Okay, come on, come on. Gotta think of this like - umm, what's it like? It's kinduv like a football game. Pretend that somebody lateraled you the ball in the Rose bowl. All that you've got to do is get through the field of defenders to score the winning touchdown.
Oh, and you haven't got much of a uniform. And the field is a little more crowded than usual. But on the other hand, none of them are really trying to block you, much less tackle you. Okay, three, two, run!
I dashed out into the lobby, trying to set a course that would allow for the most flat-out speed, and the least awkward dodging. Come to think of it, why am I so nervous? I'm just runnin' here, and I'm not even totally naked. This underwear might as well be a very brief pair of running shorts... except that I'd usually still wear some underwear under running shorts. Still, an athletic body in motion is a beautiful thing.
Aggh, some guy with a briefcase walking right into my path. Look out where you're going, jerk! An athletic body trying to maneuver around idiots is a slightly less beautiful thing I think. But I managed to avoid him, without losing all momentum, however, I'm not quite sure of where my original course was, or if it matters. Well, the other end of the lobby has to be generally over there - just keep moving. Acck! Huge group of junior high-aged kids, seemingly most of them girls - staring at me and giggling. Probably better to give them as wide a berth as possible. Who the heck brings thirty or thirty-five junior high-aged kids to Sin City anyway? Maybe they're going to be going on an educational tour of Hoover dam. Hoover dam is here in Vegas, right? Or at least nearby.
Whoomph. Distracted by thoughts of Hoover Dam, I managed to do the stupidest thing possible... collided right into a respectable old lady, so perfectly typecast that she might have been a bit player drawn by the Simpsons animators. Oh well, at least I didn't really tackle her full on and knock her down - might have broken the poor lady's hip or something. But she stares right at me, and gasps, "Oh, lord."
"It's kind of a bet, ma'am," I blurted out to her, and rushed away, the goal in sight.
From behind me as I ran, I heard a faint cry of "Well, good luck!" Huh. Guess she wasn't quite as stuffy as she looked. Gave a security guard the slip, ducked into an empty corridor, and then slipped into the small unisex wheelchair restroom. Tess was already waiting there, with my clothes.
"Did... did you see any of it?" I asked. "Or were you here the whole time."
"I saw through your eyes," she whispered, a little enigmatically. "Here's your stuff. Put it on quick - I think the security guard is coming.
So I dressed, and Tess came out first, distracting the guard so that he didn't notice as I slipped out of the washroom. We met up near the elevators. "That was so great!" she squealed quietly, holding one of my arms.
"Oh... yeah, lots of fun for the girl spying on it. You wouldn't feel that way if you were the one who had to run." Once the words left my mouth, I had a suddenly uncertain feeling.
"Nah, I'll do it if you want." She started to tug her shirt up just a little. "In fact, maybe you should have said something before - we coulda done it together."
I smiled. "No, because then who'd have held the clothes?"
"Umm... good point, yeah."
"And you shouldn't do it right now in the same place, at least... the guards are probably paying closer attention now, just in case."
"Alright, well, you tell me where and when, buddy." Right then the elevator door opened. "Are we heading back to the room?"
"Umm, yeah, I guess, for a bit." I sighed. "We've had quite a bit of excitement... I kinda feel like just vegging out a bit - watching a movie on the TV together or something like that."
"Hmmm... okay, I guess," Tess agreed, and smiled a smile that was somehow full of the other possibilities of the two of us alone together in a fancy hotel room. Yeah, there was that too. Somehow the streaking consequence, even if it wasn't totally hardcore, had managed to get me feeling a bit horny, and the thought of Tess running through a crowded place in, say, only a demi-bra and lacy panties... yeah - that was definitely a turn-on.
So we headed up to the room, and while I started going through the on-screen hotel TV guide, Tess noticed that a red light on the phone was blinking, and managed to get it to play its message over the speaker phone. It was a familiar voice saying just four words. "What the hell, Kyle?" Max Evans. Aww, let him stew for a while, I don't care if he was angry at Tess and I for getting our own room, or not checking in, or whatever it was. Tess shrugged and sat next to me on the bed, some of her blonde curls brushing against my cheek and her butt touching one of my legs.
