Marla adjusted the dark veil upon her head.
"Kinda," he replied. "It's not as bad as I was suspecting out there." He then stood there with his hands pressed to his hips, and he sighed through his nose. Even though he always looked serious, his gaze fell to the floor and those dark eyebrows sternly knitted together.
"What's wrong?" Marla asked him.
"Hm?"
"Yeah, you look like something's bothering you," Sam added.
"I'm just—nervous," he confessed. "Because I'm the bridesman. I know I shouldn't say that because I'm just in the party and not the one at the altar but it's still reason for concern."
"Why, 'cause you're hanging with a bunch of girls?"Aurora fixed the lace gloves on her hands; she had put a turquoise bracelet on over her left wrist, on top of the glove. He pursed his lips but he never replied to that. "Alex, what you're doing for me is so sweet. I can't thank you anymore for it, especially after Zelda and Rebecca both couldn't do it."
He showed her a small smile in response to that.
"Yeah, if someone gives you hell for being in the bridal party, then to hell with them," Belinda assured him.
"Thank you, ladies, that's—that's real nice of you," he said in a soft voice.
Aurora then ran her hands down the front of her corset.
"Okay, something old—that would be my shoes—" She lifted her skirt and showed off the black leather flats on her feet. "—these were my mother's shoes when she and my dad married in Seoul. It's also the only thing traditionally Korean here. Something new, that would be the dress and the veil. Something blue, that would be my bracelet—something borrowed, though."
Belinda reached behind her head to undo her snake pendant, but Sam unbuttoned the yellow tulip pin on the bolero and stuck it onto the front of Aurora's dress, right above the corset. She gasped at the sight of it.
"Perfect," Alex declared as he rubbed his hands together.
"Yes—it is!" Aurora brought a hand to her mouth and then Sam put her arms around her. "Thank you," she whispered into her ear.
"Let's do this," Sam told her, and Aurora reached for the first of the bouquets. "So we go around the hallway here and make our way to the door and we meet up with the groomsmen."
Each of the bouquets consisted of white and bright pink carnations and white and pink lilies. Sam led the way with Emile's best man linked elbows with her; Alex, Marla, and Belinda followed suit right behind her with the rest of the grooms. They strode down the aisle together, past the pews and the matching bouquets of white and pink carnations and lilies, and towards Emile, who was wrapped in an all black double breasted suit complete with a silver chain in his pocket and a top hat upon his head, and the priest at the altar.
It was really happening. Something that felt so surreal and right out of a dream was unfolding right before her very eyes.
She stood closest to the altar and she peered out at the small silent audience as they congregated in only a small part of the church. Scott, Frank, Charlie, the Dans, James, and Lars all sat in the row closest to the altar; Joey and one of his old hockey friends took to the row behind them.
Alex stood right next to Sam with that bouquet in his hands. On the other side of the aisle was Chuck, Eric, Greg, and Louie; Zelda was nowhere to be seen. But Chuck nodded at him and gave him a thumbs up, and Alex raised his eyebrows at him. Because the church was so big, they could hear every cough, every creak in the walls, and every voice no matter how low.
"He looks like a sissy," the guy next to Joey whispered; and Joey asked him something.
"Alex—at least that's what I think his name is—" And then his words slurred.
Joey shrugged his shoulders with a straight face. "Pink and girliness? That's not what we're about."
Alex sighed through his nose. That was his worry after all.
"It's okay—don't let him get to you," Marla assured him in a low voice. "He's just—had a couple is all."
"Who, Joey?" Belinda asked her.
"No, the other guy," she replied.
Aurora stood at the far end of the aisle with her father linked arms with her. Everyone in the pews stood in her honor. Alex bowed his head and closed his eyes; Sam looked over at his serene face as the church organ played that wedding song. His lanky fingers cradled the bouquet but she noticed them flinching a bit every so often.
A born guitar player.
The guy in front of them giggled at him. But Alex kept his head bowed long enough to faze him out. Sam looked back over to the other side of the aisle, at Aurora's mother and her cousin, who indeed had three young children next to him. At least they were over there, away from the drunk guy.
But she wondered as to how much Joey was resisting from a drink himself, especially with the frazzled look on his face. Mr. Young brought Aurora to the altar and then he kissed the back of her hand before he let her go to Emile; he shook his hand and Emile said something to her.
