You don't run with the crowd
You go your own way
You don't play after dark
You light up my day
The wedding reception has begun. At Jennifer's request, the lilting sounds of "What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful)," by the Backstreet Boys, fill the room.
Orli leads Jen out onto the white dance floor in the middle of the elegant room, adorned with all sorts of foods that can be classified as "delicacies," as well as varieties of Beautiful People. Everything abandons Jen but this one perfect moment, and the beautifully haunting chant, "We're finally married… We're finally married."
On the contrary, floods of memories overcome Orli as he holds Jen close, swaying gently to the music. He sees the moment he first saw Jen and feels, again, the sheer happiness he felt on their first date, when they doubled with Josh and Michelle. Memories progress to every other date they had, covering roughly two years.
Got your own sense of style
That sets you apart
Baby, that's why
You've captured my heart
Orli relives the pain and fear he felt when he thought he might never see Jen again, along with a fresh surge of hatred for his new archenemy, Rachael Leigh Cook. He remembers what first attracted him to Jen, in almost the same instant: her indifference to what the world thought of her, her independence, her beauty from the inside out.
I know sometimes you feel
Like you don't fit in
And this world doesn't know
What you have within
Orli smiles fondly down at his new wife, remembering how out of place she seemed to feel when the first met, as though she felt she didn't belong among all those famous people. She'd looked so shy and overwhelmed, and yet so beautiful. Yet Orli had seen through it all, seen what she had to offer. Asking Michelle to set us up on a date was probably the smartest thing I ever did, Orli muses now. There's so much more to Jen than I ever would have guessed from that one party, when we met for the very first time. And she told me later that she would have been to shy to do something herself… I can't imagine what could have happened if I hadn't taken the initiative.
When I look at you
I see something rare
A rose that can go anywhere
And there's no one I know
That can compare
Orli notices Josh and Michelle watching them, not yet dancing; this song is only for the new husband and wife. He shakes off his thoughts, smiling quietly, and pulls gently on Jen's hair.
When she looks up, he rewards her with a sweet kiss, which she gladly returns.
What makes you different, makes you beautiful
What's there inside you, shines through to me
In your eyes I see, all the love
I'll ever need
You're all I need, oh girl
What makes you different, makes you beautiful to me
Orli remembers now what had to be the happiest moment of his life so far. It was their two-year anniversary of the time they had started dating. They'd gone out to eat at a nice, fancy restaurant, the name of which neither would ever be able to pronounce. Laughing together at the unfamiliar names of the French dishes and their attempts to pronounce them, Orli had suddenly grown serious. He leaned forward across the table and said, "Jennifer, we need to talk."
Orli smiles now, remembering how panicked Jennifer looked, as though she thought he was about to break up with her or announce that he needed some time off from her or had joined the army or something equally outrageous. Truly, he just wanted to talk about their relationship; he wasn't ready to propose yet, even though he felt it would be romantic, on their anniversary. He wanted first to be absolutely certain that Jen felt the same way about him as he felt about her; he still, despite regular displays of reassurance, felt remnants of uncertainty. He wanted, in other words, to know where he stood. But before he could get a word out, the waiter had come back with their food, placed the dishes (tasty-looking despite names that were iffy at best) in front of them, and lit two tall, elegant, off-white candles. Watching the candlelight flicker off Jen's face, Orli made his decision.
Hey, yeah, you got something so real
You touched me so deep (touched me so deep)
See, material things
Don't matter to me
So come as you are, you've got nothing to prove
You won me with all that you do
And I want to take this chance to say to you
"Jen," he began, slightly awkwardly, "Jen… God, Jen, I love you so much."
Jen smiled, in that soft way she had, the same smile she gives Orli even to the present. "I love you too," she replied, with quiet but firm sincerity, knowing even as she spoke the words how cliché they sounded. But those four words seemed to be enough for Orlando.
It never crossed Orli's mind for a moment that Jen might accept a wedding proposal from him for money or fame. She wasn't that kind of girl. He had learned early on in their relationship that material things meant little to her. And they didn't mean anything to him, either. Sure, he could afford the diamond engagement ring that was currently lost somewhere in one of his ten thousand pockets, but he could have fashioned Jen a ring out of bright orange pipe cleaner (the most revolting color in the Crayola box), and she would have loved it just because it came from him. But, as things stood, he did have a diamond ring, and if he could find it, he was certainly going to give it to her.
