Guarded

||thirty-four||

The wedding.

I stand here, in the back of the small church, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"Marie," I whisper to her in front of me.

"Yes?"

"Who's gonna walk me down the aisle?"

She looks confused. "We didn't think of that. Wait. Didn't you invite your dad to the wedding?"

"Yeah, but he's not gonna co-"

An arm wraps around mine. I turn to see the face of my father.

"I couldn't miss my little girl's big day," he says. "Somebody has to walk you down the aisle, right?"

In complete and utter shock, I don't know what to say. "Uh, thank you. For coming." I give him a weak smile just as the organ starts to play.

The bridesmaids, Michaela, Emme, and Elena, (she really wanted to be a part of our wedding) walk down the aisle, arm in arm with their boys. Well, Jeremy's the ring bearer, so he's not with Michaela at the moment. Louis and Michaela, Emme and Liam, Elena and Zayn, (who recently have a thing going on) and finally the Maid of Honor, Marie, and the Best Man, Harry.

Niall's little cousin is the flower girl and she skips down the aisle with glee. Then, the ring bearer, Jeremy, walks down, following her. (And making sure she goes in the right direction.)

Time for me. My father and I walk down the aisle, arm in arm. Niall can't stop smiling at me, but then notices my father. His jaw almost drops.

Niall is dressed in a black tuxedo with his hair done just how I like it. He looks brilliant.

As I walk down the aisle, four of Niall's friends wink at me. Niall says they're in a band, and I guess they look like they could be. One of them has green hair, another has a lip ring, the other is wearing a fedora, and the last one just reminds me of a puppy.

I arrive at the altar. Niall steps down to take me from my dad. "Take better care of her then I did, son," my father whispers. I can see tears forming in his eyes. "Don't make the mistakes I did."

"Yes, sir," Niall replies, taking both my hands in his.

The ceremony goes on just like any typical wedding. We recite our vows and soon enough the priest is asking, "Niall Horan, do you take Cassidy Billoway to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

He smiles and looks into my eyes. "I do."

"Cassidy Billoway, do you take Niall Horan to be your-"

"I do," I cut him off.

"Okay, you may now kiss the bride!"

Niall pulls me in and dips me, kissing me hard and passionately.

I'm married to the love of my life.

-

The reception is great. There are people dancing and eating and talking.

Niall and I are currently slow dancing to a fast song. I know, it's a little cliché, but, hey, it's cute. I rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. I giggle.

"What?" Niall rests his chin on my head.

"Your heartbeat is going in time with the music."

"That makes you giggle?" Even though I can't see his face, I can hear him smiling.

"Yes, yes it does."

It's now time for cake. Niall and I hold the knife together and carefully cut the cake. As I feed the cake to him, I make sure it gets on his nose. As he feeds it to me, he makes sure it gets all over my face.

"This is war," I say, and grab another piece of cake. I shove it Niall's face and soon enough, wedding cake and other desserts are being thrown about the large room.

Everybody is covered head to toe in desserts now, but the music turns to a slow song, so everybody grabs their messy partners and starts dancing.

I see Emme lick some frosting off of Liam's nose. Marie wipes Harry's eyes, then eats the cake from his face. Michaela just puts more desserts on Jeremy's face. Elena gently wipes off Zayn's face, but she doesn't eat anything.

I don't wipe off anything from Niall's or my face. I go in and kiss Niall, tasting frosting and several different pastries.

"I'm in love with you," he says.

"I'm in love with you, too."