"You look breathtaking honey," my father said before he walked me down the aisle. When the guards opened the doors. David stood at the altar almost looking relieved that I came. He stared me up and down and I swear I almost saw hope in his eyes. As I reached the altar my mother quickly found the end of my dress while my father and Claire held my hands. Both my parents kissed me on the cheek whispering apologies before they took their seats.
David stared at me in complete awe. His blue eyes were now as bright as a clear sunny sky. He wore a crisp black suit jacket lined with suede. His bow tie covered almost all his collar. He finished off the suit with a white button up shirt, a black waist coat, black trousers and black shiny shoes. His hair was not his usual bedhead look, it was gelled back and the sides were lightly shaved. He also trimmed his beard and mustache.
He looked happy even though he wasn't his usual smiley self. He held both my hands as we recited my overnight learned vows. His own were deep and meaningful causing me to worry about what Claire had wrote for me. I told her I could do it myself but she said and I quote "Chill, I got this in the bag".
After all the vows were said, the priest asked David to kiss me. My face turned bright red and gave him a quick peck. He took it to his advantage and swung me down face me away from the crowd lips still attached. He helped me back up smirking at my bewildered expression. After taking a few pictures, we headed to the reception.
I found it hard to move around in my dress and David gave me worried eyes. As I was speaking to a family friend of the Gandy's, David pulled me away abruptly and dove into a fast dance. His feet were quick causing my to be a jumbled mess. But people could only see my over-sized white dress swaying. "Let's go get you something more comfortable to wear, yeah".
I giggled as he pulled me towards the exit. The hotel was huge, people in the lobby stared at us in awe and some whispered at how cute we were together. My dress blocked people from coming downstairs but for some reason they didn't seem to mind. At all.
David took off his shoes and pulled of my heels. We sprinted together towards the end of the hallway where Claire was staying. He stumbled over my dress landing on his back. Once he reached Claire's room I laughed at him and called him slow. "What is her code?" He continued pressing different numbers. I squeezed past him and brought my manicured fingers to the keypad. 1.2.3.4.
I turned to him shaking me head cockily, "really dude,". Claire wasn't that smart. The first thing that was noticeable was the view of the city of L.A. It was magnificent even in the afternoon. A chandelier hung onto the ceiling layered with diamonds, light brightly shone from it after David clapped his hands. I stared at the suite in complete admiration. Claire surely went all out for two days.
"Come here". David held two dresses in his hands with a confused look puzzled on his face. Both of them were red. "Red looks good on you" he explained as he handed me a dress. He exited the room and let me change my clothes.
It was perfect. A thought came to my mind. But I brushed it away. She wouldn't mind if I borrowed one, sure there were at least thirty here. And ten were red. I pulled the dress up hearing it strain as it reached my waist. I huffed and forced it up. I pulled it all the way up as it completely covered my cleavage, thanks David! I reached my hand back continuously almost falling on my bum. The buttons were too far and my hands were too short.
Involuntarily I cleared my throat and called his name. "David!" The door swung open like he was waiting for me to beckon him. He still hadn't put his shoes on and his smiley yellow socks made me grin to myself. "Could you-" I paused not wanting to ask for help. I hated asking for help. His body relaxed seeing as I was not in trouble. "Ask, ask for my help. And I'll help you".
A mischievous smile light up his face as he stared at my frustrated mask. "No". "Suit yourself". David clasped his hands together probably searching for his shoes. I bent beside the table and picked up his black footwear. "Looking for these".
His eyes glared my way before he looked back down at his socks. "Saryah".
"Buttons".
"Ask".
"Suit yourself". I mimicked his deep Italian tone shrugging my shoulders. I held out his shoes. He strolled over cautiously and tried to grab the shoes I dangled in front of him. "Ah, ah, ah that's not how things work dear". In a flash he spun me around locking my hand and grabbing the shoes, his body was pressed against my back leaving me in a frenzy. "Remember I'm trained for things like this Saryah, You can't outsmart me".
I breathed out in annoyance and stomped my foot on the ground. David chuckled at my childish attitude. "Brownie points for trying". He teased me as he started the bottom button. I stared at the mirror losing confidence, I avoided looking into them for long because I tried to point out all my flaws.
My lips made a pout as I continued to stare at David who stopped doing my buttons. "Am I pretty?"
"No". My face fell, of course. I was ugly and fat. My mother was a twig so there was no way I inherited these hips from her. I worked out, I've got an ab-line for god's sake. But my hips never shrunk. "You're beautiful". I stared at David with tears in my eyes, they trickled down my face. "You are smart, you're eyes capture me like a full moon. Every time I see you I wonder how lucky I was to find you before somebody else did."
"You're hair is so light and natural, always like coconuts. You're face is so innocent yet sexy at the same time. You're hands so delicate". He placed both my hands in his palms and kissed both of them. "You're skin, so soft." He traced my arms all the way to my back where some of the buttons were undone. His hand left a fiery trail as it made it's way, skimming the surface of my back. "You're lips, so plump, addictive". His finger traced both my lips failing to smudge my lipstick.
He leaned in giving me a small kiss, he spun me around resting his head on mine. He finished the buttons carefully before placing on his shoes. He stood by the bedroom door holding his elbow out "So to answer you're question?".
