I couldn't believe this moment was happening. My best friend is getting married! Soon enough, it'll just be me in my lonesome. I'm not gonna lie and say that thought doesn't haunt me just a little bit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy for the lovebirds and I'm proud of my best friend for finding and keeping someone like Dakota, but I am a little sad that it won't be the two of us in our home anymore. It'll feel lifeless without her loud, booming voice and personality.
Maya has already started moving her belongings out and into the cute brownstone townhouse she and Dakota found and picked out together to begin their new married life. It was a two-bedroom place here in the midtown area of the city. That's right, she managed to move Dakota from L.A. to here. I'm so glad that the two of them will still be here in the city so I can visit and hang out with them whenever it's cool.
Other than being lonely here, the only other downside is that I'll need to move from the apartment soon as well. I'm not broke, but I also don't want to pay an extensive price for an apartment if I can find a larger house with more space for less than what I would be paying in rent by myself.
I wonder if Ari will have the same problem that I am. He and his brother shared an apartment together after he graduated, but with Dakota moving here, will Ari want to move as well? Not necessarily here to this city, but in general since he'll be by himself too.
Why am I thinking about him? How about I just think about how gorgeous this venue and location is that the soon to be married couple picked out.
Since flowers are an important and large running theme of the wedding, Maya and Dakota decided on the botanical gardens to hold the ceremony in and the three-story grand mansion located on the grounds for the reception.
The ceremony itself was to be held outside in one of the many vast exquisite gardens. Even though it's June and it should be sweltering outside right now, they somehow managed to pick a day that was a cool 65 degrees out. I'm fairly certain everyone in the Reyes clan prayed for the perfect weather for this special day.
The venue managed to have some of the exact type of flowers that were in the field when Dakota proposed to Maya at the celebration over a year ago, which made it that much more special.
There were these large, square, shimmery, coal black flat stones placed to make a pathway for the bride when she walked down the "aisle"; cushioned white individual wooden chairs on either sides for the guests, and a white wooden arched awning decked in little purple flowers for the lovely couple to stand beneath along with the preacher.
Bright "Valentine's Day" red, maroon, violet, mustard yellow, burnt orange, and deep relaxing ornate flowers were shrewn on either side of the ceremony grounds. To top everything off and make it exceptionally magical, there were tiny fairy lights placed sporadically within the flowers. The baby lights were meant to resemble little Lightning Bugs lighting up the area with their enchanting warm glow.
The entire decor was immaculately beautiful, but I guess they said fuck anyone with seasonal allergies. Here's to hoping no one's sneezing gets mistaken for the Corona virus.
The scenery, vibe, and overall mood gave off an appearance directly from a dramatically romantic beach sunset scene from a cheesy movie, none the less.
By now all of the guests had arrived and were waiting for the groomsmen and bridesmaids to walk through the garden, thus commencing the ceremony.
I stood in anticipation waiting at the head of the bridesmaids' line inside of the building to get the 'go ahead' from the planner. I bounced nervously from one heeled foot to the other, excited to get this process started. I was going to be walking down the aisle with Dakota's favorite cousin Stiles.
I know.
This family was honestly full of out of place names. But I was glad to have him as my walking mate. I grew to really become fond of him and can see why he is easily the favorite Matthews cousin. He was like a little brother who could make me laugh in any situation.
One of those situations was right now.
He could sense my anxiousness and glanced over towards me. I could feel the heaviness of someone staring at me, so I glanced over to my right to glance back at him. Stiles smiled in my direction and proceeded to hip bump me playfully, attempting to loosen me up a tad.
"Chill out girl! It won't be that bad. At least if you have to fart, we'll be outside amongst flowers so no one will know," he says hysterically laughing at his own joke.
"What?! I never said anything about needing to fart, Stiles!"
"Could've fooled me," he says grinning and moving his hand back and forth past his nose like he smelled something foul.
I laughed and playfully punched him in the arm. Stiles dramatically grabs his arm and pretends to be visibly upset, bursting into a fit of fake sobs and falling to the ground, garnering looks, laughs, and a few more playful hits from some of the others.
When I stopped laughing, I glanced around at the crowd of people behind Stiles and me. My ears perked at the hearty sound of a familiar laugh that I hadn't heard in what felt like ages.
It was Ari.
He was the fourth person in line behind Stiles. He had been too busy enjoying and laughing at his cousin's ridiculous antics to notice me staring at him. Until he wasn't.
I tried to quickly turn my embarrassed attention back forward until curiosity got the better of me. I turned slowly, glancing behind my bare shoulder to see him still staring at me. He smiled an innocent smirk that pulled a minor, unintentional smile from my own face before I turned my attention back forward, content.
The ceremony had begun and I was currently standing beside my best friend. I was observing as she exchanged and recited her beautifully meticulously written vows to the new man that was going to now and forever hold the highest position in her life second to God.
I suddenly felt as my eyes began to feel heavy and blurry.
I was starting to cry.
I was happy, but at the same time understandably saddened.
This person had been practically glued to my side for years and now she was about to unhinge herself from me to super glue herself to someone else. The unexpected thought made me feel down, but I forced myself to push the selfish thoughts aside.
