I've Forgiven You for Things That You Have Done

-Ronnie’s POV-

The sound of things slamming around the room breaks me out of my slumber. Slowly, I sit up and look around, just in time to see Nasty throwing shit around the room, apparently looking for something.

“What’re you doing, bro?” I demand, slowly sitting myself up and rubbing my hands over my face. He stops, turning to look at me and grinning as I yawn sleepily.

“Trying to wake your ass up,” he states, that grin still on his face. “You wouldn’t wake up for shit, so I decided to just make as much noise as I possibly could. Anyway, you need to get your ass up and get dressed, we have to leave to go to the church in a half hour.”

At his words, my eyes go wide and I throw the blankets back off of my body, scrambling out of the bed and onto my feet. “The fuck?!” I demand, running around the room in search of my clothes (my tux) and other miscellaneous things (boxer briefs, socks, shoes, eyeliner, deodorant, cologne) that I’ll need to get ready for the day (my wedding). “Why didn’t you wake me up an hour ago?!”

“You’re a big boy, you should be able to wake up on your own,” he sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Your alarm went off for a half hour before I came in and shut it off and told you to wake your ass up, but you grumbled at me and said,” he clears his throat, taking on an annoyingly high pitched voice, “’Just five more minutes, daddy!’ and I‘ve been trying since then to wake you up.”

I sigh, bringing my hurrying around to a stop and raking a hand through my hair. “Alright,” I mumble, nodding slowly and going over to my phone, taking it off the charger and checking for text messages and missed calls. After reading through my texts, I quickly bring up a blank one and type out a message to my fiancée.

To: Juliet
From: Ronnie
I miss you so much, baby. I can’t wait to see you this afternoon. <3

After sending it, I set my phone back down and grab my deodorant, toothbrush, razor, and clean underwear from the bag I packed so that I could stay the night at Nasty’s place, that way he could make sure that we got to the church on time this morning.

“I’m gonna go shower,” I say, looking over at him to see him already in his tux, minus the cummerbund, jacket, and tie. “Will you make sure I’m not forgetting anything?”

“Sure thing, dude,” he nods, grinning over at me. “But make it a quick shower; we’ve gotta leave here at exactly twelve o’clock to make it to the church at twelve thirty like Kit said.”

I nod in acknowledgement, a wide smile making it’s way onto my face as I shuffle out of the bedroom and across the hall into the bathroom.

---

“You ready?” Nasty asks from next to the doorway. I nod, folding my tuxedo jacket over my arm and handing him my cell phone. He stuffs it into his pocket, clapping me on the shoulder and grinning. “Let’s head out.”

I walk out the front door, quickly making my way to his SUV in the driveway as he locks up the front door. We’re only running about ten minutes behind, so as long as we don’t run into any traffic, we’ll make it to the church without being too late.

“This is really happening,” I whisper to myself, a small smile on my lips. That smile has been in place ever since Juliet said yes to me six months ago. All of my dreams are finally coming true.

I quickly buckle my seatbelt then start to stare out of the window; I’m in such a trance that I don’t even see Nasty climb into the driver’s seat next to me, and I don’t realize it when we pull out of the driveway, and take off down the road in the direction of the church.

Sometime later, I don’t know exactly how much later; it could be five minutes, or it could be two weeks, I snap my head up and focus my attention onto the road in front of us as the car rolls to a stop.

“What’s going on?” I ask, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“We’re at a standstill,” Nasty sighs, motioning to the road in front of us. And that’s when I notice the bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway in front of us, for as far as the eye can see. “We can’t go anywhere.”

“Fuck,” I mumble, rolling down my window to get some smog fresh air. “As long as we’re at the church by the time Jewels gets there, we’ll be fine… Right?”

His eyes narrow in thought for a moment, then he starts to slowly shake his head. I raise an eyebrow over at him, wondering what he’s about to do. He places the car into reverse, starting to back up just a few feet, then puts it back into drive and pulls out of the lane we’re in. Thankfully, we’re in the outside right lane, and are able to do this without smashing into any cars. But unfortunately, so is the cop that’s a hundred yards behind us.

Almost immediately after Nasty starts speeding down the shoulder of the highway, I notice red and blue lights flashing in the mirror behind the car.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he grumbles, slamming his hands down onto the steering wheel as he approaches an exit, our exit. “The one day I don’t have time to get caught doing this, and I do. Motherfucker.”

“Just pull over,” I state, my voice a little more snappy sounding than it needs to be as he pulls off onto the off ramp and over to the side on the far shoulder. “If I have to, I can walk to the church from here.”

He nods, putting the car into park and turning it off as the officer rolls to a stop behind us. I sigh heavily, turning to stare out the window and look out over the sprawling city. I let Nasty handle the cop, and get lost in my thoughts once again.

---

“Hey, aren’t you that guy from that band?” a gruff voice asks, breaking me out of my reverie. My face scrunches up in confusion and I turn to look at the cop who is leaning in Nasty’s open window.

“That depends on what guy from what band you’re talking about,” I reply quietly, a small sigh escaping my lips.

“Uh…” he starts, trailing off in thought before finally saying, “Jumping In Reverse, or something like that?”

Nasty and I exchange incredulous glances with one another, before we both bust up laughing. “F-Falling In R-Reverse!” I exclaim, wrapping my arms around my middle from laughing so hard.

“That’s it!” he shouts, grinning at the two of us and nodding his head. “My daughter listens to you all the time!”

“Awh,” I say, smiling proudly and puffing my chest out. “That’s sweet.”

“Alright,” the cop sighs, pulling out his ticket book and flipping it open, ripping out a page and passing it through the window to me. “If you sign this and address it to Jessie, I’ll let you go with a warning.” My eyes widen and I nod vigorously, taking it from his hand and grabbing a pen out of the console, quickly scribbling out a message to the man’s daughter then handing it back to him. He smiles, folding it up and tucking it into his pocket, flashing me a wink from behind his sunglasses, “Have fun at your castration ceremony.”

“Wh-what?” I stutter, my face paling slightly.

“I told him that the reason I was driving on the shoulder was so that we could get you to your wedding on time,” Nasty answers, starting the car back up and shrugging as the officer walks back to his cruiser. Nodding slowly, I turn back to look out the windshield, the steeple of the church visible from a couple blocks down the road.

I gulp.