Because of You, Well, Us

Chase

Graduation day continued to fly by in a whir of camera flashes, pats on the back, handshakes, hugs and congratulations to both Kate and I. Kate's, and I guess my soon to be, Aunt Shari started to cry, Casey promptly started playing wedding planner. She said that she should stand with Kate as a bridesmaid because she was too old for standing as a flower girl, you know. I kept sneaking little glances at Kate the whole time. Every so often she would catch my eye and smile. That smile still gave me goose bumps. I couldn't believe fate deemed me lucky enough to get to spend forever with it.

Kate and I smiled at each other when we saw Andy and Amanda walking past, holding hands. She just shrugged and laughed, telling Casey that she could stand in the wedding. Aunt Shari almost had to hold Casey down because she got so excited. I felt a tug at my hand. Looking down, I saw that Garrett at my side. He beckoned for me to lean down as if he wanted to tell me something.

"Chase?" He asked, voice almost a whisper

"Yes, Garrett?" I leaned in closer so that I could hear him

"Do I have to stand in the wedding too? With Casey?" He said, even quieter than before.

Despite the fact the two year age gap between Garrett and Casey, he seemed as shy as she was outgoing.

Clapping a hand on his shoulder, I smiled, "Not if you don't want to, buddy."

Garrett beamed for a second and then went stone faced, "Alright, then I suppose you can marry my favorite cousin."

Kate walked over "Your favorite cousin? Last I knew I'm one of your only cousins!"

Suddenly shy of me, even though he was twelve, Garrett rushed back towards his mom. Another camera flash went off in our direction. Kate's dad called for us to pose for just one more picture, we'd tell his grandchildren about this day after all, and we needed something to remember it by! The look on her face at the mention of kids seemed priceless.

I saw Andy and Amanda walk past. They now appeared to be in the opposite situation of Kate and me. Another secret smile. Eventually my mom chimed in "I think we should let the newly engaged couple spend some time alone with each other."

I saw Kate mouth "Thank you" And my mom nodded, smiling. As soon as everyone had left. I held out my hand saying "Crazy Pete's? For old times sake?"

Kate took it saying "Of course."

"Let's go." I started walking with my future bride, her hand in one hand, and her shoes in the other.

"Just throwing this out there, I think we should wait until we're married to... You know again. Just to avoid history repeating itself." Kate whispered after a minute.

"Well, now a City Hall wedding sounds even more tempting. I mean, you in that dress?" I pulled her close and kissed her cheek. Kate nudged me in the shoulder to shut me up. "Then again, we can't dash Casey's hopes for our wedding, can we?"

Kate stood on her toes to kiss me, "Good answer."