Hollywood Bridge

I lift her black veil entirely off her head and throw it into the crowd.She frowns. I peck her on the lips then say, "You know, a black veil is worn when a nun marries into the church to symbolize her giving up the simple pleasures of life to dedicate her existence to God. I guess I'm trying to say that I don't want you to ever give up ANYTHING for me. I really don't think it's appropriate."
She smiles. "Okay."
I turn to the registrar. "Can we skip to the 'I do's'?"
He nods.
"With this Hand..." I begin, making Cathy laugh at my reference to the Corpse Bride. I start again. "I, Ryan Smith, swear that I will stand by you for all eternity. I will defend you with my life if I must. No matter where our lives may take us, be it poverty or wealth, sickness or health, I will stand by you, Cathy Boldero. You will have my lifelong support, until death do us part, and if there is anything after that, then you will have it then too."
Cathy repeats my words back to me, changing the names where appropriate.
The registrar speaks up "The rings."
Ashley steps forward and passes me Cathy's ring. You can't tell that about 1.5 hours ago he was unconscious in the bathroom with 3 hookers and vomit in his hair.
I clear my throat. "Cathy Boldero, will you accept this ring as a symbol of our everlasting love?"
"Yes," I slide the ring above her engagement ring. "Would you, Ryan Smith, be willing to accept this ring as a token of our everlasting love and a remembrance of our vows?"
"You always try to do better than me." I whisper, then, "Yes, I accept."
"Does anybody present know of any possible reason these two people should not undertake a legal marriage?" The registrar asks. Silence.
"Do you both understand the contract you are about to enter?" she asks.
"Yes." we say simultaneously.
"Do you both accept the terms of this legal marriage you are about to enter and do you both understand your vows?"
"I do." we answer together.
"You may kiss the bride."
I dip towards her and feel her soft lips against mine. One of may more kisses to come. (Kisses is a funny word, who thought of calling it a 'kiss' anyhow? I mean, it's the act of pressing your mouth against something!? WTF?)
Jake yells unexpectedly from the back "Give it a little tongue!" as he stuffs more pizza/sushi in his mouth. I laugh it off. Ella punches him playfully and he feeds her some pizza sushi.
I feel so at peace. Surrounded by everyone I care about. Only about 25 people, but it's enough for me.
Just then a familiar face enters.
"Cathy, babe, I'll be back in a minute."
I grab my little brother by the arm and take him to a quiet room. I'm bigger than him now. Taller and leaner.
"What in the hell do you want?" I spit.
"To apologize." he whispers to my surprise. "I should never have treated you how I did. I want to fix it. I want to be an uncle. I want to get to know Cathy and your new friends. And I'm convincing Mom too. I think she's excited that she may be a grandma in the next couple of years."
"First up, you can't just barge back into my life after ONE WHOLE YEAR! YOU IGNORED ME WHEN I NEEDED YOU THE MOST! YOU WATCHED AS OUR OLDER BROTHER ABUSED ME AND LEFT ME TO COMMIT SUICIDE!" My brother flinches at the word.
"That's where you went? To kill yourself?" a tear escapes his eye but I don't relent.
"AND SECOND, IF THAT PSYCHOTIC B*TCH THINKS SHE WILL EVER BE LET NEAR MY POTENTIAL CHILD, SHE'S DAMN WRONG. I WILL NEVER LET HER POISON ANOTHER CHILD'S LIFE LIKE SHE DID MINE." i calm down and lower my voice. " I will talk to Cathy and consider if I can welcome YOU back into my life, but only you - not Mom or Clint. And not that B*stard who has the nerve to call himself my father."
"If it helps, I looked for you, Ryan. I put up posters." Toby looks at me with his big green eyes. I can't shut him out of my life.
"I can't have you around me now, Toby, but I want you in my life." I scrawl down my number and hand it to him. "I need you to leave now, Toby, but call me."

I walk out and rejoin my friends. nobody comments on my absence.
"You know what they say about Best Man and Maid of Honour, right?" Ashley tries.
"That the Maid of Honour slaps the Best Man in the face for his cheesy advances?" Seraphine snaps.
Just then a tall-ish girl with jaw-length black/brown hair enters wearing a plain black dress. She has these really big brown eyes and I know this is Amy. I remember meeting her at my party. Ashley brightens when he sees her and it clicks- she's who he's looking out for.

We stand on the steps, about to set off on our honeymoon when Cathy pauses. Amy and Ash have disappeared to the Starbucks around the corner.
Cathy raises her arms and throws the bouquet over her shoulder.
Both Ella and Juliet grab it together. They look at each other and laugh then split the flowers between them. I yell to them "Andy, Jake! Looks like it's you two next!" I smile as I crawl into the car with the love of my life. This is my new chapter.

Notes

This took me forever, serious writer's block. This is it for now, there's gonna be a sequel but it will be from Ashley's perspective (and it will be a murder mystery). I will post the title and a taster as a separate chapter of this story once i write it.
In the meanwhile, I will be writing The Puppet Master with MarryBerry (the best author ever! XX) SO GO CHECK IT OUT!
Caio!