Chapter 71//Â "Kiss me you fool"
"Crescent you look so pretty" Emily clasps her hands together.
"Do you think he'll think it's too much?" I ask.
"Cress if you walked down the isle in you panties, he'd still be looking at you like a lost puppy" Winter smiles wildly.
The women doing my makeup tells me to close my eyes now as she begins on my eyeshades. I felt like a cake, a literal cake with the amount of layers of makeup I am wearing. I had people tugging at my hair, I think by the end of this I would have none of it left.
It took weeks of searching to find the perfect dress, but when we saw it I knew it was the one.
Only winter and Emily were in the room with me, well also along with our stylists.
"Your wedding is going to be amazing Crescent, like something out a fairytale" Emily squeals.
I smile at her, without them this would be nothing, though the tears and tantrums we had all got through it.
The door flies open and in walks Tiffany, her hair all done as well as her makeup. She stood in her dressing gown.
"You have to see the Hall Crescent, it's gorgeous" Tiffany tells me excited.
I'd literally fallen I love with Tiffany; she was the older sister I never had. If it hadn't been for Tiffany this wedding would be nothing. She practically planned the whole thing, every single detail.
I had all my bride's maids in the exact same dress, the sort of matched my wedding dress.
And all my little cousins had come from England, to be my flower girls and Paige boys.
There was a sudden knock at the door. We all look at each other confused.
Tiffany goes to the door to peer at who was there. She gasps as she tried to close the door.
"You're not allowed in here you silly boy" She shouts. One of the stylist runs to the door helping force it closed and latching on the lock.
"No, I need to see her. I'm going to die if I don't see her soon" My soon to be husband howls from the other side of the door.
I giggle out loud.
Tiffany places her back against the door letting out a sigh of relief.
"Your fiancé is insane. A few hours that's all I ask of him, to keep away from you and here he is howling for you like a wolf"
"You know what I was thinking, Crescent is the moon that Elliott howls for" Emily says in her own train of thought.
"Doesn't he realize it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?" The stylist asks in her thick accent.
"Her fiancé is the biggest idiot you'll ever meet" Winter replies to her.
"The dark hair boy, he's very attractive" The other stylist perks up.
I laugh out loud.
"There now you look beautiful" My stylist tells me.
"Dress time" All the girls squeal.
Oh, lord, someone help me.
*
"Do not cry, you'll ruin your makeup" One of the stylist tells Emily who has a tissue pressed up against her eyes when she looks at me.
"Can I open my eyes yet" I sigh.
"Yes" they all say in unison.
I open my heavy eyelids to look in the mirror at someone I've never seen before.
My hair was hidden under a veil expect from a few curled brown strands hanging forward. And connected to my veil was like a sparkly tiara.
Then my face was flawless, the blush standing out and damn girl my highlight though.
My eyes lids had at least as I was told 121 different colors on it and usually, I hated fake eyelashes but these brought out my brown eyes.
My wedding dress was the most stunning thing I had ever seen. It looked like something out a Disney movie. It was a giant, layer upon layer ball gown.
Then the tops half was filled with what looks like little crystals but obviously weren't. It was a heart shape over my breasts as it was strapless.
All the tiny gems from it left rainbows all over the room.
The dress had a long, long train and I adore it.
To finish it off, was me heels that gave me a small amount of height.
I place my hand on the necklace he gave me. People said it didn't go with my dress, but I told them I couldn't live without it.
I turn around when the door flies open and in walks my mom. My real mom.
Her blonde hair was up and curled, her hazel eyes were outlined and her makeup was bold.
"Oh, my little girl looks so pretty" My mom smiles as she comes rushing towards me.
"Mom, get off me" I roll my eyes as she holds my face in her hands.
"You're going to have every boy in the room weak on their knees" She gushes. "And where is that father of yours?"
I shrug my shoulder having not seen him for hours.
That's when she starts crying and Emily runs over handing my mom a tissue.
"You're just growing up so fast and you're going to get married and live happily ever after" She weeps.
"Mom, you still have Daniel, he still acts like a toddler" I rub her shoulder reassuringly.
"I guess you're right" She sighs.
Mom gets ready to leave the room and search for dad.
"Crescent, if you must know, your fiancé is pacing outside this room" Mom hides back a smile.
"Why is he getting cold feet?"
"No, he just can't get married to you soon enough"
*
I stand behind the wall, peeking over at my fiancé.
Every time I look at him he knocks the breath out of me. How could God have even created such a gorgeous human being? Like seriously.
"You always say he looks hot in a black suit but damn that boy is smoking hot right now" Winter tells me.
I was shaking and my heart was jumping out my chest, I didn't think this day would come so soon. Our wedding day.
My soon to be husband was pushing me to make the wedding earlier, but I wanted a February wedding and that is what we have now.
