𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨

Act 24

It was a quiet Friday morning in the casino. Dice sipped on coffee while I sketched a drawing of our wedding cake in a sketchbook. Not a lot of people were up, especially the ones that stayed up washing dishes and cleaning up last night. The only noises in the room were the quiet scratching of my pencil on the paper and the squeak of the towel on the glasses Rumulus was drying. Fridays were usually spent cleaning the casino and preparing for another night. Chips and Wheezy entered the room with a more tired and pissed expression on their faces than normal. He swings by the bar and picks up a glass of whiskey that Rumulus had prepared. Once I glance up from my drawing again, he was standing in front of us. 

"Yes?" Dice asks in confused tone. 

"Two fucking hours? Two non-stop hours? I work a eight hour shift just to come home and hear my sister yelling one of my childhood bestfriends names at the top of her lungs. Do ya'll not have the least bit of embarrassment?" Chip scolded.

"I'm not embarrassed at all. It's our room, we're allowed to have at least a bit of fun. Why were you listening?" Dice countered.

"I had the radio on at almost full volume! She has a very predominant voice. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone this casino didn't get a drop of sleep," he yelled. 

"Hear that darling? You have a 'predominant' voice," Dice laughed. 

"Oh honestly Chip, you wake us up too. You're just going to have deal with it," I sigh. 

"I don't care that you do it, just please don't intentionally try to wake me up on a work night," he suggests, and walks back to the bar. 

We both ignored him. 

"Hey baby, do you know how a wedding even works? You don't seem to want to talk about it much," I ask.

"Not really, no. Explain it," 

I spent a whole thirty minutes talking about weddings with him.

"And we have to have all this stuff done and presentable or my family is going to think that you're a bum with no social status,"

"Oh, so a lot more than I thought. Getting back to that best man stuff, I really don't have anyone at this casino to call my best man. Everyone here hates me," 

I kiss him on the cheek, "I don't hate you."

"I know. Do you think James would be it?" 

"Yea, I think so. I don't know if I've told you yet, but I want Piri to be my maid of honor."

"That sounds good. Let me see the sketch of the cake you drew," 

I flipped open the journal to the page I was just on. He turned it around and looked at it. It made me a little nervous, especially because I was still having trouble learning how to hold a pencil even after Dice taught me how. 

"I made it lavender themed since that's our favorite flower,"

"It's so pretty! I think Ginette could definitely make this before Friday. I love you," He claims, then kisses by forehead.

"Love you too," I reply. 

It was at that moment that I realized how much I loved him. No one else in this world compares to him. And to make it all better, this is the man that I'm getting married to next week. He's the one I want to have children with. I would wait for him forever like Mama did for Papa. All of my childhood I spent long nights wondering why she kept waiting for him to come back when we all knew he was gone. Mama was still just as young and dumb as I am now. We both are so intertwined with our partner's souls that I don't know what I would do without him. 

When I first started dating Dice, I told myself that I wasn't going to get distracted. That I would never fall for someone so hard that it stops my whole life. But I did. And god dammit, it's a kind of stop that causes a car wreck. My whole life is just flying by me, but I don't even notice anymore. I could spent three fucking years just watching Dice deal a deck of cards. Nothing makes me embarrassed of makes me cringe. Like I said the first time I saw him, he's just perfect. And I don't think it's because he made love to me last night, but more that he was able to do that, then give me time to rest. That just being able to sit next to me and look at my drawing is making him happier than I've ever seen anyone in my family. 

"Y'know what's so weird?" he asks. 

"What baby?" I question.

"Before I met you, Agulara asked me to marry her. I said yes, because I was so scared of being alone. Then, you came to see your brother. And something about you, just, just made something in me click. When I saw you sitting at that table, half asleep, I panicked. I had just been trapped here for so long that I had given up on finding anyone that lit that spark within me, so when I saw you, and I felt those feelings, I got nervous. Here I am now, engaged to you. I found my somebody that Agulara convinced I couldn't find. I care about you more than I've ever cared for anyone before," 

I locked my hand in his and laid my head in his lap. 

"Did you not plan on loving me?"

"Not as much as I do now, to be honest. But after that first night we spent together, I just got locked into you. It took Agulara six years to weave her way into marrying me. It only took you two months. That says something."

"Thanks baby. Once we get married, life is going to get better. I promise,"

"I sure do hope so. I also hope that you never leave me. I wouldn't know what to do with myself,"

"I promise I won't. Even death can't tear us apart."