Corrupt Me || Cleave (boyxboy)

Cleave - Final/Epilogue

Micah

"Micah, wake up, man," I heard from beside me as I felt my shoulder being nudged forcefully. I groaned and tried to roll over and go back to sleep but whoever was trying to rouse me wouldn't let me. "Come on! It's today, dude, you need to get ready!"

It took me a few seconds to realise what he meant, and when I did, I finally opened my eyes to see James staring back at me. He was wearing casual clothing – jeans and a t-shirt – but I knew that before long he would be standing next to me wearing a charcoal grey suit and fancy shoes as I married the love of my life.

"Today," I mumbled, struggling to sit up in bed and hearing all my bones crack back into place. "God, I'm getting old."

"Oh shut up. You're only 20," James said, offering me a hand to help me get the rest of my way out of bed. I winced as he pulled me to my feet. I still had a bit of trouble with my pelvis in the mornings, even two years after the car crash. It sometimes took a few minutes for me to get enough feeling in my legs to be able to walk without falling over.

"What's the time?" I asked James after a couple of seconds of stretching out my muscles.

"9 o'clock," he replied. "We have breakfast at 9:30, then a couple of hours to chill out until we have to get dressed. Then at 2:30 we're leaving here to make sure we're at the beach by 3."

I nodded, and absentmindedly reached for my phone, which was sitting on my old bedside table at my parent's house. I opened up the phone and went into my messages, but when James peeked over my shoulder and saw whose name I had clicked on, he quickly snatched the phone away from me.

"Hey!" I protested, reaching for the phone. He dodged out of my way and hid it behind his back.

"No, Micah. You both agreed, no seeing or texting each other before the wedding," James said.

"But, just one couldn't –"

"No!"

I pouted. "Fine."

"Get dressed. I'll meet you in the kitchen in five minutes," he said as he left my room, taking my phone with him. I rolled my eyes, but got moving anyway, picking out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for the day. I quickly changed into them and then headed out to the kitchen, where James, my dad and my sisters were waiting. Looking around at the group, I figured out that I was the last person up.

"How do you feel, MJ?" Elise said to me with a huge smile on her face. "You're getting married today!"

"I know... I still can't quite believe it. Can somebody pinch me?" I replied, quickly swatting James' hand away from me as he went to actually pinch me. It was so weird to me that in only a couple of hours, I would be a husband.

"When your mother and I got married, I was a nervous wreck," Dad commented as he placed a plate of freshly cooked bacon and eggs on the kitchen island, which was immediately snatched up by Elise. "I nearly forgot when I had to say 'I do'. So make sure you pay attention to the celebrant and you'll be fine."

"Thanks Dad, I think," I said, rolling my eyes. "Did you talk to Mom at all?"

Dad frowned. "I've tried to talk her into coming today, but I don't know if she will. She's very stubborn, and you know that she was never happy that you and Angel got back together."

"Yeah, I know. She barely tolerates me speaking about him half the time." I sighed. Since I got engaged, my mother and I had been constantly at war about my relationship. I had thought things had been getting better between my mother and I after I got out of the hospital but as soon as the engagement ring went on my finger, it was like all that progress went out the window and she was just as homophobic and opinionated as before and I stopped being invited for Sunday family nights. When she found out that my dad said I could stay at my parents' house the night before my wedding, she refused to be there, instead opting to stay at a motel for the night. So, it wasn't much of a surprise that she didn't want to come to my wedding. I had still given her an official invitation though, in case she changed her mind.