Count Me the Hours

To my surprise, I woke up on my own the next morning with minutes to spare before I was due to recieve my wake up call. Garrett and I were facing each other and he was still asleep. We had made love the night before and had just laid in the dark afterwards and talked for an hour or so before we'd both drifted off to sleep.

I sighed softly, scooting closer against him. I pressed my forehead against the front of his shoulder and closed my eyes. I inhaled deeply, pressing my lips to his skin.

For the first time since I decided to stay in Arizona, I remembered that a week from today, Garrett was leaving for tour. The realization hit me like a fist in the gut and I wrapped my arms around him tightly.

He groaned, shifting in his sleep. I pulled away, keeping my arms around him. He furrowed his brow and scrunched up his nose. I pressed my lips together, hoping I hadn't woken him up, but in the end, he opened his eyes.

"Morning, beautiful," he said with a yawn, stretching his body out.

"I woke you up, didn't I?" I asked quietly, toying with the ends of his hair.

He shrugged. "You might have, but I don't mind." He tightened his arm around my waist, kissing my shoulder.

"Mila and John are getting married today," I said with a sigh.

"That they are," he responded, kissing my hair.

"And you're leaving in a week."

He nodded and we laid in silence. He dragged a finger back and forth over my shoulder, raising goosebumps over my skin.

"You know," he started with a sigh, "It might be for the better."

"What?"

"If I'll be on tour for the next ten weeks. If you're going to be finding an apartment for us and moving us in and what not. I know how you get when you're stressed, so maybe it's best if I'm not there to irritate you," he joked.

I shrugged considering it. He had a good point.

"And then, when you come home, the apartment will be all ready for you. You were right, it probably is for the better."

"Did you just admit that I was right about something?" he asked, sounding a bit shocked.

"It is possible, every now and again," I teased, putting my hand against his chest. He smirked and leaned forward, kissing me for the first time that morning.

"I love you," he told me with a wink, kissing me again.

I opened my mouth to responder, when my phone chimed and vibrated like mad on the end table beside the bed. I held up a finger to Garrett, signaling it'd be one minute. I pulled away from him, grabbing my phone, answering it.

"Hello?"

"I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY, BITCH!" Mila yelled into the phone. I jumped, holding the phone away from my ear. Garrett smiled at my reaction, wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling be back to him.

"I'm aware of that, Mila," I said with a sigh, as Garrett pressed his lips against my neck.

Mila giggled on nthe other end of the line. "So, are you up?"

Before I could answer, Garrett grabbed the phone out of my hand.

"Well, I'm trying to, but you're kind of cockblocking me right now," he said into the phone before I could wrench it away from him.

"I can't believe you!" I hissed at him, narrowing my eyes. "Ignore him, Mila. But yes, I'm awake."

"Okay, don't forget: meet in my suite at eleven. Well, I'll let you get back to 'being awake'," she said with a quiet giggle.

"Got it," I responded before hanging up. I set my phone down and glared at Garrett. He smiled at me, trying to look innocent. "Why the fuck did you do that?"

"Well, it got you to hang up the phone quicker. If I hadn't, then you'd be on the phone for another hour," he said, explaining his reasoning. I continued to glare at him. "Uou should be thanking me."

"Where's your reasoning in that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. I scooted away from him a little bit, but he only scooted closer.

"Well, you could be on the phone for an hour, or I could be on you for an hour," he reasoned, leaning over me. He bent and kissed the base of my throat as I laughed.

"You have a relatively good point there." I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him down to me. With our bare chests connected, our lips locked together and I couldn't help but smile into the kiss.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" he asked, pulling away only to speak.

"Hmm, not within the last few hours." I giggled, running my hands through his messy hair.

"You are so unbelievably beautiful, Tallulah," he assured me, kissing the side of my neck. I smiled softly, a familiar blush rising up my neck. I could tell he was smirking, knowing that my face was aflush.

"You flatter me too much," I said softly as I sighed rather dreamily.

"I only speak the truth, doll," he said looking down at me with a wink. Just looking at his smile, I melted a bit inside. My fingers danced down his ribcage, and around to his back, pulling him down to me.

