Pinky Promises

I stared at myself in the mirror trying to wrap my head around the fact that in just a few short minutes I would be marrying Jimmy Sullivan. How was this even possible?

Though we hadn't wanted a big wedding with lots of people Matt, Charlie and Dillon insisted that because it was my first wedding, and last, that it should be a big deal. So with only three months preparation we invited everyone we could think of and decided to have the wedding at camp. And here I was, standing inside the cabin at the place where Jimmy asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, waiting for my cue and my father who was going to walk me down the isle.

"Nervous?" Came a voice from behind me. I turned to see Charlie, Dillon and Matt all standing there with smiles on their faces.

"What gave you that idea? I'm fiiiine."

"Suuure. You really look it, your eyes look like they're gonna pop out of your skull." Matt said.

I laughed and Charlie shook his head. "That'd be a bad wedding."

They all looked handsome in their makeshift tuxedo's. One of our agreements on having an actual wedding was that we didn't have to dress formally like normal people. We weren't normal, and that was that.

"I'm really okay. I mean, it's not so much the getting married part..it's the remembering my lines and repeating after the dude who's marrying us part. I'm not an actor, I can't memorize this shit."

"It's not that hard, Lay. You just say a bunch of crap that means you'll stick with his scrawny ass forever and then kiss in front of everyone and then boom. You're done, party is on and if you want I'll make a big drunken scene that way no one will even remember what happened during the ceremony." Charlie said.

"You do that and I'll have to drown you in the river." Matt said looking at him. Charlie just grinned.

I smiled at them, thankful for such great friends. Jimmy and I had moved in together shortly after we got engaged. I wasn't so sure but he made it his mission for three weeks to prove to me that since we were getting married anyway we should live together. He was right. I was just nervous.
Like now.

"So we just wanted to come see how pretty the bride was, and maybe kidnap her if she looked too good for our abnormally tall friend." Dillon said coming up to me and giving me a hug. "We love you."

"I love you guys too." I said breathing in. "A lot. Thank you guys for always being there."

"No problem, babe." Matt said as he hugged me next.

Charlie hung back for a minute and when I held out my arms he shook his head. "Nope."

"What? Why?"

"Because! Now that you two are married things are gonna be different. No more man trips. No more man..stuff. Whatever. It's ruined because you two had to go get married."

I shook my head and laughed. "Charlie, it's not like he's getting a ball and chain. That's stupid. He can still go do whatever you guys want. I'm not gonna tag along for everything just because we're married."

"It better not!" He yelled then came at me and picked me up, spinning me around. "Alright, fine. I love you."

"I love you too, fool."

He grinned then set me down.

"Show time, you ready?" Matt asked looking out the window at the people now all taking their seats.

I walked over and joined him, having been hidden from Jimmy the entire time. It was still bad luck to see your bride before the wedding no matter who you were.

"Not getting cold feet are you, because if you are we can always slip out the back." Dillon said and winked.

"I'm fine. I'm good. I really am. Just like I said..remembering lines and stuff."

"Fuck the lines, make it up. Who cares." Matt said.

"Well, I want this to be perfect. You know? It's not like I'm going to get another chance at this. I'm marrying Jimmy and that's it. If we split up I'm going to be the old cat lady. No! The old spider lady because I can fit WAY more spiders in my house and they are less costly." There was silence and I looked at the three boys. "What?"

"You're talking about divorce and you're not even married. SOMEONE needs to get extremely drunk when this is over with." Charlie said.

"Yeah, and for the love of God, please, do NOT get spiders. You will never see me again." Dillon said.

"Okay fine. Maybe lizards."

"LAYLA!" They all three shouted at me and then we laughed.

"Alright boys, say goodbye to the bride. Let's go get in position." Matt said.

They said their goodbyes then walked out the door. Jimmy didn't want to have just one best man. He said that the three of them all meant the same amount to him and he wouldn't ever be able to choose. So, they were all best men. I didn't really have that many friends who were girls, so my mother and Jackson's girlfriend Stace, were my only ones. They were both dressed the same too.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly calming myself down before having to go out. Jimmy's parents weren't able to make it but before our honeymoon we were stopping in California to see them. They were happy for him and wanted to meet their daughter in law.

I heard the door swing open and turned to see my Dad standing there, dressed fancy with his hair combed back. He looked like a gangster. Not one of those guys with their pants hanging down by their knees kind of gangster, an actual 1950's type of gangster.

"You look beautiful." He said approaching me.

I did look good, I had to admit. For me any way. My long brown hair was down, falling just below my butt, in ringlets. It had grown a lot over the last two years and Jimmy wouldn't let me cut it. My make up was great, my dress was a simple dark green sun dress and I wore sandals that were slightly fancy but not so fancy that I couldn't walk through the mud in them.

"Thank you. You look handsome." I said and gave him a hug.

"So, are you ready for this?" He asked.

"If I had ten bucks for every time someone has asked me that today I'd be rich." I said then ran my hand through my hair.
"Actually, I'd still be broke. Yes, I'm ready. I know I can do this. It's not any different than any other time. I still love Jimmy..I still wanna marry him."

"You're babbling though." Dad pointed out.

"I know! I know." I laughed. "Ugh, it's just... I never thought I'd get married honestly. I never thought there was a guy worth promising to be with forever. Jimmy is so different. It's like, being married to your best friend."

"Isn't that what it literally is?" He asked as he stuck out his arm
and I took it.

"Yeah. It is."

"Then isn't that a good thing?"

"Of course it is!"

"Then you are probably one of the luckiest girls in the world.
Marrying your best friend. Literally. Most girls say they're marrying their best friend because that's how close they have gotten while they were together. You two were in love before you even knew it."

I nodded and then took one more final deep breath as the music started.

"I just want you to know," My Dad started to say as we headed to get in our position, "I'm very happy you chose him."
I laughed slightly. "I didn't. He chose me. I just was lucky enough to be the one he picked."