Sam held the bouquet down to her waist as the priest talked for what felt like an eternity. She thought about what Joey had said to her at Kirk and Rebecca's wedding: indeed, when she looked down at him, she could see a twinkle in his eye. She wondered what he was thinking as Emile vowed to care for Aurora through sickness and through health, until death do they part. Aurora returned the favor without a shred of hesitation. They put the rings on each other's hands: Emile with the silver band and Aurora with a shiny silver and diamond one.
"I pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Young-St. Vitus—you may now kiss the bride."
Alex closed his eyes again as Emile put his arms around Aurora and they embraced in a single kiss. When they left the altar, the bridal party linked arms right behind them and they made their way outside to the bright afternoon sun.
"Alright, ya'll, so the reception is about two blocks from here," Emile told them as he adjusted the brim of his hat. "Big ol' grassy area with a good view of the ocean."
"We can walk there or we can make a bee line towards it," Aurora added.
"I think we can walk," Marla told them. "It's not like it's sweltering out anyways."
Sam felt a tap on her shoulder right then, and she turned to find Joey right behind her, and her face lit up at the sight of him.
"So we walkin'?" he asked her in a low voice.
"I think we are."
"I got the keys anyway."
She dared not tell him about the guy next to him, and for all she knew, he had bowed out behind the church to throw up, and she didn't care, either. Joey need not another trigger like that to get him to drink again.
Aurora and Emile led the way down to the corner and around the bend: at the far end of the block was a cul de sac as well as that grassy area in question. Beyond that was a sliver of a view of the glimmering Atlantic Ocean. Emile held onto his hat with one hand while he held onto Aurora's shoulder with the other. Sam still had an odd feeling about them, especially since he never mentioned his previous wife once, or if things had been finalized between them before. There was only so much to know about them, and thus she dared not mention it to anyone. Her best friend had just gotten married.
Her best friend had just gotten married, and she couldn't even hold onto a boyfriend for herself.
The cool ocean breeze swelled up and pushed Aurora's long skirt up a bit.
"Easy there!" Joey cracked.
"I feel like I'm about to sail away," she told him with a glimpse over her shoulder.
"Come sail away! Come sail away!" Joey sang out, and Emile peered back at him.
"Nice voice you got there, son!"
"Joey doesn't mess around you know," Aurora told him.
"Just put out an album with that voice, too," Sam added.
"The hell I did." Joey looked behind him, and she knew he was looking for that drunk friend. Behind her was Marla and Belinda, and Alex lingered somewhere back there with Testament. She wondered about those kids in particular, and if Aurora's cousin knew that there was a drunk guy in the audience.
Soon, they reached the grassy area and she spotted a row of tables, including an empty one underneath the tree closest to them. Across from that stood the table with the wedding cake, a three tiered cake with black and white frosting and little pink and white roses decorated around it in that rich frosting. On the top tier were those little mannequins of Aurora and Emile: she was small and petite compared to his big and heavy stature.
Sam never realized how hungry she was until they sliced into that cake in front of everybody. Greg and Alex stood before her with eager looks on their faces.
"I am so hungry right now," Greg confessed as Aurora handed out slices to everyone.
"Plenty for everyone and then some," Emile told him, and he handed Sam a big slice of cake, complete with a rose on top. "For the maid of honor."
"Thank you, my dear landlord," she retorted to him.
"You know what? Just for being well behaved and so hard working, the next month's rent is on me."
"Aw!" Her face lit up at that.
"Aw, man, I gotta move into where Sam's livin' at," Louie called out from the back and everyone laughed out loud at that. Sam took the slice of cake to the table on the right, where the bridal party was instructed to be seated at. She took the spot closest to the cake table and she waited for Marla, Belinda, and Alex to join her; she had no idea if Aurora and Emile were going to be right next to her, but once the rest of the bridal party took their spots, she dug right into the cake.
"Oh, man, that's good cake," Alex remarked.
"Courtesy of the Cherry Suicides," Aurora told him as she handed out a slice to Joey.
"They made this?!" He gaped at her.
"No, it's from the best bakery in Narragansett—according to them anyways."
"I see. I'll buy it, too—I need like a glass of milk with this."
"Nice big frosty glass of milk," Marla added.
"Where are those girls, anyway?" Sam asked her.
"They had to get to the venue," Aurora replied as she adjusted her skirt, "Zelda called me yesterday and said there was no way they were gonna make it because of their own rehearsal. So I said, 'that's okay! Do what you have to do, and you'll be here in spirit.'"
