Stumbling back home I flop onto the couch and stare blankly my open door.
I faintly remember the scramble of rushing back to the dorms to get my documents before heading over to the government building.
We were nervously waiting in long for so long, and from the looks on his and mine faces, I'm sure that everyone there at the office could tell that we were nervous, and maybe even hesitant to go through with the process.
I stare up into the ceiling for a while, enchanted by the plain white sight in front of me. My world seems to have slowed down and I feel as if I've been walking in slow motion for the entire day.
I'm married.
Married to a random man I met a week ago.
I'm too tired to even have much reaction to that revelation other than a oh!
I check my phone to see when Kacey will be coming back. She's sent me a text saying that she'll be staying at Reese's place for the night.
I'm disappointed, I was hoping that I could tell her about the crazy thing that I just did it.
But on second thought, I'm glad I don't have to relive the day right now. I'm tired and feel like just sleeping all these overwhelming emotions off before talking to anyone.
I don't regret my decision to marry Ryden, but I didn't take a lot of things into consideration. For instance, my parents. They'd freak out on e they find out their only child married a man she'd only met recently.
Or school, and my living situation. Or the fact that much of our finances and accounts now might be tied to each other by name.
The more I think about it the more I realize how drastic of a change my life is about to go through.
I throw on some silk pajamas and flop onto my bed. Looking at Kacey's text I smile bitterly. It must be nice to have someone sleep next to you at night.
I'm married yet my husband isn't even sleeping next to me. Oh well, we're going out with each other soon again and then we'll go back to his place for dinner. I'll see if I can maybe stay there the night.
I know its rash to ask for a sleepover the second date, but I don't care. I just married a man the first date in, I can do anything I want.
My eyes start drooping and I don't bother fighting the sleepy feeling that overwhelms me. My last thought before I drift to sleep is nowhere near as romantic as I hoped it would have been.
I forgot to brush my fucking teeth.
And then I knock out cold.
I'm woken by rapid knocks on my door. I roll over and bury my face in the pillow, my mind wanders back into my blurry dream.
The knocks get more urgent and somewhere in my dreamscape a woodpecker starts to peck at an old tree in the background.
I'm suddenly met with a cold wind as my blankets are unceremoniously yanked off of me.
I curl into a ball and shiver trying to grab my blanket more. My barely functioning mind is rearing from the abrupt awakening and my mood plummets.
"Lacie what the hell is wrong with you?!" she shouts at me.
"What do you mean? What's wrong with you? I was sleeping!" I snap back, still extremely annoyed.
She takes in a deep breath and looks at me as if shes seeing me for the first time.
"Is it true?"
"What?" I ask defensively.
"This!" She waves her phone in front of my face. I catch a glimpse of Ryden's profile with a new post on it announcing his marriage. I blink at it in surprise.
Ryden told me he'd be posting something about it, but I thought he meant some time next month, not this soon.
"Yeah its true." I say, confused at why shes so mad.
"And you didn't tell me??"
"Well you were with Reese so I thought-"
"Thought what? That you wouldn't want to bother me?"
"Yeah..." I trail off.
"Well then you thought wrong." she snarls, "I would much rather have my best friend call me during my date and give me a heads up that she just fucking married someone rather than having to find out about it through other people!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about that." I say guilty. But still, I'm not sure why she's so mad.
"No, you clearly didn't or you wouldn't have married someone and set my circle off on fire when my wedding is four days away. Reese and I have been preparing for this for so long, and now people are going to treat it as a way to gossip about Ryden and his new wife."
I'm stunned, I didn't even think about that. There really are only four days left before her wedding. She's been planning it for so long that I didn't realize time was passing so fast.
And now, all of her guests which were mainly family friends who definitely know Ryden will have heard that just four days before her wedding, her friend got married without any preparation or wedding.
