One Hundred Sleepless Nights

30

~ three years later ~

"Okay, guys, gather round!" Jaime yells at everyone, motioning for everyone to come and join him at the table near the pool. "Alia, come here, this is yours!"

I push past the small group thats gathered around the table. Half of them are from the pop punk/alternative world, the other half are from my world, a small mass of friends that I've accumulated over time.

On the table sits a beautiful white cake, the words scrawled on top are hard to read probably because Jaime did them ten minutes ago. I know it was him because I walked into the kitchen while he was doing it and the way he freaked out it seemed like he was caught in the act of something much worse than decorating a cake, but thats Jaime for you.

"What does this say?" I ask, keeping my laughter back.

"You can't read that?" Jaime asks appalled. "Its clear as day."

I squint harder at the writing trying hard to decipher it, but no luck.

"The only clear thing is that you need to practice more." I retort.

"Be nice to your brother." my moms says, coming up behind us. She places a hand on each of our backs and smiles warmly up at us. Its clear to see  that she loves this moment.

These past three years we've all become closer than ever. Every Friday night us three get together and have supper together, alternating at whose house we go to. Jaime and I prefer to have it at ours mom for the sentimental-ness of it all. We sit together in her back garden after supper and enjoy our time together, talking about dad often. After years it seems we're all in a good place about everything. Theres no more weirdness about dad, or the past or even the whole Tony situation that happened in the past. We're good now and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

"Mijo, what does it say?" my mom asks, of course making me burst out laughing.

"It says 'Congrats on the nuptials.'" Tony says, coming beside me. Like my mom he puts a hand on my back, resting it just a bit lower than my moms is. 

"Aw, Jaime." I say. "Thats sweet."

"Well its not often your younger sister gets married." he says. 'I know the wedding is tomorrow and I'll be making a speech tonight, but I'd like to make one now if thats cool."

I nod my head because why would I not want to hear what my brother has to say?

Jaime makes sure everyone has a glass before starting his speech. "I hated hearing that you two were involved at first, absolutely hated it. You're my sister and I thought nobody would ever be good enough for you. And you," he says gesturing to Tony right beside me. "Are my best friend and I only ever want the best for you. To my demise at the time, it turns out that you guys are perfect for one another. It's been a great couple of years watching you two fall more and more in love, and when Tony asked me if I had his blessing to marry you, there wasn't a single doubt in my mind when I gave him the go ahead." he says. He holds up his glass in the air and everyone follows. "I hope this union is one that continues for eternity."

Everybody cheers to this, and drinks, and then next thing I know Jaime is cutting the cake and distributing it all around. We eat a lot and continue to drink as the night gets later and later. Not too long later in the night everyone is heading out, getting ready to go rest up for the big day ahead.

Tony comes and finds me as I'm sitting alone, my feet in the pool, happily splashing a little with each sway of my feet.

"Hi pretty girl." he says as he takes a seat next to me. "You okay?"

I nod as I watch the ripples trickle into the pool and then disappear. "You?"

"Yeah." he says softly. "How you feeling about tomorrow?"

My heart skips a beat at this. "I'm nervous. And excited." I add quickly.

"Me too." Tony says, smiling at me. He grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers together.

We sit there in silence, swaying our feet in the pool all alone. The sun has set already by this time, its early October so the days are only starting to grow shorter. The sky is beginning to grow darker and darker and the night is getting cooler. Its a beautiful night. I wish I could capture this moment, this feeling, and keep it somewhere so I can open it every now and again and experience it all over.

"Lets go, its getting cold." Tony says, pulling his feet out of the pool. "We need to sleep soon."

I allow Tony to pull me up with him, but we don't head in. Instead we stand in each others embrace, enjoying the moment for what it is.

"Hey." Tony says, lifting my chin up to him. "I love you."

I smile warmly at him. "I love you too."

"I can't wait to marry you tomorrow."

My heart swells with love. I never would've thought that we would get this far, but fuck, here we are. We're living it. This is our reality.

"I can't wait to marry you either." I say to him.

We kiss softly before heading into our house, hand in hand. 

Happy at last.