Pop - Ch.15

http://youtu.be/qFDaN7_ilPo

                “Max the crowd is wild here tonight. I wish you were here!” yelled Alekk through the phone. The minute after he proposed to me it was as if new doors had opened. A new spontaneous Alekk had emerged, suddenly wanting to get back into his music career. Of course the record company he was with previously welcomed him back with open arms, agreeing to work on a tour as soon as possible. And that’s where Alekk was, on his tour, eating up the positivity from his fans like candy.

                “I miss you Max,” he said. I could literally hear him smiling through the phone. I could sense the magnitude of people in the background. He hadn’t lost his touch, it seemed. Their impatience was obvious.

                “I miss you too, Alekk.”

                “Hey, how’s Everett?”

                “Oh,” I sighed, looking on as my toddler sprinted madly across the living room, “he’s just getting into all sorts of things. I’m surprised he hasn’t broken any of your nice lamps yet.”

                A silence resonated itself through the phone. I was beginning to worry that Alekk regretted me moving into his house again. Until I heard his unmistakable laugh.

                “Those things?” breathed Alekk, “I don’t think there was a single year that Niv was graceful enough not to break both of them by the end of the summer. It’s only natural that his son would be doing the same thing. In fact, I think he broke one while you were out on your little dates.”

                The air around me seemed to envelope me in warmth at the mention of Niv. I still missed him enormously, but it encouraged me to know that he was probably happy that I had finally moved on, and with someone who knew me and loved Everett as much as I did. I had been asked every now and then about whether I believed Niv’s presence was still among us. And I would reply “yes.” The hope that the blue-eyed father of my child maintained was still apparent throughout the life that I lived now. His compassion, patience, and unselfish behavior had manifested itself upon Alekk and myself.

                “I wish you were home, Alekk.” I said, realizing how alone I felt. True, Everett was here with me, but it was nothing like having Alekk around and having someone equal intellectually to talk to. I knew Alekk would be touring for the rest of the year. We planned to have our wedding on Valentine’s day, but to be honest I didn’t think I could wait that long. I don’t think I could even wait for New Year’s when his touring would be over.

                So it took me slightly by surprise when Alekk seemed to somehow read my mind.

                “February is a long ways from now,” groaned Alekk in annoyance. Background noises dimmed as I heard a door being shut. Warmth flooded my cheeks. I knew most of his band members were of the male variety, so it was nice to know that Alekk did this small gesture just for me. Just so we could have time together amidst all the chaos.

                “I agree,” I breathed, “and when you get back in January we’ll only have a month to finalize the wedding plans. I just wish we had more time. I wish we didn’t have to wait so long. I miss you.”

                “God, I miss you too,” Alekk simply replied in an exhale. I could almost feel his warm breath against my ear. It was like he was standing right there. I closed my eyes and imagined him at my side, a gentle smile playing at his lips, strands of his silvery blonde hair falling into his handsome face. I missed him so much it hurt.

                The sun was starting to set, ending another beautiful day that brought us closer to the cusp of fall. The silence was cut off by Alekk’s suddenly optimistic tone.

                “So, what have you got so far? I mean, as far as the wedding planning goes.”

                His optimism instantly rubbed off on me. An embarrassingly huge smile swept across my face.

                “Well, the rings came in yesterday and the dress shop called me today to say that my dress is all tailored and ready to go. Small steps, but Alekk. The rings. They’re so beautiful! I should definitely trust your taste more often.”

                “Speaking of trust…,” mumbled Alekk, trailing off at the end. Uh-oh. Where was he going with this? My mind instantly fled to the thought of Alekk giving flirty glances to whatever girls were at his presence. It was an extreme thought, but my mind went there nonetheless. It took me seconds however to realize that Alekk wasn’t the type. I trusted him with all my being.

                “Spit it out,” I said impatiently, anyways. While I doubted Alekk would ever cheat on me, it was definitely certain that he was good at dragging things out longer than necessary.

                “Tell me if I’m incorrect, but I believe this was the last week in shooting that movie of yours, wasn’t it?”

                “Yes,” I said blankly. I still had no idea where Alekk was going with this, so I just let him continue on.

                “And really, with the dress and the rings, the timing is just perfect. We had a little scheduling mishap over here, and so now I’m about to board a flight to Las Vegas while Miles puts some finishing touches on a new tour bus I just happened to buy. You see, I can’t deal with you and Everett not being by my side. The tour bus is for us – I even have everything set up for Everett. So Maxine, would you and your son please hop on my private jet as soon as possible? I mean what I say when I say that I really can’t wait until February, or even January for that matter. I want to marry you tomorrow, Maxine. Let’s just go for it. The whole time we’ve been together nothing has been planned, so I think it’s odd anyhow that our wedding should be.”

