Destiny

Part 25

Michael nervously smiled at guests, one after another coming up to him to wish him good luck. He watched them take their seats, some were engaged in conversation with someone else, he heard laughter as he kept checking his watch. 20 minutes, he murmured to himself. In 20 minutes, the ceremony was supposed to start and his heart was beating out of his chest. Dressed in a suit, picked out by Stevie months ago, Michael wiped sweat of his forehead. Nothing could possibly go wrong, he thought, today is the day. 

10 minutes before the ceremony and mostly all of the seats were taken. The crowd had quietened down a little, talking to each other in hushed voices. Michael's gaze shifted over to a group of Stevie's friends, gathered in one place. There sat Christine, John and Mick as well. Michael breathed a sigh of relief that Lindsey had kept his word and didn't show up. He would have already, right? 

Only 5 minutes remained and Stevie was still in her room, she had taken up since early that morning to get ready. Her hair was styled, her makeup looked perfect and her dress was gorgeous. She stared at herself in the mirror, frozen in one spot. She had asked all of her girlfriends to leave her alone for a moment and nobody said a word. No one said anything about the wedding itself either. She might have been trying to fool herself, but she wasn't fooling her closest circle, the women, who had known her for decades.

Finally stepping away from the mirror, Stevie looked for her purse, where she found a small notebook she always carried around and a pen. Tears blurred her vision as she wrote furiously, trying to get out as much as she could.

Then a knock on the door echoed around the room and she heard Karen's voice. "Stevie, we should go. You are literally getting married in two minutes and I know you're always late, but-"

"Come in." Stevie said and the door opened.

"Everyone's already waiting. For you." Karen added, approaching Stevie to see what she was doing. "What's this?"

"I'm not going out there, Karen." Stevie shook her head, tossed away the pen and folded a torn out piece of paper in half.

"Excuse me?" Karen frowned, unsure if she heard that right. "What do you mean? You can't get married in here."

"I'm not getting married." Stevie stood up and looked around for a place, where her note could not be missed. She put it down next to her bouquet. 

"Okay, is this a nightmare I'm having or-"

"I can't get married. Not to Michael." A tear slipped out and she quickly wiped it away. "I've made a terrible mistake. I should have never let this get as far as it did."

Taking a deep breath, Karen said. "A lot of people came here for you today, Stevie. From several different continents. You've spent a shitload of money on this wedding and-"

 "I don't care about people or money, Karen!" Stevie yelled out. "I'm not doing this. I can't walk down the aisle to the man I'm not in love with. I'm- I'm not... I- I need to get out of here."

"And go where!" Karen imagined that something could go wrong, but not like this. "You should at least tell Michael. You can't leave him out there alone."

"I left a note." Stevie shrugged weakly, realizing, how horrible it was going to make him feel. "I can't look him in the eye right now. Just... please, please get me out of here." Stevie begged, putting her hands together as if for a prayer.