Evan
Breathe in.
Breath out.
In.
Out.
It's fine. It's perfectly fine, I tell myself. Everything is alright. I'm just marrying Dodie today, nothing weird or scary about that.
I stand up from my bed and look in the mirror. The guy in the mirror doesn't look fine at all. More like he's about to pee his pants.
I check my outfit again. I'm wearing a grey suit with a black tie, the same suit I wore when I graduated from university here. It's a little bit tight, but it's not a real marriage anyway, so what the hell.
I adjust my glasses, and I once again try to fix that little annoying strand of hair that always falls across my forehead, but it's no use.
I look at my watch. It's four thirty, time to go. As I think this, I hear Dodie calling.
''Evan, time to go!''
I grab my passport and birth certificate from my nightstand and walk to the living room.
I open the door. ''Hey, you ready t-'' My voice cuts off immediately as I see her, and I stop dead in my tracks. Damn, she's beautiful. She's wearing a white smock dress, and a big white flower crown, contrasting with her dark hair. The silver ring on her finger glimmers in the sunlight. She looks over her shoulder and smiles at me. She looks like an angel.
No, I tell myself.
Nein.
Net.
Nee.
Não.
Non.
Dim.
Ingen.
No.
Stop it. Stop those thoughts right now. She's your friend, and if you want this thing to work out, these kind of thoughts have to stop here.
''All set?'' She asks me.
I take deep breath, make an attempt to pull my mind out of the gutter, and convert what must've been a creepy and impolite stare, into a friendly smile.
''Yeah.''
***
We get out of the cab, and whilst it drives away, we take a moment to look at the building.
A ginormous, metallic, slightly molten easter egg.
London City Hall.
I can't believe, in about an hour, we'll walk out of here married.
I'm beginning to understand that guy in the mirror a little bit.
I look down at Dodie, and although she's been really cool and chill about this thing the entire time, I can see she's scared, too.
I make a split-second decision.
I hold out my hand, for her to hold.
And then, without even looking at it, without even hesitating, she just puts her hand in mine. Like it's the most normal thing in the world.
Which it is.
Of course.
Hand in hand, we walk over to the entrance of the building.
When we go through the door, I'm completely taken aback by the vastness of this place. The endless spiral-shaped walkways loom over us.
I look at Dodie. The strong and determined look in her eyes surprises, yet comforts me. Whatever's gonna happen, Dodie's going to get me through it.
She looks up at me and seems to notice my most likely very nervous face. She smiles encouragingly, and gives my hand a little squeeze. Everything's gonna be alright, is what she means. Just follow my lead.
We walk up to one of the five giant help desks, from which a woman with silver-streaked black hair and a pair of blue spectacles dangling from her neck looks down at us and smiles.
''Good afternoon, how can I help you two today?'' She says cheerily.
Why's everyone so happy and fluffy around us today?
I look at my tux.
At Dodie's white dress.
At the ring on her finger.
At our fingers intertwined.
Oh, yeah. Right.
''Yes'', Dodie starts off. ''We have scheduled a private ceremony here at 5?''
The woman looks at a list of some sort on the computer next to her.
''Dorothy Clark and Evan Edinger?'' She says after a moment.
''That's us.'' Dodie says.
She opens and closes a few drawers underneath her desk, and eventually pulls out a substantial amount of forms and hands them to us.
''There you go, If you would just go through that corridor and take the second door on the left'', she says while pointing in the accurate direction. ''And fill out these for me, then someone will be right with you to talk through the details, and you'll start the ceremony, okay?'' She told us with a big smile on her face.
''Alright, thank you Miss'' Dodie says politely.
While walking away, she subtly squeezes my hand to let me know it's alright. With her walking slightly ahead, we go through the door.
***
My wedding takes place in the drabbest room in history. Dodie and I stand in a room with vomit-coloured carpet and beige walls. There are a few chairs stacked up in the corner, which I guess they use whenever people have some guests at their wedding here. In the front of the room, there's a simple lectern on which someone put a small bouquet in a vase, probably in a failed attempt to brighten the place up a little. On the wall behind the lectern hangs a small wooden cross on a spike in the wall, which probably is so that they can take it off if atheists get married here. I have a hard time believing that there still are rooms like this in one of the most modern and innovative buildings in the city.
Dodie and I are standing in front of the lectern, waiting for the officiant, Father Williams, who we've been told will be right with us. For the past five minutes we've been completely silent, and despite Dodie's calming presence, I've been nervously tapping my hand on my leg.
''Evan'', she says, putting her hand on mine so I can't tap anymore.