                My heart thudded against my chest. I could be married tomorrow. Could that really be possible? The thought of it all seemed so surreal to me. Adrenaline pumped through my veins at the thought of just being able to see Alekk tomorrow, and then the slight feel of rebellion as I pictured myself getting married tomorrow to him. I could see the media now, struggling to print up a magazine article as fast as they could about how the famous star couple rudely forgot to mention about their last-minute ceremony to the entire world.

                I had forgotten what I said in reply to Alekk, but I knew it would satisfy him positively as I ended the call and searched frantically around the house for anything and everything I needed. I laughed to myself as I suddenly didn’t care about what the media world thought of me and Alekk. This was the life Alekk and I were always going to live: scary, romantic, and unpredictable. I made about a dozen phone calls before searching the house one last time. This was it! I was going to be married tomorrow. I was going to be a Weston.

                Tomorrow afternoon found me in a small dress shop in Las Vegas that the owner gladly opened for me and me only. Well, besides the dress tailor that called me just yesterday, confirming that my dress was done. No matter how many times I went anywhere, I still wasn’t entirely aware of my celebrity status. Bodyguards stood outside of every entrance. Hence the small, non-generic dress shop tucked away in a neighborhood that was hardly busy.

                I slipped into the gown, loving the cool feel of silk as it slid and contoured to my body. Almost. I exhaled sharply in frustration and disappointment. I fixed the slip, and shifted the dress to line up to where it would have lined up perfectly with my body. And still nothing. Before the dress had been tailored, it was clear that it needed to be down-sized. But now that I stood there, trying to get the dress to fit, it was clear that now the dress was slightly too small for me.

                The dress tailor came in shortly, followed by a few of her assistants.

                “Well. Your chest certainly fills the dress out better. What did you do? Visit the Dr. Silicone like all of the other famous people? You could have at least consulted me first.”

                “NO…” I stressed, my eyes wide with panic. I looked around the small white room I stood in as if the walls could help me somehow. My dress. My dress – that I needed today! – didn’t fit. This was such horrible timing. The rest of my thoughts were beginning to slip off the edge of being rational. What if the wedding wasn’t meant to be today? How was I supposed to travel on a bus with Everett being so little? And then suddenly the solution, or better yet the reason, came to me.

                “I had chocolate chip pancakes this morning. That should be the reason.”

                Problem solved. Stress was no longer in my mind. Those darn carbs. They always made me bloated. I smiled at the tailor, who seemed to look permanently disappointed. She tugged at the zipper, testing to see how far it could go up. It went halfway up my back before halting to a stop. I made a mental note to take a hard run after this was over.

                “Chocolate chip pancakes. Probably should carefully watch what you eat for the rest of the day. No salt, no carbs, and only water when needed.”

Chocolate chip pancakes, I almost laughed to myself. I usually hated those things. The only reason I made them was because Alekk liked them. They were his favorite, and for some reason they just sounded really good today. I was so ridiculous. Of course today would be the day that I would try those darn things that would disallow me from fitting into my dress this morning. I laughed out loud lightly, but was cut off as certain words caused panic to hit me like a brick once more. I quickly grabbed for a chair, and sat myself down in it.

Alekk’s favorite. Chocolate chip pancakes. Why did I all of the sudden like them now? I remembered from this morning that I had practically tied Alekk in his record of eating five of the cakes. I remembered the look of shock that played across his facial features as I not only ate his favorite breakfast with him, but also drenched it in copious amounts of syrup.

The tailor’s words and my thoughts suddenly mixed together. It wouldn’t have been the first time since I was this surprised. My mind instantly shifted to Everett.

                “You look so beautiful.”

                My cheeks blushed a deep red at the sound of his perfectly velvet voice and the feeling he evoked. Those phone calls didn’t do his voice justice. I opened my eyes finally and drank up the tall, confident, handsome man standing before me. Chills ran up my spine as I thought about how in a few moments we’d be bound to spend the rest of eternity forever. Not that I minded. I would have gladly agreed to stay with him forever, ceremony or not.

                Alekk came up to me and caressed my jawline with his smooth hand. His other arm was wrapped around my waist, and his lips came up so close to my ear as he let out a barely audible whisper.

                “I love you.”

                His warm breath made me shiver.

                It was late evening now as Alekk and I stood outside of a diner conveniently placed, again, where there was almost no traffic. We had just changed into our wedding attire and our driver met us there, having to park our limousine a block down the road so no one would get too excited. The sun had begun to set as comfortable evening breeze worked its way through the air.

                “So,” asked Shawn, our limousine driver, “do you want me to just drive you guys around until you find a place?”

                Kind of a weird suggestion, but in all truthfulness Alekk and I still hadn’t found a place to get married at. We figured we’d just look around until we found a super cheesy chapel – typical of Las Vegas.

                As soon as Shawn asked, however, I saw that familiar smirk display across Alekk’s features. As clueless as I was to Alekk’s plan, I would go with it no matter what. The limousine driver hadn’t even caught on yet. So whatever Alekk had to say next was going to completely catch him off guard.

