Page 72 of Accidentally Falling For My Best Friend
“Fuck yeah, I want to marry you,” he says quickly. “I’d marry you tomorrow and not tell anyone if you’d like.”
As nice as getting married with just the two of us there sounds, I don’t think it’s what Oak would really want. “I think we can do better than that.”
33
OAKLEY
December
After a relaxed make out session post engagement, we’re lying in my bed.
My head is resting on Parker’s chest and we’re both on our phones, sleep schedules completely thrown off by the time in the hospital and all of our travel the last few days. I’ve been showing him different pictures of men’s wedding bands and what I want ours to look like—flashy with diamonds—when Parker suddenly shows me his screen that’s pulled up to a page on what looks like French Polynesian marriage laws.
“What if we got married at the resort launch?” he casually suggests.
I sit up quickly, spinning to face him with the biggest smile. His entire body is relaxed and full of joy in a way that I haven’t seen from him in a while. I’m immediately all in, practically shouting “Yes! The resort launch! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! It’ll be perfect. All of our friends and family and the important people from the company are already planning to be there. You and I have beencoordinating everything, so the details for the event are already things that we like. We can surprise everyone once we’re there! Like an ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ sort of thing with the company.”
He laughs, obviously loving my enthusiasm for the idea as I continued to voice everything he was probably already thinking. “That way if anyone at work is actually as concerned as you think they might be, we’ll already be married. I’m sure HR would rather be the first to know, but we can point out that we’ve always been close. Everyone knows that, and we’ll explain that when we decided to become more than friends we didn’t see the need to date, and went right to marriage.”
“It’ll be good PR for the resort too,” he pointed out.
“Hell yeah, it will. We’re hot. Our wedding pictures are totally going viral.”
“So, should we tell anyone? Or are we even going to surprise our families?”
I pause for a moment to consider what he’s asking. I'm the one with the huge, super-close family. Even though I know a lot of them consider him to be an honorary member already, I’m the one who will end up facing their wrath when they find out we kept the truth of our relationship from them.
“Maybe tell our immediate family that we’re dating now. I think we can trust them to keep that a secret, but I love the idea of a surprise wedding.”
“Perfect. You know that means we’ll both be coming out to the people who don’t know as we walk down the aisle though?” he points out.
My eyes go wide and my smile turns a little wicked. “This is going to be the best wedding ever.”
“When you made the suggestion that the two of us secretly get married, knowing how much the idea of it being something special for just the two of us would appeal to me, I couldn’t help but think about the type of wedding you’d prefer to have,” heexplains. “One that would have gorgeous photos with over-the-top decor, every detail meticulously planned to your liking. I figured nothing could top the event we’ve already been working on. You’ve practically been planning your dream wedding for almost the last year,” he points out and I laugh, a huge smile on my face as I stare at this perfect man. How could I ever have thought there was someone out there for me who would be a better partner than my best friend?
“I considered not even telling you about the surprise,” he admits. “I knew you’d agree the moment I suggested the idea, but there are legal aspects to getting married outside of the United States, and though it is legal for same-sex couples to get married in French Polynesia, all marriages have to be at a town hall in French. The ceremonies on the beach and at our resort will technically be commitment ceremonies after couples take care of the legal bit if they choose to go that route,” he reminds me.
“So, I was thinking that maybe we could have the best of both worlds—a small, maybe courthouse, wedding in Chicago like you’d suggested—something for just the two of us, followed up by the big, flashy, surprise island wedding of your dreams witnessed by everyone we know.”
“That sounds perfect,” I agree, and I can’t hold back from kissing him any longer. We’re going to have the best wedding ever.
I’m abruptly wokenfrom a peaceful sleep by loud banging on what I’m guessing is our front door. Parker is wrapped around my naked body, and other than the incessant knocking, I’m quite comfortable. I tap my phone screen to check the time and see abunch of missed calls and texts from both Beck and Cody.I wonder who’s at the door?
It’s almost one PM, so at least we were able to catch up on some sleep before my brother interrupted us. I decide to call Cody back, choosing the nicer option, not convinced I really need to get out of bed yet.
“Hey!” he answers after the first ring.
“Hey, Cody. Can you tell my brother to kindly shut the fuck up,” I say in a cheery tone.
He laughs. “Yeah, I’m not saying that.” Then his voice gets quieter like he’s pulled away from the phone. “It’s Oak. He asked you to stop knocking, please.” Then there’s some shuffling noise, and Beck’s voice is coming through the speaker.
“I’ve given you more than enough time. I want details if I’m going to keep lying to the family for you. Let. Us. In.” Then the line goes quiet, so he must have hung up.
Lying to the family?Maybe he didn’t tell everyone about my love confession then.
“Cody and Beck are here to interrogate us after my abrupt departure at Christmas, but it sounds like they might not have told anyone else about my big speech,” I tell Parker as I get out of bed and hurry to put on clothes. I rush to open the door while Parker heads to his own room to get dressed.
Should we combine closets? Get a different condo? Move to the suburbs? We have so many decisions to make and I’m so excited for them all.
