Listen to Your Heart

Robin walked up to Nick, “They’re here. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he smiled brightly. She nodded and he took the stage, grabbing the microphone.

“How are you guys doing tonight?” he spoke energetically. The group of wedding goers cheered in good spirits. “Good, good. My name’s Nick and I’ll be your MC tonight. But first things first, the reason we’ve gathered here on this fine Arizona evening. We are here to celebrate a unity; the coming together of two of the most beautiful individuals I have ever known, both inside and out.”

Behind the reception hall’s grand doors, Hanna started to tear up. John kissed her softly as he took her hand in his.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. John O’Callaghan!”

John smiled down at Hanna. She kissed him one last time before they pushed open the doors to be greeted by all of their friends and family. This was the moment Hanna had really been waiting for. Out of all the planning and decisions she had to make alone while John was on tour, this was the one choice he had all to himself: the first song.

“It’s been awhile so forgive us but this one is for the bride and groom,” Nick said softly as he picked up a guitar. Hanna noticed that Justin, Andrew and Eric had all joined him up on stage. They started to play an old Rocket song.

She turned back to John and her eyes already filling up with tears. “You didn’t!” she whispered angrily, but with a smile on her face.

He only smiled in response as Nick started to sing and they started to dance.

“You get lost on your way back home, just about anywhere.
You sing off key to the radio, like nobody’s there.
And I love that your Sunday’s best is a holey pair of jeans
And I don’t stand a chance when you smile.”

“I hate you,” Hanna said as she burned her face in John’s chest.

“I know,” he kissed her head.

“Yeah the longer that we’re together,
The good keeps on getting better,
I never thought that I would ever find someone like you.
Every day you show me I can,
Just when I think that I can’t love you anymore than I do, I do.”

She smiled up at him, “but I love you more than anything.”

“And I love you more.”

“You change your hair colour every week, cause you’re never quite sure of it.
And I know when you’re mad at me, cause you tell me what I did
And all I think is beautiful, when I think of you,”

“I think that’s debatable, John.”

“And I still can’t believe that you’re mine.”

“No it’s not,” he said, kissing her softly.

Yeah the longer that we’re together,
The good keeps on getting better,
I never thought that I would ever find someone like you.
Every day you show me I can,
Just when I think that I can’t love you anymore than I do, I do.

Nick winked at the newlyweds as Justin and Eric stepped up to the mic.

"All I see is beautiful, when I look at you.”

“John and Hanna O’Callaghan, everybody!” they cheered together.

“Yeah the longer that we’re together,
The good keeps on getting better,
I never thought that I would ever find someone like you.
Every day you show me I can,
Just when I think that I can’t love you anymore than I do
I can’t love you anymore than I do, I do
I do”

The two were still intertwined as the song came to an end.

“I love you, Hanna. I always have and god dammit, I always will,” John promised.

For the first time in a very long time, Hanna was happy. This was exactly where she wanted to be.

~

The bartender had left. The guests were now few and far between. Hanna was trying to salvage what was left of the cake. Most of it had ended up on Jared.

Across the room, John was tearing down streamers from the ceiling. Why they need streamers in the first place was beyond him, but now that he thought about it, they were kind of pretty. He heard a subtle cough and a familiar voice said his name.

“Hey, Kenny. Shouldn’t you be heading home? I figured you would have left when they carried Garrett out an hour ago,” the two laughed. Kennedy handed him a white envelope.

“What’s this?” John asked, flipping it over in his hands.

“It’s for you. I just didn’t want it to get lost with all the other presents,” Kennedy said softly. “I’m going to head out. Don’t have too much fun tonight.”

“No promises,” John laughed.

“Congratulations, man.”

“Thanks,” John said but Kennedy had already gone to say goodbye to Hanna. He flipped over the envelope again and slid it open. The card had a black and white photo of the two boys on the front. Dirk had taken it last fall when they were in Europe. On the inside were the words “you win, congrats. Kenny” and an old crumpled $20 bill.