My One For Half A Million

Mother

"Mom." He bolted upright, almost throwing me to the floor, which would've been funny if it hadn't been for the situation.

She sniffles, and then let out a surprisingly loud sob that shook me to the bones.

Xylar wrapped her up in a hug, and she looked so small and frail and scared in his arms, weeping so hard she shook. And then the crying turned to laughter. A wide smile, much like Xy's, crossed her face. Her eyes lit up, sparkling with joy as much as tears.

"It's gone!"

Xylar let out a sound that was something between a huff and a cry and a laugh, and I saw him squeeze her tighter. She squeezed him back, her arms tight around his neck.

"It's gone," she cried again. "I'll recover."

They stood there for a while longer, and then she saw me and pushed him away. Still flushed with good news, she began to chide him.

"Now Xylar, you didn't tell me you were bringing anyone!"

He sniffled and pushed hair back from his face, still crying a little. "Sorry Ma, I just... I just needed someone to be here. I was scared."

She tut-tutted at him and asked if I wanted something to eat or drink.

"I'm alright, thank you Mom." I let her hug me. Realizing what she must be feeling, I hugged her back.

"Thank you for being here for my Xylar. I'm glad he found such a nice girl." She kissed my cheek and walked into the kitchen, a little unsteady on her feet, leaving Xylar and I staring at eachother.

He strode across the room in just a few steps and took me into his arms.

...

My bachelorette party did end up happening. It just got mixed with the bachelor party.

After hugging his mom a million times and eating lunch at her house, Xylar began to insist she take a nap. Evidently exhausted from everything that had happened that day, she agreed. She hugged me goodbye, and I didn't even hesitate this time, and let Xylar lead her to her room.

He came out a few minutes later, smiling sadly.

I was going to ask what was wrong, but he scooped me up into a hug before I could, and plopped us both onto the couch.

We watched TV, curled up laying on his mom's couch, for a couple hours until he suddenly sat bolt upright. "Shit," he said, "your party."

Before I could tell him it was fine he had whipped his phone out and was texting rapidly.

"Babe," I finally said- the word slipped out suspiciously easily- "it's fine."

"Done," he said. "You ready?"

I blinked at him. "That was fast."

He grinned at me and poked my side. "Anything for my wife."

I half-giggled, trying not to blush. I wanted to tell him it was fine, that he didn't have to do anything for me. He should just spend the day with his mom. But he had this wide, happy look in his eyes and I realized he wanted to. So I nodded.

"What're we doing?"

"I called a couple friends. We're going mini golfing- that's what you were gonna do, right?" He waited for me to nod before continuing, "Cool, well we're doing that, then we're going to that little pizza place you liked-"

"From the Ren fair?"

"From the Ren fair, yes, that one. And we're going to eat pizza. And then we can see what everyone is up for- clubbing or partying or, I don't know, a book store."

I stared at him for a long while before leaning in and kissing him on the lips.

Pulling away, I caught the stunned look on his face. I blushed and ducked my head. "Sorry," I murmured.

He caught my face in his hand and brought my lips back against his. There was an absurd amount of passion, but no lust to the kiss.

It took a while, but we eventually got eachother off the couch and into our separate cars, holding hands and kissing the whole way there, like we were already newlyweds.

We got to the mini golf place and it started up again, the kissing and the hugging and caressing. We actually didn't leave the parking lot for a while, and I was genuinely considering dragging him into a car when Sam and Jay caught sight of us.

"Cmon guys, Xylar's friends are already halfway through the damn course!" Jay yelled.

San rolled her eyes. "Dude, chill. Yall can keep making out!"

Xylar and I looked at eachother, laughed, and followed them.

I hadn't expected Xylar to kick ass at minigolf, but he did, beating all of us by a wide margin.

I also hadn't expected Xylar to get on stage for the karaoke night the pizzeria was holding, hut he did, and he kicked ass at that, too.

No one really felt like clubbing, not even me, so we just all said our goodbyes and hugged. Xylar and I waited until everyone was gone, and then he kissed me again, tenderly, and asked me to come to his place. I agreed. We got in our separate cars and drove off.

Usually when we spent the night with eachother, we spent the night at my house. Because he had thin walls and he couldn't be trusted not to whine and beg so loudly it woke up his whole apartment complex. But that night we laid curled up in his bed, because we weren't going to fuck.

I thought he had fallen asleep his arm around my shoulders and my head on his chest, but then he inhaled sharply, his fingers curling tightly in my hair and then releasing.

"One more day," he breathed.

I looked up at him. His eyes were shut and by all accounts, I would think he was asleep. He made a small noise.

"One more day," I repeated.

Then he began snoring a little. He'd been aleep talking. I'd never noticed him saying more than a few words at a time, but it made sense.

The gentle snoring kept up for a few minutes as I looked down and smiled at my soon to be husband.

And then his breathing evened out and, eyes still closed, he tugged me closer to him.

"I love you," he whispered, and kissed the top of my head.

My eyes began to water, and I put my hand on his side. I kissed his cheek, slack with sleep. "I love you, too," I said.