"Ooh, sons of glory!" I said, spotting a basketball movie and flipping over to it. Tess turned around and gave me a very sour look. "Of course... if you want to use your last consequence and say that we watch something else, that's fine." She frowned, obviously not wanting to spend her last bit of leverage on something so minor. I think that for a moment she was contemplating trying to tease me into watching something else... or doing something that didn't involve the television at all, but apparently she decided against it, resuming her position lying next to me and giving my movie a try. I think as the main characters were introduced and the camera played over sequences of the players doing drills, she was starting to appreciate it on a few levels.
About the time that a series of disappointing losses had started to make the team squabble among themselves and the star point guard quit the team, though, she shrugged and got up. "Want some room service?"
"Hmmm." Thought about that. "What I really feel like is a big pizza just loaded with all kinds of stuff." Considered the idea further. "Can room service do pizzas, or do you call delivery to your hotel room?"
"You know, I think... wait a second." She went over to the end table near the window, which had one of those little stand-up flippers full of little ads and friendly reminders from the hotel management. "Yeah, here we go." She snickered. "There's an extension you can call on the hotel phone to be put through to the local Papa John's, and they get your room number on call trace. Guess that's one way to do it."
"Sounds good," I agreed. Still wasn't paying too much attention to the talk of dinner, because I could just tell that there was going to be a big shouting match between two of the players starting any minute, and I didn't really want to miss any of it. "I think you know what I'd like well enough to order."
"Oh yeah, and what about what I'd like?" she countered.
"Sssh! The brawl is starting." Somehow without even looking at her, I could feel Tess' eyes roll at me.
I had managed to forget about the pizza by the time it arrived, getting more and more deeply engrossed in the struggles of the team, but when Tess set the pizza, and a bottle of a good pale ale, next to me, I was certainly happy enough to start enjoying them. The pizza was a gigantic twenty-one incher, split up into sixteen or eighteen narrow slices, loaded with canadian bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, and tiny little chopped pieces of tomato... pretty much my favorite stuff to put on a pizza. Beer was great too, though I hadn't really meant to be drinking any more today... had Tess done that deliberately? Suddenly panicking, I looked over at her - my guard had slipped - had she ordered something alcoholic for herself? No, she was sipping out of a classic coke can. My suspicions didn't quite end there, though... there was still the minibar, and she could probably have acquired a bottle of rum or something and drained it without me noticing. When I got up and stepped close, though, Tess seemed to know what I was thinking.
"Go ahead - sniff it," she offered. "I didn't put anything in it."
"Umm... that's okay, I trust you," I muttered. Probably wouldn't have been able to tell if it was vodka by sniffing it, anyway, and she'd get mad if I tried tasting it. Plus... I really don't think that Tess would have lied to me about it, anyway. "Did you take any pizza for yourself?"
"Yep." She tapped the table next to her chair, which had two slices of pizza resting on... on what looked like a few strips of toilet paper laid out to keep them from sitting directly on the table. Hmm... yeah, no paper plates (or plates of any kind,) no paper towels, so short of using actual hotel towels that was probably the best solution. Except... well, she could have eaten straight out of the box, with me. Somehow I felt a little disappointed that she hadn't gone that route.
As the movie continued to play, and the two of us munched, my thoughts started to wander even further in that direction. Finally I moved aside and patted the bed next to me. "Come on, why don't you make yourself comfortable?"
"Hmm... maybe you're just thinking that you'd be more comfortable with a soft a slightly squeezable babe sitting next to you?" Tess joked. But she got up and took the place that I'd offered, bringing her makeshift paper plate and pizza with her. After a few moments, she moved her pizza back into the box, crumpled up the tee-pee, and shot it with perfect aim over into the wastebasket next to the TV table. "Wow, not bad," I admitted, commenting on both the aim, and the lines of Tess' body as her arms moved. (The fact that she'd made a shot like that in the middle of a basketball movie seemed especially weird.)
