The Only Thing I Ask

It was truly a white dream for her. Everything looked perfect, from the ornaments that hung from the ceiling to the beautiful dress in front of her. She fell in love with it the first time she tried it on and now tears can't stop flooding her cheeks.

"Damn it Val! How many times do I have to repair your make up if you keep crying like this?"

Valerie turned to see her twin sister, who looked beautiful in her dark green bridesmaid's dress. It brought up the color of her green eyes.
"I'm sorry, I looked too perfect."
"Yes I know. You're lucky you found a rich husband."
Valerie giggled at her. "And soon, you will too."
Michelle blushed and smiled, thinking of her fiancée who was probably out there, helping Matthew entertaining guests.
"Michelle, I'm nervous." She claimed as Michelle started to wipe her tears away with a tissue.
"Every bride feels that way. Relax, just take a deep breath. And just remind yourself of how much you love him."
"Wow, someone knows what she's doing."
"Shut up, I watched a lot of wedding movies."
Valerie laughed, and Michelle cursed because it almost made her mess up the eyeliner on Valerie's eyes.

"I can't believe you're getting married Michelle. How long has it been? A year and a half? And he proposed to you while he was on the road! Brian sure does things his way doesn't he?"
"Well, I can't believe YOU'RE getting married. How did you meet him again?" Michelle replied casually and sarcastically while applying a thin layer of blusher onto Valerie's face.
"Hey, I'm not actually their groupie, I just happen to find a chance to meet him. A chance encounter. I gotta thank that groupie leader someday."
"You're lucky Matt fell in love with you at first sight." Michelle finally done repairing her sister's make up and she looked perfect again. Valerie smiled, remembering how she and Matthew stared at each other on their first meeting, both amazed, both hearts beat faster than ever.
"I remember Brian had a crush on me." She laughed, but then Michelle cut her off.
"Excuse me, he said it wasn't a crush. He was simply fascinated that's all."
"Yeah, in high school, we call that 'a crush'."
"We're not in high school anymore, Val."

"You're ready Val?" Leana suddenly barged in, holding Zoey's hand. Zoey cooed, letting her mother's hand go and walked fast towards Valerie and Michelle.
"Aww there she is, my favorite baby!! She grew up so fast!!" Michelle picked Zoey up and the baby said something gibberish, making them all smiled.
"Wait, where's my bouquet?"
"On the dressing table." Michelle pointed, while kissing Zoey's cheek. She handed Zoey back to Leana and the three of them walked out of the room.

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"You're nervous dude?"

Matthew took a deep breath and nodded to Brian, his best man. Well, actually he had two best men. Brian and Jimmy. Brian will be responsible of holding on to the ring while Jimmy was obliged to give a speech later.

Not long after, the bridesmaids arrived and stood beside the altar. Brian couldn't help but grin watching his fiancée in that dress. He'd wished that this was their wedding instead of Matt's. But their schedule won't allow him to plan any personal event because they had released their self-titled album and they were booked until the end of next year. This week was the only week they had their time off, because Matthew and Valerie had been planning this wedding for a year.

Michelle bit her lip, watching Brian looking sharp in that tuxedo, and even a bowtie. His hair was as spiky as ever, and Michelle loved it. They hadn't seen each other for at least two days, because she was so busy helping Valerie with this wedding and Brian was busy being a rock star. Their self-titled album was a big hit. They even received a platinum award for it. Dear God was in it, and it became her favorite song of all time. She felt like she was the luckiest person in the world to be able to hear Brian's version of the song - so raw and touching. The song meant a lot to her and she loved hearing Matt sang it but she preferred Brian's voice.

Suddenly a canon song from Jimmy - being the pianist of the day - echoed through the room. Everyone stood up and Valerie went in, hand in hand with their closest uncle, seeing that their parents already passed away. Michelle glanced over at Matthew. She can see that he was happy, almost teary seeing Valerie in that beautiful dress. His mouth dropped and his eyes hadn't blinked once.

Her eyes locked with Brian then, he was smiling at her and mouthed;
"You look beautiful."
She giggled softly and mouthed back; "You too."

