A week later you were meeting with a wedding planner. It was no surprise to you the she had been picked by the council and had big ideas for your wedding. She brought a few dresses with her and you found one that fit you amazingly and was adequately modest to appease the Council.
You agreed with everything the planner had to say, already feeling done with all the primping and prepping that seemed to go into a wedding. Her ideas were lovely and very expensive, so you agree wholeheartedly with whatever she thought would be prefect for the event.
A little over two months later, cooks and maids, as well as the wedding planner and assistants, were found hustling all around the house the day before the wedding. They started early in the morning and went through the entire day.
“Look at them. All running around like chickens.” you told Joshua as you and him sat on your favorite bench with some ice cream in hand.
“Oh no, here comes the fox to stir things up.” Joshua pointed to the back door where the wedding planner, who had been known to yell a bit, chased after an assistant and yelled at her to rearrange the chairs for the ceremony.
“The council members should be arriving in an hour for the rehearsal dinner, won’t they?” you asked taking another scoop of ice cream.
“Guess so. Better get changed then,” Joshua said standing up.
“Are you wearing a tuxedo or a suit?” you asked wondering how formal this event was going to be as the two of you walked to the house, ducking and avoiding people running around as you went.
“Tuxedo, probably. Will you wear that black dress with the plunging back?” he asked before you cut him off.
“Joshua! Are you wanting to get in trouble?!” you scolded him but couldn’t hold back a smile.
“It fits you well” was his only defense. Your mouth hung open a bit. He had never commented on what you wore that blatantly before.
When people started to arrive, you and Joshua greeted them at the front door. They all looked happy to be having a wedding planned tomorrow. Nearly every person that walked through the door would comment, to the two of you, something along the lines of how Joshua would have his hands full with you.
“Just like her mother, this one is. She has that rebellious streak in her a mile wide” an older lady said to Joshua and patted him on the back fondly, before she made her way to the dining room to mingle.
“Do they think I am deaf?” you said quietly to him when you were alone before you greeted the next person arriving.
“No, but I’m pretty sure most of them are” he said looking around and trying to make you less agitated at the way they talked about you and your mother. Joshua’s mom walked over as you and he stood in the center of the room.
“A word, please?” she asked and Joshua stepped forward but she held up her hand.
“Not you. You” she said and pointed to you.
“Oh, yes ma'am” you were surprised and nodded, following her. Looking back at Joshua over your shoulder, he shrugged and waved as you walked with his mom outside in to the back yard.
“Your mother would have loved to have been here” she said to you looking around at the decorations set up for tomorrow. You remained silent but nodded.
“If I can be honest, I and she had been hoping this would happen since you two were little. Well, maybe not this soon. She was always against old practices, as I’m sure you were aware”
“I had a hunch” you said before you could stop yourself. She smiled at you.
“Joshua has always cared for you. I’m sure he wouldn’t want me telling you this, but he was so upset in kindergarten when you had another little boy as your boyfriend for a day.” you and her smiled.
“You look like your mother” she said turning to you and studying your face.
“She would’ve thought all of this was-”
“Pompous and over done?” you said out loud. It was almost like your mothers words had come out of your own mouth.
“Exactly” Joshua’s mom said and hugged you tightly. When you pulled away, the two of you were both in silent tears as you wished the same wish, knowing it could not come true.
As the night was coming to a close Joshua bid you good night.
“Where are you going?”
“It is almost midnight. I can’t see the bride on the wedding day. It is bad luck” he said pulling you in for a hug and kissing you on the forehead. This made you realize something you hadn’t thought of before.
“Oh my god, Joshua. I have to kiss you tomorrow”
“That is usually what happens at a wedding.” he nodded.
“We haven’t ever even thought of- I mean maybe you have- not that it wouldn’t be pleasant- it just hadn’t crossed my mind-” you fumbled. You had wanted to kiss Joshua loads of times before, but now you were confronted with a kiss you could not avoid, and in front of loads of people. He laughed once and hugged you one last time and left with his parents to spend the night at their house.
“What if I am a bad kisser?” you told your friend in your room later that night.
“Your ex didn’t complain about it” she reasoned as she read a magazine on your bed.
“In front of everyone. Joshua and my first kiss, in front of the whole Council and their guests.”
“Yes. Because it is a wedding. Stop over thinking it, and get some sleep. Don’t want puffy eyes on your wedding day” she said and stood up leaving your room. You realized she was right and hopped into bed.
The next morning she woke you up with enough time to get your hair and makeup done, as well as get into your dress. It all happened so quickly you felt you hardly had time to breathe. You were left alone in your room before you were called downstairs to walk down the aisle. You paced as your nerves were creeping up on you, when you heard a soft knock at the door.
“Hello? Y/n?” Joshua’s voice sounded through a crack in the door.
“Joshua” you walked over and tried to open the door to allow him to come in but he held it almost closed.
“I can’t see you yet, remember?” he teased.
“You’re joking” you said rolling your eyes even though he couldn’t see it.
“Nope, but I have this for you.” he said and handed you a single rose through the crack in the door.
“See you in a bit” he said and you heard his footsteps recede. Even though he was just going through with the marriage as a favor to you, his oldest friend, he was sure selling it. You hated to admit it, but you were falling for him hard.
“Ready, sugarplum?” your friend asked as she entered your room. You nodded and followed her outside. It went without saying that she was the maid of honor. You walked down the aisle to the sound of the wedding music accompanied by Joshua’s father since neither your father nor George could be here. Unexpectedly, this thought got you and you began crying. You never wanted your parents or George to be here for anything more than this.
“Hey. What’s wrong?” Joshua said and wiped away the tears with his thumb.
“I wish George and my parents were here” you explained to him why you were crying.