Joey took his seat on the grass in front of Sam, which brought a chuckle out of her.
"What're you doing?" she asked him.
"I'm your date, remember?"
"At least get a chair, Joey," Belinda laughed along with her.
"Nah, I'm good," he assured her, and he showed Alex a fleeting glimpse. Sam returned to her cake and relished every bite of the chocolate inside, and of the black and white frosting on the outside; then there was that lovely oceanic breeze. She had been so acquainted with New York and with the Pacific Ocean that to feel the whispers of the Atlantic on her face was a world of its own.
Once she finished the rest of the frosting rose, she brought a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes.
"Here, I'll take that—" Joey offered her, and she opened her eyes to find his hand on the rim of the paper plate. She showed him a smile as he stepped towards a nearby trash can. Alex also had finished his cake, and then he waved at Greg; he hurried around them faster than those three children around the Young family table. Aurora's face was flushed from all the excitement but she smiled the whole entire time, and even more so when one of those kids came up to her.
"So show later tonight," Marla proclaimed.
"Yup—the girls go on first, then Anthrax and Testament," Sam recalled.
"Ooh, Anthrax between Zelda and Louie," Belinda remarked.
"I might be there tonight, to be honest," Marla told them.
"Really?" Sam raised her eyebrows at her.
"Yeah, I might as well. That album probably never would have sounded like it does if not for me and Charlie."
"Wow—"
Sam was cut off by the sight of Joey darting past the table and towards Testament.
"Oh, no," Belinda groaned.
"What the—"
Before anyone could say anything, Joey shouted something and it took Sam a few seconds to realize he yelled at Alex. He held his arm back.
Joey punched him right in the nose, and Alex fell backwards onto the empty table. The Young family stopped right in their tracks. Emile hurried over to them. And even though Alex wasn't very big, the legs buckled and the table collapsed underneath him. Joey lunged for him but Charlie and Scott grabbed him from behind.
"JOEY!" Sam shrieked as she climbed to her feet.
"Joey! Joey! It's not worth it!" Charlie exclaimed. "It's not worth it, man! It's not worth it!"
Joey tried to break free from their grip but Charlie in particular was too strong. Frank and James both joined in from behind and dragged him away from Alex.
"Get him out of here—get him out of here—" Chuck commanded them.
Alex groaned from the pain in his nose and from landing on the table and the grass, and Marla knelt down next to him. Sam and Belinda stood behind her.
"Shit—fuck, are you okay?" she gently asked him.
"You alright, Alex?" Chuck joined in; Marla extended her hand for him and she and Chuck helped him off of the grass. She almost lost her balance but she caught herself on the broken edge of the table.
"I think so—god, he really got me hard there." Alex sat upright and Sam peered over Marla's head: his nose was bright red but it looked to be about it.
"I'm not bleeding, am I?" he asked them with a sniffle.
"No," Marla assured him, "but does it feel like something's broken, though?"
"I don't think so," he confessed as he held a hand to the tip of his nose. His legs shook like those on a newborn foal but he looked as though he was ready to start another fight with Joey.
"What was that all about?" Emile asked him, but Sam turned away to see where Joey had gone off to. A sinking feeling emerged in the pit of her stomach as she looked beyond the Young family and the blushing Aurora, to the trees. She spotted Charlie and Joey near the edge of the slope.
She held up her skirt and then bowed past everyone to see what was going on. Even with those three kids there, she could overhear Joey swearing like a sailor.
"Charlie, that fucking kid gave me the finger!" he said once she came within earshot, and she stopped right in her tracks. "I swear by it, man! I fucking swear by it!" On one hand, she wanted to curse out Joey for cursing in front of three children, but then again, she wondered exactly what happened there.
She turned back into the direction of the bridal party, but she noticed Marla helped Alex to a different table, far away from the main area, almost around the corner of a tall willow tree. Even from a distance, he grimaced from the pain and kept the back of his hand pressed to his nose. Marla asked him something and he nodded his head at her. He was alone at the table as Belinda went over to the Young table to talk to Aurora.
He raised his gaze to Sam and he frowned at her, still with his thumb pressed to the side of his nose.
"Why'd you give him the finger?" Sam demanded.
"What? I didn't!" Alex insisted with a wave of a hand. "I was just talking to Greg and I pointed my thumb upwards while I was telling him about the volume on the amps. He must've mistook it for something else."