Somehow, now that Tess was sitting next to me, I ended up paying less attention to her than when she'd been in the chair. Had a few slices more pizza, then stopped once I wasn't particularly hungry anymore, and possibly dozed through a bit of the movie. I was definitely awake when a steamy seduction scene began, though, between the team captain and the beautiful head cheerleader from the rival school... a blonde cheerleader, who actually bore a shocking resemblance to Tess herself. (I might flatter myself by saying that the captain looked a little like me... but I don't have a face that good and I definitely don't have all of his inches.)
The scene was surprisingly sexy for a fairly low-budget PG-13 affair that didn't really show anything... the blonde chick's voice, especially, somehow sent a thrill through my chest that went right down to my pecker... and within just a minute or two, I was starting to get stiff. And then, before I even realized what was going on, I felt something else touch my rod... fingers, but fingers that were slick and slippery somehow, which added to the experience. I looked away from the screen and beside me - it was Tess who had grabbed me, pretty obviously, and as far as I could tell, she had somehow managed to oil her hands up with pizza grease without managing to have any crumbs sticking to the oil. It was kinduv a weird mental picture, (I'm wondering what you guys will think when you read the description, as I write this paragraph,) but definitely a sexy sensation. The wide and faintly cat-like grin on Tess' face as she jacked me up definitely helped. The seduction scene that was going on on the tv screen ended before the one that was playing out in the hotel room... well, if seduction is the right term. In fact, by the time Tess was done with me, (especially that one particular part of me,) I wasn't even paying attention to the movie anymore. I looked up at the girl on the other side of the bed, completely astounded at her chutzpah, her mind-blowingly playful sexuality, and... um, well, her jaw-dropping beauty, yeah, that'll do for the magic three.
A few minutes later, I went into the bathroom to take care of some business, and when I came back out, the tv had been turned back off, and Tess was bending down to put the pizza leftovers into the mini-fridge. (Great view of her ass, and her thighs, in that pose - she was still wearing the short red dress, and it was riding up - either just enough, or not quite far enough, depending on your taste. I couldn't make up my mind, myself.) "Hey, how did you fit the big pizza box into that little thing?" I asked belatedly, once she had closed the fridge door, stood up, turned around and noticed me.
"Umm... the only possible way - by turning the big pizza box into a smaller pizza box?" she replied. With a wave of her hand, Tess indicated the bed, where a fairly large amount of cardboard was left, maybe half of the material in the original box. A square piece had been cut out of one corner. Yeah, that did make sense. I'd probably have been able to work something like that out if I was sober and tried hard enough, so it would definitely be possible for Tess using her powers. "I'm bored," she continued. "Can we go out exploring again?"
"Umm, sure I guess." I didn't really feel like being out and about... which probably had something to do with the post-orgasm laziness effect, but I didn't really want to disappoint Miss Harding or piss her off either. So we locked up the room and went back downstairs in the elevator. Spent a little time wandering through the casino, didn't really gamble much, and wandered around the boutiques and other businesses set up not far from the hotel lobby.
Tess stopped and looked up at one sign, and I turned to read it too. impulsive hearts Wedding Chapel. Oh boy. And just then, Tess turned to me, and blurted out. "Your third consequence. Marry me."
My breath caught in my throat for a long moment. "Do... do you really mean that?"
She hesitated. "No." An embarrassed smile. "I mean, there's really not much point if I have to make you do it as some sort of stupid dare, is there? Come on, let's go. Do you wanna try the dance club?"
"No, just a second." Tess turned around to face me, an odd expression on her face. "A few questions. If I really asked you right now - would you get married?"
"Umm... I'm not sure," Tess admitted. "Maybe you'd have to ask me for real to find out." She stepped back closer. "I realize it's kinduv corny and I have no idea for how we'd make it work after we came home... even if we could. But deep down, if I ask myself if I could see myself becoming your wife at this point in my life..." she giggled slightly, probably about the unintended rhyme, "then I'd have to say 'yes.' I'm not quite sure if that's enough."
"It's something pretty incredible," I admitted. I thought about the corresponding question myself. Could I picture myself being a married man at the end of the day, a husband? It was a wild stretch. But if the bride was Tess... then I wanted myself in that picture, yes. "Another question - are we still drunk?"
