Wallflower | Mario Götze

04. Forget

Mario managed to slip in unnoticed whilst people were still vaguely milling around, looking for their seats. His eyes desperately searched through the masses, looking for a particular set of blonde hair and crystalline blue eyes, to no avail. Restraining a sigh, he ambled around dejectedly until another blonde-haired individual caught his attention. Marco was enthusiastically waving at him, and once he had caught Mario's attention, he patted the seat next to him, doing so with much vigor that he bounced up and down in his seat.

"Mario, Mario, you're sitting next to me!", he exclaimed. "Isn't that brilliant!". He continued patting the chair until Mario nearly sat on his hand.

Once Mario was comfortably seated, his eyes wandered once again of their own accord, looking for the pretty florist. They leapt from table to table, each time quickly registering the faces of the guests seated there before moving on. He probably would have searched all day if he hadn't been interrupted by a sharp elbow in the ribs.

A distinctly bony elbow, that could only belong to -"Marco! What was that for?", he yelped, holding his side indignantly.

Marco shrugged and indicated with his head the others also sat with them; Andrè with his girlfriend Montana, Thomas with his wife Lisa, Basti and Manuel.

"You haven't even said hello", he said, "and I thought that was rude." Mario sheepishly smiled before saying hello, and received a chorus of greetings from all of them. "Also", Marco continued, "I filled them in on how you have a new girlfriend". Mario sputtered before hastily beginning to defend himself, when Manu interjected, "I think she sounds nice!"

"Yes, we can go on triple dates!", Montana added excitedly, "it'll be so much fun!".

Shaking his head, Mario let a sigh escape his lips once again. "You are all impossible," he said exasperatedly, "she might not even like me that much. I might not even like her that much, what do you know?"

Marco suggestively wiggled his eyebrows at him. "But we all know that's not quite true, Mario."

Marco was saved from a snappy reply from Mario by the arrival of a dozen waiters into the room, speedily placing down plates of food in front of every guest. The topic of Eleanor was soon discarded, in favour of one complimenting the food that they were currently devouring. First one course passed, then the next, and then finally dessert, until all eight sitting at the table were pleasantly stuffed with food. Following the plates being cleared, the high, tinkling telltale sound of cutlery hitting a glass could be heard.

Mats' father spoke first, giving a speech of optimism for their future before swiftly passing over to Mats. Mats stood up, a wide smile of pure bliss adorning his face, a small crumpled piece of paper in his hand. "I first want to thank you all for coming, I know that none of this would have been possible without the loving support of family and friends. We are eternally grateful for all that both our families have done, and we hope will continue to do. I wrote a speech for me to say today," he said, and held up the paper with lines of writing on, "But then I realised that I could never put into words just how much I love you, Cathy. I am never happier than when I'm with you, every time I see you you put a smile on my face. I do not know where I would be if I hadn't met you, and I do not want to think about it. A life without you would not be a life worth living. I could talk about how much you mean to me all day, all year even, but I want you to know that I will always love you through thick and thin, through difficult times and easy. I know that I have truly found my soulmate in you."

Cathy then stood up next to him, beaming from ear to ear. "I do not think that there is much more that needs to be said, except that when I first met Mats, I do not think I could have ever imagined how much joy he would bring me. They say that you don't marry someone you can live with - you marry the person who you cannot live without.," she paused, a slight glisten in her eyes, "and I cannot put into words how happy I am that I will be spending the rest of my life with this amazing man."