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Jimmy stood up from his seat and started clinking his champagne glass with a fork. Everyone at the reception turned to look at him. Michelle was playing with Zoey who was comfortably sitting on Brian's lap when she heard Jimmy's calling everyone to hear his speech. Both of them turned to Jimmy too.

"Greetings, folks. Wow I'm drunk."

The guests laughed at him. Especially people that knew him long enough.

"Anyway, I would like to say a few words. I knew Matt since high school. I knew his every secret. His every-dirty-secret." He leaned over to Matthew, and the audience laughed again. So did Matthew and Valerie, now his wife.

"He's like an open book. But when he met Valerie, he didn't tell me anything. He just said to me, 'yeah, that girl's pretty cool, whatever.' Next thing I knew BOOM you're marrying her. What happened dude?"

They laughed again, harder this time. Jimmy was surely drunk a little.

"That's when I realize, he had fallen in love. His love for Valerie is not like a book. It's like a journey, like a tour. You never knew what could happen. He hadn't planned any of this. But it happened anyway and I am glad. You found each other in such unlikely place, and it was just fucking love at first sight. Ops sorry. I didn't mean to curse."

Brian laughed and shook his head. So did the entire guest.

"And Val, you're like a nagging mother to us. Like a real...b-word nagging mother. But we love you. Without you, Matt would still be single."

"Meanie!" Valerie crossed her hands on her chest and pouted.

"I'm just kidding. I'm glad he's marrying you. He's the luckiest son of a - gun ever."

"To both of you, and both of my best friends Brian and Michelle too, I ask only one. One thing. Be happy, be content with each other even when I'm not around anymore. I can't be your baby sitter all the time, jeez!"

They all laughed at the end of his speech and when he raised his glass and said; "CHEERS!" everyone followed.

But Brian felt uneasy at his last speech.
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"I can't believe Matt's already married. Can you believe that?"
Johnny sipped his whisky and turned to Zacky who sat next to him at the open bar. They were both watching Matthew and Valerie danced to Warmness on The Soul, sung by Shauna - a singer who guests in their Dear God track, and the piano played by Jimmy. Brian also made an appearance by playing his guitar solo part.

"Tell me about it. He's faithful to Val too. You remember when he had like, a dozen women a night while we were on the road?"

"Yeah, those were some crazy days. Women were like magnets to him too."

Zacky chuckled. His eyes searched around, looking for his girlfriend. Ever since the speech and dinner ended she was nowhere to be seen. She was also the official photographer for this wedding so Zacky just let her do her thing. But she had been apart from him too long that he started to worry.

Suddenly he felt a pair of hand hugged his now-plump waist from behind. He gained a lot of weight while they were recording their self titled album.

"Hey teddy bear." Tona rested her cheeks on Zacky's back. Zacky turned around in his seat. He smiled. Tona had always called him that way ever since he grew his belly. She loved his body no matter he was skinny or plump.

"There you are. Where have you been?"

Tona smiled brightly and held up her camera which hung on her shoulder and snapped a picture of him.

"I was around. Anyway, I want you guys to meet someone."

Apparently there was someone beside her and Zacky didn't realize it. "This is my best friend since high school. Lacey Franklin."

Zacky held out his hand and shook hers.

"Hi, I'm Zacky."

"Hi, I know. Tona told me a lot about you."

"This is Johnny, the guy I was telling you about."

"Hey," Lacey offered her hand, and Johnny slowly took it. This girl wasn't as hot as the twins or even Tona but she was beautiful enough to make his heart stopped.

"Hi there. I'm Johnny."

"Johnny, you remember I was gonna introduce you to my friend when we were in Leeds? Well, here she is."

Johnny grinned widely. "It took you a year and a half to introduce me to her?"

"Sorry, I was busy, and so are you. Speak for yourself."

Johnny laughed. He awkwardly rubbed his neck, not knowing what to say to Lacey.

"Well, you guys get to know each other, Tona and I had something to do. Probably behind the bushes."

Zacky got down from his seat, put his arms around Tona and Tona slapped his chest.

"Wait I gotta snap this." Tona snapped a picture of Lacey and Johnny staring at each other shyly before walking away from there, hand in hand with Zacky.