nobody comes to randy bradley's shotgun wedding.
the venue is small and shitty, bad lighting, no parking. it smells like grease and waxie quat and he's sick to death with nerves. he didn't get to pick the colors (brown and yellow and orange) but they bring out the green of his eyes all the same.
it's bad luck for the couple to see each other before the ceremony but when randy arrives, benson's already there, and he's always, always watching. maybe that's why things get loud before the main event. some kind of karmic repercussion for breaking tradition. the first year is paper, the second is cotton, but things are moving quickly. they're skipping right to brass.
they should've just eloped. he'd never say it, but randy's been thinking it all morning. it would've been cleaner. the cost might not have been so high. but what would their mothers think? and where would they go? and what if they never even made it out of town?
so he stands at the end of the aisle and can't hold back the tears. there's no music but his ears are ringing. no flowers, but the splatter all over the floor is rose petal red. no rings except for the ruby one still drying on benson's finger.
he makes his way toward him slowly, deliberately, knee-deep in a moment that will never repeat itself. and they can't take their eyes off each other, not for a second. it's like nobody else in the world even matters, like nobody ever could. like they're two imperfect halves of a single imperfect whole.
there's nobody there to officiate, no judge, no priest, no witnesses, but vows still count even with no one around to hear them. and randy can hear them, the way he always can, the way the two of them can communicate without a single spoken word:
do you understand. do you get it now. do you know how special you are. do you know what you mean to me. do you know we're made for each other. do you trust me. do you want this. do you know what will happen if you say no. do you need me. do you mean it. do you promise. do you swear. til death do us part. til death and beyond. say you'll never let me go.
under the fluorescents, under the gun, in an almost-empty room, what else can randy possibly say but i do?
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