He stepped out onto the dark stage. Pressing a button on the remote in his hand, he didn't even blink anymore when the bright lights came on. Looking out into all of the empty auditorium seats, he licked his lips. He stepped up to the front of the stage, sitting down on the edge of it. Looking out towards the double doors in the back, he half hoped she'd come like he'd asked. But this was her wedding day after all. He couldn't possibly believe that she would. He was still in the tux that she had gone with him to buy. He was to be in her wedding, something she should have known he couldn't do. On his way to the place where the wedding was supposed to be held, he spun around in his car, coming here instead. He called her and explained why he couldn't come. He asked her frantically to join him here instead.
But he knew she wouldn't.
Rubbing his eye, he pressed another button on his remote, starting a track of music that he had put in before he had come down here. Waiting for the right time in the music intro, he closed his eyes before he began to sing.
"Somewhere there's speaking
It's already coming in
Oh and it's rising at the back of your mind
You never could get it
Unless you were fed it
Now you're here and you don't know why"
Keeping his eyes closed, he couldn't help the images of memories with her from flooding into his mind. He scoffed into the song, silently cursing himself for how cliché it was, and yet, smiling as he could accept the dramatic nature of it all. He was the music for his own memory montage.
"But under skinned knees and the skid marks
Past the places where you used to learn
You howl and listen
Listen and wait for the
Echoes of angels who won't return"
Wiping a tear away with his sleeve as it fell down his cheek, he sighed as he stood. Walking around the stage as he sang, he remembered how many memories there were, even just right here on this stage.
She looked into the mirror, fixing the veil on her head. She sighed, tearing it from her hair and looking up in frustration. As her eyes skimmed over the mirror, her attention was caught by a photo stuck in the frame of the mirror. It was him. Not the man she was going to married to, but the one that had asked her to leave this wedding idea behind to join him at least one last time on the stage. The one who had ended his phone call by telling her that he was still in love with her- and always would be.
A tear came to her eye that she tried to dab away before it could mess up her make-up. Shaking her head, she pulled the veil back on, unhappy with it no matter where it fell. Looking back up at the picture, she gently took in from its place, smiling as she remembered the day it was taken.
"He's everything you want
He's everything you need
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
He says all the right things
At exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you
And you don't know why"
He stepped up to a mirror, looking into his own eyes. Now sullen and dark, he shook his head, remembering how he used to be so prideful of his appearance. Now it simply seemed that nothing mattered to him at all. Nothing, that is, except her. Running a hand through his hair, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to look and see if he had anything from her at all, but the screen was dark. His battery had died.
"You're waiting for someone
To put you together
You're waiting for someone to push you away
There's always another wound to discover
There's always something more you wish he'd say"
She pulled the phone away from her ear, looking down at it with tears in her eyes. A knock on the door made her jump as she turned toward her father walking in. It was almost time now, she was beautiful, and the groom's excited. Then the door clicked close. It wouldn't be long. She brought the phone back up to her ear.
Sighing as he through the phone against the brick wall and watched it shatter, he turned to walk back to center stage. Nothing was going to stop this inevitable nightmare. She was getting married, and he had been too late.
"He's everything you want
He's everything you need
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
He says all the right things
At exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you
And you don't know why"
Tear filled eyes stared back at her. She looked for him in the crowd, but he wasn't there. Just like he said he wouldn't. She sighed, looking down at the bouquet that her father had told her in secret he had made, not the groom. Another tear came to her own eye as she looked up at the tall boy standing next to the priest.
"But you'll just sit tight
And watch it unwind
It's only what you're asking for
And you'll be just fine
With all of your time
It's only what you're waiting for
Out of the island
Into the highway
Past the places where you might have turned
You never did notice
But you still hide away
The anger of angels who won't return"
He grabbed everything he could find on stage and threw it, tears flowing freely from his eyes now. He was certain she wasn't coming, and what else meant anything anymore? He was even angry at himself for not going to be there for her on her happy day. No matter what it was he could think of, no matter what, he was simply angry, confused, and hurt. He had known that she didn't want him for a while now, so why was this sudden feeling for him? Why did it still hurt as bad or knock the breath out of him like the first time?
"He's everything you want
He's everything you need
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
He says all the right things
At exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you
And you don't know why"
He dropped to his knees in the center of the stage, closing his eyes and pouring everything into the next thing he sang.
"I am everything you want
I am everything you need
I am everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
I say all the right things
At exactly the right time
But I mean nothing to you and I don't know why
And I don't know why
Why
I don't know"
She came running into the auditorium, dropping the bouquet to her feet, her hand holding up her dress. Her breathing was heavy as she heard the last few chords to a song as it ended over the speakers. A tear slid down her cheek as she looked around frantically. She rushed forward and up the stairs onto the stage, looking all around for some sign that he was maybe still there.
She dropped to her knees, letting the tears flow freely from her eyes. Still looking around, her heart sank as she felt for sure that he was no longer there. She held her face in her hands.
If only she knew that she had just missed him…
If only she knew he was right outside in his car, debating what to do next…
She'd never know that he had vowed to himself to never sing another song after that…
She'd never see the ring he had bought her, or that it was now sinking to the bottom of the river…
She looked around one last time, her heart breaking again as she lost him all over again. "Jesse…"