Wedding Bells

They had met at a Christmas Eve party, which Corrine’s family had attended. Nick had taken on an extra day waiting at this party, so he could make some more money to cover the payment on the house. His mother was behind and he wanted to make sure they had a house over the holidays. He had been saving since forever. They went to the same high school, even shared a couple of classes together. But they were in different circles. Corrine was the popular cheerleader, who was social, charitable and friends with everyone. Nick was quiet, reserved and a nobody. He was never really into the extra curriculums of high school because he felt he was never really good at anything. Though he did try out for the baseball team in his junior year, he had to quit in order to take on a job to help his mother. School was hard for him, he was dyslexic and the teachers there were not that interested in investing on one special needs kid who wasn’t that great of a student anyway. But Nick was smart, if someone had taken the time to work with him they would have seen that; he just got the letters muddled up sometimes.

The first time he saw her was on their first day of high school, they were both freshmen. She was in a floral dress, with her hair tied back with ribbons, looking like an angel. She had walked right past him, like he was invisible, and yet for him it felt like the rest of his life would revolve around her. They never actually crossed paths again, Nick opting to keep his distance. Cheerleaders do not talk to social outcasts like him. Their second encounter took place only in junior year when Nick was paired with her for biology. It was also the first time she had spoken to him directly.

“My best friend and I would really like to be partners,” she had stated so sweetly. “Would you mind if we swapped?” Then she smiled, and Nick remembered thinking how no one could stand a chance against that smile.

The real encounter, however, was at that party. That was the night when everything changed. Nick had snuck out of the party just to catch some air, and he bumped right into her as she was about to leave the balcony. She was wearing white, a colour so endearing on her, the picture of innocence, and a perfect angel. Her hair was rust orange.

“So sorry,” he gasped, grabbing her shoulders to make sure she did not fall over.

She just chuckled, the sound like ten thousand beautiful chimes, and shook her head. “It’s okay, I’m pretty clumsy.”

“How is a cheerleader clumsy?” The words blurted out.

She gave him a quizzical stare, like she was putting pieces of a puzzle together.

“Don’t I know you?” She asked. But before Nick could deny it, so he could sneak away her eyes grew wide with realisation. “Yeah, I do. You’re in my biology class. We were almost lab partners.”

Nick’s heart almost lurched out of its enclosure. She knew who he was, she recognised him. This whole time he imagined he would be forever invisible to a glorious being like her, but she remembered him. Corrine smiled at his startled expression. It had been Carver’s idea to trade if they did not get to be partners off the bat. But Corrine had been so excited then to get Nick, the quiet boy who scribbled doodles in his notebook when he was supposed to be taking notes. And yet, without fail and without any notes, always passed his tests with a C. Corrine had seen him in English too, she was the only one who ever listened to his presentations. He would walk up to the front of the class and read out his poem, or essay, but Corrine noticed the pages were blank and he was reciting from memory.
He had an understated beauty about him. If he spent more time with his head held high instead of staring at the ground the girls would notice the warm gaze of his brown eyes, and the strength of his jaw.

“What are you doing here? Is your family friends with the McIntyre’s, too? Gosh it seems like everybody in this town is friends with them.” She rattled nervously.

Nick gave her a crooked smile that made her fluster a bit. “No, I’m working tonight.” His voice was soft she almost missed it.

He went on to explain that he was a waiter for the catering company and she had gone on to tell him how great that was, she how wanted to get a job at this restaurant the one time because she loved the uniforms but her mother had flipped. Nick listened attentively as the conversation moved to her spending a summer in Greece and wanting to go back there again so she could paint the temple ruins. She listened while he told her how he dreamed of going to Egypt just to see the pyramids. They talked like that, sharing stories like long lost friends. Standing on that balcony, Corrine forgot her mother’s snappy comment about how the dress made her look fat; and Nick forgot he was a waiter. They spoke until the party ended and people began to leave, then they snuck away to Corrine’s favourite part of her family’s property, near the edge of the cliff so they could talk more while they watched the sun come up. They both fell in love and Nick was effectively fired.