The Book of Us

The wedding

Across the past 6 weeks, Nathan and I had grown apart. Our time together, while short and highly discouraged by Grace and my parents, was special. Grace said he missed me. And that much was obvious, when I managed to convince mum that I was going to a party on Saturday nights, I would manage to catch the bus to the rec-club to see him. That was my only escape from the towering piles of homework that the last term of the year brought. I️ missed him lots, but seeing home every so often made that easier.

*****

As Grace and I when the to sleep the night before the wedding, I was invited to stay overnight. In the morning I woke to the most deafening wail in all of history.
"WAAAAKE UPPPPP" Grace screamed in my ear. "We need to get ready"

"This early?" I asked "it's like 7 AM"

"The weddings at 10. Come on." The wedding was going to be very fancy. With flowy dresses and fitting suits for us all. A large banquet was cooking on the ovens of a catering business and waiters and waitresses were setting a table in the large, ancient, community hall. A priest was practicing his lines, readying himself to wed two lovers in holy matrimony. It was going to be big, very big. Grace pulled her dress on and got me to pull the built in corset tight, very tight. Then it was my turn, the dresses were a strapless flowy grey chiffon and the corset was to be pulled very tight.

We then did our hair, a tight rose-twist at the top of our head with small grey flowers spotted on and around it. The make up was next up. That took a lot of tries, we kept smudging the mascara or using the wrong shade of foundation, we had to have two due to me being dark skinned and her having skin so white it was almost translucent.  I also apparently put on too much blush and the wrong tone. So I start again. Grace is so good at this. She suggests I try rouge. I have no idea how to do it so it ended up smudged all over my cheeks. In the end grace did my makeup for me. It's harder to do makeup on others, so it wasn't as immaculate as her's, but it was still better than mine. I went downstairs for breakfast, an apple, only to witness Kirsten stumble tiredly down the stars.

"Aren't you getting ready, its the big day" I enquired. Shocked that she wasn't already dressed

"Oh, I can't fit in the limo with the dress on so I'm changing at the church." She explains tiredly.

*****

An hour after that, we all pile into the limos. There are three and Nathan has asked the the three of us get one alone. It makes sense. The bride and groom in the first one and the rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen in the second, which adds to about 4, and then us three in the last.

This was a bad idea. Because it just so happens that there's champagne in the limo. Grace cracks open a bottle and pours us all a glass. I hesitantly look at the glass she's trying to give me, and in the end decide to take it. I look at the bottle, a 1994 [insert fancy champagne name]. I quickly look up the price of it on my phone, $378 minimum. I realize that Grace and Nathan have both started drinking theirs. They look at me expectantly.

"Never tasted bubbly before?" Nathan asks.

"Of course not! It's illegal!" I shoot back at him

"You'll like it, trust me." He says with a signature Nathan smirk. Why does he have such a hypnotic smile? I take a small sip.

"I am tasting the stars" I quoted Don Périgon, the founder of champagne. It's amazing. Like a thousand stars just exploded and made my mouth this odd type of numb. It's a bit sour and bitter but has an underlying sweet syrupy taste as well. I drink and talk with my friends.  Grace has two glasses but Nathan and I stick to one. When we finally arrive at the church, Grace and I rush to the back of the church to help Kirsten.

I know that time cant speed up and slow down. Physics doesn't allow that. But it did feel like that. It felt like the hour before the wedding was just a few seconds and us walking down the isle behind Kirsten felt like a thousand years. As we stood at the altar, Nathan's eyes were locked on me. He does this thing this silly, goofy adorable thing where eh looks at me like nothing else matters. Like he can't see anything else at all.
'You look beautiful' he mouths,
'And you' I mouth back. And for once, I  do feel beautiful. I feel girly and cute. I feel enough. All these last two months, I've been trying to impress him. Make myself good enough for him. And for once I do feel good enough. And I hope it stays this way, because I love him. And because love is everything once you find it. I don't care about what Grace or my parents or his friends think. Because I love him. I'm think I'm sure of that much.