by Lauren Wood
I sat back in the chair and was introduced to Maria. She was going to do my hair, while the chatty one named Christian was going to do my makeup. Between the two of them, I couldn't really move or talk for the next hour and it gave my mind plenty of time to build it all up in my head.
The time came quickly and before I knew it, my name was being called. Not knowing what to expect, I tried to calm myself. There would be an aisle and a priest and a groom at the end of it all. A stranger that I was supposed to marry.
When I got to the end of the aisle, my mystery man is going to turn around and we are going to get married. It was nerve-wracking, but I’d signed up for this and I wanted to see it through. I wanted this restaurant just that much.
So, I was trying to tell myself that everything was going to be okay. I pulled myself together and listened through the third rendition of the familiar song. This time it was for me. It was time for another wedding and I still couldn't believe that it was going to be my wedding.
When I got to the double doors that were going to open into the ceremony room, my hands were sweaty, and my eyes started darting around. In some ways, I think I was looking for a way out, like an animal that suddenly needed to break free.
“Are you ready?”
I nodded at the older women with the headset and asked me a second time, because I didn't answer her the first time. The first time I couldn't hear her over the beating of my heart.
“I am as ready as I think I'm ever going to be.”
Isn’t that the truth?
“We go in thirty.”
I silently agreed and waited for the doors to open. I had been told what to do expect, but it was going to be something else altogether. This is really happening. I was really getting married.
She counted to three slowly and then opened the doors. I waited a half a moment before stepping out into the lavishly decorated ceremony room. It was set-up like a fairy tale wedding and I couldn't think of how it could be any more perfect than it was.
“Wow.”
The woman with the headset smiled and told me to go. I didn't even realize that I had stopped a few steps in. There were people on both sides of the aisle. I didn't even recognize any of them. I didn't recognize anyone in the room and it all started to sink again. I was getting married to a complete stranger. Who the hell does that?
Walking towards the priest and the man that had his back to me, I tried to calm my nerves. I told myself that this wasn't the end of the world. It was a marriage that didn't mean anything and as soon as I got my money, I was going to get out. What was one year really?
All the calming things that I told myself didn't matter once I got in front of the priest and the mystery man turned around. He wasn't a stranger at all. I had met him before, not that long ago.
“Danny?”
I couldn't even say the words out loud. No sound came out and all I ended up doing was standing there with my mouth open.
What the hell was Danny doing here?
Danny
The look on her face was almost worth all the trouble that I had to go through to get here. When I found out she had left, it was about seven in the morning and it took another hour for me to find out where she was going to be and then another half an hour for me to talk my way into the gameshow that she was going to be on. Luck would have it that one of the guys backed out, so I agreed to do it as long as I got to marry Deirdre.
Now she was staring back at me and I had a feeling that she wasn’t as comfortable marrying me, as she was a complete stranger. I had already known her body in every way that was possible the night before and I wasn't willing to give up so quickly. I know that it wouldn't have taken much to walk away from her, because I had done it so many times before. But I didn't want to walk away from Deirdre. There was something about her that I couldn't forget and the taste of her was still at my lips.
That priest looked at us like he wasn't sure what to say next and I wasn't sure either. I didn't want her to say anything out loud, because it might spoil the gameshow. We weren't supposed to know each other. I just told them that I have seen her, and I thought she was pretty. That I'd be afraid to get set up with some ugly chick.
“Are we ready?”
The priest looked from me to Deirdre and I was holding my breath to see what she was going to say. I know that I was ready, but I wasn't sure if she was.
“I am ready when you are. Deirdre?”
I took her hand and looked into her eyes when I asked her the question if she wanted to marry me or not.
“Do you want to marry me Deirdre?”
She wasn’t sure. I couldn’t see it in her face and everyone was waiting for her to answer. I could see the concern in her eyes and I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay.
“Do you want to go talk really quick?”
Deirdre agreed, but I knew that she wasn’t going to snap out of it quite as much as I would have liked her to. It was a lot to take in and we walked out of the room for a moment.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just. What the hell Danny?”
“It was a spur of the moment thing Deirdre. I am sorry if this came as a shock.”
“No, you’re not.”
I was about to agree with her when I saw someone with a headset coming into the hallway where we were. They were rushing us because they had more weddings to film.
“Are you guys going to do this or what?”
I turned to Deirdre to see what she wanted. She just nodded her head and started to walk back into the place. I wish I knew what was on her mind, but she wasn’t meeting my gaze.
It didn’t matter, not really. I was going to make this work. I had to.
I followed my wife-to-be into the ceremony room and we went back to take our places at the front of the aisle by the priest. He was still curious by the way he looked at us, but we gave him no answers.