Most people were standing in the room before the large hall when I say that I was hiding as no one was supposed to see the bride yet.
I take another glance over at him, and I see the expression on his face. He was shitting himself.
Daniel had his hands on my fiancé's shoulder as he was fixing his of his white outfit. I could tell that Daniel was trying to reassure him.
They standing by the door waiting for their cue to enter and soon the big hall door swing open and the music blazes through the main corridor.
I watch them go inside as he takes one final deep breath, his blue eyes focused ahead of him.
First to enter was my mother as she enters the big hall.
Next were the groomsmen, no 3 guesses needed to know who they were.
Carter, Aiden, Alec, Conner, and Jack were the next ones to walks down the aisle.
Daniel; the best man enter with the groom and his parents hot on his tail.
"That's our cue" Emily flutters as my bridesmaids get ready to be the next ones to enter the halls.
Finally, it was the little flower girls and Paige boys, aw bless them.
And finally the bride.
That was me.
Dad comes in front of me, a big smile light up on my face when I see him. And here I was thinking he was going to make me go down there alone.
"You're a bit late" I raise an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't let my only daughter walk down the isle alone now would I" He laughs huskily, giving me his arm. I take it holding on tightly.
"Don't let me go dad" I warn him as he chuckles lightly from beside me.
"I think you're soon to be husband would kill me if I hurt a hair on your head"
The grand doors open for us to enter the white wonderland
The door opens the wind blows my veil back slightly, I bite on my lip as we slowly decedent forward.
My breaths were coming out sharp and short, people glance over at me. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone.
Tiffany had really outdone herself as it was decorated to all look very white, white roses, white table. White dress.
I take each step carefully as the music blazes through my ears, but I ignore everything as I look out for the groom.
We round a corner and I look up to see the person standing at the bottom of the isle.
A boy with dark hair and glowing blue eyes. We had these super sharp cheekbones and this killer smile that made you melt on the inside.
Well, he looks dashing in his white suit.
His face lights up when he sees me and his mouth also hangs open.
"Damn" He mouths in my direction, biting his lip and giving me a cheeky wink. I look down for a moment blushing.
I look around and see all the guests looking at me adoringly. My mom sits at the front on the left side, while Elliott's parents sat on the opposite side.
Daniel was near the groom holding on the rings and all the boys were also in the front row.
In the second row sat Aribella and my godmother Abbie, both smiling in my direction. Aribella gives me thumbs up of encouragement. I also catch a glance of Elliott's half brother and Ryan who decided to show up.
And my eyes land back on the groom, his eyes focus on me as I walk down the isle, I don't know if I should smile or cry so now I'm doing both.
I see the smile on his lips quiver and he turns around, getting all teared up.
Oh, Elliott.
"Fucking hell" Elliott wipes a tear away from his eye.
"We do not swear in the ceremony," The priest says.
"Sorry man, she's just too damn gorgeous" Elliott pats the priest on the back. The priest looked at him startled.
I squeeze the flowers tighter in my hand. I laugh at Elliott being and idiot as per usual.
My dad lets go of my arm as I get up to the altar and stand in front of Elliott.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presences of the witnesses, to join Elliott Grayson and Crescent Dawson..."
I hear him drone on but all I can do is stare at Elliott.
The thing was we were both trying not to laugh, his lip quirked up at the corners and I was squeezing my chest forcing myself trying to stop bursting into giggles.
Eventually, we both calm it down as Elliott looks at me with all the love in the world.
"Will you Elliott Grayson take this gorgeous woman to be your lovely wedded wife"
I look at Elliott as I put his hand on his cheek and thinks for a moment.
"I will" Elliott beams, looking at me with those dark blue eyes, the corners of his eyes creased because his smile was so big.
"And will you Crescent Bay Dawson take this man to be your lovely wedded husband"
My cheeks were aching from all the smiling.
"I will"
"We are at the part of the ceremony where you can now exchange your wedding vows"
"A, E, I, O, U" Elliott say out loud.
"Oh god Elliott do you take anything seriously' I grin.
"Sometimes...Why?" Elliot smirks.
I swallow hard and look at Daniel, he rushes forward holding a piece of paper.
"Elliott told me he wanted to write some of my vows for me so here they are. I haven't read these yet so I'm a tad bit worried" I say out loud.
A laughter runs through the crowd.
I look at the paper for the first time. Elliott's handwriting sprawled all over it.
"To my damn sexy husband..." I begin and everyone was laughing.
"...I know I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be getting married to such a gorgeous human bring that's a solid 11. I Crescent, promise to be the one to protect you from spiders as long as we live. I will kiss your paper cuts...I can't say the next bit Elliott"
"Say it" Someone hoots from the crowd, I look up and see Carter.
"You need to say it Dawson" Elliott smirks slyly.
"I swear to always have lots of sex with you and never give up on foreplay and finally I promise to no longer wear panties or a bra around the apartment"
Everyone was laughing really badly as was I.