"No. I'm not pretty". I stared down at the leaflet on the floor, a picture of the hotel was splattered across it and on top a huge gold sign read 'Gandy Hotels'. Oh my god. How did I miss that? I held the leaflet up at David with my mouth wide open.
"I don't think we'd be able to be this exposed to the public and being extremely rich without an excuse for it".
***************
David and I returned shortly and everybody stared at me once again. This time I didn't feel nervous. For some absurd reason, David gave me confidence. We've only known each other for four days, but he's growing on me. My parents quietly approached me. They stood in front of me with red eyes, they gave peculiar looks to the guards who posted every few meters of the wall. "Honey, were so sorry. Please for-".
"Stop. Stop it mom. You guys, did what you had to do. It wasn't the best decision to keep it from me. If I had known I would have at least prepared for it, but he's not so bad once you get to know him. I would actually label him as a good person, he's just scared". My parents couldn't believe what I was saying, but as they processed it, their worried expressions faded and a small smile replaced their frowns.
"He treats me well, very well. And this was my dream wedding and more". A hand rested on my shoulder and David towered over me. "These people bothering you?" Three of our faces fell. Was he really going to kick my parents out? "Kidding. I'm just kidding". I took a huge sigh of relief and all of us burst out laughing. The faint music in the background added to the atmosphere.
It was like.... a proper family. "Mr and Mrs Hamilton. I came to apologize. I shouldn't have done it this way. I should have been more formal and proper and for that, I'm deeply sorry. I now know you're daughter means the world to you. And as I said in my vows, I promise to treat her right and with respect. I do have feelings for you're daughter. So I know it's a bit late but I wan't a fresh start and maybe....... you're blessing?" David's face contorted in anticipation, I giggled because my parents were actually quite impressed. "Call us Frank and Linda, dear" my mothers before stressed voice now was happy and joyful as she held onto my fathers hand.
My face had shock written all over it. He had feelings for me. I pulled him quietly aside excusing us from my parents. I slowly placed my hands on his neck and we slowly swayed to the soft music. "Feelings?"I held a smug smile on my face as I looked up at David. "Don't tease". He avoided the question. I felt like I should have asked him seriously instead of teasing him.
I leaned my head on his shoulder as we dance quietly. I heard the faint sounds of arguing as I relaxed. The voices continued to grow louder and I felt like I recognized them. I peeled away from David and proceeded towards the entrance. David followed behind calling my name in uneasiness. There they were arguing with a guard who held both of them back with one arm.
"Let them in". After I spoke those three words the guard removed his hand smiling at me. He mouthed a thank you before rolling his eyes. David and I chuckled lowly as my two best friends approached me in anger. "What the fuck Saryah?!". Mason's deep voice scared me. He only talked in his deep voice when he was angry. Bella shook her head avoiding me gaze.
"You practically vanish on the last day of school. Avoid my calls and millions of texts. You run away from us while we thought you were kidnapped. You're parents pretended like they didn't hear me ring the doorbell. Every. Single. Day." Before I would be so happy that Mason cared about me this much. But now I don't give a shit.
Did he think I wanted all this. I wanted my phone to be broken. Ripped away from my friends. "I've almost went to the police to report a kidnapping only for your parents to finally show up and tell me not to worry. You've been gone for three days. We can't even spend three hours of the day without talking to each other. Why are you acting like such a fucking selfish brat!?"
David's face was red and he clenched and cracked his knuckled. Whatever he did seemed not to calm him down. "Hey! Don't talk to my wife like that!" Mason's eyes shot wide open. "You're wife. You're fucking wife! Is it because of his money Saryah, hmm. Is that why you ditched us? Talk! YOU FUCKING WHORE!"
Tears poured down my face ruining my make up. I probably looked a mess with mascara staining my cheeks. As soon as David heard the word whore, he chuckled. "I don't want to hurt you because you're a minor".
"I'm nineteen, old man".
"Nineteen". David's fist swung straight for his face. It collided as I watched it in slow-mo. His cheeks rippled and some of his teeth accompanied with blood flew out of his mouth. He fell to the floor and David straddled him. He continuously threw punches into his nose as Bella and I stood there to in astonishment. After a few seconds I pried David off my bleeding former friend. Bella stood there shaking her head at him.
She made movement with her hands. She signed a sorry to me. I signed it's okay and practically dragged David to the exit. All through the ride to the airport David was silent. He turned his head outside facing the window and didn't look at me once.
*******
We reached Paris around nine o'clock and David still hadn't spoken to me. I grew more and more anxious. My whole being was down as we entered the hotel suite. It was more like a penthouse which made me sad that David went to so much trouble but couldn't even enjoy it with me.
As I approached the bedroom David was taking off his bow tie. He had his back facing me and threw it on the love seat in annoyance. "David". He didn't respond but he pulled of his suit jacket and waist coat. "David, talk to me". My voice cracked, I felt pain, why was he ignoring me?
"Please" he froze. That was the first time I asked him for something and actually pleaded. "It was him, wasn't it. He's the reason you think you're not good enough. It hurts me that you could think such a lowlife, the person who turned his back on you so quickly, is the one you trusted the most". My head fell. "Don't listen to him, whatever he told you. You're perfect".
David took my hand and pulled me into his embrace. I felt so happy. He understands me. Better. Much better than Mason did. Hell, I've only known him for four days. But I feel like I've known him all my life. I was developing feelings for him too. Still unknown to me, but that was a journey David and I were going to go on.