when it comes to us // jeve
diabloroja:
Eve hadn’t spent a lot of time picturing her wedding back home. The idea of marriage was a bit disenchanting in her home. But when she had thought about it, it had all sounded pretty painful. She’d end up marrying someone her parents approved of, her brother probably wouldn’t even be allowed at the ceremony, and she’d have to walk down the aisle with her father to listen to words she’d heard countless times and only found empty at this point. It wasn’t an appealing concept at all.
Marrying Jeff, however, was much more appealing. This was the type of wedding she never would’ve thought about, that it would ever be a reality for her. Though her brother still wasn’t there, which made something deep in her heart ache in a way she knew would never go away, the rest of it was perfect. She walked alone down the aisle because she was the only one that could give herself away. The decision for Jeff’s father to officiate the wedding had been a pretty easy choice too. She didn’t think anyone who really knew her would be surprised that she didn’t want religion in the wedding, and she fully trusted Jeff’s dad to say awesome things without ever going there. His parents were two of her favorite people on the planet, and having them involved meant a lot to her.
“Why just your arms, though? We could’ve lessened the gap a little.” Eve wasn’t sure if joking around was part of a wedding, but adopting some sort of proper attitude would be basically the polar opposite of who they were, and this was basically what she’d expected. They were still dorks, but soon they would be dorks with a marriage license. “I can’t argue with that.”
When it came time to give her vows, Eve still wasn’t nervous. It was basically saying all the things Jeff already knew, just with friends and family listening, which was also fine. She’d written them down on a piece of notebook paper, which Blaine handed to her when she was ready. Resisting the urge to dramatically clear her throat, she started to read. “Jeff. When I first got to Lima, I had no desire to date. So naturally, I met you, my soul mate, pretty much right away. And now, looking back, I can’t believe that there was a time in my life that I wouldn’t have wanted this. I know that because I’m never sappy like this and you’ve literally turned me into the sappiest person on the planet. But I’m like that because it’s actually unreal to me how much you’ve changed my life. I think pretty much everyone here knows most of what brought me to Ohio, but I can say with complete honesty that you’re one of the few who truly knows what those events did to me. It wasn’t easy when we met, nothing about it was easy. I never bought into the whole ‘romance can cure mental illness’ shtick from movies but what I did find was that meeting and falling in love with you gave me an ally. And that made all the difference in the world.”
There were tears in her eyes now, as much as she didn’t want to cry, she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid it. Her voice shook a little as she continued, eyes constantly glancing from the paper to his face, keeping her grounded. “I love you for so many reasons, some serious, some absolutely ridiculous. I love that you can take one look at me and know what kind of day I’m going to have, and I love that we can spiral into a conversation about my pig army. Or your pig army. I don’t remember. You understand me on a level that I didn’t think possible. You’re my equal, my ally, my partner in crime, and it doesn’t matter if I tell you that today or twenty years from now or fifty years from now, because it’s always going to be true. I love you, and I spent a solid two weeks trying to figure out how vows should end but I still have nothing so. Your turn.”
As much as Jeff would have loved to continue their conversation, he did realize that now was not the time. He pursed his lips, failing miserably to suppress a smile but at least managing to swallow his words. No, now wasn’t the time for them to go off-script, but knowing that they had the rest of their lives to talk, to get to know each other even better than they already did and to witness each other grow and become real adults...Jeff wasn’t a sappy guy but it was all he had ever really wanted for himself, all the time in the world to be with Eve.
Jeff listened to his father say all the right things, or probably the right things, but ridiculously enough he could hardly pay attention. He would really hate to miss his own wedding because he was too focused on looking at his bride but he also knew that they would never be here again, doing this or saying these exact words to each other before an audience, and he would hate to ever forget this feeling.
Both of them were used to performing in front of audiences, and this felt absolutely nothing like that. But unlike performing at a show choir competition, there were no nerves or butterflies in Jeff’s stomach. He could do everything wrong, make all the worst decisions, from this point on, but at least he knew without a doubt that marrying Eve was right and best and the most important.
As he listened to her vows, he smiled, even though he knew that his own vows paled in comparison. This was something he had known to expect from the beginning. It was not uncommon for a bride (or groom) to cry during her wedding, but Jeff was physically incapable of just watching tears gather on Eve’s face, even if they were happy. Just before she was done reading, he reached over to wipe the tears from her face, and suddenly she was done and Nick’s arm was reaching out to pass Jeff his own vows.
“My turn,” he agreed, refraining from the obvious statement that she was a hard act to follow. “I always knew I was lucky, and that I was even more lucky because I was in high school and actually happy about it, but meeting you reminded me of all the reasons why, and gave me something else to feel lucky about. Even though life has not always been kind to you, you’ve never given up, and you’ve taught me the very meaning of the word resilience. Everything you’ve accomplished has been entirely your own doing, but I’m proud to have been the person by your side while you adjusted to life in a new place. I’m happy I got to be a part of your new beginning.” He looked away from his notes to meet Eve’s eyes, needing to ad-lib a little. “It’s interesting you talked about allies, because the one thing I kept thinking about as I was trying to write my vows is that you’re my partner, in every sense of the word. I know that you’re always on my team, and that everything I do is better if you’re there, and that I don’t feel like anything is real unless I’ve told you about it, or shared it with you.”
He had returned to his written vows now, but he had the ending memorized, so he handed the piece of paper in his best man’s direction without looking, and Nick was quick to grab it back. “Somehow, I haven’t said this yet in my nervousness to get this all right, but I love you. You’re the only thing I want to see when I wake up in the morning, and I can’t wait to spend thousands of mornings waking up to your face.”
