Neighbors; c.d.

Chapter 24. This Is It

{Five years later}

I breathed in and out, studying myself in the mirror. This is it, I thought to myself, playing with one of my brown curls. As I fixed the pearl-filled necklace laying around my neck, there was a knock at the door. 

"Come in." I said, standing from the seat I was currently sitting on. My mom stepped into the room, immediately smiling and closing the door. 

"Oh, sweetie, you look wonderful." she said, putting her hands over her mouth as she walked over to me. I smiled in response and turned around to face her. 

"Thanks, Mom." I said, hugging her, taking in her sweet perfume as I did. 

"Your father would've loved to see you today." my mom said, stroking my arm. I smiled slightly, looking down at the ground. 

"Yeah, he probably would've." I agreed quietly. 

Another knock on the door pulled me and my mom out of the moment. Nash stepped into the room a few seconds later, his longish brown hair brushed to the side. 

He'd cut it from his 'lion's mane' to being mildly tamed, the hair not being too long or too short. 

"Hey, Nash." I said, beaming at him. 

"I'll leave you two." my mom said, glancing at the both of us before walking out of the room. 

"You look beautiful, Anna." Nash complimented, taking slow steps towards me. I blushed and twirled slightly. 

"Thanks, Nash." I said, looking at my best guy friend. 

"Cameron's a lucky guy." Nash said, raising his eyebrows. I chuckled, nodding and fiddling with my ring. 

"And I am one lucky girl." I said, nodding. I felt myself become filled with butterflies as I thought about everything in my future. 

"You nervous?" Nash asked, laughing a little. I giggled, nodding my head again.

"Yeah, I am. I mean, this is really exciting and all, but my dad's not here, along with Grandma Cathy; no matter how much I disliked her, she still wanted the best for me and I think she would've liked to be here today." I said, looking at Nash. 

He nodded, understanding what I was saying. The bathroom door opened and Belle stepped out, wearing her black knee-length dress with thin straps resting on her shoulders, black 5 inch heels on her feet. 

Nash's attention went straight over to her, his mouth dropping. Belle laughed at his reaction and walked over, grabbing the collar of his blazer and planting a light kiss on his mouth. 

"Don't you look handsome?" she asked. 

"Don't you look beautiful?" Nash returned, an eyebrow raised. 

"Okay, guys, you're really sweet and all, but I'm getting married in a few minutes and it would really help if I didn't feel as nervous as I did right now." I said, my talking pace getting quicker with each word. 

Nash and Belle both looked at me, slight amusement on their faces.

"Right, right." they said in unison, sitting me down on the couch, them sitting on either side of me. 

The music started, signaling it was time for me to walk down the isle. 

"Ready?" Belle asked me as we walked out of the room together, Nash behind us. 

"Ready as I'll ever be." I said, grabbing my bouquet of flowers and standing in front of the large wooden double doors, Nash and Belle on either side of me. 

The rest of my bridal party was in front of us, each bridesmaid paired with a groomsmen. The doors swung open and the pairs started heading down, leaving me to be the last one to go. 

"Anna, come on." Belle whispered, laughing and tugging lightly on my arm. 

I smiled, laughing along with her and walked in time with Nash and Belle. Cameron stood at the end of the backyard isle, talking to Brent, Sierra's husband, as the music continued playing. 

Brent soon tapped Cameron on the shoulder when I was halfway down the long white, satin isle that led to where everyone stood. Cameron turned around, his eyes making eye contact with mine and his mouth dropping down immediately. 

I laughed at his reaction, wrinkling my nose and flickering my gaze to the ground. 

We made it to the altar, Belle and Nash both kissing me on the cheek before joining the bridesmaid/groomsmen. 

"You look beautiful." Cameron whispered, taking my hands in his.

"Thanks." I whispered back. "You don't look too bad yourself." He smiled and chuckled at that, running a hand through his hair. 

"It's like we're on our first date again." Cameron said softly, leaning down to talk in my ear as the priest started talking. 

"How, Cam. How?" I laughed. 

"Because we're both nervous and we both look amazing, duh." Cameron replied. 

"Oh, you are too modest, Cameron." I laughed softly. 

"I try." he replied, raising his eyebrows. 

"Cameron, Anna, I believe you each have written your own vows?" the priest asked, raising his eyebrows at us. 

We both nodded and faced each other, Cameron pulling a piece of a notebook paper out of his pocket and Belle handing mine to me. 

"I'll go first." Cameron volunteered. "Anna, when I first saw you out on your balcony five years ago, I didn't know that I would be marrying you today. I thought you would be one of my friends that would be at my wedding, that cheered me on, that gave me advice and all that stuff. Turns out, you are all those things. You're my friend, my cheerleader, my advice-giver, and you're at my wedding as well." 

That got a laugh out of some people. 

"On our first date, I found out that you really like Tart Cherry Lemonade, so here is something I promise you. Whenever you find you have nothing else to drink, I promise I will go out to the store, at any time of the day, during whatever weather, and buy you as many Tart Cherry Lemonade bottles as you want. You are just, something else. When we first met, you didn't even tell me your name. It was like some mystery you wanted me to figure out, just like everything else. And then there was your crappy, douchebag of a boyfriend, who gave me the opportunity to hug you and comfort you for the first time. So, that's my second promise to you: I'll always be there to hug and comfort you." Cameron said, looking at me with so much emotion in his eyes. 

I smiled, wiping a rolling tear off of my cheek. 

After I said my vows, which made Cameron cry a little as well, we turned back to each other.

"By the power invested in me by the state and God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." the priest announced, smiling. Cameron let out a breath and smiled, starting to lean in. 

"I love you." I whispered, my lips barely touching his. He smiled wider.

"I love you too." he whispered before placing his lips on mine, his right hand on the small of my back and his left on my neck. 

+

And... that is it! Thank you guys SO much for like 400 reads?! Holy wow, that's amazing. I know the updates were slow and I would always have writer's block but thank you for bearing with me. I just think this chapter was a nice tied bow instead of, like, having it go on for another thirty chapters before them getting married or anything like that. So, yeah, thanks. If you liked this book, tell your friends maybe and add it to your archive or whatever. Or just don't do anything, I don't care. But this book is COMPLETED! WHOO!!!