"There...Aaw, Nikki, you look like an absolute princess!" Erin cooed as she put the finishing touches of blush onto the bride's cheeks,"Max will be so happy to see you!"
Nikki stared at her madeup face in the mirror.
She'd asked Erin to do her and her bridesmaids' makeup as to try save some money from her wedding and Erin did an absolute banger of a job. Not only did she help prepare for the wedding(every single one of her friends helped but Erin, Neil and Candy contributed the most), she also designed Nikki's wedding outfit; a beige jumpsuit with a plunging cleavage and flared, slitted sleeves.
Candy had taken over finding a venue, a wedding planner, designing and sending out invites and finding the perfect decor, occasionally asking Erin for advice about certain designs.
"Erin..." Nikki her voice filled with emotion, touching her chest,"Everything is so perfect. Thank you guys so much."
Her bridesmaids, Ered, Nerris and Erin, including her flowergirl, Savannah, Max's 11 year old sister, crowded around her and pulled her into a strawberry-scented grouphug, giggling and sniffing away happy tears.
"Remember when we used to make fun of the two at camp?" Ered asked, reminiscing to the times when they were young,"Now look at them. They're getting married. Ya'll grow up too fast; please, stay young! Very soon you'll be telling us you're gonna have little Maxs and Nikkis."
Nikki shot her an all-knowing grin and Ered responded by kissing her forehead playfully, leaving behind a red lipstick stain on her tan forehead.
"Ered!" Erin rebuked her,"You just ruined both your faces! I need you both to look perfect, ok? This is a wedding, people, not a tacky costume party!"
"Soooo-rrrreeee," Ered said and let herself fall into the chair beside Nikki. Erin grabbed a tube of lipstick off the vanity's tabletop and attacked Ered's face, reapplying her lipstick.
"I still can't believe you're marrying my brother," Savannah said, scrunching her face up in disgust,"He's so...gross. You know he doesn't wash his hair unless there's an important event coming up, right?"
"He still does that," Nikki giggled,"That's my Maxie."
"Marriage all-in-all is weird," Savannah continued," I mean, why do it?"
Erin, Nerris and Nikki exchanged looks.
"I'm sure it's because you're young and all young people start off thinking marriage and love is disgusting," Nerris said from where she sat," but it's actually a sign of trust and respect; the list goes on. In fact, many people don't like the idea of marriage and that's ok. I was one of those people until Harrison proposed. Remember that? He tried pulling a 'what's behind your ear?' trick with the engagement ring but there nothing was in his hand."
"Oh yeah!" Nikki grinned,"And he had to call us to help search for it around your apartment!"
"And, sweetie, sometimes the best things come out of a marriage," Erin continued, pointing to her pregnant belly,"You're going to be an aunt soon!"
"Phew! I don't think I'm ready for that responsibility yet!" Savannah said, dramatically holding her hand up against her forehead, accidentally falling into a laughing Nerris's lap.
"Sav, your hair!" Erin sighed and Savannah quickly patted her big ginger afro into place. She switched on her phone and noticed the time,"Holy shit, girls! We need to get ready! The wedding's gonna start soon! Is Honeynuts ready with the rings?!"
At the mention of his name, the Labrador sleeping on the floor underneath Nikki's vanity lifted his head.
"Look's like he is," Savannah said as she patted her lap and Honeynuts trotted over to her.
"Remember his magic word?" Nikki asked, reffering to the word that would get him walking down the aisle after Savannah.
" 'Oatmeal' ," Savannah replied just as the dressing room door opened wide and Honeynuts went, well, nuts and raced out the door, his big blue bow tied to his collar coming loose. Erin's PA, who stood in the doorway, stared after the dog, his eyes wide.
The girls stared back at him, their mouths dropped open.
Nikki got up to run after her dog but Nerris said,"Ered, Sav and I'll go after him. We'll get him in no time. You just sit tight and don't worry about a thing!"
"I love you guys so much!" Nikki gushed as she sat back down and watched her friends and little sister-in-law race out the room.
"Um, the wedding's starting soon," the PA nodded awkwardly and closed the door.
