It's been 10 years since Eddie and Dani found out they were having a baby far sooner than they'd planned or wanted. All of their plans for the future got put on hold, having to adjust to becoming parents at only twenty years old. Money's always tigh...
"I'm on the centerpieces," Dustin announced, walking into the living room with a Mountain Dew, a bag of pretzels under one arm. "I have been messing around with an idea. I think you two are going to love it. It totally goes with your theme. Let me show you."
He grabbed his backpack from the floor, unzipping it, and reached inside, pulling out a cube. Eddie was floored when he realized what it was made up of. It was entirely made out of cassette tapes, with a hole on the top. He set it on the coffee table, sitting down on the floor in front of it and reached under it, pushing something and the whole thing lit up. Eddie's mouth dropped and Dani's eyes went wide.
"Holy shit, Henderson," Eddie commented, leaning forward to look at it from every angle. He saw Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Metallica, Joan Jett, Bowie, Heart, and Bon Jovi. "This is like the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen. It's like the perfect blend of mine and Dani's music tastes. Where did you get all the tapes?"
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"Your boss," Dustin answered with a grin. "He has all these cassette tapes in the back that are broken in a box. Like, the tape all came unraveled or something. Some of them came in damaged and some of them are defective items that got returned. Anyway, I told him my idea and Jay was more than happy to help. I went through them to find artists you both like. It's kind of symbolic, you know, the two of you merging your lives and musical tastes together." Eddie wrinkled his nose and Dustin laughed. "Yeah, yeah, we all caught you dancing with Lyric to 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody'. Don't even try to deny it there, Mr. I'm so cool, I only listen to heavy metal." Eddie glared at him and he held up his hands. "Anyway, I figured out the lighting. That took me a while, but I finally got it. I mean, this one is the only one I've done so far. It's a prototype. I wanted to see what you thought first, but I can totally make one for each table and then you can put whatever you want in the middle, like flowers or whatever."
"Dustin, these are perfect!" Dani squealed, her face lighting up like a little kid at Christmas as she examined every side of the contraption. "I don't know where that big, beautiful brain comes from but I am so grateful for it."
It brought Eddie such joy to see her so happy about everything to do with the wedding. They had to do it cheap because...well, they didn't have the money for anything else. But she really seemed to be okay with that. Thank god for his girl who loved simple things. Between Dani's creative ideas and their friends and family pitching in, it was looking like they could have a dream wedding without breaking the bank. He'd been in awe of what this group could come up with when they put their heads together.
"Those will be perfect with the fake flowers I got," Robin added. "I got a bunch of red, white, and black, just like you asked. They were all marked down too, so major score. And honestly, I think they look just as good as the real ones and they won't die. I don't know why anyone spends insane amounts of money on something that lasts, what? Like a week if you're lucky. We can use them to make your bouquet and stuff too. That's going to look awesome. Dustin, these are really amazing. Your brain is ridiculous, you genius child."