I scrunch up the paper and chuck it in Daniel's direction.
It was my turn now.
"I guess we can say that we started off on the wrong foot Elliott because I bloody hated you when we were kids. Nw I'm only ever going to say this once but Elliott Grayson you are the most beautiful human being I have ever come across. Not only that but you made me laugh even when I'm angry with you.
"It doesn't matter what happened in the past all I know is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
Elliott gives me a wink before going on to his vows.
"Dawson from the moment we crossed paths, you captivated me. You challenged me in a way no human has ever done before. I keep falling in love with you again and again. Today I can't believe that I get to marry you"
He uses the back of his hand to wipe away the tears from his glassy blue eyes as he continues.
"I promise to love you forever, I will promise to remind you how damn sexy you are. To piss you off and challenge you and to share every moment of the rest of my life with you and hopefully, on an odd occasion you'll let me win and argument"
The side of his eyes wrinkles as he smile at me, while I laugh through my tears
"No matter what stupid think things I do to ruin our lives or the amount of time that has passed. I already know that our love will never fade. You are my strength, my heart my everything, and I know you'll get rid me no matter what crazy shit I do.
"Crescent Bay Dawson I will always love you, with every beat of my heart. And I've told you this before, but I want us to live as long as we can, but see when you die, I hope to live one day less than you so I will never spend another moment without you. And then when you die, I'll be at the other side of the stars waiting for you"
"May I have the rings? " The priest asks.
Daniel stumbles onto the altar, making a fool of himself.
I gently slide the ring onto Elliott's hand as he does the same for me.
"By the power invested in me, I pronounce you man and wife, may now kiss"
Elliott grabs my arm to pull me close to him, He places his face close to me, still not kissing me.
"We're married Dawson, your ass is mine now" He tells me taking his bittersweet time.
"Kiss me you fool"
And he does just that.
The kiss was insane as if we couldn't breathe without each other. It was obvious we had forgotten about everyone around us. My fingertips dance in his dark hair. I was living and breathing Elliott.
Elliott removes his lips from mine, while I get ready to protest.
"Come on Dawson, you need to leave some for the bedroom" Elliott whispers in my ear so no one else can hear.
I hear everyone applauding. Daniel still had his hands covering my little cousin's eyes. One hand on each of their faces, as my brother, smiles in our direction, truly happy for us.
*
Daniel stands up, oh god he was going to be giving his speech.
"Well I'd like to start off by saying Elliott, you'll be leaving here with the most gorgeous girl, and obviously she's gorgeous, cause she's my twin and we look alike, therefore I'm gorgeous too. You will leave here with a loving and caring bride. And sis your so lucky cause you'll be leaving here today with a dress and a bouquet of flowers "
A laughter rattles through the crowd.
"In all seriousness, I need to give two speeches here today. Loyal, caring, sincere, and honest... but that's enough about me because am going to start off with my best man speech now"
Elliott chokes beside me and everyone was doubling up in laughter. He's not that funny.
"Elliott Grayson, you're finally married. Heck, I thought it was just going to be us two getting married someday. But I'm happy for you. You still need to go out and get wasted at the weekend. You know you still need to pick up birds for me"
"Today, not only are you finally admitting that I'm the best man but also my best friend has become my brother. I still see you as my best pal, who has a guilty pleasure in Disney movies. I still see you as the little guy, I hung out with in elementary school, where we thought having our jeans low, was cool or getting a buzz cut was sexy. When I had no one, I knew I had you Elliott, and I have spent every ridiculous moment of my life I have spent with you and I hope to spend the rest of my stupid life with this idiot. There is no life without you, I love you bro"
"Fuck sakes why does have to be so emotional" Elliott rubs his eyes, not wanting to be seen crying again.
"Now Crescent I have something special for you because you don't just have one big brother. You know you have 5"
I look at Daniel, with a very confused expression.
Daniel whips a hat out from behind him and runs to an empty space in the hall, where there were no tables filled with food.
Also standing there was Alec, Aiden, Conner, and Carter. They all put caps on backward and a pair of sunglasses.
Music starts playing in the background, a tune that I didn't recognize. But I was starting to understand what they were going, they were going to start rapping.
"Crescent you were an ugly little girl who hated Elliott Grayson"
I look at them stunned, I can't believe they were doing this. Actually, I don't think anyone in the room can believe it.
"You've dated most of your brother's friends, 3 to be exact. And here you are marrying the second one"
I can barely hear what they are saying as I double over laughing so hard at the sight of them, the continue to say my most embarrassing secrets.
Everyone stands up in applause when it's over and all the boys bow down dropping their caps.
*
Elliott and I both hold the knife in our hand together.
"Watch it their Elliott she might stab you ?" Carter laughs from beside Elliott.