"I'm sure I can steal a few minutes to get you looking perfect again,"Erin shrugged and began quickly working on Nikki's stained forehead.
Huh, this was weird, Nikki thought as she watched the fashion designer work her magic in the mirror, This lady used to bully her when they were younger and now, many years later, they were here; they were now sisters-in-law. What happened?
I guess a few years of being friends humbled her...
"Are you ready, hun?" Erin asked her,"Time to go confess your love in front of 200 people!"
"T-two hundred people?" Nikki asked, gulping nervously.
"Didn't Candy tell you she was inviting more people?" Erin asked.
She stared down worriedly at Nikki's distant, shocked face.
A few seconds later, Ered, Nerris, Savannah and Honeynuts burst into the room all hyperventilating.
"We got Honeynuts," Ered panted,"Come on, guys. It's time for us to go-"
"I think we may have problem," Erin said, motioning to Nikki who was breathing hard, her face slowly turning pink.
Remember to smile! Gwen mouthed to Max from the front row pews when he nervously glanced over at her and David. She emphasized her point by drawing a smile on her face as she mouthed that.
He shot his parents a shaky grin.
Savannah, Honeynuts, the bridesmaids, Nikki and Carl were supposed to have walked down the aisle several minutes ago but Carl now stood at the church's doors looking lost. The pastor, Max, his best man Neil and his groomsmen had been standing up on the stage, the guests staring up at them, whispering amongst themselves or looking around in boredom. The photographer had stopped taking pictures five minutes ago.
Max turned around to look at Neil.
Dude, what the hell's going on? He mouthed to him.
Neil answered him with a shrug.
Their questions seemed to be answered when the church doors flew open and in walked Savannah. She began walking down the aisle, awkwardly acknowledging the people on either side of her and slowly started up into a jog until she reached her big brother at the end of the aisle.
The guests watched in silence as Savannah whispered into his ear. Then they nodded to each other and Savannah walked off stage and plopped herself right between her parents.
"I need you guys to distract the guests," Max whispered to his groomsmen.
"Why? How? Is Nik ok?" Neil asked him.
"I'll go check on her. I just need you guys to distract th-Harrison, do a magic trick or say a dumb monologue or something, Pres!" Max answered and off he went, jogging out the church.
Preston and Harrison looked at each other and Preston smiled, motioning towards center stage. Harrison sighed and walked towards the middle of the stage.
"H-hello everybody. Due to a few problems that Max'll be taking care of," he said to Gwen, David and Candy who had stood up to follow Max. They sat back down,"I'll be taking over the wedding for now showcasing my...magic tricks! Ta-da!"
He threw his hands up dramatically, accidentally letting loose bursts of flames from his hands which set alight the arch of flowers above him.
"Ooooo, Erin's gonna kill you," Neil chuckled.
Candy facepalmed where she sat.
"Babe?" Max asked, bursting into the dressing room to find Ered, Erin and Nerris crowded around Nikki. Her face was pink, her eyes were wide in shock, her hands were pressed up against her temple and she wasn't responding to the three womens' worried questions.
"She's not talking to us," Nerris said to Max, biting a hangnail on her pinky finger.
"Nikki, babe, are you having a heart attack?" Erin asked her.
"Do you...do you think she has...cold feet about something?" Ered asked nervously.
Max's heart stopped for a second.
"Ok, everybody, get the fuck outta here," he said, pointing towards the dressing room door and everybody hurried out.
"First of all, Nik," he continued, turning to his bride,"Wow, you look beautiful," he gave her nose a kiss,"Second of all...what Ered said...Are...you having second thoughts about getting married?"
Nikki came out of her shocker faster than you could say 'Campe Diem'.
"Maxwell Shahzad Pinewood!" She scolded him, holding his face in between her hand,"I love you!!! Don't you ever forget that! It's just that...I don't think I can do this wedding thing. I didn't want our wedding to be like this and I'm sure you didn't either. Erin just made me realize Mom's living her dream wedding through us. You remember her and Carl's wedding? How disastrous was it was all? I think this wedding is her way of redoing hers but this...this whole fancy-fancy, shimmery baby blue fairytale wetdream filled with two-hundred-and-something fancy-smelling unknown guests and designer clothes isn't...us. I wanted something nice, small and simple filled with the people we love and care for as our guests but I guess I let Mom take too much control...I can't go through with this wedding without knowing if we're comfortable with it or not."
