Me Without You

May had been dragging me around Towson Town Centre for the last two hours. Jack had said she was taking me far away, May, however, had other plans. Wedding prep was to begin immediately and the first order of business was to find a colour scheme. I didn’t have a particular favourite colour, and May was dead against my idea of plain old black and white.
“How about red?” I announced as we made our way towards her car, giving up on the shopping centre. “The wedding’s going to be in fall, so how about red and white. Fall colours, and we have the wedding outside, somewhere woodsy.” May stared at me as we entered the car park and smiled widely.
“That is most the brilliant thing about this wedding you have said all day.” I swear, she was more excited than I was. “We can have the whole thing at the Cloisters!” I smiled at that idea, I had visited the place in school and it was truly beautiful. “I know one of the managers so I can pull some strings. Do you know a date? We’d have to try book.”
“Find out what days are available and then I’ll ask Jack.” This wedding talk was getting me quite excited, I had never seen myself getting married back in Baltimore, but now it was happening, I couldn’t think of a more perfect place. We sat in May’s car while she made some calls and scribbled down dates on a piece of paper, one of them instantly catching my eye. I pointed to the date and picked up my phone, dialling Jack’s number.
“I thought I told you not to contact me?” Jack had his ‘professional’ voice on and I could hear Alex and Rian complaining about hard labour in the background. What on earth were they doing?
“It’s important. What do you think about the Cloisters?” I asked, praying he’d say yes.
“Yeah, that’s be a great place.” I high-fived May as I put him on speaker phone and couldn’t help but smile as I announced the next piece of information.
“But you know how we said we’d get married in October?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“There’s only one date in October left…” I tried to stop myself from laughing, imagining Jack’s reaction. “The thirsty-first.” A scream came from the other side of the line as Jack ran around.
“Yes! Fuck yeah!” May and I doubled over laughing as we imagined Jack’s current victory dance. “We are so getting married on Halloween!” May smiled and quickly confirmed the date with her friend on her phone and I listened to Jack start to ramble. “It’ll be perfect! Nightmare before Christmas! Can I dress up?”
“No!” May and I both shouted down the phone at once. “But I promise you can have a little fun with the reception. We’ll put up some decorations. But not a lot.” Jack was currently announcing the news to the people with him and more cheers erupted. “I mean it Jack, if someone shows up in a costume I’ll kick them straight out.” Jack mumbled a yes mam before I sent a kiss down the phone and hung up on him. I couldn’t stop smiling as May drove off towards her parents. One day into wedding planning and we had a venue and a date. We were off to a good start.

“Put this on.” May ordered as she threw a dress at me. “Don’t question, don’t argue, just wear it.” I complied and pulled the dark blue fabric over my body. I slipped on the pair of heels she had laid out for me as she let my hair out of their heated roller so it fell down my shoulders in soft curls.
A text came through on May’s phone and she wiggled her eyebrows at me whispering that it was time. She led me out of the house towards her car and we sped off in the dark toward Jack’s. We were greeted by Zack in a suit and I instantly knew what Jack had spent all this time doing. I shot a look at May and begged her not to leave me here but as soon as Zack opened the door she pushed me out of the car and sped off. I groaned and let Zack lead me around the side of the house, stopping at the corner.
“You look beautiful by the way.” Zack smiled as he stood conveniently blocking my view of the back yard.
“Zack, I’m…”
“Shut it. Really, it’s fine. I’m happy for you.” I gave him a hug, rising onto my toes to try see what was behind him. “Hell no, no cheating.” He laughed, pushing me back down onto flat feet. I could hear Jack, Alex and Rian’s voices whispering but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Finally, Rian appeared next to Zack, also in a suit and smiled at me.
“Are you ready?” I nodded nervously and Rian lead me around the corner where the full blown chaos of Jack’s garden hit me. Holy shit. I stood gasping at the number of fairy lights that were twisted through the trees which lined his yard. A table was set up in the middle of the garden, citronella torches scattered around the lawn to ward off the insects and provide extra light. A brazier was burning near the table, making the garden heat up, considering it wasn’t the warmest of nights. Rian pulled out the chair and beckoned for me to sit in it and I nearly cried laughing at how cliché the whole idea was.
“Shut up and enjoy it.” Zack laughed, knowing my thoughts. “I spend a lot of time climbing trees for you today.” I reached up to kiss his cheek in thanks as music started to fill the air. I looked towards the porch where Alex was sat with a guitar, Cass sitting next to him. Oh no, don’t start… As Alex played Cass started to sing and I burst out into another fit of laughter. Jack came out of the house, a pair of black skinny jeans, a white button up top and a tie which hung loosely around his open collar.
“Hey there.” He chuckled as he leaned down to kiss me. “You look beautiful.” I felt the heat rush to my cheeks and I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“You don’t look to shabby yourself.” I looked around the garden once more, admiring the work the boys had out and noticing that Zack and Rian had gone missing. “What on earth is all this about?” Jack smiled and grabbed my hand across the table.
“I wanted to do it properly.” He stated, looking rather proud of himself. “So you need to forget about last night and act surprised when the time comes. Got it?” I burst out laughing and stood up slightly so I could lean across the table to kiss him.
“Got it.” Zack and Rian reappeared from the house with two plate of my favourite meal. “Oh my god, Quesadillas?” Jack was beaming as I snatched my plate of Zack and sniffed it. “Wait, did Vic make these?” I looked toward the house and laughed at the four Mexicans grinning through the kitchen windows.
“I called in a lot of favours.” Jack shrugged as he picked up a piece. We weren’t a pair for being civilized and using knives and forks. “Do you like it?” Jack asked nervously in-between mouthfuls.
“I love it, Jack. It’s beautiful, thank you.” He smiled and took another bite.