Deirdre
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe that he had done this, and I wasn’t sure how he had. Why was he part of the gameshow now? Was he the whole time? Was this fate, coincidence, something else? My head was practically spinning, and I didn't know what to say. Did I want to marry Danny? I was willing to marry a complete stranger, but why then was I unsure with Danny?
Part of me knew that it was because I had some sort of feelings for him. What had happened between us last night was incredible. I don't know if it was because it was me and him or if it was because I thought it was going to be the last time, I had sex for a year. That idea was already going out the window when I looked up at Danny. I still trembled a little bit inside when I was close to him. Can I really be married to somebody like that?
Yes. The answer came to me without me having to say a word. I already knew the answer.
I could literally hear a collective sigh through the people that were there to witness the weddings. For a moment there, I didn't know if I was going to say yes and then I waited for Danny to do the same. He didn't seem to have any qualms about saying yes and I had to know how everything had changed so suddenly. Before I could really get an idea of what was actually going on, the priest said that we were now man and wife and that Danny should kiss the bride.
He came towards me and I had the same butterflies in my stomach that I did the night before. I can't remember ever feeling this way before meeting Danny. There were so many questions going through my head right now and I didn't know how to deal with it, but I didn't have time to think because he was coming towards me about to plant a kiss on me.
His lips were gentle and insisting, all the same time. I could hear sounds behind us from the crowd that was gathered, because the kiss lasted longer than it should have. It wasn’t a kiss between strangers, it was something more intimate and more familiar. There was no way that I would be able to kiss a guy like this, if I had just met him.
I had a feeling that people were going to talk about this kiss. When I pulled away, he was smiling at me in that stupid way th
at he did the night before.
“I think we are supposed to walk back down the aisle now. You know, hand in hand. As husband and wife.”
I just shook my head because I couldn't believe that we were doing this. Or rather that it was already done. I was married now. I was married to Danny. There was so many things to be said about that and it was almost impossible for me to walk straight as we went back the way we came. Now he had my arm and was hoping to steer me, but to keep me up right as well. I don't know if I would have made it out of the little chapel set-up if he wouldn’t have been there.
While we went out between the double doors that I had went through not even ten minutes before, there was another bride waiting. She looked nervous and I could tell that seeing Danny helped her calm down a little bit. Danny was a very handsome man and any woman would be lucky to have him as a groom. I knew a little bit more about him, so it was unsettling for me. I knew how good he was in bed and how he could flip his tongue faster than anything I thought was possible. I knew what I was getting.
“Good luck.”
The other bride smiled at me and I watched her walk through the doors. I knew exactly how she felt because I'd been there not too long ago. It seemed like eons now, but it hadn't been long at all.
I started to say something to Danny, but he stopped me.
“You can ask me all the questions you want once we get in the limo. Right now, would not be the time to talk about this.”
“Talk about us?”
He waved me off and told me that he would answer all of my questions when we were in the vehicle and ready to leave.
“We have a whole year to have this discussion Deirdre. Let's just get to the hotel before you give it away and we’re disqualified.”
I didn't really know what he was talking about, but a little bit of peace and quiet wasn't going to hurt anything when my head felt like it was going to explode. I definitely had a lot to think about and we were at the hotel before I knew it. All of the jitters that I thought I was going to feel were still there in a way, but it was different now. It wasn't the fear of the unknown, but the fear of what I already knew. I knew that men like Danny were dangerous. They could make a girl feel like they were in love.
Danny
When we got up to the room, it looked like Deirdre was going to explode. She had a lot to say and I knew that she would. I had tricked her. It was just that simple. When I realized that she was really talking about getting married and after the time we had together, there was no way that I was going to let her slip through my fingers. It had been something that was done without much rational thought, but that didn't change the fact that this is what I wanted.
“Okay look, I know you have a lot of questions to ask me, so why don't we have a couple of drinks and talk about this rationally?”
“Are you trying to get me liquored up, so that you can take advantage of me later?”
“I don't have to get you liquored up to take advantage of you. From what I remember last night, you had no problem giving me exactly what I wanted. And then some.”
I probably shouldn't have said that last part because now she was giving me this dirty ass look. Sometimes my mouth really did override my ass and I was going to have to work on that. It was safe to say that I had never been in a real relationship before. I had never lived with anybody before and the very idea of its kind of freaked me out. Then to think that I was going to spend the rest of my life with one person was unreal to me. It seemed impossible or at the very least, miserable.
But then I met Deirdre and all of that changed, because I can honestly see myself with her for a very long time to come. She was perfect for me in so many ways and when I found her gone this morning, reading her note to say goodbye, I knew that I didn’t want that feeling to go away. If I couldn’t make it work with Deirdre, then I wasn’t meant to be married at all. It was just that cut and dry for me.
