The next two days we spent after work helping out at Alyssa's, hanging up decorations and setting up tables and chairs. Sarina helped in prepping salsa and marinating meat for the tacos that would be on the buffet for food. One of Amanda's friends was making the cake for them and had sent pictures of her progress so far. Everything was going as well as could be expected for a last minute event. A few friends of Alyssa and Amanda's came over with stereo equipment and set up speakers for music all around. The paperwork was all filled out, ready for the wedding officiant tomorrow and the dress was picked up, the suit was pressed and flowers had been purchased and arranged for Alyssa's bouquet.
Me and David sat outside on the back patio that was all done up, laughing at the girls decorating the porta-potties and wash stations that they rented.
"So you ready for tomorrow?"
"I was ready when I was seventeen and still in high school, brother." David laughs and shakes his head as the girls tie up white balloons to the porta potties. "My sister hasn't hit me yet, so I guess that's good news, she hasn't discovered the ring yet." David turns his attention back to me.
"I've hidden it in a spot she'll probably never realize." I grin at him. "I even wrote my own vows already and have them with the ring. I didn't want to forget them when they came to me."
"Really you did? I just planned on winging it tomorrow." His shoulders lift high and drop relaxed, "Anything I say will tomorrow will be from the heart and genuinely me, so I know she will like them. Don't forget to take pictures tomorrow, please. We just have a friend who's going to be taking pictures for us, so all the extras that others would take would be good for her to have later."
David stares off at Alyssa who's laughing after a balloon gets stolen from her by a breeze and pops against the fence. I whip out my phone and snap a picture of him staring at her, catching his attention.
"Did you just take one right now?" He shakes his head at me, a bright but stunned smile gracing his features.
"Hey the more pictures the better, right?" I stick my phone back in my pocket. David nods in agreement before the girls start heading our way to put the rest of the balloons on the patio.
"We'll go ahead and go, so you two can get your beauty rest." Sarina smiles and goes to grab her purse.
"Brian already thinks I'm pretty though." David flutters his eyes at me and ducks his chin, acting demure.
Sarina not missing a beat, "Yeah! Pretty thirsty!"
There's a moment of pure silence. The next second, a chorus of laughter breaks through the moment. David scoffs, dramatizing and acting like he's been wounded with an arrow to the heart.
Alyssa scoffs and smacks his arm, "You sure you want to marry me tomorrow? Or Brian?"
"YOU! Always you, baby." David pulls her down for a kiss as we wave bye and head home.
The next morning went surprisingly easy. Sarina and I, plus a handful of David and Alyssa's friends, all helped doing any last minute things. One was in charge of the playlists for the ceremony and to have in the background prior to it. We all helped cooking the chicken and taco shells, cutting up lettuce, tomatoes, filling containers with cheese, limes, and all the other extra toppings. Using the oven to cook giant pans of beans and making sure the rice cooker was emptied and refilled till we had two giant containers of rice.
Alyssa went into Amanda's bedroom after eating lunch to start getting ready. David did the same, but was out in less than twenty minutes looking good with his hair brushed back and to the side. Smiling and relaxed, he sat on the back porch as people started showing up early to offer help and just hang out. I took pictures of everything I could.
As time went on and the evening came, the music started playing and everyone started showing up around six. Thirty minutes later, we all were seated with the officiant standing next to David, who motions for me to come to him really quick before Alyssa comes out. I rush over to him and ask him what's up.
"Help me stand." He looks at me in all seriousness, "Please, brother."
I grip his arms, and hold him steady to stand.
"I need you to help me stay standing for something to keep me steady." He says quietly.
"I'm here for you man." I tell him, when suddenly, one of his other friends comes up with a cane.
"Thank you." I tell them, taking the cane with my free hand and offer it to David, setting it on the ground in front of him.
I hold onto him as he takes hold of the cane, "Stay close, just in case."
"Like I said, I'm here for you." I stay right there next to him, when the music changes and the back door of the house opens up for Alyssa to come walking out of the house and everyone rises, blocking our view of her. When she came into view and saw him, standing, she stopped and covered her face for a moment with her bouquet. She quickly brought it down, smiling through tears as she approached.
David wiped his face as tears escaped his eyes. When she stopped before him he couldn't help himself.
"Damn, you sure are beautiful Lyssa." He smiles widely at her, making her blush.
She takes his free hand and whispers, "You're standing up."
"Wish I could dance with you later, but I told you, I'd be standing proud here waiting for you." He whispers back, making her smile and cry.
They mouth I love you back and forth to each other as the officiant begins her speech about marriage, which she keeps short. She then asks if they have their own vows to say them now.
Alyssa starts, " David, today, I finally do what I should have done so many years ago. I may be late to enjoy many years, but I promise to make the best of everyday I have with you. I'll make every day last a year in my memory. I take you as you are, for all that you have been, and love you completely. I'll love you today but tomorrow, I'll love you more and even more the day after that, until MY last breath. I promise to be thankful for every second I get with you, and everything I do get to experience with you. No matter how difficult things might get, how tired I may be, I'll never stop, never give up, I'll always be with you, until OUR last breaths."
David sighs, wiping his eyes again before he shakes his head, "Woo hoo! How do I top that?!" He asks, making everyone laugh. He clears his throat and takes a shaky breath.
"Alyssa, I cannot promise an easy life, I cannot promise to grow old with you,..." his breath escapes his lungs as he clears his throat, "But I can promise you, that I have loved you from the first time I told you in high school, till this very day. I never stopped loving you and I never will. Those words I love you, mean so much more than just that to me. They say I adore you, that you are my world, my answered prayers, my everything. When the day comes and all you have is pictures, memories, or people telling stories about me, I'll still be here. I'll be the wedgie you get when your underwear works it's way up.."
Alyssa bursts out laughing, still crying but now she's laughing, even as he continues, "I'll be the relief when you run to the bathroom and pull that sucker out. I'll be your first cup of coffee in the morning, your hot shower after a long day, the pillows under your head, the box of tissues you open to dry your eyes or blow your nose, which ever you need them for. I'll never stop loving you, long after I'm no longer here. I promise that I'll love you with every ounce of strength I have left until my very last breath. I will help make those days, feel like years. I will kiss you every chance I get, remind you how beautiful you are everyday, and how grateful I am that you came back into my life when I had given up hope. I couldn't have asked God for a better blessing than being graced to see you and love you again."
There's not a dry eye in the house, everyone is wiping and sniffing, as David nods to the officiant. She finishes up the ceremony, that's followed by a sweet kiss between the two and David asks me to set him back in the chair. Once's he's in the chair, he pulls Alyssa down onto his lap, the officiant picking up Alyssa's dress and tucking it up for her to hold on to as David rolls them down the aisle to the back patio. All of us cheering for them as I join Sarina again.
"Thank you." She kisses my cheek, wiping her eyes.
"For what?" I ask her, playing dumb.
"For giving me the view of my brother standing tall and proud once last time." She says wiping her eyes as fresh tears fill her eyes.