"Hmmmm..." Tess considered the question. "I'm not really sure. Things haven't seemed particular clear and sober ever since I grabbed that drink in the auditorium, but I don't really seem especially loopy either. What does it matter, anyway? Aren't we supposed to be drunk if we're getting married in Vegas?" She giggled cutely. "What about you, Kyle?"
"Umm... I've mostly come down I think... no headache though - that musta been good stuff in the minibar. The beer is probably helping cushion my system." I wasn't really sure if my judgment was completely on the level at this point... maybe there were other factors than alcohol affecting it. Is it literally possible to be drunk on love, or high on hormones for that matter? "Tesia Christine Harding... will you marry me? I don't have a ring for you... and probably won't spring for one unless I get an answer of yes." I did go down on one knee, though - what the heck. Some guy walking past whooped out and pumped an arm in the air to cheer me on. Nobody else seemed to notice - I guess this happens often enough in Vegas that it's not even worth watching for the tourists.
"Ehhh...!" Tess seemed too conflicted to come up with an answer for a long moment, and I stood back up. (Whimsical chivalry only takes me so far.) "How... How did you find out that name, Kylan Mark Valenti?" Huh! Obviously I wasn't the only one who had ever been snooping... not that I'd ever really hidden my own full name, but still... Wanting to get a little less conspicuous, I led the way over to a little bench nearby that happened to be empty.
"Umm... wait a second," I said after we sat down. "You know that I know your middle name, Tess. You told me, after you used it as a fake name up in Denver when we were trying to sting that ex-FBI special agent for selling alien records over the Internet..." We had both used our middle names as fakes then, actually, which explained how she knew mine too.
"Not that name," Tess insisted. "Tesia." She pronounced it with a zzzz sound in the middle, while I'd used more of a hissing ss, but oh well. "I hate that. Made, umm, I made Ed promise that he'd never call me that, or tell anyone that that was my 'full' name, back when I was eight! Did... did you somehow find my Birth certificate, Kyle?"
"Umm, no, actually," I stuttered. "Michael showed me this alien memory key that... that Ed made just a few minutes before he died. I guess he forgot to stick by your agreement." Sighed. "How did you know about Kylan?"
Tess blushed slightly. "Snuck a look at your birth certificate, what else? Dad really should keep it in a safer place than that file folder of 'family stuff' in his desk."
Something struck me as odd about that... over the past few months, Tess had actually started to refer to my father as 'Dad' instead of 'Mister Valenti' or 'Jim.' Not to his face... in fact, I'm not sure if she's said it around anyone but me yet. Somehow that seemed to underline the strangeness of what we'd be getting into if we went through with anything like this... that we were already living in the same house, and being raised by the same parental figure - and talking about getting married. But heck - at least nobody would have to sleep out on the couch - unless I really pissed my wife off, that was. Just like any other married man.
I took a deep breath. "The big questions is still kinda hanging there in the air between us," I pointed out. "If you don't answer it soon, I may take it back."
"Oh, that's a great sigh," Tess laughed back. "I hesitate and change the subject for what, about a minute, and already you're getting fretful. Maybe I don't want to marry somebody so... so flighty and impatient anymore, how about that?" She shook her head with a small sadness that I wasn't sure if it was real or a put-on. (That's one of the things about Tess, she's kinduv a natural actress, able to conceal her feelings so well that even the people who know her best can't see through the fakery. Like her more obvious deceptive talent, the mind-warping thing, it can be a two-edged sword - I've often wondered, even at very angsty moments, if she were just putting me on.)
"I mean, if we did this, how long would it be real for? How long before you decide that you're tired of being a married teenager, tied down to one girl as a college freshman? How many years would we have before calling it quits? I... I know that you can't predict what'll happen in the future, but..." she broke off, shaking her head.
"Just tell me what you want of me," I whispered softly, running one hand through her amazingly soft hair, not for my own pleasure in it, but out of hopes that that would calm Tess down. "I... I'd like it to be happily ever after with you, Tess. But you're right - I can't promise that, can't be sure that I've got what it takes for the long haul. I'm sorry."
