December 28th, 1988-January 14, 1989
She stood there, staring at him, grinning from ear to ear. She looked up at the bright white sign that in red letters said "The Little White Chapel" and then back at him. They were really going to do this. Phoebe and Duncan were about to get married. It had been a back and forth discussion, but they came up with the plan and decided that they would go through with it.
"We're gonna do this, right?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah. You and me...we'll get married. I get to stay in the country and when you get actually married, we'll divorce."
"Okay...but you're gonna stay in the country anyway."
"We're doing this," Duncan said.
Phoebe nodded as they stood in front of the Las Vegas chapel, ready to tie the knot. The ten months following her disastrous twentieth birthday had been a crazy whirlwind of activity that all let to this moment, this amazing wonderful moment. She wasn't sure she would ever get married. She wasn't even sure what would happen when she arrived back in New York, but this was the stability she needed.
After stabbing, Tomas, Phoebe still kept going out but this time Duncan would go with her. She had been worried for that somehow they would trace the stabbing back to her but they never did. It seemed Tomas was an unsavory type of character with many, many enemies. The police determined it was an accidental death because his alcohol level was so high when they found him. Phoebe wasn't quite sure how it could have been determined to be an accident, but she wasn't about to argue. It seemed like enough people around town disliked Tomas, so no one really bothered digging that deeply which Phoebe would forever be grateful for and the rest of the month in Prague was fairly uneventful.
She was sad to say goodbye but thrilled to get back to the States. She loved touring the country, absorbing the culture. She saw a man with a beard of bees in a town just outside Chicago in Illinois, she witnessed a chicken playing tic-tac-toe in a town in Texas and she and Duncan finally had sex in Milwaukee which she found to be the strangest place she had ever been.
That night had been glorious though. They had had a night off and went dancing at a club that wasn't too strict on carding because while in Prague she could drink legally, in the States, Phoebe was still considered underaged at twenty. Duncan was twenty one and happily supplied the alcohol for both himself and Phoebe. The two drank and before they knew it, they were back in Phoebe's hotel room, pulling each others clothes off, kissing, touching each other. It had felt so wonderful being with him, finally absorbing herself in him. The way he had held her, she felt safe, warm even. Her first time being with someone she truly loved.
She had fallen so deep and so hard for the ice dancing Duncan that she wasn't sure how she would function without him and thus began their plan. Duncan wanted to work with a US based tour, so he quit the Canadian Ice Capades. He wanted a Green Card Marriage and Phoebe wanted security. She would accept that it was temporary, that it would not last forever but she liked the idea of being married. She liked having that security blanket that she could have for as long as she needed and even after Duncan found out from a friend that he had gotten a job touring with the US Capades, they still decided to go through with the marriage.
That was how they ended up standing in front of the chapel, ready to take that plunge. Phoebe was nervous and dressed in a lavender dress she had gotten from a vintage store.
"Let's do this, Pheebs."
Phoebe nodded as she and Duncan ran inside the chapel towards the heavy double doors when they were stopped by an older woman sitting at a desk scolding them and telling them not to run inside the chapel. Phoebe let out an annoyed sigh but Duncan took charge, placing their names down and taking her hand down towards the couch where they waited.
"Wow...this is insane. How is this even going to work?" Phoebe asked.
"Look, I want to stay in this country-"
"Which you will because you now have a job in the US Capades and you start touring like two weeks after the new year."
"I know...why don't you come with me?" Duncan asked.
"Because I want to be a massage therapist. I wanna go to college and get my license. I have to look into that. School would start in September of next year, so I can't go with you for that long. I need to look into it."
Phoebe has made that decision during her time away. She had a gift for massage, that's what Duncan and the other ice skaters kept saying. She could relieve pain and help ease stress. She liked that, liked feeling like she was helping. There was so much that was stressful in life. She more than anyone could attest for that. She liked the feeling of helping people, of making them feel better. It always lifted her up.
"But where will you live? I don't have a place in New York," Duncan said.
"I'll figure it out. I've made it this far and I'll end up on my feet and I'll do it. I swear. I'm gonna be okay and when I have an apartment, you will be the first to know."
"How will you let me know?"
"I'll have my ways."
"G-d, I'm gonna miss you."
"You'll be my husband...until further notice," Phoebe said.
Duncan leaned in and kissed her. They sat holding hands and waited until it was their turn. The two stood up and walked towards the doors and inside where the ceremonies were taking place. The wedding march began to play as they walked down the aisle and a guy dressed in a long black gown with a string of pearls and long brown hair stared at them, smiling. Phoebe and Duncan could not stop grinning as the guy in drag stood before them.
"Hello. My name is Helena Handbasket. I am a newly ordained minister, plus I also will be headlining my very first show called, Viva Las Gaygas. Will you two lovlies attend?"
"I'm...I'm not twenty one yet," Phoebe smiled. "Am I allowed to go? I'll be twenty one next year, next February, actually. Only two months."
"She's young," Duncan said.
"I'll see what I can do. My first show is at midnight tonight at Cesears Palace."
Phoebe and Duncan could not stop smiling as Helena continued with the ceremony for them to be husband and wife. It was perfect, a perfect wonderful arrangement. She would still be able to go out, date around and Duncan got to continue to be a citizen. They would be each others safety net for as long as they needed it. This bond that would keep them connected would also keep them from falling apart completely.
That night, Helena had gotten both Phoebe and Duncan into see his show. The young, newly married couple watched in amazement as Helena sang "It's Raining Men" with half naked guys in wearing rain jackets and yellow hats dancing behind her. Phoebe was happier than she had been in a long time, happier than she had been ever.
