More Than Meets the Eye

I Love You Too Much

"I'm so nervous!" Ariel whispered to me as I helped her with her dress. Today was finally the wedding! Everyone was excited for Orion and Ariel to finally marry each other, but not as excited as they were. I had never seen Ariel so happy... And so nervous.

"Why are you so nervous about?" I asked her. "You love him, he loves you, and you're both going to be happy together."

"She's right!" Sadie said as she applied another coat of lip gloss to Ariel's lips. "You've been dreaming about this your entire life!"

"Yes... But it's a little bit scary," Ariel admitted. "I mean, I'm starting a whole new life with him..."

"That's what makes it exciting," Mia told her.

"Weren't you this scared?" Ariel asked her sister. "I mean, when you married Ian?"

"Yes, I was," Mia said softly with a faraway look in her eyes.

I looked up at Mia in shock. "Wait, you were scared?"

Mia nodded. "More than I've ever been in my life," she chuckled. "But I had no reason to be." She smiled and put a hand on Ariel's cheek. "And you have no reason to be scared either."

Ariel smiled and nodded. "You're right. You always are."

"I know," Mia joked.

**

I smiled as I walked down the aisle, throwing flower petals out as I did. Orion and Ariel had chosen to have their wedding in the backyard, and I couldn't think of a more perfect place: Mia and Sadie had made a beautiful dance floor, the aisle was covered with white rose petals, and instead of chairs, there were two white benches. Skylar, Spencer, Donato, and Fawn sat on the left bench while Stuart, Mike, and James sat on the right bench, all smiling as I passed them.

Orion, Ronald, and Ian were already waiting under the gazebo as I approached. As I took my place on the right side, I couldn't help but notice how nervous Orion seemed.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. "You look a little nervous."

Ian chuckled as he gave Orion a playful nudge. "Oh, loosen up," he teased. "I haven't seen you this nervous since the day you and Ariel first met... And all those days that followed."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's that suppose to mean?"

Orion groan as an evil smirk crossed Ian's face. "Please don't," he pleaded.

"Poor Orion here used to get all tongue-tied whenever Ariel walked into the room," Ian said, causing Orion to look towards the sky with a pained expression. "He'd always trip over his words-"

"And his feet," Ronald cut in. "He was always running into doors or walls... Or into one of us."

I covered my mouth to muffle my laughter as Orion's face turned bright red.

"But that was before-" Ronald started before catching himself.

"Before what?" I asked. Ian only shook his head. "Never mind."

Orion sighed as he stared down the aisle uncertainly. I smiled softly, remembering how scared Ariel had been not too long ago.

"You know, Ariel was scared too," I told him.

Orion glanced down at me. "Was she?"

I nodded. "Yup. But something made her realize that she didn't have to be."

"What was that?" Orion asked.