My hands tangled themselves in his hair as our lips moved in sync, our bodies flush against each other. His skin was hot against mine and it was driving me over the edge.

A few hours later, I was walking down the hallway of the hotel towards Mila's suite. My hair was wet, as she'd requested it, and it was leaving a wet spot on the back of my shirt.

After a morning romp, Garrett and I had ordered French toast and waffles from room service and watched cartoons as we ate. I had showered solo, taking my time under the spray of the water.

I knocked on the door of my sister's suite and she answered it with a scream, pulling me into the room. Inside, it looked like a wedding war zone.

There were three stations set up, with four chairs at each. Our dresses were on a rack against the wall. As soon as the hair dressers and make up artists and the other girls arrived, we got to work.

The hair dresser curled the hell out of my hair before pinning it up. The make up artist did a great job of highlighting my eyes and by the time my nails were painted black, everything was coming together. I was the last of the girls to get into my dress and to my relief, it fit like a glove.

My mother came into the suite just as Dree zipped up the back of my dress. She was dressed in a knee length dress, the color of a clear sky.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart," she told me, touching my shoulder softly. Her eyes were already brimmed with tears and I turned around and wrapped my arms around her.

When I realized that my mother more than likely wouldn't be there on my wedding day, whenever it may be, my eyes too started to fill with tears. Sniffling, I avoided looking her in the eye.

"Now you listen to me," she started, pointing a finger at me. "Whenever you get married, whether it's to Garrett or to whomever, just make sure you're one hundred percent happy. Who you marry is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make, so make it a good one."

I had to fan myself to keep the tears from spilling over, knowing I'd ruin my make up. My mother laughed and hugged me again tightly.

Soon enough, we were ready to go.

Mila looked absolutely stunning in her dress and she was very careful when she was wearing it. Just on the way down to the limo to go to the church, she wouldn't let anyone touch her. She even sat on a blanket in the limo to make sure she didn't sit in anything.

When we arrived at the church, we were ahead of schedule. While the last of the guests arrived and the men took their places at the alter, the five of us were hiding in the church's daycare room. It was rather awkward. My feet were already killing me and all of the chairs in the room were designed for four year olds.

Finally, ten minutes before three, we lined up outside the doors to the sanctuary of the church.

"Lu," Mila said from her spot behind me.

I turned around to face her. "Yeah?"

"Thank you," she told me quietly. "I know this couldn't have been easy for you, but I know I couldn't have done this whole thing without you." At a loss for words, I simply nodded. "I love you, Lulu."

"I love you too, Mila," I said, tears stinging my eyes again.

"Ready?" one of the ushers asked. Mila took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's do this," he said before opening the door.

The music started as Sarah made her way down the aisle slowly. Oakleigh was next, followed by Dree. When it came time to be my turn, all I could think was, "Don't trip, don't trip," until I looked up and saw Garrett smiling at me. His eyes made their way down my body and I could feel a blush rush to my cheeks as I continued to walk down the aisle.

I got to my spot beside Dree and the Wedding March started. The look of my sister walking down the aisle with her perfect blonde hair hanging down her back and her lips set in a small, innocent smile took my breath away, and I wasn't even the one marrying her. When she got to the altar, she handed me her bouquet and the ceremony began.

John and Mila exchanged traditional vows, which I had a hard time paying attention to because of how good Garrett looked in his tux.

His hair was messy as always and he was clean shaven. He was staring back at me, and the look in his eye was enough to make me blush.

"And you may now kiss the bride," the pastor said, at the end of the ceremony, allowing them time to kiss before continuing. "I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. John O'Callaghan the Fifth."

The audience cheered and I smiled as they faced the crowd, hand in hand. The went back down the aisle and the bridesmaids and groomsmen grouped together to follow. Since I was Maid of Honor, I was paired with Jared, who was John's best man. He smiled as he offered me his arm, which I took.

When we exitted the sanctuary, we were herded into a larger room that the daycare room to wait for the church to clear out before we could get the wedding pictures.

"Damn," Garrett said, snaking an arm around my waist as he came up behind me. I chuckled softly.

"I could say the same about you," I said, turning to face him. He kept an arm around my waist, holding me close. "Who knew my man was such a stud?" I teased, adjusting his bow tie.