She looked up at me again. "Gut check... how long do you think you are good for?"
I laughed. Something about this whole scenario seemed very surreal... bargaining over years for a marriage proposal... but I didn't want to take it back entirely, and Tess had a right to know the score, as well as I could put it. "Minimum... three good years. Average of seventeen." Tess shot me a look. "There's a wide variance."
Tess couldn't restrain a laugh. "Okay, Kyle... I'm still not sure of the wisdom of any of this, but between Vegas' mysterious charms and your own, I can't resist. Yes, I'll marry you today - or tonight, or whatever it turns out to be." She giggled and jumped to her feet, pulling me along behind her. "We'll need rings, and flowers, and a white dress for me." She shot me a coy look just in time to spot me gulp silently. "Come on, surely you didn't think I was the type of girl who'd walk down the aisle in a bright red hussy outfit like this?"
I thought it was smarter not to say anything.
#
It didn't take much shopping to take care of Tess' needs... the three big ones or the other 'incidentals' that occurred to her. This was Vegas after all, and there were boutiques and booths in the plazas selling just about anything that a fussy bride might insist on... or a more detail-oriented groom than me, for that matter.
Myself, I'd have been pretty much satisfied to stand up at the altar in my t-shirt and my loose fits, but it became clear enough early on that this was simply not to be.
"C'mon, we've got enough money," Tess insisted. "And there must be two white-tie men's tailors in the lobby. You can wear a tux off the rack."
"A tux?" I said, trying not to whine. "Hey! I actually packed a nice black suit when we came? Just in case there was, umm, was a formal dinner thing like last time."
"Yeah?" Tess replied. This was while she was browsing through wedding dresses. "And just where is this suit, exactly, right now?"
"Umm, well... oh, right." I sighed. "It's still in the room I was sharing with Alex, back at the wherever-it-was hotel. Near to where Max is probably waiting for us to drag ourselves in, if he's not actively scouring the strip for us."
"Right," Tess said softly. "And do you really think it'd be a good idea to go back for it?" She was asking me as if I were an eleven-year old or something, but maybe I'd nearly asked for that.
Let's see. Go back, almost certainly run into someone else in the gang... no, no thanks. For one thing, probably someone would ask why I wanted the suit so badly, and then it'd be almost impossible to get back out before they found out about the wedding. And I didn't want that to happen... didn't want them to try to talk us out of it, which i thought that several people would, and not even if they just wanted to come and watch. All of this magical stuff between Tess and I had just been for the two of us, and I wanted the wedding to continue that trend... just the two of us, and a slightly corny Vegas priest and a organ lady with gray hair up in a bun. The quintessential Vegas elopement. Well, except for the Elvis impersonator. I could do without any Kings around - not Evans, and not Presley.
"Okay, okay," I sighed. "We'll buy something new. But not a tux. Another simple, classic suit. That okay?"
"Well, I guess Kyle," she drawled with a twinkle in her eye. "Black suit, yeah, that can work."
Finally everything was ready, and we went to the chapel and waited our turn in line, and chatted a bit with a couple who were a few years older than we were... the guy was going to college in Wisconsin, and the girl was interning with the local telephone company. "Hey," the girl, Wendy, said after a moment. "Since neither of us have attendants here, how about we trade off? You guys can be our best man and maid of honor, and then we'll do the same for you.
I blinked, looking over at Tess because she was more likely to care about that sort of thing. "Um, okay, yeah," Tess smiled, seeming to appreciate the zaniness of the idea.
"We could just go for a double wedding," Ryan said a little doubtfully.
"No, those are so last year," I said. "Unless, um, are they cheaper than singles?" Tess swatted me on the arm. Okay, yeah, trying to save a few bucks by getting wedding-mates was probably not the best signat to be sending.
"Wait a second," Tess sudenly realized. "We're going to be both standing up there in wedding dresses, Wendy - that'd be too weird."
"Hmm." Wendy thought about that. "Well, I've got something else I could... could maybe change into, but yeah, that sounds like maybe the whole thing is more trouble than it's worth."
