Ruled, ᴘᴇᴛᴇʀ ᴋᴀᴠɪɴsᴋʏ

What happens in Vegas...

Marry your best friend. I do not say that lightly. Really, truly find the strongest, happiest friendship in the person you fall in love with. Someone who speaks highly of you. Someone you can laugh with. The kind of laugh that makes your belly ache and your nose snort and your cheeks cramp up. Marry them. Life is too short not to love someone who lets you be a fool with them. Make sure they are somebody who lets you cry, too. Despair and heartbreak will come. But let it be someone who makes it worth it. Marry the one that makes passion, love, and madness combine and course through you. A love that will never dilute - even when the waters get deep and dark. 

And you just know. When you find a person like that you know it's them. It's you both. And there's no denying it. The universe conspired since its begging just so you could be together. Your parents had to get together, their parents had to get together as well as their parents before them and their parents too just so we could exist at the same time, in the same place, and cross each other's path. It's all connected. It's all planned. 

Destiny. 

It exists and it controls our lives whether we like it or not and I've given up trying to defy it, I've given up overthinking, I've given up doubting. 

....

I look at myself in the mirror.

Is this stupid? Obviously. We're only 21 years old. We're not even half of half of a century. My mom will kill me. But Let her and let it be stupid. It's right. I know that. I feel it's right. 

''You look so beautiful,'' LJ tells me over my shoulder as she rests her chin there. 

''Really? With this thrifted wedding dress?'' I laugh trying helplessly to tighten it around my waist. 

''Yes!'' She answers me, slapping my hands away from the dress. ''Perfect.'' 

''I'm nervous,'' I confess lowly. I feel sweat begin to bead across my face and palms. 

''You should be. You're getting married.'' She laughs.

''Jeez, how did we get here?'' 

24hours before

''Have you made a decision?'' LJ asks lowly.  

''Yes,'' I say courageously. ''But I can't leave my mom.'' 

''Why?'' My mom appears from the hallway, almost as if she was waiting for a cue to enter from stage left. ''I think I can be alone since I've been at war and all.'' 

''Mom-'' I start but she doesn't let me finish.

''The suitcases are in the cupboard, you've got your bikinis in the guest room closet, and don't tell Thomas but you can take the credit card.''  She talks quickly and doesn't stutter which to me is an indication that she's not giving me a suggestion, she's telling me that I will in fact go to Vegas with my friends for spring break and that's the end of the conversation. 

I hear Lj shriek in excitement and I can't help but immediately match her vibe, even if underneath it all is fear, doubt, and the worst of anxieties. 

How will Peter react? 

Is he waiting for me?

Does he think about me even?

Am I too late?

As I carelessly shove clothes into the suitcase I can't help but wonder.

''He's a wreck'' LJ breaks the deafening silence I didn't notice had been hovering above us for a while. I'd been too busy inside my head to be aware of the real world. 

''What?'' I stop. For the first time, I really pay attention to what I'm doing. None of these clothes match. I take them all out. 

''Peter. Rita, he's a wreck.'' She doesn't look at me. She's playing busy with a neon purple bikini I haven't worn since before puberty. If I'd packed that, I'd be the main show in Vegas. ''He's not over you, If you're wondering.'' 

My lips curl. I was wondering and she knows.

Tears build in the corners of my eyes and my nose gets immediately clogged. My vision is blurry but I can still see where LJ is when I jump to hug her. 

''I always say Peter was the best part of coming to this town, but you are right up there with him, and I don't tell you that enough.'' 

LJ's arms wrap tighter around me. Now we're both crying. But not sad crying, we're happy, we're laughing even and it's so relieving to laugh. I feel my shoulders drop the weight that has been over them for the last couple of weeks and finally I feel like my breathing isn't heavy with the will to cry at any second. 

Friendship is love also, and love, even though it may hurt sometimes, is the ultimate healer. There's no healing without love, whether it be self-love or outside sourced. Love is everywhere. I pity those who can't feel it for that must be the saddest way to live - Loveless. 

''When did we become so sappy?'' I chuckle, whipping tiny tears with the back of my indicative finger. 

''I've always been like this.'' LJ defends, shrugging. 

24hours after 

''For real?'' I hear Isaac before I even see him. Yet I guess the face he brings inside my room. 

''Yes, for real,'' I tell him with the same tone, which he doesn't like. 

''Sorry. I'm a bit shocked. You're getting married?''

''I'm shocked Peter hasn't told you.'' 

''I haven't seen him since last night. He didn't sleep in our room-'' Only after saying it he realizes that maybe he shouldn't have.