Do You Believe in Fate? [Stopped Incomplete]

Chapter 3

He woke in a panic. But a slight turn of his head reassured him that it hadn't been a dream. She was there, in his bed, in his arms. She started to grumble.

"Sleep." Was all that came out of her pretty mouth. His heart soared.

"Wake up sleeping beauty." He cooed in her ear. She flapped her hand at him, and eventually covered his mouth. He could feel the cool solidness of the rings against his lips, and he couldn't resist kissing her palm.

"You know, yesterday you had the decency to hide from me in my shower." She mumbled. He grinned against her palm.

"Yesterday we weren't married." He whispered in her ear after taking her hand in his own and stroking the rings. He ran her fingers over his matching band. She sat bolt upright; lifted her hand in front of her face to inspect the new additions. She shivered and grabbed his hand and inspected again, then compared his band with hers to see that they did in fact match.

"Not a dream then." She said matter-of-factly.

"Not a dream." He confirmed, then leaned over and kissed her. She didn't respond, and he frowned. She turned to the bedside table to check the time.

"Oh shit! I have to go. I'm late for hair and make-up. We'll talk about this later." And with no heed to her state of undress she shot out of bed and into her dress. She spotted her phone and key on the bedside table, and noted that they must be in his room because she had no clothes other than the dress she had worn the previous evening. All he received was a wave as she jetted out of the door.

She must have almost run Drew over because he didn't even have to knock, he just walked right in a second after Mallory had left.

"Is she alright?" Drew asked. Colin sighed.

"I have no idea. She swore and then there was something about being late for hair and make-up, and she was gone." Drew smiled then, ready to reassure his best man to the as much as possible after the bride's maid ran out on him.

"Well it can't be all bad; but she can't be late for bride's maid duties - Lori might just kill us all if it doesn't go to plan." Colin tried to be as optimistic as his best friend, but Mallory was more than a little skittish. In the meantime, Drew was right, time to get organised for the wedding at which he was merely the best man. And on the bright side, he would see Mallory at the end of the aisle, again, soon enough.

The two men were kept busy running errands, making sure the right flowers were in the right places, then they rushed off to get dressed.

At five to twelve they were standing at the altar of the hotel chapel, positions reversed from the night before, for their second wedding in twenty-four hours. Then the music started, and the doors opened, and in walked the two most beautiful women either of them had ever seen. Each thanked his lucky stars that they were now both squared away, with them.

The wedding had gone off without a hitch. The reception was going the same way, none of the guests knew that it was secretly for both couples, now that they were both married couples anyway. So when Drew and Lori had their first dance, the next couple on the floor was Colin and Mallory. Drew and Lori winked at their friends as the spun past. Though Colin and Mallory were still finding their rhythm it seemed to be going well for them. It was all going so well, until Mallory, on the last round, said;

"I have to leave tomorrow." Colin was still gaping like a fish, standing alone in the middle of the dance floor after the song had ended. That was the last thing that he had expected her to say. Lori was the one who noticed Colin standing there in the middle of the dance floor, like some Greek statue.

"Drew, you need to go and move Colin. I'll try to find Lory." Drew did as he was bid, an image of his life with Lori flashed before his eyes - he was suddenly sure that he had just signed up to spend a lifetime taking orders from Lori.

"Come on man, you can't stay in the middle of the floor looking like a fish on dry land." Drew gently guided Colin to the bar, and ordered him a Scotch.

"She's leaving." Drew looked at his friend. There was only one 'she' who could induce such despondence.

"Yeah, I know. You knew that she was leaving. We told you right from the start that she was never going to stay." He looked at Colin with concern. "Colin, man, you didn't think that marrying her would make her stay did you?" Colin looked at his shoes after finishing the drink.

"Shit! Damn it Colin! This is not about you! She is not leaving because of you. This is not her trying to get rid of you even." Colin's head shot up.

"Why's she going then?" Colin asked quietly. Drew took hold of Colin's shoulders and forced him to look up.

"Because she has to. This is what we've been trying to tell you." Drew sighed.

"Colin, if you want to make this work; you're gonna have to go too. Lord knows I don't want you to; but if you love Mallory... She won't come back here, we aren't even sure if she can. You need to understand, she only had a few days - and she used them to come to our wedding, and Lori and I are beyond grateful that we got even that. Go, pack, try to catch her before she's finished packing herself - you'll have to run Mallory travelled light." Drew finished, hugged his best friend as tight as he could, slapped him on the back, and sent him on his way.

Lori slid her arms around her husband.

"She's running, isn't she?" Drew asked. Lori nodded into his back.

"She is. She's changed her tickets, Mallory wasn't supposed to leave for another twenty-four hours. But I managed to slow her up a bit. I told her that the clothes were hers, now she's trying to work out whether to leave them - which goes against her grain, because it's wasteful - or trying to find another suitcase, and then there's the excess baggage fee." Drew pulled his wife so that she stood in his arms instead of behind him.

"You bought him time. Thank you!" He whispered in her ear as he manoeuvred Lori onto the dance floor.

"Well, there's nothing else we can do; except watch and wait."