Travis:
I am now a married man. Holy shit! I never thought I'd ever say that, but here I am, married at 20 and so close to finishing my sophomore year at Eastern.
"Thank you for flying with us today. We hope, for those visiting, that you have an enjoyable experience whether with friends or family. For those of you who reside here... Welcome Home. Please stay in your seats until your flight attendants inform you otherwise." the pilot announced.
I stared down at my very new wife sleeping peacefully on my left arm. There was a time when I thought I lost her for good, but here she is with a ring on her finger and Mrs. Maddox branded on her skin for life. I wish I could sleep as easily, but reality hasn't set in just yet. This is a dream. I swear. This is too good to be true. I'll regret it if I fall asleep and wake up back to where I was - miserable, lonely and wishing every minute I can just kiss the only girl I've ever loved.
The seatbelt light comes on above my head. I try to wake up Pidge as slowly as I can, nudging my arm and grabbing her hand to hold. "Mrs. Maddox," I whisper. "You need to wake up." She yawns and stretches as far as she could given the tiny space she has between the window and myself. "Are we landing?" she asked.
"Yeah, you need to get your seatbelt on."
She reaches for the straps, peeking over to me suspiciously, "You didn't sleep, did you?"
I smile, looking down at my hand, rolling the black band around my left finger. Pidge grabs my chin, forcing me to look up, "Seriously Trav. Stop. You can be a bit more happy about being married to me."
I chuckled and reached in to kiss her. "Sorry. It's just really hard to believe that after all this fighting and everything I did to fuck this up, we're at this point."
"Believe me, I didn't think we would run off and get married after everything we've been through. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it."My eyebrows shoot up, "You thought of being married to me?"Her smile went wider, "It came across my mind a few times but come on, we had barely figured everything out. I wasn't expecting you to propose anytime soon, but in my heart I knew I wouldn't have said no if you asked.""Wow. If I knew that, we would have been married before we even had a chance to fight."
Pigeon chuckled softly and looked down at her finger, "If I had seen how beautiful it was back then, I might have suggested getting hitched sooner." She laughs, "Seriously, this is too gorgeous. Thank you."
"You deserve bigger." I reached down to cup her cheek and kissed her again. This time with eagerness.
This woman was mine. IS mine. I'll do everything I have to do to keep her. Saying 'I do' was easy, keeping this marriage together was going to be the hard part.
Finally, we were home - as husband and wife. It's gonna be interesting to see everyone's reaction to elopement. My dad and brothers will be shocked, that's for sure. First order of business is to get through an one hour drive back home with America and Shepley. My cousin couldn't be happier. Main reason being I haven't fucked up his relationship, yet made it stronger than ever. Mare, on the other hand... I'm sure Pidge and I are in for an ear full.
Walking hand in hand, we made our way towards the airport entrance. I reached into my pocket for my phone and dialed Shep. "What's up?" he answers.
"Hey man. You and Mare here yet?" Right before Shep had time to answer me, America came stomping towards us yelling at people to get out of her way. I don't think I've ever seen her so angry. The only other time she was this upset was right after Pidge caught me with Megan. America argued with Shep on which side he was taking. Needless to say I had to fight to get Pidge back and help Shepley win America. But this time, I was actually scared.
"Abigail Aberna.."
"Ah, ah, ah.. Abigail Maddox as of 8:32pm yesterday." I reassured Mare with the biggest grin on my face. Pidge pinched my side. She didn't wanna show it, but I can tell she wanted to smile, too. "Be nice, Trav."
"Whatever! How could you do this!?" Mare yelled directly at me.
"Woah, calm down Mare. Pidge was the one who asked me. I'm a firm believer in giving this princess what she wants. Besides, what better man to be her husband than me?" I took a glance at Pidge who never looked so happy. I can definitely get use to this married life.
Mare looked even angrier and I tried to fight back a laugh. "And on top of everything... Elvis?! Really? You don't think that maybe she should have had something at a church, maybe have her friends involved, HER BEST FRIEND OF ALL PEOPLE!" Shepley came running from where his car waited and tried to calm Mare down.
I tried defend myself, but Pidge came to my rescue. "America, this was all my idea! I swear, Travis didn't convince me to do anything. That fire put a lot things into perspective for me and I realized that I really do love Travis. Despite everything messed up about our relationship, I don't wanna lose him." She wrapped her arms around my waist. Mare looked between the both of us. She just wanted to be apart of her best friend's wedding.
"Look, Mare. If Pidge getting married is that important to you, how about we have something small here." Mare relaxed a little before finally setting her eyes back to me.
"Travis... Abby and I have been through a lot together. She's more like my sister and I couldn't be happier for her. I don't mean to go off on either of you. I've been there through her worse times and I wanna be there for the better ones..." She glanced at Pidge. "..including your wedding Mrs. Maddox!" She gave Pidge the biggest smile and they reached each other for a hug.
"Congrats bro. Never thought you would get hitched before me.. well, at all to be honest." Shepley reached out his hand and slapped me on my back.
I smiled right back at my cousin, "Oh I know, neither did I... but it's totally different with her. I don't care about any other shit but making her happy." Shep nodded in agreement and we glanced at our girls still hugging and now in tears.
"Alright, let's take this to the car and get going." I put my arms out to Mare. "Forgive me?"
She sighed, "Duh! We're technically family now." She laughed and reached in to return my hug.
America hopped in the back of Shepley's car with Pidge. She questioned Pigeon on the fire incident, about her insanity and if having one sex partner for the rest of her life was really what she wanted. I smiled the whole ride home. Life was fucking great!