"I was standing right next to him when it happened," she pointed out. "It looked like the middle finger, Alex."
"Hey, why're you defending him? He pushed me and then he punched me! Both times you defended him."
"Because Joey is my friend," she declared. "And I'm trying to help him and get him out of old habits. And I don't need you flipping him off and getting him riled up because when he gets riled up, he drinks."
He paused for a second: those deep eyes stared hard and cold into her.
"He drinks, Alex. He drinks. And he gets triggered by these things."
"I did not flip him off," he said through gritted teeth. She shook her head and closed her eyes in frustration.
"Just—stay right there," she ordered with a wave of her hand. "I'll handle it."
"I didn't flip him off, Samantha," he repeated as she walked away. She headed back towards the main area but the last thing she needed to do was speak to anyone about anything that had happened. She rounded the corner of the trees and, careful not to bring any attention to herself, she slunk across the grass to the table with the wedding cake. She hoped Aurora wouldn't mind her taking a second slice for herself when she spotted Joey's black curls over by the far edge of the grass. Charlie had gone, but he sat there in the sun with his back towards her: even from a distance, she could see the split down his back. The punch to Alex's face did a number on that suit as well.
She walked towards him but once she left the shade, she hesitated right behind him. At least Aurora and Emile refused alcohol there, but she could sense it with him. He was craving it. Her mind fell blank, especially since she hadn't dealt with this sort of problem before. He wished for it.
She took a promise to get him away from it, and Belinda did, too. The only hope right then was that he wouldn't take the car and search for a drink. He did have the car keys on him.
But then she had an idea.
She sighed through her nose again, and she ambled the rest of the way across the grass. She tapped on his shoulder and he lifted his gaze from the shores down below up towards her. He squinted his brown eyes in the bright sunlight at her.
"Hey," she gently greeted him.
"Hey," he echoed her in a low voice.
"How're you feeling?"
He shrugged his shoulders and grimaced.
"Do you have the car keys?" she asked him.
"What you need the car for?"
"I want to get you something. You know, to cheer you up."
"I really want a drink," he confessed, "and I don't mean booze, either."
"Okay. I'll do that for you." He reached into his coat pocket for the car key, but she wasn't willing to leave right away. Instead, she strode past that table where Alex was seated at and she scowled at him.
"I did not flip him off," he said a third time, and that time he said it in a terse tone of voice.
"Go sit over there," she ordered again and she gestured to the far side of the grass, back towards the bridal party.
"Why?" He showed her a slight smirk.
"Because you're annoying and I don't want you here when I get back."
"I'm annoying, is that what you said?"
She fumed at him, but then his smirk went away. And he shook his head. "Wow," he muttered, and he stepped away from there. He kept his thumb pressed to the side of his nose all the while. But she rolled her eyes at him and she kept on walking towards the far side of the grass, where she reached the street. She spotted the spire on the church and she knew the cars were near there.
But then again, there was that little ice cream parlor across the street. She held onto her skirt as she crossed the dark pavement, and she did have some change in her pocket, enough for a drink of water for the both of them, although she knew there were plenty of drinks back at the reception. Just so long as it got her away from there for a bit. She couldn't believe Alex had done that, and she had lied to him, too: she had no idea what he was doing over there by Greg. For all she knew, Joey was telling the truth that time.
She returned to the grassy area with two cups of water for the two of them. Joey still sulked there with his back to her, but she hovered next to him.
"Wanna go sit at a table?" she offered him.
"Sure, why not."
He stood up, and his jacket tore a bit more at the back, and he followed her back to that table on the far side of the grass. Scott's big Queens accent caught her ear right then, but she couldn't hear what he was saying.
"By the way, who was that guy who was with you earlier?" she asked him.
"The guy I borrowed the suit from—and yeah, he was pretty hammered. I tried my best to get him to cool his jets, but once the bride and groom left, he made a run for it outside. After we sit here for a bit, I'll go see if I can find 'em."
"—Marge and I are getting married, too—" Scott proclaimed right then, to which Joey groaned. They walked right past the Young table at that moment.
"Fu—"
"Joey, watch your mouth," Sam cut him off, and they kept on walking towards the table. He plopped down hard in that one spot under the tree and he shook his head.
"Frick, frick, frick, frick," he stammered.
"What?"
"So many freaking weddings, I freaking swear to freaking god—frick!"