1.19 - The Big Day

Erika liked having reasons to dress up.  Spending the time primping in front of the mirror and picking out jewelry and such.  If she could get away with it, she would dress up all the time.  But unfortunately there were specific social situations where it was appropriate and most others it was not.  Fortunately she seemed to have a multitude of reasons lately to dress up.  First her brother's graduation and now... a wedding.

It was the weekend again so Erika had plenty of time to get ready.  Of course, she still took too much time for Danisha and her mother ended up having to drag her away from the mirror to make it to the wedding location in plenty of time.

"I need to check on some last minute things.  Why don't you go find your brother?  And be nice to him.  It's his wedding day after all," Danisha urged, giving Erika a stern look before walking away.

Erika sighed and rolled her eyes but she did obediently go off to find Nielson.  She hadn't seen him since graduation so she did want to check and make sure he was still okay.  And her mother was right, it was his wedding day.  Wedding's should be perfect.  Fortunately, her brother wasn't that hard to find.  "Hey, Nielson!  We're here.  Mom's checking some stuff out right now but she'll be over soon too," Erika announced as she walked up to Nielson, only to pause when she saw him properly.

"Uh... Nielson?  You're super pale..." she pointed out.

"Ugh... really Erika?  It's my wedding day and the first thing you have to do is insult me?" Nielson demanded, scowling at his little sister.  He so did not need this right now.

"Woah... chill out there.  I'm not trying to insult you I was trying to act concerned," Erika grumbled in response.  If she was going to be insulting it would be way better than that.  Nielson looked surprised, and then embarrassed.

"Ah..." he began and faltered before finally continuing.  "Sorry, Erika.  I'm just stressed, that's all.  It's a big day and all that," he mumbled in response.

"It's fine.  I can imagine.  Today has to be perfect, after all," Erika replied, shrugging it off.

"Wow, you are being super nice.  It's actually kind of creepy," Nielson confessed with a grin.

"Oh shut up.  I can be nice when I want to be," Erika retorted.  To be honest, she was just excited about the wedding partially because she loved the idea of a wedding and wanted to see a perfect one and partially because she was in it as well and wasn't willing to be a part of something that wasn't perfect.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Nielson replied with a smile.  And Erika couldn't help but notice something unusual about Nielson's smile.  But she kept that little bit of information to herself.

"Say, could you go check on Belisama for me?  The guests should be arriving soon...  Hopefully everything would be okay.  The forecast said cloudy but it's a bit sunnier than we were expecting," Nielson confessed, looking concerned.

"The lack of cloud cover isn't going to matter since you're getting married after dark anyway... but sure, I'll go find her," Erika replied.  It was fun seeing her brother in such a harried state but she didn't really have the time to dwell on that as she went looking for the bride.

When she finally spotted Belisama she had to admit she was impressed.  Her soon to be sister-in-law's dress was gorgeous on her.  Erika was personally more in favor of the traditional white wedding dress, but on Belisama the rich red looked stunning.  "Wow, you're beautiful," Erika praised as she approached the bride.

"Thanks," Belisama replied, turning her attention to Erika.  "Your brother send you to check on me?" she prompted, which Erika nodded to.  "Well, I'm fine.  Nothing to worry about," she assured and Erika had to admit that compared to her stressed-as-hell brother, Belisama was definitely far more calm and collected.  There wasn't even a hair out of place on her head.

"And thanks again for being in the wedding," Belisama added.  "My brother should be here soon.  Hopefully he isn't too much of a brat toward you," she commented.

"Oh don't worry, I've seen him around school.  It won't be a problem," Erika assured.  She'd much rather be walking down the aisle with Collin, mind you, but that would come in due time.

"Oh, I think they're hear," Belisama commented as a black car pulled up.  Erika spotted her mother going to greet them.

"Hello," Danisha greeted as a woman and teenage boy got out of the car.  You must be Belisama's mother, right?  I'm Nielson's mother, Danisha," she introduced herself.

"Yes, fascinating," Belisama's mother replied, not volunteering her name and looking decidedly bored with the whole ordeal.  In fact, she gave Danisha a really bad feeling.  Danisha itched to question the woman who was perhaps the policewoman's definition of 'evil-looking' but she resisted since she didn't want to do anything that might make things awkward between their families.

"Hey, sis.  Mom's making friends," the teenage boy commented on approach to Belisama.

"Hey, Garland.  That's no surprise, just leave her alone.  She won't do anything overt here," Belisama assured with a wry smile.

"Yeah, okay," the teen replied, seeming grateful to have one less thing he had to deal with.  He didn't really want to be at this wedding anyway.

"Just focus on your part and not messing it up," Belisama ordered, sensing her brother's apathy.

"Yeah, okay," Garland grumbled again.

The rest of the guests began showing up and the sun started to set which meant that it was time for everyone to take their places.  Erika felt thrilled as the music started and she and Garland started walking down the aisle.

She did see Collin in the benches, which was good since she'd asked him to come, and she was equally pleased to see that he looked jealous seeing her on the arm of another man.  But Erika was more pleased with the fact that everyone's eyes were on her and she beamed as she walked down the aisle with Garland.

Once they had made it down the aisle and taken their place to the side, Belisama started coming down the aisle with her father.  Belisama was beautifully radiant as she made her way down the aisle and her father looked just as proud of his daughter as he escorted her down the aisle to where Nielson was waiting.

From her seat in the front row, Danisha sighed happily.  She couldn't help but remember her own wedding with Nielson.  It hadn't been nearly as big of an event as this was but the romantic atmosphere still brought up memories.  And for once, Danisha was able to enjoy those memories without feeling the sharp pain of his loss.  And she was just happy she could see her son making that sort of happy memory for himself.