We both slide the knife down into the gigantic wedding cake.
I take the first slice we cut and gently bring it closer to his mouth. Then suddenly I change direction and the cake hits him square on the nose spraying everywhere.
"Dawson you've broken my nose" He groans. I hear Winter cheer for me in the crowd.
Elliott cuts the next slice of cake and looks at me devilishly, I put my hands over my face.
And the cake drops down my dress and into my boobs.
"Elliott" I gasp.
"Don't worry Dawson I can lick it off"
I dig into my dress, taking out a chunk off cake throwing it at him.
Daniel gets between us to stop us from throwing more precious food, but at the same time, Elliott and I are throwing cake at each other so Daniel is unfortunately covered.
Daniel wipes some cake away from his eyes. "Now I know what they mean when they say not to get in the middle of a couple arguing"
"Sorry bro" Elliott chuckles, taking some cake off Daniel's face and putting it in his mouth. "Damn Cress this cake is nearly as sweet as you"
Please cue the eye roll that goes along with that sentence.
*
"How convenient is it that Winter and Daniel were the maid of honor and the best man?" Elliott smiles happily with himself.
"Very convenient, almost like we planned it" I laugh. Elliott and my hand were clasped together as we both slow danced to the music.
"Dawson..." He begins but I cut him off.
"You can't call me Dawson anymore that's not my name anymore,"I tell him. He looks at me surprised.
"I can call you whatever I want, even if I wanted to call you honey bunny and for your information, you will always be Dawson to me"
"It's surreal that we're married," I say as Elliott spins me around gracefully.
"I'll show you what surreal is on our honeymoon" He winks at me.
"Hmm, how long till that?"I ask Elliott.
"Just another 2 hours of me keeping my hands off you"
"Elliott, I'm not going to do anything with you in the taxi" I sigh.
"We'll see" He says playfully.
"You so annoying" I push him playfully.
"But you love me" He grabs my wrists.
"More than you believe"
***
My heart thumps out my chest as I wake up in the dark room alone.
Where did everything go and then I look around me?
It was only a dream; my eyes begin to water as I realize that that will never happen for Elliott and me, as Elliott dies 11 moths ago.
I curse myself from waking up from the dream. I curse myself for even imagining the dream. Now my heart was going to ache even more.
Until I realize there was something crying in the background. It was a sharp screaming sound, that rang through my ears painfully.
I force myself out of bed, to the crib.
I reach down to pick up the tiny bundle of life, it's chubby face all scrunched up as it's screaming ran through the house.
I look at his tiny gorgeous face for a long moment,
I run my hand over his dark hair hushing my little boy. His hair was exactly the same shade as mine, which was only a shade lighter than Elliott's anyway.
I place his small body against my chest as I support his head and his back.
I try and hush him, while rocking my body with his.
"Please stop crying" I hush him, feeling tears in my eyes. At moments like this in the night I felt more alone than ever. Everyone thinks I will move on. That I'll be okay, but the pain was still as raw as it was 11 moths ago.
Because we never get over losing someone, we just endure every day at a time. Slowly and painfully.
I felt myself tearing up as well as my baby.
"Hush River" I coo him.
No I needed to pull myself together.
I lie him on my bed as I rub his back and in a matter of seconds, he's stopped.
Oh lord, it was only 11 pm
"Who's my gorgeous boy?" I ask him wiping away his silly tears. He doesn't say anything, obviously causes he can't, and just looks at me.
I feel a pang in my heart at the sight of him.
He had Elliott's deep ocean blue eyes. It sometimes terrified me to look at my little boy, because I could see Elliott's feature in his whole face.
Our child, River Grayson.
Usually, if River was crying at this time of the night Daniel would come to him.
Oh, Daniel adored River. In a way, this child was the only thing keeping Daniel and I going?
I lift River back up as I peer into Daniel's room, it was empty. I crease my eyebrows.
Where could he be?
I walk down the stairs and put the kettle on, it's not like River was going to let me get any more sleep.
A sudden thump comes from the hallway.
Holding River, I walk into the corridor to see who was there.
"Daniel" I call, no reply.
I see him in the hallway he turns to look at me his brown eyes glassy.
I gasp when I see the sight of him, I was so shocked I nearly drop River, my baby starts crying in my arms noting my sudden shock.
Daniel's hands were dripping with blood.
"Daniel your bleeding" I cry but he shakes his head when I rush to him.
"It's not mine Cress, it's Ryan's"
"Did you kill him?"I whisper unable to understand what's going on. Terror runs through my body as River cries even harder.
He looks at me for a long moment.
"He got in a fight with me, it was self-defense. He threatened you both"
"Then we'll hide the body," I say without thinking of any consequence. I just lost Elliott I can't loose Daniel too. No.
"NO Cress, I called the police they're on their way" And I see the blue and red lights flash through the neighborhood.