Forever | Protector 3.2 | Wattys2017

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Jerome

       Less than thirty minutes until the ceremony began and honestly? I was very nervous. I didn't know why, but I guess it was a wedding thing. People were always nervous on their wedding, even when they knew everything was going to go fine.

       Well, I didn't know if everything was going to go fine. There was the fact that my dad probably was here and I had no idea what he was going to say and if he really was choosing me over Mom, and the fact that this wedding was such a huge step. It was a major change and Nolan did not do well with major changes.

       I honestly didn't see the wedding as a major change since we already lived together and we were going to be acting the same way we did before we got married. The only difference was that he was going to be my husband.

       That didn't mean Nolan wasn't going to feel very nervous and stressed.

       "How's Nolan doing?" I asked Ryder, who was sitting on one of the chairs in the room.

       "I'll find out," Ryder said before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and texting someone. Shortly after, he got a reply back. "Alan said he's doing okay. He's kind of stressing out, but Orchid is talking him down. He's not going to get cold feet, you know."

       "I know," I said. "I'm just worried about him and his anxiety. It has been getting really bad recently."

       "I can probably go talk to him to help him calm down," Ryder said. "In fact, I am going to do that right now." Ryder stood up and left the room to head to the room Nolan was getting ready in.

       Mae got up from the chair she was sitting on and walked over to me. "I'm really happy for you," she said. "You definitely deserve everything that's coming."

       "Thanks," I said. "And thank you so much for being there for me when I came out. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you there for me."

       Mae smiled. "You're welcome. I still can't believe you're getting married."

       "Uh, you're already married, so you should find it easy to believe," I pointed out. "And you didn't take that long to get married. How long were you and Ryder dating when he proposed? Ten months?"

       "Yes, and how old was Nolan when you proposed? Seventeen?"

       "People can get engaged at any age," I pointed out. "He's eighteen now, so there isn't a difference."

       "I know, I'm just kidding," Mae said. "You and two love each other a whole lot. Seriously, I have never seen anyone in love as much as you two are."

        I smiled and pulled my best friend into a hug. "Thank you, Mae. For everything."

       "You're welcome," Mae said, hugging me back.

       Ryder shortly came back into the room. "Good news," he said. "Nolan's doing fine now. He's only feeling a tiny bit of nerves, but he doesn't feel like he'll have a meltdown. And there's five minutes left before the ceremony begins."

       I took a deep breath. "Okay."

       "And....I want to thank you," Ryder said.

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "For what?"

       "Just....for being the perfect person for my brother," Ryder said. "I know you can be extremely annoying, but you also showed my brother that he doesn't have to be afraid to show who he is. I remember how terrified he was to come out, and now he's marrying you and he isn't even afraid to show PDA with you. So thank you."