Wedding Photos

Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Before I knew it the wedding was only 2 weeks away. Exactly fourteen days were left until I lost the love of my life. I would be cursed with forever asking myself what if. I would never know what could have happened if I had opened my mouth.

I refused to let that happen.

I refused to go through life wondering what if. I refused to let her slip through my fingers without trying. No matter what her reaction would be, at least I know that I tried. I didn’t sit back and let the biggest mistake in my life happen.

I had no idea how I was going to do it but I knew that I had to. I hadn’t spoken to Emma since she announced her engagement to me. I didn’t know how to speak to her. I didn’t know what to say to her. Every time that I thought about her, I kept seeing the ring on her finger, the ring that told me that she was no longer mine.

I didn’t know how, but I knew why. I was going to have to tell her. I had no other options.

I hesitated before I knocked on the door to Emma’s house. I mustered up all the courage that I had to come over, yet I was more nervous than I have ever been. So many things were running through my mind as my heart thudded against my chest. I couldn’t sort out my thoughts, there were too many of them. I had never felt so confused, worried and nervous, all at once.

I heard the sound of heels echoing from inside the house. My heart began to thud against my chest harder. My stomach flipped, causing me to feel nauseous for a few moments. It was now or never. I couldn’t turn back now.

The door opened revealing Emma. Her outfit was casual yet professional enough to work in. Her shoulder length red hair was loosely curled. She was wearing light make up, but it only accented her features. Her green eyes appeared brighter, deeper even. They were simply captivating.

Her face showed how taken a back she was by me showing up on her doorstep. I couldn’t blame her, we hadn’t talked in months. Showing up at her doorstep unannounced after no form of communication in months isn’t expected.

“Nick,” she spoke. Her voice was light and soft.

My heart skipped a beat at the sound. I hadn’t heard her voice in so long. It felt like forever since we last spoke. It only added to the pain that I was feeling.

I swallowed, moistening my dry throat, finding my voice in the process. “Hey,”

“I didn’t know that you were coming…” she stepped to the side allowing me to enter house. She gently closed the door behind her before turning around to face me. “I would have found something for us to do…”

I shook my head. I stared down at my shoes as I began to nervously rub the back of my neck. “I actually just came here to tell you something,”

“Oh okay,”

She walked past me and towards the kitchen. I followed suit, my hands in my pockets. She walked over to the island in her kitchen, where a manila folder was sitting. She sat down on a stool, before pulling the folder closer to her.

“I was just finishing up with the rejection photos,” she spoke.

I opened my mouth to speak but stopped short. Simply hearing the word rejection caused me to have second thoughts about this. I shook the feeling off quickly. She wasn’t talking about me, she was talking about the photos.

Instead I furrowed my brows together in confusion as I stared at her. I was hiding my emotions extremely well. “Rejection photos?”

She nodded her head. “It was my mom’s idea,” she shook her head. “Everyone can’t be invited to the wedding, but she doesn’t want people to feel left out. So I took some pictures yesterday of me in my wedding dress, and now I’m going to send it to them. This way they can still see me in my dress, but they don’t have to come,”

I tried not to show how affected I was by hearing her say the word wedding. Hearing her say the word when she wasn’t talking about me, caused the pain in my chest to feel even worse.

I glanced over at Emma, to see her shaking her head. “Rejection,” she muttered. “Imagine what that would look like at my own wedding,”

My breath caught in my throat as I stared at her. Could this mean what I was hoping? Could she be having second thoughts about this?

“Em,” I softly spoke. “Are you having second thoughts about marrying…him?”

“No, never!!” she interjected as she shook her head. Her head hung low as a sigh escaped her lips. “Okay, maybe I am…but doesn’t everyone before their wedding? Besides, it’s not like I have any other options right now,”

She slid one of the photos out of the envelope. Her legs were crossed as she sat on a bench. The photo was zoomed in, focusing on her. Her white dress was strapless and flowed at the bottom. She was looking to the right, so that only her profile could be seen. The only make-up that she appeared to be wearing was the bright red lip stick on her soft lips.

She couldn’t have looked more gorgeous in that photo. My heart skipped a beat simply looking at it. The only problem that I saw was that she was wearing that white dress for someone that wasn’t me. This may have been the only problem, but it was the most important one of them all.

“Yes you do Em,” I softly spoke. “You always have another option,”

“Like what?” she continued to stare intently at the photo in her hands.

I took a deep breath as I looked up at her. It was now or never. “Me,”

Her head immediately shot up. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me. Her mouth fell open slightly. She blinked a few times as she stared at me. “N-Nick?”

I took one last deep breath as I slowly started to walk towards her. She didn’t move once as I walked towards her. She couldn’t move, she was sitting down. If she stood up she would only be closer to me.

I stopped walking once I was directly in front of her. I stared into the green orbs that I had come to love so much. My eyes never left hers and vice versa.

“N-Nick, don’t do this to me. Don’t give my false hope,” she spoke so softly that I almost didn’t hear her.

I gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I gently slid my hand down her cheek until it was under her chin. I titled her head upwards slightly, before placing my thumb on her cheek. I gently stroked her cheek, rubbing small circles with my thumb.

“There’s nothing false about how I feel about you,” I softly confessed. “Em…I’ve been in love with you for what feels like forever. I can’t begin to describe the way that I feel about you. I love everything about you Em. I can’t tell you how much pain I felt when I found out that I was about to lose you. I-I-I don’t even want to think about it. All I know is, I can’t go on without you. I can’t go on without you knowing how I feel,”

I leaned in close to her so that my lips were hovering over hers. I could feel her warm breath hitting my lips. Her ragged and shallow breathing, mingled with mine. I glanced up at her to see that her eyes were already lulled half shut.

“I need you Em,” I softly whispered.

“I…I don’t know what to say,” she whispered equally as soft.

“Then don’t speak,”

I gently pressed my lips to hers before she could speak. She didn’t hesitate to kiss me back. The kiss quickly became more passionate than any other kiss.

The shiver that ran down my spine was in describable. I felt as if I was on cloud nine. I had never felt like this before. I had never felt this way because of a kiss before. Everything just felt so right.

My lips molded to hers perfectly. Our lips moved against each other perfectly in sync. I licked her bottom lip asking for permission. She parted her lips slightly, granting my access. I slid my tongue into my mouth, causing another shiver to run down my spine as my tongue met with hers. She rested her hands on my chest as the kiss deepened.

We parted too soon for my liking. We were both out of breath but our eyes were still closed. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of our heavy breathing.

“Nick,”

I opened my eyes at the sound of her voice. I found myself staring deeply into the green pools of her eyes. They were filled with so many emotions. The ones that suck out to me the most, were the ones that I had been waiting to see since I fell for her; love, admiration, adoration and passion.

“I guess I’ll have to send one of those pictures to Michael now, won’t I?”

I couldn’t help but to smile. I had waited so long to hear her say that she wanted to be with me. I wasn’t sure if this was reality or not. This all felt like a dream for me, a dream come true.

I cupped both her cheeks before placing another passionate kiss on her lips. I felt all the same feelings that I had felt before. This only proved that my dream had become a reality.

“I love you Em,” I murmured against her lips.

“I love you too Nick,”