Sanctuary (A Dan Smith/ Bastille fanfic)

61. Dan

I try to act cool in front of her but I'm sure she knows how nervous she makes me. My heart beats a thousand beats per minute when we're asked to take photos and we're placed next to each other. When the photographer asks me to put my arm around her I accidentally don't play it cool at all by telling her how good it is to see her and how amazing she looks, but I can't help but tell her that when it's the truth.

It all ends too quickly though and I'm dragged off to sit on the top table with the rest of the main members in the wedding party. It doesn't stop me from looking at her though, admiring how beautiful she looks whilst she enjoys the day.

The tension between us is thick in the air, clear for everybody to see. All I want to do is talk to her and find out every last detail of the past 5 years of her life.

But I can't though, because there's one thing standing in the way between the meal and the reception; the speeches. Woody knows I hate public speaking but he just had to make me do a speech, I am best man after all. I listen to Chrissy's maid of honour do an amazing speech before standing up to do my own. My eyes are solely focused on Chloe still and I try to drag them away in an attempt to stop my distractions whilst doing the speech.

"Hi everyone." I breathe heavily before I start my horrific speech. "Those of you who know me will know how bad I am at public speaking, which is pretty ironic seeing as that's basically my job." A small amount of polite laughter fills the room and eases me into my speech. "But I guess I have to stand up on the day of not only my band mate, but my best friends, wedding. When I first met Woody, who I then called Chris, it was because we were pretty much desperate to start up a band where we could enjoy playing music together. Now for reasons that I won't mention, it took us a while to actually start it up, but eventually we found Will and Kyle and our little band started gigging in small pubs around London. Now, five years later, I can't believe how far we've come together. I've been extremely privileged to watch the amazing relationship between Woody and Chrissy, and I must say Chrissy you have the patience of a saint for putting up with him, I know it's not easy when he's basically a child trapped into a short 30 year old man's body." Oh that's caused some more laughter. That's good. Laughter is a good sign. "But all I can say is thank you for being an awesome friend Woody, I can't imagine doing all of the mental stuff we've done with anyone different, and I hope that we have many more years of this craziness. So raise a glass to one of the best men there is, who's done a lot to help a lot of people, especially me in my darkest times, and to his new wife Chrissy, who we thank for putting up with not only Woody, but also acting like a great friend to all of us. To Chris and Chrissy." I hold my champagne flute up and the sound of applause fills the room. My eyes instantly find Chloe's and I finally feel calm again. Her warm smile reassures me that I didn't just mess up again, like I usually do, and I actually managed to do something right.

A few more speeches are said, Woody's being brilliant and hilarious as expected, and then it's time for the first dance. My smile widens whilst watching Woody and Chrissy dance at their wedding, something that I could only dream of doing.

The next song starts up and people start gradually joining the couple on the dancefloor. I nervously make my way towards Chloe and Amelie, who are both stood at the side of the dancefloor. Chloe smiles as she notices me approaching, a good sign which puts me at ease some more. "May I?" I hold my hand out in a gentlemanly fashion and she giggles such a sweet sound.

"Well of course." She beams and takes hold of my hand before turning around. "You okay Am?" She checks on her friend who gives us both a wink and pushes us closer to the dancefloor. I panic slightly, knowing that I'm a rubbish dancer, but I try to act like I know what I'm doing, holding her waist as she wraps her arms around my neck. "Well done on the speech."