"You look beautiful," Nielson murmured when Belisama joined him under the wedding arch.

"Thank you.  You don't look half bad yourself," she replied, unable to resist teasing him again.  "Will you relax?  This is a happy occasion," she urged.

"Sorry.  I'm just still getting used to... things," Nielson admitted sheepishly.

"That's all right... but I think there's something we're expected to do right now," Belisama pointed out with a teasing smile, glancing at the people gathered around them.

"Oh... right," Nielson mumbled, blushing.  "Belisama, do you take me to be your lawful husband," Nielson began, reciting the lines he'd been memorizing in preparation for today.

The ceremony was touching.  Belisama's father, Wogan, couldn't hold his composure and began to cry silently for his now-grown daughter.  His ex-wife, Belisama's mother, just rolled her eyes at Wogan's emotional display.  She looked rather bored with the whole ceremony herself.  Then again she didn't really see the big deal with marriage in general.

And Danisha was emotional as well, sighing dreamily as she watched the happy couple exchange their vows.  She couldn't be bothered to pay attention to anyone else in the crowd either.  Including the fact that Erika was paying more attention to Collin than she was to the actual wedding now that her part was over.

Finally, the 'I do's were said and the crowd threw heart-shaped confetti into the air as the couple shared a kiss and then pulled back to lovingly gaze into each other's eyes.  Even though Nielson had his doubts after Belisama's admission of being unfaithful, the time spent just being engaged had been thoroughly enjoyable and he was looking forward to their future together.

"I don't think the cake is big enough," Nielson commented as the two of them turned their attention to the other wedding ritual of cutting the cake.

"As long as we each get our pieces I'm not sure how much I care who else is unable to have a piece," Belisama admitted with a grin.

"You're horrible," Nielson replied with a chuckle.  Well, he at least knew of two people who wouldn't want a piece.  There's no way his sister would ask for one, and he doubted that Belisama's mother would partake in the cake either.

By some miracle, everyone who wanted a piece of cake was actually able to get one and be satisfied.  The buffet tables were also quickly emptied as everyone helped themselves.  Once everyone's hunger had been satisfied the guests moved to the dance floor.

Belisama and Nielson stepped out onto the dance floor first for their first dance as a married couple.

"You're remarkably good at this.  I guess I should have accepted that dance from you at the prom," Belisama mused as Nielson whisked her around the dance floor.

"Thanks," Nielson mumbled in response, not admitting that he'd been spending the week leading up to the wedding taking lessons so he wouldn't make a fool of himself.

After the first song finished playing through the other guests joined them on the floor.  Erika was more than happy to ditch Garland so she could share the dance with Collin.  This was the main reason she'd asked him to come, after all.  Thankfully it hadn't seemed too weird since apparently his family were friends with Belisama's father.

"Isn't this romantic?" Erika sighed as she moved about the dance floor with Collin, pleased that just as she'd predicted he was an excellent dancer.

Danisha had been perfectly content with watching the newly-married couple from the sidelines for the rest of the night when suddenly Belisama's father stepped up to her.  "May I have this dance?" Wogan requested with an elegant bow.

"Oh!  Uh... shouldn't you be dancing with your wife?" Danisha asked with a blush.

"Ex-wife.  And no, I'd really rather not.  She was never fond of dancing anyway.  But you look like you'd enjoy it," he pointed out with a smile.  Danisha wasn't really sure if this was such a good idea, but she couldn't refuse and let him pull her onto the floor.  Fortunately, the lack of skill she had with dancing was more than made up for by his ability to smoothly lead her through the steps.

To be honest, this was some of the most fun she'd had in ages.

"Looks like everyone's having a good time," Belisama commented, glancing at the rest of the guests as they spun around the dance floor.

"Are you having a good time?" Nielson asked with a smile.

"Do you even have to ask that?" Belisama shot back.  Nielson chuckled a bit before dipping his new wife.  She gasped and then let out a soft laugh that was quickly covered up by Nielson kissing her.

It was clear that the wedding party was going to be continuing well into the night.  However, the adults did take a break from their partying long enough to send the teenagers back home.  They had school the next morning and it wouldn't do to have them up all night.

Erika wanted to protest, but Collin admitted to being tired and there really wasn't any point in her sticking around if he wasn't going to be there.  So with a reluctant sigh she climbed into the taxi with the other teenage guests and rode with them as the driver (who'd been given the taxi fair up front) dropped each one of them off at their houses.  Erika was glad that she was the last since her apartment wasn't nearly as fancy as everyone else's had been.  She'd need to fix that when she had the money and resources to move.

However, as she exited the elevator at her floor she was shocked to find something completely unexpected and worrisome.

The door to their apartment was wide open...


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My first cliff-hanger!  Mwa-ha-ha-ha!  This was my first actual wedding so sorry for all of the awkward pictures.  The guests were very uncooperative and I lost patience trying to get an audience of people posed correctly.  This is the reason why I usual do private weddings.  Unfortunately, if Erika gets married her wedding will need to be at least as grand.  I had originally planned on making a chapter with Belisama turning Nielson, but decided against it.  I think having Erika discovering it and not expecting it was more effective since at this point the story is primarily from her perspective.  I suppose I should have had something with Danisha noticing as well, but I think she was too caught up with her reminiscing to notice anything out-of-place aside from the bad feelings she got from Belisama's mother.  I hope you enjoyed this chapter.