                “Nope,” smiled Alekk, “we’ll find one ourselves. Take an hour off – we’ll call you when we need a ride back to the airport.”

                I froze in fear and looked around me. There wasn’t a chapel in sight. Not only that, but the paparazzi. Sure no one was around now, but out in the open like this, Alekk and I could easily be spotted. And without body guards? I could feel my blood pressure start to rise.

                Alekk seemed to read my mind once more.

                “Max,” he soothed, “let loose. We probably won’t ever get another chance like this again. After today everyone is going to be on our backs, wondering whether or not we’ll last. Everett’s growing up and they’ll have the spotlight on him, too. Right now there’s nobody around, it’s dark, we’re young, and right now our only responsibility is to finally get married to each other. So are you with me?”

                I couldn’t help but smile. Alekk had never looked truer to himself than in that time. I couldn’t have been more honored. THIS was the man I was going to marry. One who would make the most out of every opportunity that life handed him. I grasped his hand firmly.

                “Alekk, I’m in.”

                We ran off down the sidewalk alongside the diner as Shawn looked at us, still perplexed by our crazy decision to run around Las Vegas in search of the world’s cheesiest wedding chapel.

EPILOGUE

                “You’re really doing your routine? Right now?” smiled Tabitha as she rolled her eyes at her brother. From across the room she could see the way he curled his fingers the way he always did when he watched the last video tape. He was waiting for the moment when his father would mutter those special three words. She tiptoed over her brother’s things before sitting down next to him. It was apparent he had no clue what to pack in his suitcase. She would have to help him with that.

 

                “Shh. It’s almost the end,” he replied in a kind of stage whisper. It was all he did to acknowledge his sister as the last thirty seconds of the video were playing. His eyes were glued to the screen as he saw his father holding his toddler self, before looking up at the camera and saying, “I love you, Everett.”

                Immediately Everett’s shoulders slumped as the TV now showed nothing but pure static. Before every swim meet he would play all of the family videos that included his father. It was a routine he had started at a young age, but ever since then it had evidently worked. At every meet he would receive a first place ribbon. His routine therefore never faltered.

                “And of course I have to do my routine. I always do,” Everett smirked as he put the tape back in its box. He let out a long stretch, his long frame allowing him to press his palms up into the ceiling. Tabitha laughed at how tall her brother had gotten over the past year.

                “But THIS time?” she asked, “I mean, it’s the Olympics. How much further could you go?”

                “I can always get first,” Everett replied, a grin spreading across his face.

                “Everett! Are you done packing? We have to leave in five minutes!”

                Tabitha and Everett froze as they heard their mother downstairs. She would be up in his room any second, and the bag that was supposed to be brought to the Olympic village was still completely empty.

                “Hurry,” warned Tabitha. Quickly the two of them starting clothes into the bag – most of them from Everett’s bedroom floor. Swim trunks, speedos, and shirts were now piled high onto the bag as the two of them strained the zipper to close the bag completely. A look of triumph was exchanged in a split second before their mother came in the room with their younger brother Flynn.

                “Oh thank God you have everything packed,” sighed Maxine in relief, “Dad’s waiting outside with Shawn. Uncle Wes and Aunt Alyssa want to see you off too. And of course you know that we’ll be there in New York, just a few days after you to watch you swim.”

                “I know,” replied Everett, not sure what to do as his mother started to gather tears in her eyes. Flynn reached out to him with his chubby little fingers as he diverged into his bathroom.

                “Almost forgot my toothbrush,” Everett sighed as he ducked out of the bathroom and into the sight of his mother and sister once more. They both had that enduring look in their eyes, as if two weeks without him was going to be complete torture. Again, he wasn’t sure what to do. Hug them? He was sure he did that already.

                Just to make sure, Everett hugged the emotional family members again for good measure before heading downstairs.

 

                Outside were people he thankfully knew wouldn’t tear up at the sight of him leaving. Alekk, Uncle Wes and his Aunt Alyssa were standing around, talking about their “glory days.” Wes turned to face him, letting out a “there’s my nephew!” with a voice that could be heard across the state. He patted his nephew’s back with a force that could knock down a fence. Everett knew it was completely unintentional, but was thankful that his strong legs could keep him upright.

                Alekk pulled Everett into a tight hug, as Wes and Alyssa looked on. Apparently today was just the day to get hugged by everyone.

                “Your father would have been so proud,” he heard Alekk whisper into his ear. Everett wanted to say something in reply, but suddenly it had seemed that his mouth and throat had dried up. Quickly he threw his bag into the back of the limo and climbed into the back seat before anyone could suspect of him crying as well.

                “Olympics. Here we come,” he said to himself. And within that moment, it didn’t matter to him whether or not he got first place. What mattered was that he would be able to come back to his family – the ones who had loved him so much.

THE END