Through the Years

The autumn air was crisp, and the trees were painted a myriad of colors, from auburn to gold to deep scarlet. Ron Argaroth, his hands buried in the pockets of his tuxedo trousers, felt the leaves crumble under his feet as he wandered through the streets of his childhood hometown.

"It's really happening, isn't it?" he said to his longtime friend Noel Orion, unable to fully comprehend what was happening later that day.

"Dude, it's happening," Noel said, grabbing ahold of Ron's shoulders. "You're getting married. You're getting married to Eleanor Bolivia today. Believe it."

"I believe it," Ron said musingly, his eyes fixated on the rolling clouds, not fully believing it, not yet. He felt like he was in a dream. A really, really good dream.

***

Meanwhile, Eleanor Bolivia caught herself staring out of the window, lost in thought. This was her big day, a day she had been dreaming about since she was thirteen years old. When she was young, she had fantasized about a fairytale wedding, complete with a grand castle and her very own Prince Charming.

You see, over time, you learn that things change and that your childhood fantasies don't always amount to your adulthood realities. But that doesn't mean they are any worse. Back then, Eleanor had pictured Noel Orion as her Prince Charming, the man she was going to marry.

In an interesting turn of events, nine years after their fateful thirteenth year, Ron and Eleanor began dating, the two realizing after so many years that maybe, just maybe, they were meant to be. Ron proposed when they were twenty-five, but not before asking for Noel Orion's permission and blessings. "You were her first love," Ron had simply said.

Contrary to Eleanor's grand childhood dreams, she was marrying her prince in a quaint cottage at the northern end of her quaint childhood hometown, an outdoor wedding at the prime of autumn. "Autumn is both a beginning and an end. It's the most beautiful season," Eleanor had justified.

"Eleanor!"

"Hmmm..."

"Eleanor, come on, your hair!" Margo called, carrying a wicker basket of dainty clips and rosettes, followed by Diana, in a long pastel orange dress identical to that of the rest of the bridesmaids.

"Oh, uh, right, Margo. Hair," Eleanor said, patting down her cream gown and returning to reality.

"Elle, is everything alright? You're kinda out of it," Diana said.

"I'm great. Just... thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Margo pressed.

Eleanor laughed. "Pretty much my entire love life."

Margo's eyebrows creased into a worried expression. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?

"Oh god no! I'm just... reflecting, that's all."

"Okay, well reflect faster, Elle. The wedding starts in half an hour."

"Wow, half an hour. I'm getting married in half and hour," Eleanor mused.

***

The wedding was an intimate ceremony, taking place under a leafy arbor in the backyard of the cottage, with no more than 50 guests present, all people who had close relations with the bride and groom.

All of Eleanor and Ron's close friends from middle school were there--Axel and Pollux in the front row, next to Noel's fiancée Mona, Margo and Diana serving as bridesmaids, and Noel serving as a groomsman--along with friends picked up along the way in high school, college, and trivia groups in the local bar. (Eleanor and Ron were that kind of couple, opting to play several rounds of Jeopardy during their weekly Friday night dates rather than watch some cheesy movie in the theater.)

Eleanor and Noel stayed close even after Eleanor moved away at the end of her thirteenth year. They had their fair share of late-night phone conversations and ten-hour movie marathons. Just because the two aren't getting married to each other, don't be fooled. They do share a great deal of love for each other, though no longer is it the romantic type, but rather the type you have for a brother or sister. The type that prompts you to laugh with them, allow them to cry on your shoulder when they need it, and look out for them no matter what.

Thirteen years earlier, Eleanor Bolivia met a boy named Noel Orion. He eventually become her first love, her first loss, and above all, her greatest friend.