Ever After

He gazed up at the white wall with eyes that burned from tears. Pain drenched his being, leaving him heavy with its weight. The clock proclaimed nonchalantly that she had been in there for seven hours. The pain and guilt seized him in a chokehold and he sobbed into his hands. Heavy, hard sobs that wouldn’t fix a thing.

He could feel the minutes growing longer, trying to prolong the inevitable. He knew he was about to lose his happiness forever. They wouldn’t even let him in to say goodbye.

Everything good in his life was about to be taken away from him in a final breath. His chest ached at the thought. It was all his fault.

The clock was ticking in slow motion, and it was all his fault…



The man opened his eyes slowly and gazed over at his beautiful new wife. A slow smile spread onto his face and he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He smacked his lips together and looked around the all white hotel room. The balcony doors opened onto a small deck, revealing a bright blue, cloudless sky and palm trees. Clothes littered the floor and the man smirked.

He could barely believe it himself. He never thought he’d get to this point in his life. He was in a band that was on the rise, he had just married his dream girl a few days ago, and most of all, he was happy. He was experiencing a content happiness and he didn’t want it to ever fade. Everything was in place in his life and perfect. He seriously doubted it could get much better than that. He was in Hawaii with his wife for crying out loud!

He looked from the clothes back to the figure in bed beside him and saw two evergreen eyes staring back at him. The woman offered him a shy smile and those eyes sparkled. He was taken aback by her beauty. She had the fairest porcelain skin and adorable features. Her eyes were big and beautiful and dramatic even without makeup, and her long brown and black messy hair spilled out around her on the pillows.

He grinned and leaned down to kiss her softly. “Good morning, Mrs. Ramsay.” he said in his deep, creaky morning voice.

The woman smiled wider and blushed a soft pink. “Good morning to you, Mr. Ramsay.” she whispered.

“Oh, please, call me Josh,” He raised an eyebrow and smiled a ridiculous smile, making the woman giggle.

“Why don’t you call me Kali?” she asked, folding her arms over the white covers.

“Because you’re Mrs. Ramsay now, and I want to take complete advantage of that.” Josh unfolded Kali’s arms and draped them over his shoulders. She chuckled and massaged his neck gently. She lifted her left hand into the air and admired the sparkling rings there. Her engagement ring was two smaller diamonds on each side of a large diamond in the middle of a platinum band and her wedding ring was a basic platinum band with miniscule diamonds set in randomly around it.

“Hm, judging by the rings on my finger I guess you’d be right.” She planted a chaste kiss on his lips.

“Exactly,” Josh smiled serenely. “So, Mrs. Josh Ramsay, what would you like to do on the third day of our honeymoon?”

“Hm,” Kali furrowed her brow in thought, “what could we do that wouldn’t end in sexual relations? Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but I think it’s time we actually left our hotel room for once.” She giggled.

“Huh, nothing comes to mind,” Josh smirked and planted kisses across her throat.

Kali thumped him with a pillow. “Get ready; you and I are going to go pet some parrots or something.” She clambered out of the bed and stretched.

“How do you know we can do that?” Josh raised an eyebrow.

“It’s Hawaii! At the very least we’ll get invited to a luau.” Kali’s lips twisted up into a smile. She sashayed into the bathroom and Josh jumped up to follow her.

“If we can’t stay in here and have sexual relations all day then I think we should have them now, just to get it out of our systems.” He grinned, running a hand through his ruffled black and blue hair.

Kali chuckled and grabbed his hand to pull him swiftly into the bathroom with her.



“What do you know? We actually pet some parrots!” Josh exclaimed, squeezing Kali’s hand while they walked down the Hawaiian streets.

Kali giggled. “Now we just have to get invited to a luau.”

“You know if we do Matt will want us to bring him back a roasted pig.” Josh rolled his eyes behind his bright orange sunglasses.

Kali nodded and then snapped up straight, a smile spreading across her lips. She raced to an open tourist shop and grabbed a pink and white lei out of a large bowl. When Josh got to her side she reached up to put it around his neck.

“You just got lei’d,” she smirked.

Josh gasped. “In public, Mrs. Ramsay!” he exclaimed.

Kali shrugged and laughed at her silly husband. “What can I say? You bring out my inner daredevil.”

Josh smiled deviously and leaned down to tug gently on Kali’s long ponytail. “Is that all I bring out in you?” he asked in a low whisper.

“Hm, in public, yes.” Kali pecked his cheek quickly before walking away to admire more shops.
Josh watched her from behind as she walked for awhile, admiring the view of his new wife. She had the most stunning dancer’s body, lithe and perfectly thin, and she hadn’t grown much since high school. Her head still only came up to Josh’s chin, but he liked that. Her long brown hair had only gotten longer, reaching to the middle of her back. The only difference there was the bottom layer of her hair had been dyed black, as well as the underside of her bangs. The biggest differences of all, and Josh’s favourite, were the two rings on her left hand. She was all his now, forever. Just the way he wanted it.

Josh himself hadn’t changed too much either since high school. He’d put on a little of the weight he’d lost from his bulimia but kept himself as fit and healthy as possible. His hair was still black and blue, only shorter and spikier with longer bangs and better defined highlights. His hair and tongue piercing had quickly become his trademarks when he’d formed the band Marianas Trench with Matt Webb, Mike Ayley and Ian Casselman, his friends from high school. The band had released two studio albums and an EP and were quickly on the rise in Canada and gaining popularity in the United States as well. Now he was married to his long-time girlfriend and he couldn’t be happier.

Finally reaching her side he interlocked his fingers with hers once again. She looked up and smiled at him, those dark green eyes sparkling even behind her large rosy sunglasses.

“You’re beautiful, did you know that?” he asked her softly.

Kali shook her head and blushed.

Josh stopped walking in front of a beautiful beach as the sun was setting and pulled her to his chest. Carefully, he put the lei around her neck as well so they were sharing it. He wrapped his hands around her waist and she did the same to him, tilting her head in curiosity.

“So, you know how the boys and I are going on tour in a month,” Josh began softly.

Kali’s face fell a little. “Yeah?”

“Well, I was thinking, remember how you came with us on our very first Canadian tour? You were our merch girl.”

“Josh—”

“Let me finish. I know you hate when I’m away, and I hate being away from you for so long. So I was thinking you could come with us again, for old time’s sake. You and I haven’t, you know, ‘christened’ the new tour bus yet.” A small smirk pulled on his full lips.

Kali sighed and smiled softly. “I don’t know…I have the café now, I can’t just shut it down for two months.”

“Get replacements. Derek can look after it while you’re away. He’s not assistant manager for nothing.”

“Josh…”

“Please, Kali? You know you want to.” Josh swayed side to side, bringing her with him.

“I do, but, I can’t just up and leave now. Things are different compared to a few years back.”

“Think about it, baby, please,” Josh whispered, brushing his nose against her jaw. “I need you.”

Kali smiled and made a content noise. “I’ll think about it.”

“Promise me?” Josh’s eyebrows rose.

“I promise you, Josh Ramsay.” Kali kissed his lips softly.

“Thank you.” He smiled. “Now, let’s go find a luau. If I can’t bring Matt a roasted pig I can at least send him a picture.”

Kali chuckled and wiggled out of the lei, continuing her peaceful walk along the beach with her new husband on their honeymoon. She looked out at the setting sun over the tranquil blue waters and sighed contentedly.

This is going to be one hell of a year.