I dotted my eyes with the back of my hand so as not to ruin any expertly and artfully crafted makeup, and looked out into the crowd of equally crying and happy people that were hyper focused on the couple before them. My gaze shifted to the groom's side of the garden and I unexpectantly caught the eye of an admirer who seemed to have been already observing me.
Ari.
I wonder how long he had been gazing at me. I quickly felt bashful and wanted to turn away but suddenly caught his mouth discreetly moving.
My face scrunched in confusion as I attempted to figure out what it was he had been attempting to say.
He seemed to have noticed my trouble and smiled like he was holding back a laugh. His hands were comfortably hanging crossed in front of him, the right over his left, and I noticed him wiggle the fingers from his left in a waving manner.
"Hi," he mouthed again when I glanced up to his face from his hands.
I couldn't help but smile back and mouth a "hi" of my own towards him.
By this time, Dakota had started reciting his own promises, managing to draw the attention of his brother away from me.
I give the couple my attention and notice Maya turn her head ever so slightly in my direction. I watched as a smile and some side-eye was quickly thrown my way as if to say, "I seent ya'll, girl! I seent it!"
Even though Maya was just as furious in the beginning at Ari for hurting me as I was, she was always still a massive "shipper" of our relationship/friendship.
I softly chuckle at my friend and glance back in Ari's direction and watch him as he happily watches his big brother. He starts to hastily wipe tears from his eyes as his older brother continues to make promises to his soon to be wife that Ari knows will be kept.
"I know everyone in every single wedding says the exact same thing, but I promise you, Maya Esperanza, to remain by your side through our ups and downs. I promise to continue to care for you through your many livid meltdowns, I promise to continue to cherish you, I promise to adore you for the rest of our lives until our end at 167 years old," Dakota says, making us all laugh.
"I pledge to argue with you over who gets to pick the next Netflix and Disney+ show. I swear to try to nurture you back to health whenever you fall ill. I guaranteed to continue being the moon to your stars in the midnight sky, and I wholeheartedly vow to always be yours for eternity," he continued.
Dakota finishes his vows and squeezes Maya's hands as she cries. I see a slight movement out the corner of my eye and notice Ari looking at me again. This look was different though. His eyebrows were relaxed, and his eyes appeared like they were intently gazing directly into my soul. They were filled with longing and admiration. A longing and admiration that I welcomed and missed.
I was exhausted with being upset with Arizona. I forgave him a long time ago but just couldn't achieve the confidence to ever call and reach out to him to inform him that he was forgiven, and that I wanted to start anew. My brain did what it does best and psyched itself out. The anxiety whispered in my ear and told me that he had moved on with someone else. That I didn't need to interrupt whatever he had going on if that was indeed what he did.
But I was done being a coward. I missed him and I vowed to myself to get Ari back.
After the ceremony, the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Dakota and Maya Matthews made their exit from the garden, the groomsmen and bridesmaids followed suit.
We headed back inside of the building to begin making our way towards the gorgeously set up reception hall when I turned and began scanning the crowd for Ari. When I didn't spot him, I was instead distracted by Stiles flirting with my cousin Carter, who was my date for this whole shindig, as she shyly tugged on a piece of her ebony, over-flowing, kinky and tightly spiraled 4c fro.
Those Matthews men don't know when to quit.
I glide my way over to the two of them to intrude and stand next to my cousin.
"Carter, is Stiles trying to spit some lame-ass pickup lines at you?" I ask jokingly.
"Actually, he was just saying about how much he admired you Nova, and how he thought it was cool that we are cousins," she says honestly.
"Really? Damn, sorry Stiles. Thanks!" I express, stunned at my own stupidity.
He smiles and shrugs, "You're forgiven," he says.
"Nahhh, I was just bullshittin'! He was telling me how sexy he thought I looked in this romper and how much he loved my natural adornment. Nobody was talking about you Nova," Carter declares, laughing.
That was one thing about my cousin Carter, she had absolutely no filter. Oh, don't worry, she was raised to know better than to speak to people that way; she just didn't give two fucks. But I love her to death. The women in our family could be very blunt, independent, and opinionated sometimes, and she was prime example of that.
"Well, shit! Fuck ya'll too!" I exclaim, laughing along with them, "I'll meet you at the reception Carter."
She nods her head and waves me off so she can continue chatting with Stiles.
"And Stiles," I begin saying, turning back to glare at him, "I adore you, but I don't care who the fuck you're related to. If I catch you inappropriately touching or groping my cousin, I will hack every single one of your boney fingers off and puree them into a creamy froth to be a topping on one of these rich old biddy's overly boozed martinis. You got that?"
He stares at me, mouth agape, but nods quickly. Carter rolls her eyes as she is used to me being protective of her.
"Ok, great! You kids have fun! But remember, not too much fun! Don't want any mishaps tonight!" I say cheerily as I walk off towards the reception area to find food. A bitch is hungry.
Yooo, quick note, there is a reason the character Carter was introduced here. So, as I mentioned before, I think it's cute to kind of briefly join the worlds of my stories (Arizona cameoed in One Foot In & One Foot Out and that was how he was introduced). Well, Carter will have her very own story as well! It's not coming now or any time soon, but I've already got two chapters written, so be on the lookout for that in the future! Yeeee!