Life After Death

Give Me A Love

"Are you shittin' me?" DJ stared at his bandmates James and Nikki, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Oh, come on, DJ, you've known for a year or more that we're together. What so surprising about us wanting to formalize things? Even if it's not legal since the state legislature sucks," Nikki said. "Fuck Prop 8 with a goddamn pineapple."

DJ and James both snickered at that, even while wholly agreeing with the sentiment.

"We'd originally hoped to have a wedding in Massachusetts, since it is legal there, or in Connecticut," James said. "But when we did a little more research into the requirements, we found out that we'd have to be residents of either state, simply because two men getting married isn't legal anywhere else in the US. I guess they're trying to avoid the situation of men traveling there to get married and then go back home and start up lawsuits when they can't get spousal benefits from their jobs or whatever because their marriages aren't recognized by the state they actually live in. Probably worried that the fuckers in the federal government will try to knock down their laws allowing the marriages, y'know?"

"Yeah, I can see that bullshit," DJ agreed. "Bet they're shitting themselves in anticipation of the day a same-sex couple who lived and married there move to a different state for a job they can't afford not to take, and do just what you said, the lawsuits and stuff."

"Anyway, when James first proposed, he suggested that if we decided we didn't want to fly cross-country to do a ceremony that wouldn't mean shit out here anyway, we could do up a ceremony of our own in the backyard of our house or something," Nikki said. "And suggested maybe you could officiate for us. So, since the destination wedding is out, I figured we should ask you to officiate. And yeah, it'll be at our place, we'll keep it nice and informal, people can swim and shit if they want."

"We're still trying to decide if we wanna man the grill ourselves or hire caterers or whatever," James added. "As for the ceremony, we can do something like a handfasting or jump over a broom or whatever. I can always research other traditional methods of marriage from cultures that didn't have church services or marriage licenses. I mean, the real point is celebrating a commitment with our friends and family, right? So it would mean a lot if you'd officiate for us."

"I'd be fuckin' honored," DJ said. "When are you doing this, though? Now that I got Guns N' Roses to consider as well as you guys, scheduling could get messy. Although it looks like I'll be pretty flexible for the rest of this year. I'm not supposed to tour with them until 2010."

"We'd hoped for this summer, but I hear you on messy fuckin' schedules," Nikki laughed. "Since the Crue reunion actually happened and all, we've got shows up through September 5th."

"Well, that's Saturday of Labor Day weekend," James said, thinking out loud. "We could try for Monday the 7th, but we might be better off having it on the following Saturday, the 12th? That way there'd be a little more travel time built in for anyone who's coming in from out of town." He grinned wryly and added, "I know, that'll mostly be my family. But if it's on a Saturday, they can party into the night, then catch a flight home on Sunday so the kids will get back to school on Monday. And more to the point, we won't piss off the neighbors by having a possibly loud party on a weeknight, when they've gotta get up early for work the next day."

"Good point, I hadn't thought of that," Nikki admitted. "So, can you make sure you're free on September 12th, DJ? We really do want you for this, dude."

"Yeah, I'll make sure I'm free," DJ said with a smile. "This is fuckin' wild, I never figured on anyone asking me to officiate at their wedding ceremony, even one that don't have any legal standing. But I love it." He laughed and added, "You two freaked me the fuck out when you told me you'd hooked up, but you're good together, even an idiot like me can see that, so yeah, congrats, you two."