After we had eaten Rian and Zack reappeared to clear the table and retreated into the house with Cassadee and Alex. Jack sat nervously fumbling with his tie and I had to reach across the table and grab his had to stop him picking at the fabric. I understood why he was nervous, I was too, and it was so much more real this time. Last night had been a playful joke, this time it was serious. Jack stood up and paced a bit before finally standing in front of me and taking my hands.
“Now, don’t laugh at me.” He mumbled nervously as he flipped the onlookers off. I turned to see Vic proposing to Alex. “Fuck them. Retards.” Jack reached into his pocket and took out the small velvet box. My fingers itched to pick it up from where Jack placed it on the table and peek at the ring waiting inside. “I practiced this so you need to pay attention and please, really, please don’t laugh.” I gave him a small kiss and promised not to laugh. “Jasey-Rae,” Jack began, still standing. “I’ve been waiting for you since the day I met you in freshman year. I had to watch you go through douchebag after douchebag and appropriately knock a few of them out of the state.” I smiled at the memory of Jack beating up one of my boyfriends who was caught cheating on me. “I survived watching you and Alex grow increasingly closer after I introduced you and held on through the years we were apart after we left. Knowing that you were pining for Alex all those years was horrible, but when I finally got to see you again my heart stopped. I mean, you walked back into my life with Starbucks and Pizza. And then knowing that you instantly forgave me and getting to hold you in my arms again I felt complete. Seeing you with Alex was something I had grown to accept, knowing that you were in love with him and had been for all those years. But when you came up to me and told me you loved me, and that I would have always been the one you chose, I knew that I had to spend the rest of my life with you.” It was at this point that Jack finally decided t slide down onto his knee and I could feel tears threatening t the corners of my eyes. “Even if we are getting married under not-so-desirable circumstances, I promise I will love you forever and stand by your side when we have to break the news to our friends that there’s a reason for the rushed marriage. I will love you every moment of forever and can’t wait until our seemingly endless run of sneaking around ends. So, Jasey-Rae Victoria Roberts, will you do me the immense and most fantastic honour of marrying me?” A tear ran down my cheek and I began to laugh as Jack fumbled with the box. Inside sat a perfectly crafted silver band with a fucking huge diamond smack in the middle.
“Jack its perfect.” I giggled as I peered into the box.
“So? Will you?” He asked as I run my finger over the jewels.
“Will I what?” I asked totally distracted.
“Marry me!” I smiled and pulled him up from his knee so he could kiss me.
“What do you think?” I mumbled against his lips as cat calls and cheers erupted inside the house. “Of course I will.” Jack didn’t stop grinning as he slid the ring onto my finger and then kissed it.
“I love you Jay.” He whispered kissing me again.
“I will always love you.” I grinned.

Notes

Okay so exciting news! I got a message saying that this story has been nominated for the 2104 fanfic awards! Wow, that's pretty super awesome.
I'd love if you guys would vote for it! xx
You can vote here