They Could Care Less

49: Wedding Bells

"I promise to love you even after death. I will love you unconditionally, and will make it my first priority to make you smile. I promise to be there when you need a shoulder to cry on and a rock to hold onto, I'll love you until the day hell freezes to ice. I love you." Thea shed a tear as Hussein finished his vows, she wasn't the only one though. There were more people wiping their eyes and smiling with red cheeks. Then there were people like Jackson...

"So cheesy," Jackson mumbled under his breath and Thea elbowed him quickly in the ribs.

"Shut up!" she hissed as everyone began to clap. She clapped with them as Hussein and his new wife walked out of the church. Everyone else followed, and the wedding photographer wanted pictures of everything and everyone. He wanted pictures of the groom and the bride, the groom and bride with their families, just the groom and his family and so on. Thea wondered if Hussein was now used to the flash after so many photos. She quietly laughed to herself until she felt Jackson's arm go around her waist protectively.

"What?" Thea asked and looked up at Jackson with a smile, but he wasn't smiling back, nor looking back at her. Thea followed the direction to where he was looking and saw Ethan looking at them sternly. He stood alone, and there wasn't a single trace of Novelle anywhere.

"Let's go say hi," Thea said and found herself dragging Jackson towards the cheery blossom tree where Ethan was standing. Thea felt Jackson resist, but she kept a steady grip on his hand as she dragged him across the green grass to Ethan.

"Hey," Ethan was the first one to speak.

"Hi, how've you been?" Thea asked nicely and felt Jackson tugging her arm slightly. She effortlessly gently stepped on his toes as Ethan answered.

"Good, good, and you... two?" he asked and Thea heard the sterile tone. He didn't really care about them and their well-beings, at least not Jackson's, he only asked because it was the human thing to do. When someone asked you how you were you often lied and said you were good before you asked them the same.

"Wonderful," Thea answered and looked at Jackson with a meaning look on her face.

"Good until I saw-" Thea quickly elbowed him in the stomach and looked back at Ethan.

"Those two are an odd couple, don't you agree?" Thea asked and smiled towards Hussein and Molly.

"Definitely, I don't think anyone suspected it except for..."

"Heather," Thea finished his sentence and he nodded. The further the conversation went, the more Thea regretted striding across the grass to talk to him. An awkward silence grew, and this time Thea couldn't think of any small-talk subject to bring up. They were surprisingly saved by the wedding photographer.

"Can everyone gather for one big group photo?" he called out and the hundreds of guests gathered in front of the church. Thea and Jackson stood next to the newly weds, but not everyone seemed to fit into the picture the photographer realized and took dozens of steps back. He looked at his camera, but there were still a handful of people that weren't in it. He took another dozen steps back and this time they all fitted perfectly, except now the kids had gotten bored and had began to whine and move around. Thea looked around at the pair's massive families, it was a miracle no one had to stand in the middle of the aisle in the little building during the ceremony. Thea smiled and dreamed of having a family this big one day, but that dream very quickly disappeared as aunts screamed and tried to get the running children to stand still as the uncles sighed again and again. Thea appreciated her small quiet family.

She sat next to Hussein and they both laughed hysterically when one of his cousin's uncles fell on the dance floor. They both had their pieces of wedding cake, and maybe it was the sugar rush, or lack of oxygen in the room, but they were both happy and laughing.