Save Your Heart

“You look so amazing, Nat.” I cried. I felt a single tear fall from my eye as I watched her dance around in her wedding dress in front of the mirror. She looked like a Disney princess; her dress was ivory, the bottom was sparkly and poofy and the top was low cut and strapless. Somehow she didn’t make the dress look slutty, she looked absolutely stunning in it. I couldn’t believe my best friend was getting married.

The morning had been really busy between having to get Natalie ready up and ready for her wedding and making sure everything was perfect for her. I had been running around like a chicken with my head chopped off. We finally made it to the church just in time, twenty five minutes before the ceremony was going to start.

I ran into the bathroom that was to the right of the room Natalie and I were in admiring her dress. I pushed opened the door slightly so the other bridesmaids could here my voice. “Is everything okay in here?”

“It’s great!” I heard Natalie’s friend, Melinda, chime from one of the stalls. She was one of Natalie’s clubbing buddies when her wild days, before Brooks. I smiled to myself and closed the door.

I spun on my heel and ran over to Natalie to make sure she was still happy as can be. She was smiling at herself in the mirror, rocking back and forth making her dress sway. “You know, I was really nervous about today.” She stated. “I thought that I would miss the days where I could have any guy I wanted without commitment. But I’m actually looking forward to the future.” She was still swaying back and forth. I walked up to her, stood next to her, and watched her in the mirror.

“I couldn’t be happier for you, Nat. Brooks is perfect for you.” I replied smiling.

“Just like Derek is perfect for you.”

I gasped, I wasn’t expecting her response at all. “What do you...”

Natalie grabbed some lip gloss from a table beside her and retouched her make-up. “Oh c’mon, Ry. You really didn’t think I noticed that familiar grin pasted on your face last night? You’re not even complaining about wearing a dress.”

I stared at her blankly. “What does wearing a dress have to do with it?”

“You like wearing dresses for Derek.” She replied with a grin on her face. She closed the lip gloss container and placed it back on the table. “Plus, Brooks mentioned something about Derek being unusually happy as well. I put the pieces together.”

I could feel my face turning red. I didn’t know we were that easy to figure out. All this time, I thought we were being so good at keeping us a secret.

Natalie walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. “This,” She said swaying her dress once again. I could tell she loved doing that. “is going to be you soon. And Derek will be at the end of that aisle waiting for you.”

When I thought it wasn’t possible, I felt my face become even more red. My stomach did a leap at the mention of Derek and a wedding dress in the same sentence. That was on my mind a lot lately. I couldn’t help it being around wedding things so much. Natalie was still grinning at me. She tugged on me and hugged me again. We both jumped when we heard the door jiggle then open.

“Speaking of the devil.” Natalie chimed putting her hands on her hips. I turned around to see Derek’s head peaking through the door. He didn’t say a word when our eyes met. He stared at me for a while, then his eyes moved up and down me. His mouth opened slightly. Natalie let out a little giggle. “Can we help you, Derek?”

“Oh...um..yeah!” He said finally. He moved his eyes to Natalie. “I was told you tell you that the ceremony’s going to start in about seven to five minutes.”

“Oh shit!” She yelled and rushed into the bathroom to gather her bridesmaids.

When no one was in the room, Derek slowly creeped in as if someone was going to hear him and shoo him away. I raised one eyebrow at him and grinned. He looked incredibly handsome. There was something about men in a tux that got to me, especially the man I was crazy about. He had on a dark pink tie, curtesy of Natalie’s choice colors. He matched my long, silky, spaghetti strap dress. His hair was straightened and his eyes looked bluer to me than usual. The only thing that was missing that I loved were his glasses. He rarely wore them out and about though.

“You look...” He planted a quick kiss on my cheek. “amazing.” His hands snaked around the back of my waist. Mine rested around his neck.

“I was just thinking the same thing about you. Huh, what a coincidence.” I replied. I stuck my tongue out at him. “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” His face was beaming as he stared down at me.

My jaw dropped to the floor. “Derek!” I yelled playfully. His face mimicked mine. “The wedding, walking down the aisle, the whole shebang!”

He chuckled. “Babe, I was only kidding. Yes, of course I’m ready.”

I shook my head at him.

“You know what I was thinking about?” He asked.

“What?”

“I was thinking about how I don’t want this to be our last trip down the aisle together.” A small smirk appeared on his face. I bit my lip and grinned. I had been thinking about that, but I wasn’t going to mention it to anyone, especially Derek, in fear that it might scare him or something. At least I’ve heard that marriage scares a lot of people these days. I had to admit, there was a time that it scared me as well. The whole idea of giving your heart to someone and committing to them entirely was a huge risk. I use to think of marriage as something that was only bound to fall apart. Then Derek came along. He was worth taking that risk for and he gave me the security of feeling like we weren’t going to fall apart. I pulled him closer to me and his lips crashed into mine. We wasted no time exploring each other’s mouths with our tongues. For a while, it was like there was no one else in the world except for us.

“Sorry to interrupt your little make-out session, but I have to married.” Natalie retorted making her way to the doorway. A pink swarm of bridesmaids tailing behind her. She swung the door opened and stomped out the door. Derek and I stood in the middle of the room, with our arms wrapped around each other, watching each of the girls walk by one by one.

“Well then, we better get going.” Derek said after the last girl walked out. He let go me and gestured me to take his hand.

I laughed. “Yes, we better.” I looped my fingers with his and we made our way to the back of the church. We took our place in front of a giddy Natalie and her Dad.

“It’s about time. I thought you guys were going to swallow each other for a second.”

I gasped. “Natalie!” I could feel my face turning a red. Derek was next to me chuckling to himself. I rolled my eyes at him.

We heard to wedding march start playing in the front of the church. The first couple began to make their way to the alter, then the next, and so on. I felt Derek give my hand a light squeeze. I looked over at him; he was watching me and smiling. I could feel butterflies in my stomach. Natalie poked my back letting me know it was our turn. There were really no words to what I was feeling while walking down the aisle with Derek. I guess you could say that moment was perfect. It was so hard to keep my composure and not give him a hundred kisses right then and there. Things were like they should be. When we reached our place, Derek gave me a soft kiss on the side of my head before walking over to his spot beside Brooks. Being caught in the moment, I almost forgot to put one foot in front of the other. I felt as light as a feather as I made my way to my place along side all of the other bridesmaids. I watched Natalie walk up to the alter with a huge grin on her face. Brooks’s face was the same. You could tell they were both incredibly happy to be here together. I couldn’t have been more happy for the two of them.