The Newlyweds

“This is so romantic,” I cooed, holding onto John tightly. We were sitting in a gondola with a guide. It was cold, so I snuggled up as closely as possible to John. A violin player sat on the edge, and played music softly for us as we were pushed throughout the city. “I love it,”
John chuckled.
“I know that it is. I love this place so much,”
“I love it too,” I agreed. “This is probably one of the most romantic things you have ever done for me,”
“I thought it was pretty high up there too.” He chuckled. “I want this to be perfect, obviously.”
“We’re only on day four,” I laughed. “It’s already perfect, John.”
“Don’t say that yet, babe.” He assured. “Wait for the end of the trip before you decide.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Like it could go wrong. You put way too much thought into this.”
“You better stop right now.” He winked. “I don’t want to jinx it or anything,”
I sighed, and I pressed my lips to his cheek.
“You’re being ridiculous,” I stated. I rested myself back into John’s arms while the violin took up the silence. I was enjoying the moment with my husband. Nothing is more amazing than sharing something as big as this with someone you’re in love with.
“Hey, can you take a picture of the two of us?” John asked, taking out his iPhone. He handed me the phone and he continued to dig for the camera. The violinist stopped playing, and took the camera first. John and I smiled widely at the camera, and then took a picture from the iPhone.
“Send that one to me.” I stated toward John with a smile.
He shook his head.
“You’re so weird.” He stated before kissing me on the forehead. The past few days have been fantastic. John is one of the greatest guys that I have ever met. I’m lucky that I get to call myself his wife. As weird as it seems to me, he says that he feels the exact same way. “I think that this is going to be my new background picture…”
I smiled.
“Mine too. Send that picture to Maria and Kenny,”
“I will,” He rolled his eyes. “Now enough talk about this. I want to enjoy our ride.”
I rolled my eyes in return, and smiled at him. John and I watched the scenery go by while the guide pointed out small details. The violinist started to play again. The sun started to go down a little while ago, leaving the sky a purple/blue color. The stars weren’t out yet, but the street lamps were starting to come back on for the night. Couples started to come out more and more for the nightlife. I saw a bar up ahead the way that we came earlier and I nearly laughed. I knew that John was dying to drink. He doesn’t exactly have a drinking problem. He just likes his alcohol, and I like to have some every now and then. There’s nothing wrong with that. I won’t be drinking, considering we want to start a family. I’ve never been a huge drinker anyway.
“This concludes your tour,” The portly guide stated in a heavy Italian accent. He moved out of the boat to help me out, and John soon followed me. I looked back at him with a huge smile, and I grabbed his hand. I pulled John toward the bar that I saw the other’s going into.
“Where are we going, Dia?” He asked me.
“We’re going up here to the pub,” I replied. “I thought that you could use some hard liquor.”
John chuckled.
“You know me so well, baby.” He joked but he kissed my forehead lovingly. “You’re not drinking are you?”
“No, we’re trying to have kids, aren’t?”
“Yes,” He beamed.
His smiled is gorgeous. In my personal opinion, that is his best feature. I love watching the different smiles that he has. His uncomfortable smile makes me laugh. His small smile is adorable, and his happy smile is gorgeous. His wide grin, the one he gave me on our wedding day, is by far my favorite smile. I never thought that I would see that smile again, but I did see it just a few minutes ago. I see it more frequently than I ever have before. Something about the way that he smiles makes my heart melt.
“I love you,” I whispered before I wrapped my arms around his neck, and brought him toward me. His mouth was addicting. I loved kissing him. “I love you so much.”
“I know that. I love you too, Dorinda.” He replied. He pulled me toward the pug, and we walked in hand-n-hand. I ordered a soda while John got himself some shots. After he took the shots, he got some whiskey. I didn’t pay attention to what kind. I was busy looking around the pug. It was different from the ones back home, yet the a lot alike at the same time. “Look, they’re watching some gymnastics thing,” He pointed toward the tv. I turned my attention toward the tv, and saw some local gymnast participating. I smiled sadly at the tv. It’s hard not to miss something that nearly ran your life growing up.
“Yeah…I remember my first meet here…” I trailed off. “I still can’t believe everything that has happened within the last few months.”
John chuckled.
“I know. You retired, and married me. It’s different, that’s for sure,”
I laughed and agreed.
“No way!”
John furrowed his brows.
“Who’s that? She looks familiar?”
I turned around toward the voice and saw a short blonde making her way toward us. She was only twenty feet away. I smiled widely and wrapped my arms around the girl as we reached each other.
“Dorinda freaking Pope!” She giggled. “Where in the hell have you been?”
“Arizona,” I laughed in return.
“I know that,” She rolled her eyes. “What have you been doing since retirement?”
“Not much at all, Haley.” I answered the other gymnast.
“I see that you still have that tall glass of water best friend?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“We’re married,” I beamed.
“No freaking way!” Haley nearly shouted. “You and John got married?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing!”
“It’s not, baby doll.” She assured. “I just didn’t expect it. You were with that other guy the last time I checked. I didn’t expect you to marry your best friend,”
“He’s so much more than that.” I laughed, looking back at John. “Wanna come say hey?”
“As long as you show me that ring,” Haley remarked. I held up my left hand for her to see. “Holy fuck! This rock is huge!”
“It was his grandmother’s. She wanted me to have it,”
“That’s precious!” Haley cooed.
I nodded and turned around. I lead the way back to John. He looked slightly confused when we got there.
“John, this is Haley Chesterfield. Do you remember her?”
“Haley?” He laughed. He stood up and hugged her. “I haven’t seen you around in a while,”
“Me either,” I added.
“What have you been up too?” John asked her.
“Gymnastics. It rules my life,” She laughed. “I’m actually training here in Italy.”
“No way,” I asked. “Seriously? You’re here for training?”
“Perks of being extra small and child-like looking,”
I rolled my eyes.
“And two years younger,”
“I do plan on following in your footsteps, my dear.” She smiled. “Well I probably won’t get married at twenty-two but still.”
I smiled.
“You haven’t changed a bit,”
“I haven’t had time. These Italian are hard core. I’m serious. They’re intense.”
“I trust your judgment.”
“Good,” She smiled. “I’m here with my Italian honey…so I better get back.”
“We’re enjoying the pub on our honeymoon,” I replied.
“No fucking way!” She nearly yelled. “How long ago did you two get married?”
“Five days ago,” John replied.
“How long were you engaged?” Haley furrowed her brows.
“I think we were engaged about two months? Not even that long.” I guessed.
“You two got married pretty quickly.” Haley mused. “Are you pregnant?!”
John and I laughed loudly.
“No, but we want to start a family.” John replied. “We just wanted to get married. I have a pretty tight schedule,”
“So we got married before he has to go on tour,” I added.
“That’s sweet,” Haley smiled. “I’m going to be here for another month or so before I go back to the States. You need to call me,”
“Okay. You still have my number, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m going to go. Nice to see you guys.”
“You too, Haley,” John and I replied at the same time.
Haley left with a drink in her hand, and I turned to look at John. He downed the rest of his drink and offered me his hand.
“What?”
“Come on, we’re going back to the hotel,”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you need to watch your favorite movie…” He trailed off as we walked out of the pub.
“What do you mean, Johnny?” I asked with a sigh.
“You should’ve seen your face when she started talking about gymnastics. You miss it, and it made you sad. I can’t keep you there after that look.” He smiled sadly. “We’re gonna have a night in doing nothing.”
I smiled and hugged him tightly.
“I love you so much, John. You have no idea. You just know me so well,”
“I know that I do.”