Disclaimer: All characters, etc., belong to their owners...yep...just wrote this story here.
Chapter 6
Josh skimmed the room service menu at the hotel in Las Vegas. He and Mindy had finally made it, and now they were going to wait to see if Drake would make it. They'd get married at noon the next day. Josh could only hope Drake had calmed down and would be there for him.
Drake drove on as he did his best to make it to the chapel by noon the next day. If he wasn't there, they'd probably get married without him. Then what? There was no way Drake could talk them out of it then. Why did Josh have to do these things? He could only keep driving and hope he made it on time.
The moment of truth. A good name for it. This was when Josh discovered what Drake was willing to do for him.
Josh began to pace the walkway in front of the little wedding chapel, waiting for his brother. Mindy stood in the same spot, waiting as well. Drake had half an hour more, and if he didn't show up, Josh and Mindy would get married without him.
Josh sat down on the curb, thinking about what he would do if Drake didn't show up. Then he began thinking about what would happen after he and Mindy did this. Things wouldn't be the same. How were they going to tell their parents? Well, there wasn't much their parents could do since they were eighteen and would have been married already. But where would they live? Probably an apartment for now. Josh sighed. There was a lot to think about.
He finally glanced up to see a blue car headed in his direction. Josh felt his heart leap. Even though Drake had been angry, he'd come to see him get married.
Drake parked his car and quickly headed toward Josh. Josh threw his arms around his brother.
"Oh, man, I'm so glad you're here. I thought, if Drake doesn't show up, I don't know what I'll do. I'm just so thrilled..."
"Josh!" Drake yelled. "Let me go." Drake jerked away from Josh and stared at him.
"What?" asked Josh.
"HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING THIS STUPID?"
"Drake, I..."
"YOU'RE ONLY EIGHTEEN...YOU HAVE YEARS TO GET MARRIED!"
"Don't have a heart attack, Drake. Come on. Don't you think I've thought this over."
"No."
"Drake..."
"Josh, you have your whole life ahead of you. Why are you getting married now? Isn't there some little part of your brain that's saying this is a bad idea?"
"Drake, do you mind?" Mindy finally interjected.
"Yes, I do mind," said Drake. "My brother is about to throw his life away before he even gets to begin it."
"Well, thank you for letting me know I'm not worth it," said Mindy.
"No problem," Drake responded.
"Guys," said Josh. "Please. Drake, aren't you being a little extreme?"
"Extreme? Josh, you came here to marry her. Do you know what that means? Spending the rest of your life with one woman. Do you love her like that? Can you see it?"
"Just because you can't, doesn't mean I can't."
"I know, but can you? I just don't want to see you make a mistake."
"I..." Josh began.
"Josh, why can't you think this through completely first? Why the rush? Come on."
"I just...I don't know."
"Fine then, Mindy, why?"
"I don't, I just..." To tell the truth, Mindy knew Drake was right, for once.
"Can't you guys just, like, make a promise to each other to get married after college if you really do love each other that much?"
"I don't know," said Josh.
"Look, tell me why, and maybe I'll understand."
"Because what am I going to have when I go away?" Josh finally said. "I'll be at a completely different school. No friends. No family. All I'll have is my laptop and my classes. I don't want that. I want to know there's someone I can count on."
"Why wouldn't there be someone for you to count on when you're gone?"
"You'll still be home, Mindy will be somewhere else..."
"Josh, that doesn't mean we're not going to be there for you to count on. I'm always a phone call, email, or a drive away. It's not like my time is going to be consumed by large amounts of schoolwork."
Josh smiled at that.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll still have the time."
"Josh," said Mindy. "I wanted to tell you, I'm not very sure about this. Maybe Drake's a D-average, but he's made some good points. I just didn't know how to tell you before. It's not that I don't love you, but I don't know if I can see myself marrying you right now. We're just so young."
"I know," said Josh. To tell the truth, it had been worrying Josh a bit lately too. If they were married, they'd be relying on each other. They weren't prepared to take care of themselves let alone each other.
"You guys have a decision to make," said Drake. "Either way, you won't see each other all the time. You can get married now and go to school, unable to change things if something did happen, or you can go home and wait a few years until you've graduated, established yourselves, and are able to support each other."
"Why do you have to be right at times like this?" Josh asked.
"I don't know. One of us might as well say something sensible. You haven't been doing that lately."
"Yeah, thanks." Josh sighed and turned to Mindy. "The question now is, what are we going to do?"