"I'm glad I wasn't the only one who felt that way," he replied," I didn't wanna say anything because Candy's kinda scary."
"You've known her for awhile now, Max," Nikki chuckled," She's one of the sweetest people ever we'll ever know."
"Yeah, well, there's something scary about sweet people when they're angry. I once made David so mad, he was scarier than Gwen."
"I guess we learned our lesson here. Never be scared to speak out about something, otherwise not saying anything could ruin life-changing moments, amiright?"
"Right," Max chuckled," So, what are we gonna do? Make like the gen z kids we are, run away from our problems and deal with them later?"
"Precisely," Nikki grinned,"Can we take our cake with us? It's in the church's kitchen."
"Of-fucking-course! Let me text the others to keep distracting Candy and the guests."
-The makeshift dressing room, which was just the sacristy of that church that had been emptied of its holy objects (with blessings from the priest, of course) and filled with three vanity mirrors, rolling clothing racks and two blue velvet couches, was located behind the church's doors at the end of the aisle, located in the west wing. It would take 10 seconds to reach the room, except that Savannah wouldn't let Candy go see her daughter.
Every time she stood up, Savannah convinced her to sit down and watch Harrison's wacky magic show.
Candy had had enough when he tried to bring a live tiger onstage after making the ceremonial release doves disappear into his top hat.
"Enough!" She yelled, standing up.
The somewhat entertained guests went silent and stared at her.
"Where are the bride and groom?! They were supposed to be here 30 minutes ago!" Her eyes hovered over Savannah, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen,"I know that you guys planned something and are just trying to distract us."
"Ma, we honestly don't know what's going on," Neil said truthfully.
"Max is probably just calming Nikki down," Erin suggested, trying to calm down her mother-in-law.
The loud revving of a sports car outside rung loudly throughout the church and Erin and Candy exchanged looks. Picking up her dress's long skirt, Candy kicked down the church's doors and ran out, followed by Savannah, Preston, Nerris, Ered, Harrison and Gwen and David, who were curious to see what was going on. Neil and Erin followed close behind, his arm around her waist to support her as they ran.
Gwen loved the sight she saw outside.
There was Nikki, jumping into their wedding getaway car, Max already in the driver's seat. It was a rented black sports car, courtesy of Erin and Neil, with its hood down and in the back seat was the three-tier wedding cake that was strapped in like a human.
It was like a moment straight out of those cheesy romance novels Gwen had at home.
The photographer began furiously taking pictures of the sight and Gwen made him promise that he would send her the copies of the photos first.
"Nicolette?!" Candy ask-yelled over the loud revving.
"Mom, I'll explain everything later, I promise!" Nikki responded, sitting on top of the passenger seat's headrest,"We're in the middle of ditching our wedding!"
"What?!" Erin and Candy exclaimed.
"See you next week, dick!" Max said to Savannah, smiling at her and she flipped him off,"Love you, mom and dad!"
David and Gwen waved at him, grinning.
Then they drove off, kicking up gravel and dirt behind them, and Candy sighed, upset.
"Did I do something wrong?" She asked, genuinely confused.
Perfectly timed, the release doves Harrison made disappear earlier flew out his shirt's sleeves, scaring him and the people around him. A moment straight out of a movie, the birds swooped after the getaway car as it drove off into the sunset.
"Anybody want some good ol' wedding cake?" Savannah asked after a few moments of shocked silence.
"But Max and Nikki took the cake with them," David said down to her.
"I...may have stolen the first two tiers off the top of the cake," she answered, a cheesy grin growing onto her face.
"Young lady!" Gwen said in a scolding manner but then she followed that up with a hearty,"Of course we'd love some cake! I think we need to give Candy the biggest slice; she needs it."
