My Heroine (@wingsofgxld/@batteraecity)

Wowzer.

Today was the day.

I hadn't seen you yet, but I knew you looked stunning. Despite all my nerves, I couldn't get your sparkling blue eyes and gorgeous smile out of my head. It felt as though I was missing you though it had barely been a day since we'd seen each other. Knowing that those moments were the last time I'd see you as you were before we became each others' filled me with all sorts of emotion. After this day, we would never be the same, we would never be the same in all the best ways.

Neither of us were religious, so having a church ceremony seemed odd, even as I stood at the alter. My hands were sweating, but I didn't want to accidentally stain my snow-white dress before you had the chance the tell me I looked beautiful. A high neckline started to feel like a bad idea as anxiety made it feel like it was tightening. Looking to the pews for support, my nervous eyes meet with a reassuring smile from my best friend, Jack Barakat, who was sat in the front row along side Zack Merrick and Pat Kirch. Aside from those three and our marriage officiant (Jordan Witzigreuter AKA The Ready Set), the ceremony space was empty. Impromptu cross-Pacific weddings aren't exactly considered 'convenient' for most, but so long as we had the people who mattered most with us, it was okay.

Obviously starting to look a bit panicked, Jack decide to yell out (not that he needed to yell, we weren't exactly that far from each other, but the enthusiasm didn't hurt), "Rae! Remember what Alex said!" Alex Gaskarth had said many things over many years, so trying to pin-point what Jack meant only left me feeling more confused than comforted. "Do it for the memories! Do it for Baltimore! Do it for me!"
"But I've never been to Baltimore!" I yell back, vaguely exasperated. "And Alex isn't even here, so fuck him!" The ridiculousness of Jack's outburst was enough to moderately calm me.

It's a real shame Alex wasn't there to say those words in his place, though. He was busy with some important breakfast plans and didn't have the time to fit this into his busy Rosé-drinking schedule.
"Everything'll be fine, kid," Jack went on. "When Mae walks in, you'll be so overwhelmed by love that you'll forget feeling anything but happiness." His words brought a smile to all of our faces.
"Jack, th-that was actually really sweet," Pat chimed in.
"Yeah, what Pat said," Zack interjected. "Why aren't you the one up there?"
Jack just shrugged. "Any more sweetness and Rae might get cavities, right?" I stifle a laugh. "That, and the only thing I need tying me down is a hangover after a night of partying, am I right, fellas?" He joked in an over-exaggerated manner. It was enough to lighten the mood, but it also invoked a slight worry about potentially holding someone I care down. That's not what marriage is, right? I wasn't taking any life away from you by calling you mine?

As I was about to bring up my sudden fear with the guys, Jordan, who has been professionally yet uncomfortably silent this entire time, cleared his throat to signify the start of the ceremony. He glanced over to Pat, informing him to start the music. Since you and I weren't exactly loaded (having spent next to all our money on simply seeing each other), we couldn't afford any live music in the form of a band or even a pianist. On separate occasions, we'd both mentioned to our guests that 'they're well off musicians' and that 'surely you could play something for us' or 'at least chip in to hire the old organ player that practically lives in the church' but our words achieved nothing. They insisted that it'd take away from the moment and that we'd be 'too pre-occupied' with what they were doing instead of 'focusing on each other' - which I still call bullshit because them just being there was stealing at least a little bit of our attention from each other. But, I digress.

Pat draws a golden 4th Gen iPod Nano from his pocket – the same one I'd had since primary school. If you took a big enough sniff, you might've still been able to smell the 3OH!3 on it. Plugging it in to the portable speaker that you had so kindly supplied, an unfortunate synthesized beat fills what should be a holy space.