Perfection

The next morning, as I walked down to the kitchen halfway hung over, I found Stella making breakfast. I groggily took a seat at the dinner table and watched her.

She brought over a plate of pancakes and quietly started eating; never once casting her gaze my way. I got up and fixed myself a plate of her delicious pancakes and returned to my seat. To say the least, it was the most awkward meal I’d ever had. Neither of us looked up from our food, nor did we say a word.

Stella was the first to get up, she went over to the sink and began washing the dishes. I called to her from across the room, “Stella, I can’t stand you like this. Would you please talk to me?”

I heard her sigh as she rinsed off her hands and came over to me, “What’s there to talk about? I got a little drunk and made a stupid mistake. That’s it.” She started to head back to the dishes when I caught her arm.

“If that’s all it is, why are you avoiding me?”

Stella stared at the floor, thinking over her response. “Listen, I’m sorry Raven. It’s just that you’ve always been there for me, and it’s so hard not to like you. I’ve always found you really attractive and I know that you love Andrew, but I love you too. I think I might love you more than just as a friend. Last night I was stupid, I knew better than to kiss you, but I just wanted to know what it was like. So I could understand the feelings I have for you. Now all I feel is guilt.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to her. I would have never guessed Stella had romantic feelings about me. Suddenly, as if my hand was out of my own control, I tilted her face up to mine and softly pressed my lips to hers. It was only for a brief second, but I knew she was kissing me back.

She jerked away from me, looking puzzled. I grabbed her hands, “What do you think now?”

Her eyes began to bounce around my face, a shocked look still on her face. She finally relaxed, “It didn’t feel right. Not like it had last night.”

I pulled her to me in a light hug, “I love you Stella, I always will. Andrew has my heart though, we were meant to be together. You will always be my best friend, I won’t let a kiss between us ruin the years we’ve shared together.”

I stepped back, looking at her beautiful face as she smiled at me, “I won’t either. I promise.”

After that morning, thing between us went normally. Life whizzed by without any significant changes. I finally found myself, the day of my wedding, pacing nervously around. I was so glad to have Stella there to help me settle down.

We had rented the park for the evening, and invited only a few of our good friends. Rent and his son Allen, Stella’s foster dad, and Andrew’s dad. When we got to the park, I saw my mom there. Panic washed over me as horrible thoughts of her ruining my big day crashed into my mind.

I went over to her and asked her nicely what she was doing there. She looked a little taken aback.

“Raven, I’m sorry for how I reacted. I know I must have hurt you, but I just don’t know what came over me. You are my only son, and I guess I never expected you to be gay. I’ve had time to think about this, and even though I don’t like the idea, I am going to support you. Only if you will accept my apology, of course.”

I couldn’t help but cast the biggest smile at her, “Of course I do, mom. I’m so glad you came today.” I gave her a tight squeeze and then headed to the altar for the ceremony to begin.

Andrew was first to go with his written vows.

“Raven Jay Greymane, our miracle lies in the path we have chosen together. I enter into this marriage with you, knowing that the true magic of love is not to avoid changes, but to navigate them successfully. Let us commit to the miracle of making each day work together. Respecting each other, we commit to live our lives together for all the days to come. I ask you to share this world with me, for good and ill. Be my partner, and I will be yours.”

He slipped the ring on my shaking hand. Tears threatening both of our eyes.

After that, it was time for my wedding vows.

“From this day on, I choose you, Andrew Dean Lyngs, to be my husband. To live with you and laugh with you, to stand by your side and sleep in your arms. To be the joy to your heart and the food for your soul. To bring out the best in you always, and, for you, to be the most that I can. I promise to laugh with you in good times, to struggle with you in bad; to solace you when you are downhearted; to wipe your tears with my hands and to comfort you with my body. To mirror you with my soul and to share with you all my riches and honors. To play with you as much as I can until we grow old; and, still loving each other sweetly and gladly, until lives come to an end.”

I wiped away the tear sliding down his rosy cheeks. Then I placed the ring on his trembling finger.

Everyone began to clap. We stood there, lost in the eyes of each other. Tears lined our cheeks, yet we tried so hard to hold them back. It was hard not to cry when your emotions are running on the highest setting. To stand there, with the one you love, knowing not what was happening in the world, but what was happening between the two of you at that very moment.

Andrew grabbed me and wrapped his strong arms around me. We shared the first kiss as Husband and Husband. It was magical, and I would have stopped the world right at that very second if I could.

