At Midnight

Fifteen Years Later

...I'm with you 'til the end of the line...

If I was good at remembering the past, I'd tell you every detail of our movie day. However, I am old-- thirty two, don't remind me-- and my memory is fading.

I definitely know Mara Carrow and I officially started dating our senior year.

For our graduation presents, our parents combined them and sent us to the 2016 SDCC. For your information, I legitimately cried because I was there in person.

In college, we were separated in both our relationship and schools. She went to U of M to study fashion and design; I was at Northwestern University to study filmmaking and English.

Five years out of college, back together, Mara and I were business partners. Since then, we've been a team, doing countless projects together, where I wrote and she managed the costume department.

In 2027, Mara became a Jannick.

I have our wedding video on tape, which is how I remember this so clearly. Please enjoy her vows to me.

With one hand holding my own, Mara used her other hand to unfold her vows, scribbled on a sheet of paper with Captain America's shield on the border.

I remember smiling-- not because of her cute nervous tactic of biting on her cheeks, though it added to my happiness--because the hand that was in my own was broken.

No one knew, really, because we had tore the cast off the previous night.

"Are you fucking kidding, Clifford? I can't wear a neon cast with a wedding dress! Do you know how unprofessional that is?"

"But you're hurt, Mara. Health over looks," I had insisted.

"And I agree," she said, and I cheered internally. "That just does not apply the day before our wedding. Grab those scissors, we're cutting this cast off."

So that left me carefully holding her hand, while she figured out how to condense her speech in order to lower her talking time in front of so many people.

"Mara, just say it," I had mumbled, but the camera didn't pick it up.

The camera did see Mara flash me a bitchy look. "I think we all have things we seriously regret. Uh.. There was a whole part about me breaking my hand and us cutting off the cast. Obviously, a brightly colored cast clashes with everything.. Blah.."

The crowd was amused, and so was I, as my soon to be wife was such a loser.

"Okay, here we go," Mara said, straightening her back. "The one thing I'll never regret is asking you to lose your job for me. I don't know of many high school romances that lasted as long as ours did, or will, so I'm hoping I'm not jinxing it. There's not much I can say about you without dragging on for years, so, I'll end my vows with this, Clifford Jannick."

"Good, you were taking too long," I mumbled.

"I hate you," Mara whispered through her smile. Giggling, we looked into each others eyes. "The best night of my life was on May 6th, 2016. That won't ever change. I say now that the best day of my life has to be May 6th, 2027. You know why?"

She added the last part, because I I had rolled my eyes so far into the back of my head that it hurt.

Laughing, she finished, "Today is the day we're officially with each other until the end of the line."

"God, you ass," I sighed. "I was gonna put that in my vows."

"It's your turn, Mr. Jannick," she managed to say through her giggles.

"Forget my vows," I decided. "Preacher, can you give the 'ok' now?"

"You may now kiss the bride."

I connected our lips abruptly, sending us both back to the night we first kissed in the parking lot of the movie theater.

"Clifford, Clifford," Mara said against my lips, forcing me to pull away.

"What?" I muttered, having to raise my voice over the cheering from our family and friends.

"What was your last line? Of the vows?" she asked.

"Mara Jannick, our love was made for movie screens."

The End