“Last night was a fluke, so don’t expect any of that to happen.”
“By any of that, you mean sex?”
Please say no, please say no…
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. I had sex with you last night because you were cute, the drinks were strong, and I thought I was going to go without sex for a year. That’s the only reason.”
She was adorable when she was lying, and she wasn’t very good at it. She should have picked something else to lie about because I knew better. Last night was the best sex I’d ever had, and she was pleasured many, many times. I knew that this was going to end with her underneath me, but she could lie to herself all she wanted to if it made her feel better.
“Whatever you say wifey.”
“Ugh, please don’t call me that.”
“It’s what you are. You’re my wife and I really like the sound of it.”
And so, help me, I really did. I didn’t think I would, ran as far from a woman as I could if she even said the word out loud or had the look in her eyes, but I liked the idea of being married to Deirdre. She was mine and that was now clear to everyone that met her. I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did.
“So seriously Danny. What is going on here? Why are you here?”
This was the question I knew was coming, but I hadn’t been all that happy about it. I didn’t know how much I wanted to tell her.
“An old friend of mine called about needing a fill-in because there was a guy that bailed. He told me what it was this morning and I showed up and then there you were.”
“That’s bullshit.”
I chuckled out loud. I know I wasn’t trying to show her my humor because it seemed to piss her off, but at the same time I couldn’t help it.
“You have no filter, do you?”
“Not really. But you’re going to tell me that what you said just now is true? Really?”
“What do you want me to say? Are you really going to think that I somehow talked to the producers of the show and got myself put in place, just to marry you? You are a bit conceited you know.”
“I can't believe you’d say that. I am not conceited. But...”
She started to say more, but I could tell that she wasn't going to be able to. For the moment she was going to let it lie because her face was bright red and it was most likely hard for her to speak. I did so like the way she got nervous sometimes. Even now, after everything we have done to each other, she could still look like what I guessed a school girl would look like. There was just something about that look that got to me.
“Well as fun as this has been Danny, nothing changes.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I am here for the money.”
“So, I hear. You said you wanted to split it right?”
“I did say that, but I didn't realize it was going to be you that I was going to be splitting it with.”
“Think of it this way, at least we already know each other. You didn't have to marry a complete stranger.”
Deirdre didn't look so sure about that. I could tell that she had a lot on her mind and I didn't blame her. I was the one who decided to do it and I was still having second thoughts. I was actually freaking married. It seemed like something in a very tailored horror movie, but I really wasn't sure which one yet.
“I don't really know you all that well Danny.”
“You know how to make me groan and moan like a girl. I think we’ll be just fine.”
She giggled at the mental image and I was happy to see that she could finally relax a little bit. She’d been wound up since the ceremony.
“Well there is that. But I don't know how far that's going to take us. A year is a long time to live with somebody and know nothing about the other person.”
I had to agree with that, but I didn't want to agree with her. I knew that it was going to be hard and I had skipped out on a woman after three days of a one-week cruise. The amount of money that I paid for the extra air flight to get back home was ridiculous, but I did it anyways just because I couldn't stand another moment
with her. I hoped that this was going to be different.
“So, I need a nap. I didn’t sleep very well last night.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll join you.”
Deirdre was not sure what to say to that, but I could tell that she wanted to balk. She finally did, when she told me that I had to sleep on the pull-out in the other room.
“So, I was reading through the fine-print rules and it says that we have to sleep in the same bed the whole year. There is only two nights that we’re allowed to sleep apart. Do you really want to use one of them up already, for a nap?”
Deirdre bit her bottom lip and I could tell she was weighing her options. She was going to be harder to convince than I could imagine
“Fine, but nothing is happening. I am slightly hung over and I just need a couple of hours.”
“Of course. But you look beautiful.”
She thanked me and started to get into the bed, before she realized that she was still in the huge wedding gown and it wasn’t made for a person to just take it off themselves.
“It looks like you’re going to need some help with that. Let me.”
Deirdre
The last thing that I wanted him to do was to put his hands on me, but it was rather clear that I didn’t have a choice. There was nothing that I could do but say yes. I needed to get out of this damn dress and he was the only way that it was going to happen. I’d felt like I was going to suffocate for the last couple of hours since they’d put it on me. It was hot, and I wanted to cool off.
“Yes, please help me. I can’t stay in this dress another minute.”
“I rather like undressing you Deirdre.”
I didn’t add to his comment because I wasn’t trying to think about last night. I didn’t want to think anywhere along those lines because then I was going to mess up. No matter what I did, the last thing that I should do, was fall for Danny. Under no circumstances, was I supposed to fall for my husband? Even if he had a mouth and fingers that performed miracles. I wasn’t going to fall for him.