Hey Little Girl
April 23rd, 2004. My sister is no longer Clarke Jenna McKenzie, she is Mrs. Marcus Kent, or Mrs. Clarke Kent. I sat in the all-white dressing room with the rest of the bridesmaids; my cousin Jessica, who is a Junior Bridesmaid, and Shannon's 4- year old, Mercedes, the flower girl. Amanda was looking through my red notebook.
"This one. Why isn't it finished?" pointing to the one I started writing on the first day of school.
"I never got around to it, what, with everything going on."
"Well, finish it now. You've got ten minutes." She hands me a pen and my notebook.
I pick up the pen and start writing. 'i opened the fire door
to four lips
none of which were mine
kissing
tightened my belt around my hips
where your hands were missing
and stepped out into the cold
collar high
under the slate gray sky
the air was smoking and
the streets were dry
and i wasn't joking when i said
good bye
there were
magazine quality men
talking on the corner
french, no less much less of them then us
so why do i feel like
something's been rearranged?
you know, taken out of context
i must seem so strange
killed a
cockroach so big
it left a puddle of pus on the wall
when you and i are lying in bed you don't you don't
you don't seem so tall
i'm singing now
because my tear ducts are too tired
and my
mind is disconnected but my
heart is wired
i make such a good statistic
someone should study me now
somebody's got to be interested in how i feel
just 'cause i'm here
and i'm real
oh, how i miss
substituting the conclusion to confrontation with a kiss
and oh, how i miss
walking up to the edge and jumping in
like i could feel the future on your skin
i opened the fire door
to four lips
none of which were mine
kissing
i opened the fire door'
By the time I'm done, my cell phone's going off and it's playing 'Purple Haze', so I know it's Ellie.
"Hey."
"Hey, Ash, Spinner, Paige, and Marco are here with me inside the church. They thank you for inviting us."
"It's fine. Emma, and Sean are all coming later, right?"
"Yup. Sister is so nice for inviting u- Shut up SPINNER!"
"What did he say?"
"He said your sister is a total babe."
"Give him a good hard wack for me. I'll see you guys in a few minutes, I have to go."
"Talk to you later. We'll try and make you laugh from our seats." I laugh and hang up the phone and walk into the hallway.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here to join together this woman and this man in matrimony which is an honorable estate. If anyone should show just cause, why they may not be joined together in matrimony, speak now, or forever hold your peace," Reverend Michaels said. "Marcus, will you take Clarke to be your lawfully wedded wife ? Will you love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health until death do you part?"
"I do." Marcus commented.
"And Clarke," he says, turning to Clarke. "Will you take Marcus to be your lawfully wedded husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honor him, and keep him in sickness and in health until death do you part?"
"I do." Clarke replied.
"Marcus, repeat after me. I, Marcus Kent, take you, Clarke McKenzie, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
" I, Marcus Kent, take you, Clarke McKenzie, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." Marcus says, placing he ring on her finger.
"Clarke, repeat after me. I, Clarke McKenzie, take you, Marcus Kent, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
"I, Clarke McKenzie, take you, Marcus Kent, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." Clarke says, placing the ring on his wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." Clarke says, placing the ring on his finger.
"By the power vested in me, by the province of Ontario, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."
It was so beautiful, I burst into tears when they kissed. All through the ceremony, Ashley and Marco were pretending to argue and Amanda and I were trying as hard as we could not to laugh.
At the reception, I danced with everyone who asked me to- Marcus's father, Marcus, Dylan, Sean, Marco, Ellie, Ashley, Spinner, and Clarke. We'd eaten dinner, and I had made my toast. Now I was outside the resturant, cooling down by myself.
"Hey. You okay?" a voice behinds me says.
"Yea, I'm fine. Why are you asking?" I don't turn around.
"Because I care. Delia. You've got to stop worrying."
I turn around slowly. "Craig?" I walk away as fast as I can but he grabs my arm and spins me around.
"Why are you mad at me?"
"Did you know that J.T. was going to break up with me?"
His posture relaxed, and he put his hands in his pockets.
"Everyone knew."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He clasped his hands in front of his chin, as in in prayer.
"Because you told me to stay out of your business," he said.
I snorted. "That never stopped you before."
He squeezed his hands tighter. "Delia, I want to talk about what happened."
"No," I said, getting hot and jumpy. I don't know what it was about his not telling me about J.T.that had anything to do with anything. All I knew was that I was upset by the notion of his knowing something about my ex-boyfriend that I didn't.
"I want to talk about this. You claim that you want to stay out of my business, but then you go ahead and get involved, anyway."
"I can't believe you're getting upset at me. I only wanted what was best for you."
"That's not your responsibility," I said.
"And why not?" he asked, his body rigid with tension.
"Well, you're not my boyfriend."
"Being your boyfriend will not make this any more real, Delia. I've been a boyfriend of many other girls, and non of those relationships were real."
"Well, neither is this one."
He too a step toward me, and I backed away. He leaned in so close that I could really hear him.
"When are you going to stop doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Pushing me away."
"I am not pushing you away," I said shakily. Amanda had accused me of doing the exact same thing.
"Oh, yes you are," he said, louder this time, placing his large, calloused hands on my shoulders to keep me in my place. "You are doing your best to push me away. And you know what? I'm finally going to do you a favor and not push back. You want me out of your life? Consider me out."
Then he walked away.
"So there is something going on between you two." Ashley said, coming up behind me.
I ran down the street, across the road, through the forest, into my house and jumped onto my bed.. I tried to escape his word but they kept repeating themselves over and over again inside my head.