The Nevermore Reunion

Fortune

Larissa started planning the wedding as soon as we got back home. We hadn't even unpacked yet and she kept showing me potential venues and table decorations on her phone.
"Larissa, we don't have to rush! Let's just take our time and enjoy being engaged first" I tried to reason.
"Hmm...yes you're right. I just can't wait to be your wife!"
I'd never seen her so eager and excited, she was like a champagne bottle ready to pop!
"Neither can I, my love. But I'm so tired right now so maybe we can have a look tomorrow?"
"OK then" she reluctantly agreed.
"So...do you feel like eating Chinese for dinner? I'm starving but I can't be bothered cooking so should I order in?"
"Ooo! We could have little fortune cookies on the tables at the wedding meal!"
"Larissa..."
"OK fine! I'll stop. I need to write one that down though..." and off she went searching for a pen and paper.
"Good god I've created a monster" I thought as I looked through the Chinese takeaway menu.

A few days later we got a visit from Brianna and Jamie.
When I answered the door Brianna was holding a stack of bridal magazines and a large white folder stuffed with documents and coloured labels.
"Helloooo! Thought you might need a hand in planning your big day!" Brianna said as she pushed past me.
"Um...sure. Come in".
"I'm so sorry about this, I tried to stop her-" Jamie said when she was out of earshot.
I just laughed, "it's ok really, to be honest we could do with the help".
"You're going to regret saying that".

Larissa popped her head around the kitchen door then entered to greet them.
"What's all this?" she said pleasantly as she picked up a magazine from the top of the pile.
"I thought these might help you with your plans. There are some stunning dresses in here that would look perfect on you Ms. Weems! I've popped a little bookmark in my personal favourites!"
"Oh Brianna dear, this is so kind of you" Larissa said gratefully, she was genuinely touched by the effort she had gone to.
"So did you have a theme or a colour scheme in mind?" Brianna asked.
"Actually yes, as you know I love the colour white and roses are my favourite flowers so I was thinking..."
Larissa explained what ideas she had (which even I didn't know about yet!). Me and Jamie just watched as they chatted excitedly and went through the folder and the magazines together.
"Beer?" I asked Jamie.
"God yes please!" he said and we headed into the kitchen.

Over the next six months Larissa and Brianna became the bestest of friends, regularly meeting up to discuss plans for the wedding. Thankfully Larissa let me have my say and involved me at every important stage. But if Brianna had her way all I would have to do is turn up!
We had decided that we didn't want a church wedding or an outdoor wedding, we looked at so many different wedding venues but nowhere seemed to be quite what we were looking for. Larissa was starting to get impatient and agitated, I tried to reassure her that we would find the perfect place soon but she took some convincing.
"I don't care where we get married, as long as you're there and we can take our vows then that's all I need" I said.
"That's sweet of you. But I just want our wedding to be as perfect as it can be, for both of us" she replied.
"I know and it will, I promise" I said and kissed her cheek.
"I love you darling" she said softly.
"I love you too" I said with a smile, getting lost in those sapphire eyes once again.

The next day Larissa called me to her office to discuss the mid-term coursework assignments for my classes, so I went through my notes with her.
"I was thinking the first years could perform their own short piece on piano using set notes and chords, maybe one or two minutes long. The second years could do the same again but with some more advanced techniques and perform a piece that's three to four minutes long. Now for the third years I wanted to try-" Larissa was suddenly standing over me and cut me off with a very passionate kiss. My head had been so buried in my notes that I didn't even see her leave her chair!
"God you're so sexy when you're in teacher mode" she husked and kissed me again.
"Well now you know how I felt during your classes all those years ago".
She snatched my notebook and threw it on her desk then frantically started unbuttoning my shirt, but as she did I had a sudden brainwave.
"Wait! That's it!"
"What?" Larissa said, baffled and slightly annoyed by my interruption.
"Why don't we get married here?"
"In my office?!"
"No! At Nevermore. It's where we met, where we bonded, where we were reunited and where things developed".
"But...isn't that a little strange? We both work here now".
"I know but admit it this place is special, to both of us".
Larissa sat on the edge of her desk and pondered over my idea for a while. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, she was often hard to read when she was deep in thought.
Eventually she turned her head and smiled at me.
"Brianna's going to hate this you know" she said.
"Is that a yes?"
She chuckled, "yes".
I jumped out of the chair and hugged her.
"I must be mad!" she exclaimed.
"Maybe we both are! But it's going to be the best day of our lives!" I said joyously and kissed her.
"You're telling Brianna though, not me!"
"Ah shit" I cursed to myself.

*

"What the actual hell?! You want to have the wedding at Nevermore?!" Brianna yelled at me.
I tried my best to explain to her and the group the reasons behind mine and Larissa's decision, most of them understood and thought it was romantic. Brianna did not.
"But it's your place of work! It's like getting married in an office block!"
"It's not like that Brie and you know it!" Jamie tried to tell her.
"Yeah, Nevermore is where we all met and look at us now!" Max said proudly.
"He's right Brie" Cassie said, "it's a special place for all of us".
Brianna sulked then as everyone's words sank in her expression softened.
"I suppose. God me and Larissa have got a job on our hands" she muttered.
"Hey now, a maid of honour shouldn't pout" I said casually.
Brianna sprang up in her seat like a meerkat, "a...a maid of honour?"
I nodded and turned to Cassie, "isn't that right Cass?"
"I...er...I guess" she answered, the confusion written all over her face.
"Do you mean what I think you mean?!" Brianna asked.
I nodded, "we'd like you both to be maids of honour".
"OH MY GOD!!" Brianna jumped out her seat causing her chair to fall backwards and ran around the table to grab me in a bear hug.
"I take it that's a yes then?" I said over her shoulder.
"YES!!"
I laughed, "Cassie?"
"Absolutely!" and she joined in for a group hug.

There was another important question I wanted to ask...
"Jamie, will you be my best man?"
Jamie looked shocked then a smile spread across his face, "of course I will".
"What about me?!" Max whined dramatically and folded his arms, imitating Brianna's pout earlier.
"You can be the warm-up guy" I joked.
"What?! But warm-up guys are awful!"
"I'm just joking! I want you up there with me too. So Max will you-?"
I didn't even finish the question and he was on his knees with his arms outstretched.
"Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!"
"Get up you idiot" I said dryly then hugged him.

Everything was falling into place now and Larissa and I were feeling much more relaxed and excited about our big day. It was a stressful process but we managed to have some fun along the way, like smearing frosting on each other's faces when we went to pick out a wedding cake and secretly making out in one of the wedding cars.
The time had passed so quickly and now the wedding was only a week away. The reality was beginning to hit me, in a week's time Larissa would be my wife. She would be walking down the aisle in a beautiful white dress ready to commit herself to me for the rest of her life and take my name. It was a little overwhelming to think about and one night she found me crying at my piano.
"Sweetheart! What's wrong?!" she said as she ran over to hug me.
"I'm OK it's just...it's really happening isn't it?" I said through tears.
She smiled looking into my soul with those loving eyes and immediately understood.
"Yes it is my love" she whispered softly and she didn't need to say anything else.
She held me in her bosom and let me cry my happy tears.