Tess looked at me, and I could tell that she was uncertain too. It was a cute idea, and fun, and Tess didn't really need to worry about changing - she could alter her dress with the wave of a hand, though we'd have to go through a few hoops to make it not look suspicious. But Ryan and Wendy had been before us in line, and it didn't seem fair to make her change out of her wedding dress just to come and stand up by Tess' side. "Yeah, too bad," I said after a moment. Nice to meet you, and good luck!"
"Yeah," Ryan said. "How about we all meet up back here in the waiting room afterwards, anyway? Just to congratulate each other?"
"Sounds great," Tess said, and giggled. It wasn't long after that that their name got called, and we waited, and then one other couple went through, and a few minutes after that Ryan and Wendy were back. "How was it?" Tess asked.
"Umm... great," Wendy admitted. "A little too short, but what the heck." She turned, and looked back at Ryan and grinned. "Can you believe that we're actually married?"
"Umm, no, not really," he admitted. "So, c'mon guys, tell us a little about life in Roswell. Ever think you've seen an alien?"
I had a bit of a hard time coming up with an answer to that question. "Sheesh, hardly," Tess said without a scrap of hesitation. "You've seen too many movies, It's just a little city in the middle of the desert. Nothing special really."
"How did you meet?" Wendy pressed. Just like a girl, I guess - always wanting to hear the romantic story.
"Umm, she was new in town, and came up to me, saying that she needed some help getting caught up in her classes and wanted to know if I was up for a study date," I said. Tess blushed slightly, and Ryan chuckled. "Which is, umm, especially odd, since I definitely wasn't someone who excelled at schoolwork that year."
"I... I had other reasons for picking you, yeah," Tess said. That was true enough, but of course neither of us were going to go into the real motives that Tess had had for picking my company that night. "I, umm, I saw Kyle around a few other times after that, but nothing really notable or worth mentioning... until the first time his Dad let me crash on their couch, and he wandered into the living room in his boxer shorts not expecting me to be there."
"Whoa," Wendy muttered. "What... what was the story behind that? Why were you crashing there?"
Fortunately, before either of us had to explain, our names were called, and we hurried over to the chapel proper. I went down to the front right away, chatting briefly with the minister and the organist, (who pretty much matched my mental picture of expectations,) while Tess got ready for her big entrance, that she'd made me pay extra for, even though there wasn't anybody to see it except for the phtographer and the rest of us. The basic package just had the bride and groom coming up to the front of the chapel together, but if Tess wanted to do the big 'here comes the Bride' moment anyway, I wasn't going to deny it to her. The organist started up the familiar theme, and Tess strode out of a little cloakroom at the back of the chapel, and I turned around just as the photographer snapped off his first pic.
I'll admit it, I was blown away. I'd looked at Tess in the dress before that moment, of course - we weren't really worrying about any of the usual superstitions, and there hadn't seemed to be any classy way to prevent it. But somehow, I don't think I'd really seen her until that moment - seen how radiantly beautiful she was in that moment of moments, wearing her white gown that seemed all kinds of good things at once. (No, I'm not going to list any of them this time - you can probably rhyme them off yourselves. Well, unless you're a guy, and in that case you might not really care.) She had little heel shoes that were a kind of pale icy pink, (I'm not that good at describing colors,) and had a bouquet of white tulips in one arm, and her hair was pulled back into a kind of lacy shroud-like headdress... it made me think of veils, though it didn't cover any of her face. Made her look all kinds of pretty and innocent and virginal, which I guess was the point. I decided right there and then that when we got to the 'you may kiss each other' part, I'd try to pull the lace away and let her hair tumble free - that was probably what Tess had had in mind too.
So she got up to the front and stood there beside me, and the minister smiled the kind of smile that - well, it wasn't an unpleasant expression, but it reminded me of how many times every day he must do this, and that the two of us were just, what, couple number six-hundred and forty three that week? "Good evening. We are gathered here tonight, in the presence of God and the State of Nevada, to witness and celebrate the joining of two lives into one, in the unity of marriage. These are solemn and sweet vows that you are about to take on, and they should not be spoken lightly. Do you both understand this?"
