Boy Next Door

“Dannieeeeeee,” Maddie whined. Today is her wedding day, and she is completely freaking out. “What if I made a mistake? What if Nick isn’t my true soul mate?”

“Shut up right now. You know that you love Nick, and you know that he loves you, too. If there were any doubt in your mind about this, Mom would know, and she would be talking to you and not me,” I said, trying to calm her down.

“You’re right,” she said. “Come on. You still need to see your bridesmaids,” she said, perking up. She grabbed my arm and dragged me towards our parent’s room.

“So you hid it Mom’s closet the whole time,” I said.

“What did you hide in my closet?” my mom asked.

“Her dress,” Maddie said, now completely ecstatic that she was getting married today. It makes me happy to see her like this. It also makes me wonder if I’ll ever be like this, getting married I mean.

“My gosh Madison. You still haven’t shown her the dress.”

“Nope, but she’s seen mine,” she responded. She grabbed a hanger that still had the plastic bag over it. “Where’s Marc?” she asked as we walked towards my room.

“Oh he was going out for a quick run,” I said as she laid the bag down.

“He better shower before my wedding,” she laughed. I just rolled my eyes at her in response. “Okay, well now for the main event. Your dress!” she said as she pulled the plastic bag off of the hanger.

“Oh my god Maddie! It’s gorgeous!” I said.

“I already have jewelry and shoes picked out because I know how bad you are at that. The only thing that you need is a necklace because I couldn’t find one.” I nodded my head while she went to go grab everything for me. There was a light knock on the door. “Ohhhhhh Dannie! Your boyfriends here!” Maddie sang like a five year old. We all burst out laughing at her. “I’ll leave you two alone,” she said as she walked towards her bathroom to go shower. “The hair people will be here in an hour!” she yelled from down the hall.

“Sorry about her. She can be a little childish sometimes.”

“I have two younger brothers; it’s the same thing in my house, too.”

“So how was your run?” I asked.

“I didn’t get out of the house.”

“Why not?” I asked as I started to organize my outfit.

“Your dad,” he said. I understood him completely. When Maddie brought Nick home for the first time, he was interrogating him for an hour.

“Okay, well I’m going to start getting ready. You probably should too.” He nodded his head in agreement. I turned to walk towards my bathroom but he grabbed my arm just before I started to walk away.

“I got you something,” he said as he pulled out a small box. I took the box from his hand and opened it. It was a small heart shaped necklace with diamonds on it.

“Marc, it’s gorgeous,” I said as I gave him a hug.

“I’m glad you like it. Now go get ready,” he said as he turned me around and slapped my butt. I stuck my tongue out at him as I closed the door to my bathroom.

I took a quick shower so I could be ready by the time the two other bridesmaids get here. I got out of the shower, put on my robe, and combed my hair. I grabbed my blow drier off the counter and quickly dried my hair.

I walked out of my bathroom and started to put on my purple dress. Then I walked back into my bathroom and put on my make-up and my nail polish, on both my fingers and toes. Then I walked back out to put on both pairs of my earrings, my bracelet, and the necklace Marc had given me. I felt like I was walking in circles. I broke my walking pattern by grabbing my black, strappy heels and walking to my parent’s room, where the hair dressers were patiently waiting for everyone to show up.

When I walked in, I saw that Nick’s sister, Nina, had arrived already. I had only met Nina on a few occasions, but she is really nice and a lot of fun to hang out with.

“Nina!” I squealed, I hadn’t seen her in forever, probably not since Christmas last year when our families decided to celebrate together.

“Dannie! Oh my gosh, you look gorgeous,” she said. I could tell she was just as excited to see me as I was to see her. Even though Nina was three and a half years older than me (She’s 24) we got along really well.

“What have you been up to lately?” I asked as I sat down and the lady started working on my hair.

“Nothing much really, but I am moving to New York City next week,” she said like it was no big deal.

“Really?!?!” I asked excitedly.

“Yeah, why?” she asked, confused about my reaction.

“I go to NYU.”

“Oh my god, yeah. I completely forgot about that.” We both laughed. I looked over to where Maddie was and saw that one of the other bridesmaids had shown up.

“So what are you doing there?” I asked.

“I got a job offer to be the photographer for the New York Times.”

“That’s so cool. I’m actually majoring in sports photography myself.” We both laughed and started chatting with Maddie and her best friend Sara, the other bridesmaid.

Before I knew it, everyone’s hair was done and we were on our way over to he church. I had no idea who Marc had gone over with, but I figured he went over with my mother, who left for the church half an hour ago. As soon as my parents met Marc, they immediately liked him, which I guess is a good thing.

The limo pulled up at the church and the four of us got out. We got into the back room and Maddie started getting really nervous again.

“Maddie, I already told you-” I started, but she cut me off.

“No, no it’s not that. I’m just worried that I’m going to forget my vows,” she said, nervously tapping her fingers on her thighs.

“Maddie, nothing could be worse than when you forgot your lines for your class play in fifth grade.” She let out a chuckle and she started to calm down.

My dad came in and told us that the wedding was just about to start. We all got in a line, the flower girl with the ring bearer, Sara, Nina, me, and Maddie with my dad. We all started to slowly walk towards the alter. That always bothered me, having to walk slowly.

I looked around the church, trying not to make it to obvious. How weird would it look if I was constantly turning my head to look around? I did see Marc though, and I saw that he was eyeing my outfit. I internally smiled when I noticed that.

The ceremony went by relatively quickly, probably because I kept daydreaming. I could easily see me and Marc standing up here one day. Is that weird at all? I snapped out of my daze when I heard everyone clapping and saw that Maddie and Nick were kissing. The bridesmaids and groomsmen walked out in pairs. I was paired with Nick’s cousin Mark.

Once we made it out of the church, everyone else followed. I immediately started searching for Marc, which was relatively easy. All you had to do was search for the tall man with sort of ginger hair (I have to admit it; Marc is sort of a ginger). “Come on, we got to get going,” I said as I tugged his arm over towards my dad’s truck.

*~*~*~*~*

Okay, so the reception went a little like this: we danced, we ate, we laughed, and we talked. All of the girls wanted a dance with Marc, which I really don’t think he liked, but it gave me a chance to dance with my family and friends. It was your basic, normal reception, except for this one little dance:

Finally, I got to dance with MY boyfriend. Fall for You was playing in the background. We were slightly swaying to the music, my head resting on his chest, just happy to be able to be with each other again. It was your average little dance. Most of the guests had gone home by now, it was nearing midnight. Just our relatives and close family friends were still here.

We were just dancing, there were no words being exchanged, when I heard Marc take a deep breath. Confused, I picked my head up and gave him an odd look. He looked a little nervous; kind of like how he looked when he told me he liked me. This just confused me even more.

“I love you,” he said shakily. Man, he really was nervous.

I couldn’t stop the huge smile from forming on my lips. I went up on my tip-toes and gave Marc the most passionate kiss I could without having to hear ‘get a room’ being yelled from across the room from Maddie.

“I love you, too,” I whispered, just loud enough so only he could hear me. Then we went back to slightly swaying to Fall for You, my head resting on his chest, his head resting on my head in complete happiness.