After what seemed like litterally, a thousand pictures, we were released to go to the reception. There were group photos of the entire wedding party, pictures of John and the groomsmen, pictures of Mila and the bridesmaids, and pictures of Mila and John. Mila had requested the photographer get shits of me and her, as well as the two of us and our mother.

We reached the reception and the party was already in full swing. Stephen found us quickly, a glass of champagne in his hand. He was already extremely tipsy and kissed Dree sloppily to the point that she actually pushed him away.

Quickly, we found our way to the head table and I sat down in one of the chairs and kicked off my heels with a groan.

"Thank you," Garrett said appreciatively from his spot, standing behind me.

"What?" I asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Those heels were too high. You were taller than me," he grumbled.

"Get over it, Gare," I teased, rolling my neck around.

"Make me," he retorted. He was quick to take a step backwards to avoid my hand, which I swung, trying to hit him. "Just keep them off."

"Your in luck, because I'm going too. My feet are killing me," I pouted, taking a second to sit back and relax.

"Stop whining," Garrett said softly, rubbing my shoulders. I remained silent.

Three minutes later, Dree, who appeared to be a bit tipsy herself, dragged us out onto the dance floor. We danced for a while, until Mila and John arrived, and then it was time for dinner. Dree, who was sitting beside me at dinner, kept handing me glasses of wine and champagne, to the point that Garrett had to come over to our end of the table and cut Dree and I off.

"But Garey, " I whined, holding onto his wrist.

He laughed. "I think you've had enough, baby," he said, leaning down and kissing my forehead. I crossed my arms over my chest, pouting.

In all honesty, the rest of the night passed by in a blur, an amazing, happy blur. Mila tossed her bouquet and I ended up catching it, despite the fact that I wasn't even trying to catch it. Also, I didn't technically even catch it. It hit me in the face and fell into my hands.

Garrett and Kennedy thought it was unbelievably hilarious and Kennedy actually laughed himself to tears. I stared both of them down, unamused. Garrett was still laughing as he hugged me tightly.

My toast to Mila and John consisted of the cliche, great couple, made for each other bullshit. It got to a point that I was simply rambling and started telling stories about Mila from when she was little and Mila affectionately grabbed the microphone from my hand when I launched into the story of how she get the scar on the back of her leg. It involved a metal support pole in a mutual friend's basement when she was fourteen.

Garrett and I didn't return to our hotel room until well after one o'clock in the morning. Garrett unzipped my dress for me, making sure to drag his fingers down my spine as he did so.

"Garrett, stop trying to tease me," I told him, tired and just wanting to crawl into bed. "Because it's not working."

He mimicked my voice in a high pitched, annoying voice as he finished unzipping the dress. With a sign, I stepped out of the dress and quickly pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt of Garrett's. I walked into the bathroom and began pulling the bobby pins out of my hair. I wiped off the make up and sighed.

"There's my girl," Garrett said, already out of his tux and in basketball shorts, laying on the bed. I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed, patting the spot next to him on the bed. I crawled in, already completely relaxed. He put his arm around my shoulders and I rest my head against his chest.

"Why are you watching the news?" I asked quietly, staring at the television, where a newscaster was reporting on a string of robberies in a Phoenix suburb. He shrugged, handing me the remote. I shook my head and sighed.

"Something wrong?" he questioned, running his fingers through my hair.

"It's over."

"What?"

"The wedding. The thing I've been stressing over for almost a month. It's over," I explained and he smiled.

"Now, you just get to relax for a while."

"Not likely," I said. "I need to start looking for an apartment and looking for a job, which is going to be worse than the wedding."

Garrett laughed quietly. "Tallulah, just take a few weeks to relax. I won't be here to bother you, so just take a while to chill."

"You don't bother me," I told him, scooting closer to him.

He shrugged, kissing the top of my head. "Time for bed?" he suggested.

"Oh, most definitely," I nodded. He slid out of the bed and crossed the room, flipping off the lights. He turned off the TV before returning to the bed.

"I love you, Tallulah," he said, kissing me softly.

"I love you too, Gare," I responded, burying my face in his neck. I drifted off to sleep, not thinking about what would be happening in the next few weeks, but thinking about the present moment.