"Jen…" Orli fumbled around in the many pockets of his formal jacket, clearly attempting to find something, Jen thought. Her heart skipped a beat, hoping, hoping…
And then it came.
"Jen… will you marry me?"
Jen stared at him for a moment, happiness evident on every line of her sweet face. When she spoke, it was only one single word, but every ounce of conviction and certainty that she possessed went into saying it.
"Yes."
What makes you different, makes you beautiful
What's there inside you, shines through to me
In your eyes I see, all the love
I'll ever need
You're all I need, oh girl
What makes you different, makes you beautiful to me
Orli smiles now, lost in sweet remembrance. At the end of that night, he remembers, we went down to the beach and just sat there talking about everything… our lives together, a wedding and honeymoon, where we would live, why I took so long to propose… I was so scared she would refuse, wouldn't be ready for that kind of commitment. When I told her as much, she just laughed softly and told me she had been waiting for me forever, had been dreaming of someone like me practically since the day she was born. I'd told Michelle and Josh I was going to try and propose, and they were waiting for us when I dropped Jen off, and they both ran out to meet us… They looked happier than I did, practically. Jen told me later that she and Michelle stayed up the whole night talking… talking about their futures… with us.
You don't know how you touched my life
Oh in so many ways I just can't describe
You taught me what love is supposed to be
You saw the little things that make you
Beautiful to me (so beautiful)
It's Jen's turn to remember everything that has happened to them, everything that led up to this one perfect moment. Her memories are very different from Orlando's, in some way, because she knew of him long before she met him. Her first flood of memories takes place before she actually met Orlando. She recalls, very clearly, seeing him for the first time, as Legolas in Lord of the Rings.
She thinks of the roughly ten thousand websites dedicated to him, that she used to moon over before she met him. When she went along with Michelle to a party for the cast of Black Hawk Down and actually met Orlando in person, though, she stopped needing the websites because she had him. And he was better than any picture the Internet could offer.
What makes you different, makes you beautiful
What's there inside you, shines through to me
In your eyes I see, all the love
I'll ever need
You're all I need, oh girl
What makes you different, makes you beautiful to me
Orlando wasn't quite like any person she'd ever met. Jen had read that he was into kissing girls in movies, and that intimidated her. Even though she all but worshiped him, she was afraid that he would one day wake up, roll over in bed, and believe he was dating a worthless baby who didn't move a hundred miles an hour. She couldn't have been more wrong, though. Orli had admitted that yes, he did like kissing pretty girls on the big screen. But in private, he was a whole different person. He completely respected that she didn't want to move fast.
Orlando loved her for who she was, and he had changed her entire life in so many ways she couldn't even begin to count. She was a better person just by having known him. She would have been too shy to ask him out at first, and was glad that he had taken the initiative. If he hadn't, they probably never would have gotten together. At first, she had been afraid Orlando would look right past her, to someone who was more beautiful, glamorous, famous, more ready to be a girlfriend. She had been very humbled by going out with somebody so famous, and she was afraid he would be very arrogant and impatient with somebody not used to the glamorous lifestyle. But he wasn't. He was kind and patient and so, so wonderful. And that made all the difference.
Everything you do is beautiful (so beautiful)
Love you give shines right through me (shines right through me)
Everything you do is beautiful (oh)
You're beautiful to me (to me)
Now, with the same thoughts, both Jen and Orli realize that the song is almost over. They become aware of each other once again, gently pushing away the memories, to be examined later. Jen looks up to her new husband and smiles- the same smile, Orli muses, that she gave when she accepted his wedding proposal. Orlando smiles back at Jen now, and they kiss again, with passion.
The reception continues, and Jen's only thought is to make the music last forever. She will have years of happy marriage to Orlando. Lost in the music, she loses also all sense of time, overpowered by the reality set before her: never again will she be alone; she will always have her husband beside her. Everything changes today, but for just another moment she wants it to stay the same as it always was, just her and Orli, dancing, dancing, dancing…