A Missed Opportunity

Epilogue

✧𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑✧

There are a lot of things I'm not. Way more than things I am. Like, I am arrogant. And a bit of a liar. I've been told I'm stupid too, but that's just because my sister says all boys are stupid.

Anyway, like I was saying. I'm not a lot of things. But today I'm becoming one of those things I thought I'd never be and...I don't know how to cope, I guess. Anxiety sends a funny but sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It puts a little tremor in my hands as I try to fix my tie for the fifth time.

"Leave it alone. You're gonna mess it up." Alex warns me from across the room. My eyes flit to his through the mirror I watch myself in. He watches me with a leveled expression. "It looks fine."

I frown and look back at my reflection. "It feels crooked."

"It's not."

"Feels like it."

Before he can tell me how dumb I am, three gentle knocks draw both of our attention to the door. Alex lets out a breath, releasing whatever insult he was about to throw at me in favor of answering whoever's at the door. "Come in, mi alma." He calls, somehow aware that whoever knocked on the door is his wife.

Dude's got fucking spidey senses or something. He somehow always just knows when she's around. It's fucking creepy.

Aaliyah peeks cautiously inside to make sure no one in here is still changing before she slips in, shuffling the door behind her. "Are you guys almost ready?" She questions, wandering up to Alex to subconsciously fix his already straight tie. At least, it looks straight to us. But she finds a crooked edge somehow and fixes that for him.

"Yeah." Alex glances at me as he answers. I turn my back to the mirror on a sigh.

Aaliyah looks over at me too. She frowns. "What?" She coaxes knowingly.

I sigh again, sharper this time. "My tie is crooked." I insist. Alex shakes his head.

Aaliyah comes over to me next. "A little." She agrees as she reaches up to fix mine for me too.

I grin smugly at Alex over her head. His eyes narrow.

"Dad!" Cameron whines from the bathroom to my right. I look over while Aaliyah fixes the little metal thingy on my tie. It's supposed to keep it straight, I guess. "I can't get my belt on!"

"Through the loops, buddy. Through the loops."

"Oh..."

"Okay," Aaliyah pats her hands on my chest when she's finished. I look down, trying not to touch it in case I ruin it. To fight that urge, I absently trace the L shape of my hand between my thumb and pointer. "Don't do this up there." She orders as she slaps my hands down to my sides. I frown. "Makes you look unsure." She reasons as she reaches up to fix my hair for me too.

"How's Kiara?" I can't help but ask.

"Just as nervous as you, Noah." She answers on a hum. She gives me a little smile when she's finished touching my hair up. "But excited." I smile to myself.

She's the one who insisted we don't see each other at all today before the ceremony. Something about luck. I don't really get it, but I also don't get why the flowers along the alter couldn't be too pink, so what the hell do I know? What she wants, she gets. I go along with it.

This is what I never thought I'd be. A nervous wreck in a suit, trying to keep it the hell together long enough to see the girl who somehow managed to fall in love with me dressed in a pretty white dress strolling down the aisle.