I feel my heart fall down into my stomach. I know that huge weddings are not my thing, but I also know how much this wedding meant to Kacey. It might not seem like a lot to other people for me to steal a bit of the spotlight from her big day. But its her big day and what I've done is made it just her big day and Ryden's day.
"Kacey I'm so sorry, I don't even know what to say. I really didn't mean for this to happen, I can't say anything to make you feel better but please...I'm so sorry."
I step towards her and hug her, she stands there stiffly, not making any move to return the gesture, "Please, I know you're angry. But I'm so so sorry." I whisper into her shoulder.
I know I can't tell her to stop being angry or to forgive me so quickly, but I just want some form of acknowledgment from her that this isn't something that will ruin the friendship that we've built over the last two years.
I let go of Kacey and look at her face. She looks at me with a stony expression before saying, "Make sure to keep the guests in check during my wedding. I don't want to hear any more new rumors about you two floating at my wedding."
"I can still go to your wedding?"
She looks at me with a have you gone mad? expression.
"You don't have to." she says simply. Her tone makes it very clear that if do not attend her wedding, her anger right now will not compare to how she'll react then.
Kacey turns around and leaves me feeling much more miserable than when I woke up. Thinking about what a huge mistake I've just made, I pull out my phone to text my partner in crime about the situation.
__
Its night time now and Reese, Kacey, and Ryden, my new fledged husband are sitting silently around the kitchen table.
After telling Ryden about our accidental ruining of Kacey's plans, Ryden seems to blame himself more for the mistake than me. He says its because of his post, but I just tell him we're both equally at fault for forgetting about the timing of our marriage. But that wasn't something we could help, it was a rushed thing and I'm sure that I would have backed out of it if I had another day to think about it.
After he responded to me he asked for Reese's contact information. Soon after that I was added to a group call with Ryden and Reese where the three of us tried to think of ways to calm Kacey down.
And so, at 6 PM two uninvited guests showed up at a sulking Kacey's door with every single kind of snack and food item that she liked. Ryden had also brought a wine and a few beers, he'd been planning on bringing more but Reese had asked Ryden to hold back on the alcohol because he didn't want Kacey getting too drunk and doing something stupid days before their wedding.
I remember that one time drunk Kacey had shaved off her eyebrows and silently agree with Reese's decision.
Now we're sitting around and silently eating. Kacey's grumpy expression had lightened and now she just calmly eats everything on her plate.
"So Ryden." she says through a bite.
Ryden looks up at her.
"Did you marry Lacie because of the stupid paper that Sophia wrote?"
Ryden's face of surprise makes Kacey scoff, "I swear to god you're so fucking dumb sometimes. Use your brain for things outside of your professional life."
Reese laughs and Kacey shoots him a glance, making him go silent at once.
"So why'd you marry her?"
I open my mouth to say something to her but she shushes me before I can even make a single sound.
"Because we wanted to get married." Ryden says calmly, staying surprisingly level headed despite Kacey's interrogating tone.
"Hmm." she looks at Ryden, trying to assess his expression. Throwing her fork down onto her plate, she leans back and sighs.
"Whatever, I don't care. Just make sure you never make her cry or I'll end you."
My tense shoulders relax and I break into a smile. I try to catch Kacey's eye and she rolls them at me before sticking her tongue out.
"I want to go try on a few different types of wedding makeup. Kacey come with me. You two," she points at the two men, "get out."
Reese gets up and gives Kacey a kiss on the lips before turning the leave. Ryden gets up and we look at each other awkwardly for a second.
ls he expecting us to kiss good bye too? I lick my lips nervously, I really am not ready for this.
Ryden approaches me and wraps his broad arms around me, I can feel his heart gently beating in his warm and strong body.
"See you tomorrow." he says to me in a low voice.
He leaves me standing there like a stone statue. I can almost still feel his heart beat against my chest.
"Ugh, disgusting!" Kacey says and turns into her room, slamming her door behind her. But I swear I can catch a smirk on her face right before the door shuts tightly.