My Big Fat Fake Wedding

Cody grunts as the weight is lifted in front of him. I sit over in the corner playing around on my phone and texting Ted. Ever since we got back to Cody's place this morning, Cody and I have hardly said a word to each other. He puts the weight back into the holder and sits up. "Can I ask you for a favor?" I look up from my phone at him and he smiles. "Please?"

"Sure." I shrug. "What do you need?"

"Can you go into my room and grab my water bottle, please? I forgot it on my bed when I was changing."

I stand up and walk up the stairs to the door that leads to the down to the basement and step out. I leave the door open since I'm coming back and walk down the hallway to Cody's room. I instantly find his water bottle on the bed and pick it up. On my way out I notice his closet is open and I see a box labeled 'personal'. I bite my lip. The curiosity is eating at me. What could possibly be inside?

I glance at the doorway. No sign of him. Maybe just a peek….

I walk over to his closet and kneel down. I set the water bottle down next to me and placed my hands on the lid of the box. I carefully take it off and what's inside is surprising. "Oh…my…god…." I mutter.

Inside are all the letters I sent back that Cody wrote to me after my parents died. After their funeral, I moved in with Shawn and stopped going on the road with him and Casey. With my sudden disappearance, Cody actually started writing me letters and tries to call the house to talk to me but I was too depressed. Shawn even told me that he'd ask about me backstage at shows.

Every single letter I received from Cody I sent back without reading them. He continued to send them for about a year until he stopped and Shawn told me that he eventually stopped joining Dusty on the road too.

Now here in front of me in the box are all the letters that I sent back all bundled together along with a lot of old stuff from our childhood. There were the letters, pictures of Cody, Casey and I when we were younger, pictures of just me and Cody smiling at the camera and some home videos with just Cody and I in them. Casey either wasn't born yet or was really little. We were always together.

I pick up some of the pictures and look through them before grabbing the bundle of letters. I run my fingers over the letters. 11 years later and still unopened.

"Hey…" I look over at the doorway where Cody is standing. Emotions are running through me and I feel close to tears.

"You kept them?" I ask as he crosses the room and kneels next to me. "All the letters you wrote me that I sent back… you kept everything."

"Yeah I did." He says softly. "For many years I wondered why you just left and stopped talking to me." I look down at the letters in my hand and he continues. "But I did hope that one day I'd see you again."

He reaches into the box and pulls out an envelope. I give him a questioning look. He pulls out this silver necklace and I gasp. Like a little movie the flashback plays in my head:

It's the day before I got the news about my parents. Dusty had invited Casey, Shawn and I over for dinner and to just visit for a while after the show. Casey is inside with Shawn while Cody and I ran around in the yard.

"Tag! You're it!" Cody grins tapping my arm and running away.

"I'll get you Cody!" I laugh as I chase him. I runs behind the shred and I follow. Behind the shed Cody stops and I tap his shoulder. "Tag!" I start to run away but Cody grabs my arm.

"Wait!" He smiles at me. He walks over to one of the bushes near the fence and looks for something.

"What are you looking for Codes?" I ask. He makes a noise and turns around to face me with a grin. He holds out this little package that's all wrapped up. I grab it and smile at him.

"Go ahead. Open it." He smiles. "I know your birthday already passed but I didn't have enough money until now."

I look down at the package and see that it has my name on it. I carefully open the box. "Oh my gosh!" I say pulling out the little silver necklace. It was a little metal heart with little rhinestones around the edges. "Thank you, Codes!" I grin.

"You're welcome." He beams. He looks down for a moment.

"Are you okay?" I frown.

"Yeah… um…Charity?"

"Yeah?"

He lifts his head and steps forward and his lips meet mine. I stand there not knowing what to do for a moment as he pulls away. We're both blushing and he grins. I'm about to ask why he kissed me when we hear Shawn.

"Charity! Cody! Dinner time!"

I smile at him and got to put my necklace in my pocket and we run to go eat dinner.

I didn't find out until when I went to look for it the next day that I lost it. It was lying on the ground in the backyard where we were standing because it didn't make it into my pocket.

Now here I see the necklace I haven't seen in 11 years. The exact necklace Cody bought me was now hanging off his finger. I couldn't find the words as I looked at him.

"I found it when I came back off the road after we found out about your parents." He opens my hand puts it in my palm and closes my hand around it with his hand on top. "Another reason I hoped I'd see you again." I looked down at my hand then back at him. Before I knew it, my arms were around his neck and I pressed my lips against his. His arms wrap around me as he reciprocates the action.

Moments later we pull away, somewhat out of breath. Our little kissing session heated up pretty fast. He smiles at me and rests his forehead against mine. "I'm going to go shower and change so we can head over to my parents' house for a couple hours then….we can come back and watch some home movies. What do you say?"

"Sounds great." I grin. Letting go of each other, we get up and start getting ready.