“Congratulations, dude.”
“Thanks.”
“You nervous?” He looked nervous.
“Okay, no taking the piss…but not nervous, just emotional I guess. I can’t wait to call her my wife.”
“You’re on time,” Sawyer interrupted. He wore a lopsided smile and was one more sarcastic comment from getting it punched right off his face. “But what the fuck are you wearing?”
“Sawyer!” Jake scolded in a harsh whisper. “You can’t swear in church.”
“Shit, yeah. Shit I did it again. Fuck, sorry,” he flustered as if he had some kind of disorder.
“Long story,” I explained, referring back to his original question.
“You forgot to pick your suit up didn’t you?”
“I didn’t forget. I’ve been industrious.”
“Industrious?” Sawyer laughed.
“What?” I retorted. “That means busy.”
“I know what it means, Matt. Just a big word for you. Where’d you learn it?”
“Go fuck yourself. I’m not a total dumbass.”
“Go on, tell me,” he pressed with a mocking smile.
“The Chase,” I admitted with a defeated sigh. The Chase was a UK game show that I’d discovered while lounging around in the hotel with nothing to do at night. It was filled with quizzes and intellectual questions and I’d learned quite a few new things over the last few days. “Bet you don’t know the chemical symbol for sodium?”
“Sit down,” Sawyer dismissed. “Elle’s car’s just arrived.” Instinctively my eyes wandered to the back of the church, and sure enough there was a small commotion going on outside. “It’s Na by the way,” Sawyer whispered in my ear before I sat down. Smart ass. Then after giving Jake a brief kiss on the cheek, he jogged lightly along the aisle and toward the open doors.
An elderly woman dressed like a wobbly vanilla pudding started up a depressing tune on the great organ at the front of the church and immediately everyone stood from their pews, so I followed suit. I tracked the gaze of the people stood beside me toward the back of the church, and there she was. Without a doubt the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, Elle made her grand entrance, linking Sawyer’s arm as they walked in small steps toward us. Everyone stared, unable to take their eyes off of her. Her white satin dress was understated – fitted and smooth with a deep v cut into the neckline. It was perfect. Stunning in fact.
When they reached the priest, Sawyer brought Elle’s hand up to his lips, kissing it gently before placing it in Kip’s waiting hand. I’d never seen such a look of pure adoration in a man’s eyes before. I watched him watch his bride to be. He smiled so wide, so proudly, and his eyes sparkled with longing. Right then and there I saw what love was, though I didn’t particularly understand it. “Dude,” Alex whispered straight into my ear. “You crying?” he continued with a shit-eating grin on his face. I swear Alex was the king of shit-eating grins, and more often than not it was at my expense.
“No,” I protested, blinking the tiny drop of moisture from my eye. “I’m too hot, that’s all.”
I needed to get my shit together before I ruined my reputation. But damn, who knew weddings were so freakin’ emotional? I’d never been to one before. In fact I’d only been in church once since I was a kid and that was for my uncle Jimmy’s funeral. Even that wasn’t as tear-jerking as this. Though in fairness, that could’ve been because my uncle Jimmy was a dick.
The emotions running wild through my veins quite quickly turned to boredom when after almost half an hour the priest was still rambling on about some part of the bible I knew nothing about. Naively, I thought they’d come in, say their vows, stick their tongues down each other’s throats and we’d all be heading off to party. I was wrong. The ceremony lasted for the longest hour of my life, and by the end of it I had to purposely keep shifting in my seat to stop myself from falling asleep.
The furor of clapping at the end of the service brought me back to life and I stood up, cheering for Kip and Elle.
“Beautiful wasn’t it?” Alex said, bumping my shoulder with his as he clapped.
“Uh, sure.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure the party will be less boring.” He laughed to himself, shaking his head a little. “Wanna make a head start while they’re posing for photos?”
“Bar all to ourselves? Let’s go.”
“People should be arriving soon,” Alex noted, pushing the cuff of his shirt up with his finger to expose his watch. We left for the hotel as soon as Kip and Elle left the church, leaving them with the rest of the guests, standing for photos in the church grounds. Security surrounded us and it reminded me of being on tour. There were men on every exit of the hotel, the church grounds, and Neil - Sawyer’s personal bodyguard - seemed to be everywhere I looked. He’s the only one in the band who still had a personal guard. Fucking diva.