Convalescence

XXVII.

~ vibes of this chapter - cutest ever

this is another long one, get ready lovers 

Nerves surrounding the wedding began settling in shortly after Lili attempted to eat breakfast.

After the amazing night with Niall, she'd had absolutely no trouble falling asleep, and did so with a smile on her face. Once she'd fallen asleep, she stayed that way until well after the sun came up.

To be honest, it was one of the best night's sleep she'd had in a while.

But now, she felt sick to her stomach with nerves.

It wasn't even her wedding, but her heart was racing, her palms were sweating, and her legs felt like jelly whenever she took a step.

Her anxiety was through the roof and she didn't know what to do to calm herself down.

A lot of what she felt was excitement, though, which was encouraging.

The last time she'd been to a wedding was probably ten years ago when one of her cousins got married.

She was the type of person to cry at every single wedding, without fail, because watching people who loved each other promise themselves to one another forever always broke her heart. It didn't matter whose wedding it was.

It was painful having to watch couple after couple live her dream when she was fairly certain she'd never be given the chance.

After so many years of fantasizing about her future wedding, she'd had every single one of those dreams crushed until they were nothing more than dust.

But not anymore.

Now, she was going to be crying for a different reason. One that she didn't necessarily want to say out loud in case she jinxed the possibility of it coming true.

This time, she would be sitting in the audience, watching two people in love commit to each other for life, all while holding her person's hand.

For the first time, someone else's wedding would have a happy ending for her, too.

And she was looking forward to the wedding simply because she adored Zayn and Maria.

Zayn Malik, the groom, had been friends with Niall since they were teenagers. They first met on an online soccer forum when they were 14, because they both supported the same Premier League soccer team.

Zayn messaged Niall to tell him that he liked his profile picture. There was an instant connection between them that they were able to carry into their adult years.

They had talked online and video chatted for a few months and developed a really strong friendship, before eventually travelling to London to meet for the first time in person.

Since then, they'd been the best of friends; Zayn was always around to support Niall both in and out of his career, and Niall was right there to do the same for Zayn.

It was obvious the two of them loved each other dearly. They had a very special bond that not many were able to experience in their lifetime, and to see them still close friends all these years later was beautiful.

Maria, the bride, grew up in the Los Angeles area after moving there from Colorado when she was about 3 years old.

Funnily enough, Lili and Maria had attended the same college, at the exact same time, and had taken a gender studies class together sophomore year. They'd even worked in a group project together for that class and gotten an almost perfect grade.