A Suite and Magical Life

Chapter 30: Face the sunshine, your shadows will slowly fall behind you

July 1, 2012

Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

As the bride walked down the aisle, Zack Martin only saw Alexandra Russo. The memories came rushing back to him, thus enveloping him in a wave of nostalgia. He fidgeted in his tuxedo as looked at her, ethereally beautiful in her poofy pink dress, as she looked at him. He saw the blush on her face and realized just how intensely he'd been looking at her. He smiled and mouthed, You're beautiful. She blushed harder and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears.

As Mr. Moseby began officiating the ceremony, Zack, who was one of the groomsmen, along with his brother Cody and his friends Woody, Marcus, Tapeworm, Max and Justin Russo, turned away from looking at the bridesmaids to look at the bride and groom standing on the dais. The bridesmaids, Alex, Bailey, Addison, London, Maxine, Thalia and Harper all looked way from the groomsmen they had been looking at and also looked at the dais.

Zack Martin finally felt like his life was coming together. His father and mother had been dating for a few months, and his dad had unexpectedly proposed to his mother. After getting over her initial surprise, his mom had said yes, and his parents had gotten engaged again.

Kurt had asked both his sons to be the best men, and they had accepted. He had also asked recommendations for the groomsmen, and Zack and Cody had asked all of their closest male friends to become groomsmen, and they had accepted. Their one joint responsibility had been organizing the bachelor party, a responsibility Cody had hijacked, although Zack had to admit that Cody had made the bachelor party both enjoyable and safe.

Carey had asked Alex, whom she regarded as a surrogate daughter, to be her maid of honor, which she had accepted. Alex had also chosen the bridesmaids, who were all the girls whom the groomsmen had been friendly/in love with. Alex had tried to contact Madeline Fitzpatrick, but she had been unable to turn up due to prior commitments. Regardless, Alex took comfort in the fact that she had thrown an enjoyable yet strait-laced bachelorette party.

Zack had asked Justin to be a groomsman. Justin had accepted, and had proven a good influence as the organization for almost everything else at the wedding had been done by him, and Zack was in awe of his organizing skills and his good taste in almost everything.

Zack looked at Alex and remembered just how much the Russos had been through over the last month. Justin had been fired as Headmaster of Wiztech after the "unicorn incident" which he believed had been caused by his vampire girlfriend, Juliette Van Heusen, but had actually been caused by Alex's boyfriend, Mason. Zack had discovered that Juliette and Mason had been cheating on Justin and Alex with each other, and Alex had confronted him and broken up with him as a result.

Alex had tried to keep this massive secret to herself, but Zack had been in the clearing when the confrontation between Alex and Mason had taken place, so he had discovered it. They had tried to hide this truth from Justin, but he had almost immediately discovered this and had almost slipped into depression, and Alex had been close behind in sadness.

Zack had managed to help both of them heal. He had shifted into the Russo household and now shared a room (and a bed) with Alex. He had helped Alex heal by making her laugh, by letting her cry her eyes out, by comforting her, and by just cuddling with her whenever she wanted it. He'd had many heart-to-hearts with her and reassured her that Mason cheating on her was his loss. He'd taken her out to many of their favorite places in New York City, and they had rediscovered the place. Slowly, she had improved day by day and was almost back to her old bubbly self by now, which had been helped by Mason being arrested in Britian and sent to Azkaban prison.

Justin had been trickier to cheer up. Firstly, Zack had had to lie to Chancellor Rootie Tootootie that Justin had given up his magical powers after being removed as Headmaster of Wiztech, even though he hadn't. He'd then reassured Justin that he wasn't a bad person, and that the unicorn incident hadn't been his fault and that he was a worthy wizard. Zack had enlisted Cody's help, and Cody and Justin had spent quite a while discussing many things about the worlds, mortal and magical. Zack had even set up Justin on a blind date with Harper's cousin Giada, which Justin would be getting ready for the next day.