''Are you alright?'' I can hear the genuine concern in her voice.
I look up at her, and I realise that I haven't properly looked at her since we've gotten here. I instantaneously feel better when I see the comforting look in her eyes and the soft smile playing around her lips.
With her white dress and her smile and her eyes and her hand on my hand, the shrill TL lights on the ceiling seem rather unnecessary.
She lights up the room all by herself.
''Yeah.'' I say ''I'm great.''
***
''Marriage is a desire by two people to share themselves and their experiences with each other, and a willingness to accept each other for who they are.'' Father Williams smiles at us, accentuating the deep laugh lines in his face. Although he is very tall and lean, he manages to come off as the most peaceful man on the planet.
''It is making a commitment to friendship and mutual respect and calls for honesty, patience, courage and of course, humour. Marriage is where each partner is there to support each other in all that they do. Marriage requires closeness and distance – the closeness of a couple growing together and enough distance to allow each partner to be an individual.''
''A good partner in such a marriage will be loving, caring and above all- a best friend.''
Dodie and I look at each other and I know we're thinking the same thing; at least we can make that happen.
''Before you are joined in matrimony here today I have to remind you both of the solemn and binding character of the vows you are about to make. Marriage, according to the law of this country, is the union of one man with one woman,'' I see Dodie flinch slightly at how problematic that sentence is, but she keeps a straight face.
''voluntarily entered into for life, to the exclusion of all others. These vows which unite you as husband and wife constitute a formal and public pledge of your love for one another. I am now going to ask each of you in turn to declare that you do not know of any legal reason why you should not be joined in marriage to each other.''
He turns to me.
''Groom please repeat after me:
'I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, Evan Edinger, may not be joined in matrimony to Dorothy Miranda Clark.'''
I take a deep breath. Okay, go-time.
''I do solemnly declare that I know not of-'' Darn, my American is showing again.
''-any lawful impediment why I, Evan Edinger, may not be joined in matrimony to Dorothy-'' I try not to crack a grin when I say her actual name, since I can see her cringe at the sound of it. No one ever really calls her that.
''-Miranda Clark.''
''Bride, please repeat after me:
'"I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, Dorothy Miranda Clark, may not be joined in matrimony to Evan Edinger."'
She smiles, it comforts me that she looks comletely at ease in this situation.
''I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, Dorothy Miranda Clark, may not be joined in matrimony to Evan Edinger."
The words come out of her mouth like she's telling me we're out of milk, like it doesn't mean anything at all.
''Evan, will you take Dorothy to be your wedded wife, to share your life with her, to love, support and comfort her, whatever the future may bring?''
I think of Dodie, of all that she is to me.
She's like lavender and clean bedsheets and fairy lights and waking up to ukulele chords.
The friend who loves me unconditionally, who's never further than a call away, and whose eyes can calm me down like no drug ever could.
I look into those eyes as the words just roll out of my mouth, like they've always been there.
''I will.''
''Dorothy – Will you take Evan to be your wedded husband, to share your life with him, to love, support and comfort him, whatever the future may bring?''
I look at her, and I can't help but wonder what I am to her.
''I will.''
***
We're outside. I look at Dodie, she's staring at the ring on her finger, as if she just sees it now for the first time.
''Hey'', I said. She looked up at me. ''Wanna go get ice cream?'' The lights in her eyes speak volumes.
***
And that's how we end up sitting on a bench somewhere along the Thames. An ice cream cone in hand, eating in comfortable silence.
After a while, Dodie lets out a muffled yawn, and she puts her head down on my shoulder. She closes her eyes.
''You know what, Evan?''
''Mmh?''
''I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life with you.''
And you better believe this was one damn good honeymoon.
A/N: Hi guys! Hope you enjoyed! I'm sorry it's been so long, I've had to deal with some stress and I'm in the middle of a test week right now, so writing has been tough. On another note, I'm sorry if any of you get annoyed by the technicalities of the wedding, and that it wasn't exactly accurate. I have looked into it, but a lot of things didn't really go with the way I planned the plot, so I just kinda went with it.
Please don't forget to vote or share if you want, but most importantly, comment! Your sweet words and witty jokes never fail to make my day!
Also, do you have any ideas for short, kinda one-shot-y stories with Evan and Dodie for me to write, I want to write a few shorter and less eventful chapters in between this and the next big plot thing, and I'd like to incorporate your ideas! it will be set in this universe and story line, so plaese do keep that in mind, otherwise, go wild!
PS: This was supposed to be a short chapter but I kinda went all out and now it's my longest one yet, nearly 2k words jeez louise