“I was hoping you weren’t crying about marrying me” he whispered making you laugh. The priest looked at the two of you and tutted at you to be quiet before beginning the vows.
“You’re lucky I’m not running for my life” you told him as he chuckled, making the priest pause mid-sentence.
“If we find out who was in charge of the cooking, we might both be running” Joshua said and you had to cover your mouth and pretend to sneeze to keep from busting out laughing. Leave it to him to make a joke about your friends not so skillful cooking during your vows. The priest raised his voice over you, making you and Joshua giggle more.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride” the priest concluded in a hurry. You looked at Joshua, not quite ready and not knowing what to expect, when he gently tilted your chin up and planted a soft, but lingering kiss on your lips. Your head exploded a bit, and you hoped he was feeling the same fireworks that you were feeling.
The rest of the day was spent eating and greeting happy people. The subject had changed abruptly from Joshua having his hands full with you, to children.
“We got married an hour ago. You think they would give it a rest” you whispered to Joshua as another Council member asked how many kids you were planning to have before walking off to mingle with the rest of the guests.
“I would like to be married at least three days before we decide to have kids” Joshua joked.
“Speaking of having babies…” your friend said sneaking in between you and Joshua as you stood on the veranda.
“Don’t open it here” she whispered barely audible, handing you a small bag. Immediately this made you nervous as to what it could be, due to the way that she hinted at it being for making babies. Before you could question her further, she was off among the crowd.
“Let’s do as she says, and wait to open it” you said hiding it in between the bigger presents that you and Joshua would be opening later.
“Good idea” Joshua agreed eyeing the present as if it were a bomb about to go off.
By the time everyone had left and the party was over, your feet were killing you and you were so full of cake you wanted to do nothing but sit in one spot for the next eight hours. The moon was high over the yard where you and Joshua sat alone, after having been surrounded by people all day and your friend having gone to sleep about an hour ago. You and he were slowly opening the gifts that had been left for you. It was going to take days to open all of them.
“Another blender. That makes three” Joshua said placing the third blender in the designated ‘blender’ pile you had created.
“This is another knife set. They look fancy and, my gosh, it is heavy” you said placing this present in the designated ‘knife-set’ pile you had also created.
“Not very creative, these Council members?” you asked Joshua as he smiled and gingerly held up the small present your friend had handed to the two of you discreetly earlier that day.
“Oh no… You open it” you said cautiously, walking over to him. He looked inside and immediately blushed and handed the bag to you. When you peeked inside you laughed before emptying the contents on the table in front of you that had previously been covered by wrapped up blenders and knife sets. This was certainly not something you would be receiving from any council member.
“Condoms. That was sweet of her” you expected nothing less, as Joshua’s face grew redder.
“What size are you? She gave us quite a variety. This one is ribbed. this one is lube- oh look these are flavored!” you said teasing him with each one as you pulled it out of the bag and the two of you laughed harder with each one.
“Extra-large! I bet I could make balloon animals with this one” you teased as Joshua bent over from laughter and embarrassment, wiping tears from his eyes.
“I wasn’t a bad kisser was I?” you asked once the laughter had died down and you and he headed inside to get some sleep after a long day.
“Quite average” he said smiling to let you know he was joking, as you slapped his shoulder as you began the ascent up the stairs. He stopped and looked at you questioningly.
“What is it?” you asked him pausing a few steps up.
“Where am I sleeping?” he asked, not wanting things to move too fast and invite himself into your bed.
“Wherever you want but, to be honest, I do need help out of my dress” you said and his eyes widened.
“I just mean the zipper and buttons, there are too many for me to reach” you explained as you began walking up the steps again and Joshua followed.
Once upstairs and in your room, you felt his fingers fumbling with each button.
“Why are there so many?” he asked finally making it to the middle of your back and bringing the zipper down.
“I think I can wiggle out of it from here” you said holding the top of it as it got looser.
“Thank you” you turned to Joshua and saw him standing there, looking as though he was contemplating something.
“What’s up?” you asked him as you, still holding your dress up, walked over to your dresser and got out some pajamas.
“You’re my wife, and I can be honest about things with you?” he asked.
“Of course. We have always been honest with each other, even when we were just friends” you reminded him.
“True.” he said and took his shoes off and sat on your bed. He took his suit jacket off and began unbuttoning his shirt.
“Is it safe to assume you are now sleeping in here tonight?” you asked turning back to your pajamas.
“When we were little and our parents would hang out we would sleep in the same bed until my parents wanted to go home. Can’t be that different?”
“Actually it has the potential to be very different. It is our wedding night and people are going to assume…” you trailed off, realizing what you were bringing up.
“That we consummate our marriage?” he filled in where your sentence had trailed off. Your eyes met and you felt vulnerable.
“I have to change. Look away” you told him not wanting to expose yourself to him just yet.
“Yes ma'am” he smiled and blushed.
“We left the condoms downstairs anyways” you teased.
“I might have grabbed a few” he admitted in a small voice, taking you by surprise.
“How sneaky of you!” you said laughing and throwing a sock from your pajamas drawer at him.
“I’m not implying anything! I promise! It was more of a just in case you wanted to” he defended himself. Without him noticing, you had changed into pajamas and began crawling along the bed to where he sat with his eyes still closed, allowing you to change clothes in private.
Without hesitation, and feeling strangely confident, you gently pressed your lips to his, going in for a more passionate kiss than you were able to share earlier in front of everyone. His arms snaked up and wrapped around your waist pulling you on top of him as he lay down on the bed you now shared. He broke the kiss and looked at you, your faces centimeters apart.
“Now I can say you are a good kisser” he teased.
“Ok, no more for you. Good night.” you tried to roll away but he held on and began kissing you again. This time you knew you were not going to get away

Notes