"Wow...this is best wedding ever. We get married by a drag queen and then he-slash-she invites us to see their show. It's amazing," Phoebe said.
"I know. This is our wedding reception."
"Yeah...although, I am look forward to the wedding night...G-d, Dunc...I can't believe this is ending. Thank you...for everything."
"You're welcome...and I'm sorry, I wasn't completely there for you in Prague. I feel like I'm abandoning you again."
"You're not. I'm going to be fine, Duncan. I have survived so much. It's going to happen for me. I know it is."
"How are you always so positive?"
"Because I have to be...because I can't let myself think about everything I've gone through or how much left I have to do. I have to think this is going to work out. I've made it this far. I've had three neath death experiences...I've been in jail...and this is all before I turned twenty. My twenties are gonna be better. You mark my words."
Duncan smiled as he leaned to kiss her. She kissed back and let out a laugh as she covered her mouth. Soon, the chords to another song began. Phoebe looked down at the program and up Helena who began to sing Madonna's, "Like a Virgin".
"Like a Virgin?"
"You know this?" Duncan asked.
"I heard it once a really long time ago. Oh, feel your heart beat next to mine-"
"Wow...Pheebs, can I be honest now as your Green Card Husband, your singing not really-"
"Like a vi-ir-irrrr-gin. Touched for the very first time," Phoebe stared at Duncan and continued singing which melted into her now signature laugh, loud and slightly nasal "Oh nooo...what are we gonna do?"
Duncan laughed as well as Phoebe danced in her seat to the tunes of Helena Handbasket. It was proving to be quite the amazing, wonderful wedding and it soon got better.
After the show, they retreated to Phoebe's room where the kissing continued. They ripped at each others clothes, pushing each other onto the bed, holding onto each other as if letting go meant the other would disappear. They had become good at this, ever since that moment in Milwaukee. They had been drunk then when Duncan had slid into her that first time, when she had for the first time actually experienced what it felt like to be truly loved. The fire lit from within her returned that night in Vegas.
She loved this man, loved him with every fiber of her being. The way he was so gentle with her, caressed her, with every touch, he seemed to know exactly what to do to elicit a required response, gently stroking between her thighs, kissing her stomach and moving up her body. She was amazed at how naturally her role came to her as she massaged the area right above his private area, running her fingers inside the rim of his boxers. She gently tugged at his ear lobe with her teeth, a move he seemed to love. Their bodies just fit like puzzle pieces, no words needed. He grabbed a condom and Phoebe took it from him, gently opening it and rolling it onto him. He moaned slightly as he kissed her again and slid into her. She gently wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved back and forth. That feeling, she had never known it to be that perfect. Before Duncan, she had never known sex to be enjoyable. It had been a job, something she had been forced to do in order to survive but with him, it was different.
Technically, she had lost her virginity when she had been sixteen when that pimp raped her in the back of his car after she had stole it and crashed it. But the night in Milwaukee, the night in Vegas, even that night when he had comforted her after her horrific twentieth birthday, she would forever say that she lost her virginity to Duncan. He was the one that made her feel whole again, he fixed her, made her better.
They returned to New York on December 30th. As soon as Duncan and Phoebe got off the plane, they took a cab to a location near the junkyard where she knew Lowell, Cindy and Marjorie would be waiting for her as they had promised a year earlier and sure enough, there they were, waiting. The friends reunited, hugging, crying and Phoebe told them all about her adventures, at least some of them. She did not tell them how she killed a guy in Prague, nor did she tell them how she and Duncan had married in Vegas. Those would forever be her stories, hers and Duncan's.
A lot had changed in the year that she had been away, now Marjorie, Lowell and Cindy no longer lived in the junkyard. It had become too dangerous. Now, they lived right outside Port Authority with an albino man who washed windows and was simply referred to as Blackie. Phoebe enjoyed these digs a little more. This time, they could sleep inside on benches when it got too cold. She decided she would also get a job there. There were restaurants there and she could wait tables. Duncan stayed by her side while she got applications from every restaurant and store at Port Authority and watched as she filled them all out. She would end up getting enough money to go to school as a masseuse.
Duncan and Phoebe stayed together as much as they could, knowing their time together was short. Her first night back, when she slept outside Port Authority, Duncan slept with her. She thought it was so sweet. For New Years Eve, they once again went to Times Square to watch the Ball drop and soon it was officially 1989.
It had been a crazy six years. The eighties had been wild, her teens had been unreal but now there she was, a twenty year old celebrating the last year of the eighties. She had survived and would now keep moving forth. As she lay in Duncan's arms, he handed her a box. She opened it and grinned. It was a big sterling silver ring that had flowers engraved on it. She placed it on her finger and looked at it.
"This is beautiful."
"Just so you know...where ever you go, I'm with you."
"I know. I love you, Duncan."
"I love you too, Phoebe."
Phoebe smiled as they kissed and continued to watch the ball drop. He wrapped his arms around her, tighter.
A couple weeks later, Phoebe went with him in a cab to JFK. He would be flying to Colorado to begin practice for the Capades. He would be there for a few months, but he would call The Closet which which was a novelty item store at Port Authority where Phoebe had found work. As soon as he got settled, he would call and give her his information.
Saying goodbye was horribly tough, the tears kept falling when she kissed him goodbye. He had made her believe again. He had made her whole. She would never be the same, she knew that much. Her heart broke as he disappeared into the airport. He said he would be back, but she didn't want him to go. She wanted so badly to run after him, to join him but there would not be anything for her if she went. She knew she wasn't supposed to go with him. That wasn't her destiny. She wasn't quite sure what her destiny was, but she knew it just wasn't that.