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9.34 am
Emma’s hotel room
“I can’t do this”
“Andrew.”
“I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t---”
“Andrew!”
“I can’t, I just can’t---"
“ANDREW!” He looked up, finally, from where he was pacing across the floor.
“What?” he asked, as if he hadn’t heard her the first two times. Emma sighed.
“Sit down. You’re gonna wear those shoes down before you’re actually going down the aisle.” And that was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Andrew paled even further. He sank down on the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands.
“I can’t do this,” he moaned, and Emma crawled across the bed and kneeled beside him, rubbing her hand across his back soothingly.
“Can you specify this?” she asked. “Because right now it sounds like you don’t wanna marry him.” That, at least, got a reaction, because his head snapped up and he stared at her.
“Of course I want to marry him!” He looked insulted and almost angry at her for even suggesting it.
“So...?” she prompted.
“It’s just... what if I mess up? There’s so many people. What if I say no?!” Emma had to bit her lip not to burst out laughing, but she took a steadying breath and looked at him.
“Andrew, you’re an actor. You can do this.”
“Yeah well I’m not acting now, am I? It’s just... God, Emma, what if I screw up? What if... What if he says no?” Andrew paled even further at the prospect, and Emma had to put her hands under her legs as not to slap.his.face.
“Andrew, listen to me,” she said, voice sharp. “I will say this one last time. Jesse won’t say no. You’ve been together for three years. He loves you. You love him. He won’t. Say. No.”
“I just want to see him,” Andrew said in a small voice.
“Yeah, well, you can’t. He’s on the other side of town.”
“I don’t get why he got to stay at home. I don’t get why I can’t be there with him. This is such a stupid---”
9.55 am
Justin’s hotel room
“---tradition.” Justin looked at Jesse with eyes full of sympathy.
“Come on Jesse, it’s just for a few more hours.” Jesse was crawled up against the headboard, dressed in only his boxers, socks and still unbuttoned dress shirt. He hadn’t been able to put on his pants, and hadn’t even tried to button the shirt. He had his legs drawn up close to his chest and had his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees.
“I don’t get why we can’t be in the same place. I don’t get why Emma had to drag him to a hotel across town.” Justin sighed.
“So we wouldn’t have to keep our eyes on you every single second just to keep you from running out.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah you would.”
“Yeah I would, because he’s my... he’s my fiance, Justin, why can’t I see him before the wedding?” Justin shrugged.
“Bad luck.” His cellphone beeped and he reached for it, frowning as he read the text. Jesse sat up straight.
“What is it? Is it from Emma? What does it say? Is Andrew okay? Has he changed his mind?” Justin’s head whipped up.
“What? Changed his--- Jesse, are you stupid? Of course he hasn’t changed his mind!” Jesse breathed out a sigh of relief. Justin just stared at him, incredulous.
“You are stupid,” he said after a while, and then turned back to his phone. Jesse crawled across the bed to where Justin was standing by the mirror.
“Is it Emma?” he asked again. “What does she want, Justin?” Justin put his phone down and picked up Jesse’s pants from the floor.
“Here, get dressed. It’s not Emma. We’re meeting your sister down in the lobby.” Jesse grabbed the pants but narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“Why did she text you about that?”
“Uhm, because I forced you to leave your phone at home? You think you can dress yourself this time or do you need help?” Jesse glared at him, but it still took him three tries to button his fly, and his shaky fingers fumbled on all the buttons on the shirt. When he was finished, Justin adjusted his collar and handed him his suit jacket.
“Come on, she’s waiting.”
10.15 am
The lobby of Emma and Justin’s hotel
“Emma, I told you, I’m not...” Andrew’s voice faded as he saw a very familiar figure enter the other end of the lobby “...hungry,” he finished weakly. He wanted to turn around and look at Emma but he couldn’t take his eyes away from his soon-to-be husband. Husband! “What,” he began, but then Jesse caught his eyes and he faltered again. Jesse tripped over his own feet, but Justin steadied him.
They made their way across the lobby to where Andrew and Emma were standing, and Andrew knew he probably looked ridiculous, but he just couldn’t stop smiling. As soon as Jesse was within reach he grabbed him and hugged him tight, burrowing his face in Jesse’s curls.
“I missed you,” he murmured, and Jesse’s arms around him tightened.
“I missed you too,” came the muffled reply from where Jesse had his face pressed against Andrew’s chest.
“Hey, loverboys,” said Emma. Andrew looked up. “Here’s the deal. You have an appointment at the court house at 11.30. We,” she gestured between herself and Justin, “are going with you. Then we’ll have lunch, and be at the park in time for the ‘real’ wedding.” She completed the sentence with air-quotes and a roll of her eyes. Andrew and Jesse stared at her.
“If you don’t want to, that’s fine,” Justin said. “But it’s an option. Consider it our wedding present to you.”
“I...” Andrew looked at Jesse, and saw his own relief reflected in those clear blue eyes. He smiled. “Thank you,” he said, without looking at them. He could hear their exasperated sighs, but he didn’t care.
11.41 am
Court house
“I do”
12.28 pm
Pablo’s
“But how did you... you can’t have gotten that appointment today,” Jesse said, not really asking a question. He twirled his pasta around his fork with one hand, while absent-mindedly stroking his thumb of the other hand along the inseam of Andrew’s dress pants. Then he stopped both motions abruptly and looked up at his friends across the table. “You planned this!” Emma shrugged.
“We’re your best friends,” she said. “We know you. Didn’t take a genius to figure out you were gonna freak.”
“This way everyone gets what they want,” Justin continued. “You two get each other, your mothers get their big jewish wedding, and we get to keep our sanity. And hair.”
3.00 pm
The park
The sun was still high and casting shadows before them when they walked down the aisle together, hand in hand. Their mothers were already crying, and everyone else was smiling brightly. Andrew knew he wouldn’t have been able to appreciate it all if he’d still been a bundle of nerves, and he’d never been more grateful for Emma and Justin’s existence than he was right now. The rings were safely back in their pockets. This time it was just for show, he was already married to the love of his life. He squeezed Jesse’s hand and smiled at him. Jesse smiled back, and it was brighter than the sun.
~end