Graffiti Boy

The Wedding Incident

Today was the day.

I was getting married to the love of my life.

I woke up, much to my reluctance, at six in the morning. Riley had dowsed me in ice cold water because I had refused to get out of bed at five.

I was so tired, I hadn't gone to sleep until one in the morning. Riley was making sure that my dress and my shoes were all perfect and still fit me. It was like she feared that because I ate a slice of cake, I was suddenly going to sprout a beer belly.

"Valerie Grace Lockhart. This is possibly the most important day of your life and I will not let you procrastinate. Chop, chop! You have so much to do."

I groaned and dragged myself to the washroom to freshen up.

I headed downstairs to prepare myself some breakfast because I was starved. Unfortunately for me, Riley had other plans.

She pulled me into her car and we were off.

"I didn't even have breakfast, Riles!" I complained.

"Valerie, what's more important? Avocado toast or marrying your gorgeous boyfriend?"

"Avocado toast," I whispered.

Riley smacked the back of my head, "You need to set your priorities straight, woman!"

"Geez, I was kidding. I would take Eli over avocados any day," I laughed, begging her to stop smacking the remaining brain cells out of my skull

It was going to be one long, stressful but absolutely amazing day.

♥

I wanted to scream and curl up into a ball at home with a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and Netflix.

Riley had taken me to the salon first. I got my hair and makeup done, already feeling great. Then we went to get my dress on by the boutique. They made sure to style to veil and tested my ability to walk in the silver heels we had selected. Everything was going as planned and on schedule.

Eli was getting his side of things prepared as well. I called to check in and he said everything was in order. The day was going to be perfect.

Or so I had thought.

My dress was torn from the bottom, thanks to some stupid squirrels who had wanted the avocado I was snacking on whilst I was waiting in the park for Riley to retrieve her surprise wedding gift and for Dad to pick me up. The catering company had called saying that the food was going to be delayed. Eli called saying Xavier had shown up drunk to the hall. I was stuck in traffic, Dad was driving. And as if matters couldn't get any worse, it was raining and the only music playing on the radio was absolutely depressing.

Just perfect.

Note the sarcasm, please.

My phone began ringing. It was Eli. I didn't want to answer. I would probably burst into tears with the stress of wanting everything to go well. Dad, however, had other plans. He grabbed my phone and answered the call, putting it on speaker.

"Hey, Buttercup. Where are you? We're supposed to be starting in fifteen minutes!" Eli's voice called through the speakers.

Dad motioned for me to answer.

"I'm stuck in traffic looking like a hobo," I replied, before telling him everything that had gone wrong.

The tears I had dreaded had come pouring down.

Add mascara stains to the long list of mess-ups.

Eli could sense the panic in my voice and immediately tried to comfort me, "Hey, Valerie, listen to me. I don't care if you're dressed in a garbage bag, if your hair looks like a bird's nest or if you're an hour late. As long as I get married to you, I'll be happy."