After the ceremony, we all made our way to the other side of the park for some food. The cake we ordered had somehow gotten ruined that morning, but the bakery gave us a hundred free cookies and a full refund. It wasn’t how we had planned it, but it was still perfect. It matched our imperfect life.

Stella sat next to me at on of the tables. She seemed happy, but her face showed an ounce of sadness. She knew that I would never love her as much as I loved Andrew, and I think she was having a hard time dealing with that. She never said anything to me about it, she just laughed and put on a happy face for everyone; mostly for me though.

After the reception was over, Andrew surprised me with a honeymoon to France. We had to hurry to catch our midnight fight, I was excited, I knew he had something planned, but I would never have guess we would be going all the way to France.

It was an all night flight there, and we slept the whole way. As we arrived, the day there had just begun, so we went out to explore the vast country of beauty.

We visited the artifact museum first, it was hard to focus on the exhibits due to Andrew’s constant flirtatious notions.

We decided to go somewhere a bit more private afterwards. I wanted to do a little fishing, but it turned out that Andrew didn’t like fish, or the idea of a sharp hook going through their cheek and I reeled it in. He sat on the ground and threw a huge baby fit until I quit. I wasn’t too pleased with his babyish antics, but my love for him ran deep, and a little fit wasn’t going to crush my feelings for him.

Andrew wanted to go see the butterfly emporium. They had a large enclosed area where you could see the butterflies up close. It was a fun little trip, until we found out that Andrew was deathly afraid of butterflies.

“I.. I just had never been so close to them before.” Andrew had whimpered after being ‘attacked’ by the ‘evil’ butterflies.

We went into town to get ourselves some expensive, but delicious, fine French dinner. We sat at a shaded table near a small stone stage. After eating, I realized that it was the same stage that my father had once played a concert at. I pointed it out to Andrew, he thought it was awesome, turns out, he used to be a huge fan of my dad’s music.

After the dinner, we explored around a little bit more. Eventually the sun started setting, and we retired to the backyard of the small Inn we were staying at. There was a fire pit there and we roasted some hotdogs and marshmallows while talking about ourselves.

After we ate, Andrew suggested we play twenty questions with each other. It was a fun way to find out little details we had never thought, or cared, to ask before.

It was super cute watching Andrew think up his questions to ask. I just said the first thing that came to mind, but he took time to really think about what he wanted to ask.

As night covered the once beautiful sky, we decided to head up to our room to spend the night consummating our marriage. I was beyond nervous. We had chosen to wait until we married before being intimate, but now that we were, I was overcome with anxiety. I didn’t know what was going to happen, I just had to trust Andrew.

Once we got to the room, and crawled into bed, Andrew looked at my face. I’m sure he could tell I was worried, he grabbed my hand and asked if I was sure I was ready. I nodded at him, and he leaned over me, kissing me passionately.

 

I don’t want to go into too much detail about our love-making, but I will say Andrew was a great partner. He was slow and gentle and would stop whenever I asked. It was weird at first, but I soon took to it and knew that over time I would come to love our unique style of being intimate. I couldn’t learn it all in one night, and I anticipated future encounters.

With time it would become natural for us both, but we enjoyed the first time spark that still lingered over us.

The next day, we went to an old mining cave that I had heard about. It was open for the public and had been set up to be sort of like a museum. There were things set up for you to do inside. Being the fitness buff I was, I had to try my hand at mining.

Andrew stood by, cheering me on the whole time. After that, we walked around looking at points of interest within the cave. We came across a stone plate with a heart carved into it. There was a plaque nearby that stated the heart would light up when someone who was truly in love placed their hands over it.

Andrew urged me to try it. I was nervous, what if it didn’t light up? I put one hand over the heart. Nothing happened. I raised my second hand and placed it over the heart, closing my eyes as I did so.

I heard Andrew squeal with excitement, opening my eyes, I found myself bathed in magnificent blue light. I couldn’t tell where the light was coming from, it couldn’t have been staged, there was no way the solid rock could have light shining through it. It must have really been a magic rock. It was right though, I was truly in love with my soul mate, Andrew.

We finished the rest of the mining cave tour and headed out to the lake. From there, we had a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. It may have been hundreds of miles away, but we could clearly make it out. We had a picnic dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching the sun disperse over the water.

We arrived home the next day after catching out midnight flight. We had only a few souvenirs but made thousands of memories. It was a wonderful honeymoon, and I hoped the rest of our lives together would go just as perfectly.

Wanna know more about this chapter or see more photos? Click to see the Bonus Stuff!

If not, the go ahead and read Chapter Six: Baby Time.