As Long As You Love Me

The Rehearsal

The rest of the week flew by and before you knew it, Friday evening had come around and you were arriving at the Belmont Regency Inn & Suites for Calvin and Alyssa's rehearsal dinner. As soon as you got there, Alyssa pulled you aside, tears threatening to spill down her perfectly contoured cheeks.

"Y/N!" she choked. "There's been an accident and our officiant can't do the rehearsal or wedding." "Oh no," you said, knowing exactly where this was going. "Y/N, Calvin tells me you're ordained?" "I am, yes," you answered.

"Please?" she asked. Her next words came tumbling out of her mouth. "Please, can you help us? I know you already bought your dress and everything and I don't care what you wear, honestly, we just need an officiant." Her lip was trembling and you knew you couldn't say no, despite the fact that Calvin was your ex fiancé.

"Of course, Alyssa," you said, patting her arm. "I don't know much about you two as a couple, but I'll throw something together. It'll be fine." Alyssa threw her arms around your neck, pulling you in for a hug.

After the hug was over, you sent a quick text to Daisy to let her know about the ceremony changes. When you looked up, you spotted Joe, the hot redhead, at the bar, shyly checking you out. Oof, you thought to yourself. He's even hotter in person. You made your way over to the bar and asked the bartender for a scotch on the rocks.

Waiting patiently for your drink, you caught Joe checking you out again, and when he realized he'd been caught, a lovely blush took over his fair cheeks. You smiled and walked over to him, sticking your hand out toward him for him to shake.

"Hi," you said once he'd taken your hand. "Joe right?" "Yes, and you're Y/N?" You smiled and nodded, feeling giddy at the way your name sounded coming out of his mouth. His hazel eyes were intense and his mouth was set into a shy smile.

"So," you said, sipping the scotch the bartender set in front of you, "I hear Daisy and Calvin are trying to set us up?" Your inflection went up slightly on the last word.

"Oh, uh—um," Joe stammered, clearly not expecting you to be so forward. He was blushing again when he finally nodded. "That's what I hear," he told you. You set your drink down and flashed a bright grin at him.

"I can't say I'm against it," you told him, reaching out to squeeze his bicep. Joe seemed to ease his demeanor as he realized you were being genuine. "Me neither, definitely not against it," he said, running his hand nervously through his red locks.

Holy shit, I can't believe this woman is into me already, he thought. Just be cool, man. "So, what do you do for a living?" Joe asked, knowing full well everything about her from his social media stalk fest the night before. Well, everything bio-wise.

"Well," you began, "I'm 32, I have a cat named Pudge, and I'm a freelance writer. I get to work from home mostly, but I also get to travel about four to five times a year, depending on the work." "Oh, that sounds interesting," Joe said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Are you writing anything right now?"

At that, you let out a nervous laugh. "Well actually, I'm also an ordained officiant and as of—" you checked your watch, "—12 minutes ago, I'm now the officiant of this wedding," you said, gesturing to the room. Joe's eyebrows shot upward and he laughed.

"Really?" he asked. You nodded, saying, "But I'm also writing a piece for Alt Press right now. I'm interviewing the front man of some new band for it next week." You and Joe talked a little bit more about yourselves to one another; you found out he was 35 with a cat of his own, Esmeralda, and that he was from New York. He told you about the ups and downs of co-owning a chain of pizza shops and that he mainly spent his sparse free time sailing.

"Well, maybe you can take me out on the water sometime," you said, hoping he'd catch on. "Actually, I'm going out on the water tonight, if you want to join me?" he asked tentatively. Before you could answer Daisy came bounding up to you.

"Y/N!" she said, and you noticed a very attractive blond man following her. "Hey, sorry to have to do this, but I'm gonna have to cancel tonight." She jerked her head backwards toward the blond and winked at you before turning away from you, the blond man catching up with her, snaking his arm around her waist.

Turning back to Joe, you smiled and said, "I was actually going to cancel on her so, yes! I'll join you." Joe smiled and stepped toward you to brush a piece of hair falling from your up-do behind your ear. "That's great," he breathed, beaming.

"One thing you should know," you told him, bracing yourself for his eventual sprint for the door after hearing this. "Calvin and I were engaged at one point." Whatever Joe was expecting to hear, it certainly wasn't that. He and Calvin had been best friends since they were a couple of awkward 11-year-olds and he'd never mentioned it.

"Uh, what?" Joe asked. Yep, there it was. He was gonna bolt for the proverbial door and pretend like he'd never met you, you just knew it. "Yeah," you said lamely. "So there's the out if you want it." And he will, you thought to yourself. Surprising you, Joe said, "This wouldn't happen to have been in the summer after our sophomore year at college would it? When he was traveling abroad?"

You nodded. "I was the girlfriend he dated all the through high school that went to another school in the area," you said. "He always came to dances and stuff at my school because he said his parents didn't know about me and would freak if he was dating someone outside of their social circle. I found out that summer after sophomore year he was lying. We'd been engaged since the end of senior year of high school and had planned that trip to Egypt together." Joe's eyes widened.

"Egypt is where he met Alyssa," he said, catching on. "Wow. So he was unfaithful to you with her on that trip? Shit, I love the guy but what a douchebag." You laughed and sipped some more of your scotch. "Wait, so why did you agree to officiate this wedding? Isn't that gonna be weird for you?" Joe asked.

"Oh god, no," you said, chuckling slightly. "That's all in the past. It's been over 10 years and I'm best friends with his sister so the shock and hurt and everything else that goes along with it died out years ago. Plus I can't say no to a woman crying, no matter who she is. The only reason I told you about any of it is because Calvin is your best friend and business partner and..." you trailed off, looking away.

Joe reached out and gently took your chin between his thumb and forefinger, pulling your head back to face him. His touch sent electric waves through your veins and you shivered, meeting his eyes. "And?" he asked. "And, you deserve to know everything, if you're even 25% serious about getting to know me. That's my baggage."

"I have baggage too," he said, sending you a shy smile. "By the name of Grace." Joe went on to tell you a bit about his and Grace's nasty split. "At one point she defecated into several paper bags and left them in front of my apartment door for me to step in," he told you in a disgusted tone, shaking his head. "She sounds lovely," you said sarcastically.

"It was a bad experience to say the least," he said. Downing the rest of your scotch, you found some courage. "I'd never hurt you like she did," you told him, taking a step forward to reach out again to stroke his forearm. "If you're willing to give me a chance."