It was past 4pm by the time the two arrived at their honeymoon destination at some fancy hotel near a beach where the air smelled fresh and clean, the ocean was to crystal-clear and the palm trees that were edged around the hotel seemed to be waving down at Nikki and Max as they drove into the parking-lot.
"Reservation for the Pinewoods?" He asked the concierge as they walked up to the front desk, the two suitcases he was holding making loud clacking noises on the hotel's marble tile floors.
"Good afternoon," he greeted them, smiling, and he began tapping away on his computer,"It says here that you were supposed to arrive tomorrow?"
"Can we still get our room? We had to stop at home to get our things which just added hours to our road trip and there's quite a lot of things we'd like to do now," Max said, motioning to Nikki and the big cake she was holding in her hands,"And could you also send up our complementary wine and chocolates to our room?"
"Your room's 32B, sir," the concierge replied, handing him the golden keys to their room.
And two hours later, they finished doing what they wanted to do, which included: making out, telling stupid jokes and dozing off for a few minutes on the king-sized bed with soft, fluffy duvet covers and cozy pillows. Towards the end of the two hours, half the cake was gone and Max had gotten halfway through the bottle of complementary wine they were given because he was an Adult and he could Do Whatever He Wanted. Nikki didn't have any wine but did munch her way through the complementary chocolates.
In the middle of watching some Hallmark movie, Nikki got a phone call from Candy so Max waited for her to return from the balcony outside their room.
"Mom says she's disappointed in us and has already started a list of things for us to do for her in return," Nikki said as she climbed into bed beside Max when she finished her call,"I explained to her why we ran away and she apologized. I promised her that when we get back we're getting married properly but this time, we're doing things our way."
"Oh, fuck yeah, we're getting married at a water park!" He responded excitedly, fist bumping the air.
"You know it, babe!" Nikki winked and began jumping excitedly on her knees, causing their bed to shake. Her jumping caused the pillows to fall off the bed, revealing the two travel tickets underneath that Max was hiding from her. She blinked down at them and then looked at Max.
"You just ruined my surprise!" He whined,"Anyway, I know we don't have a lot of money so I've been saving for awhile now for us to take that dream vacation of yours to Australia. Happy almost-wedding day, Nik."
He handed the tickets to a wide-eyed Nikki.
"Max! Max?!" She squealed excitedly, shaking him lightly,"Oh my goodness, we get to see koalas and giant spiders!!!"
She hugged and kissed him and before things...'got out of hand', she stopped the kiss and said,"Wait, let me show you my gift to you."
She jumped off the bed once more, opened up and rummaged through her suitcase until she found the small white box she was looking for, jumped back onto the bed and handed the box to Max.
He stared down at it quizzically and sloooowly opened it. When he saw what was inside, one of his eyebrows raised.
Nikki pulled the two pairs of size 0 shoes out of the box and wiggled them in each hand, grinning excitedly. When she saw Max's neutral face, she took his hand and pressed it against her stomach.
"Max, we're having twins," she said but Max didn't move or say anything as she continued rambling on,"Well, at least that's what my doctor thinks; it's too early to tell. I hope we do have twins, that would be amazing. I want a boy and girl! That's why I got the shoes in a neutral beige colour; I don't know if we're gonna have two boys or two girls or-"
Her words melded together in his mind and went fuzzy until he couldn't hear a single thing she was saying. He was still processing what he had just heard; his brain had switched off after 'we're having twins'.
"We're having twins?" He asked, his voice low.
"-we...Yeah," Nikki said, stopping her babbling.
"We're having babies?" He asked, sitting up.
"We're having BaBiEs??" He asked again.
"We're having babies!!" He yelled, jumping off the bed and pulled Nikki onto her own feet. They began dancing around the room holding each other's hands like those pictures of fairies dancing in grassy fields,"I'm gonna be a father!"
Nikki laughed in delight as Max hollered and whooped loudly.
With one final flourish, he went out onto the balcony, took one, big deep breath in and yelled,"I'm gonna be a father!"
"Shut! Up!" A person visiting the hotel yelled up to him.
"Fuck you! I'm gonna be a dad!!"
Max's second name means 'prince' and that's what he is my eyes. Also, I hope you enjoyed.❤