I paused, looked over at Tess, and all of my doubts seemed to fade away. Things might go wrong, I knew that there was no way to guarantee against that, but I wanted nothing more than to hold her close for the end of my days, and if we had to work hard at our relationship and go through hard times in order to get to that point... I felt like I was ready. "Yes, I do." Tess agreed, just a fraction of a second before I finished my own affirmation.
The minister looked at both of us a little more closely. "You kids have to both be at least eighteen before getting married here without parental approval - you realize that, right?"
"Yeah, we're both legal," I assured him. Both of us had our real IDs to prove that, I was pretty sure. Of course, Tess' legal age was a matter of some interpretation, but I wasn't going to bring that up of course.
"All right. Um, please join both hands and face each other." I did, enjoying the chance to look into Tess' bright blue eyes. "Kyle, will you take this woman, Tess, whose hands you hold, choosing her alone to be your beloved wife? Will you love her and comfort her, in sickness and health, through good times and bad? Will you be faithful to her, trust her, and honor her all the time?"
I paused a moment, totally calm, drinking in the vision of the girl I loved, wondering where the future would take us. "I do."
"Actually, it should be 'I will', but that's okay. Tess, will you take this man, Kyle, whose hands you hold, choosing him alone to be your beloved husband? Will you love him and comfort him, in sickness and health, through good times and bad? Will you be faithful to him, trust him, and honor him all the time?"
Tess looked back at me, and I think for a fraction of a second there was a shadow of uncertainty crossing her face, but that went away when she smiled. "Yes, I will."
The minister smiled and made little gestures for us to face him again. We did, though I kept holding Tess' hand in one of mine. "To love is to come together from the pathways of our past," he intoned somberly, "and then move forward...Hand in hand, along the uncharted roads of our future, ready to risk, to dream, and to dare... And always believe that all things are possible with faith and love in God, and in each other." Big breath. "Kyle, do you take Tess to be your wife, to love her and cherish her, from this day forward, and be true to her?"
"I do." Yep, this was the right spot for that cliched response, apparently.
"Tess, do you take Kyle to be your husband, to love him and cherish him, from this day forward, and be true to him?"
Tess took just a moment to peek cutely at me out of the corner of her eye. "I do."
"Have you the rings?"
Tess and I instantly burst into stifled laughter - we'd watched 'The princess Bride' together many times, and that line just sounded so reminiscent of the ludicrous sword-point marriage scene at the end, and the Impressive lisping clergyman. "Yeah, we do," I managed to say. Tess already had her blue-stone engagement ring on, (it wasn't anything actually very valuable, and she was okay with that, just wanted something pretty and fairly durable for the price.) The wedding bands were mostly plain silver, with little flattened discs inscribed, (flying saucers?) and our initials on them.
"Good. The wedding ring is a symbol of eternity, of the unbroken bond, of the circle of our lives, umm... and that kind of stuff." The minister looked like he had slightly fluffed the line. I didn't care - that sounded good. "I ask that these rings be blessed forevermore, to serve as a token of the covenant that the two of you have pledged, and that they will help to bring your lives peace, unity, love, and happiness. Kyle, repeat after me: With this ring..."
"'With this ring,'" I repeated, holding it out ready to slide over Tess' left ring finger, which was a little hard, since that arm was the one further from me. I repeated the other parts after the priest: "... I thee wed." (slide ring on. ) "Let it be a symbol of our love forever." I have to say, my throat caught a little at that part. Forever? Well... okay, cynical worst case scenario. Even if things didn't work out between us long term, this would be the wedding band for my first wedding... yeah, it would be a symbol for what I felt for Tess, and she for me, until the day that I died. Fair enough. Somehow, a small part of me was glad that he hadn't prompted me to ever say 'til death do us part'.
"Tess?" She put the ring on my finger, repeating the same formula, and didn't hesitate at all. "Kyle, Tess, since you have pledged your love to each other in this sacred place..." Tess snickered softly at that, "By the authority vested in me by the State and the powers of the Universe, I now proclaim you husband and wife. You may now kiss."
"Darn good thing," she whispered, as I turned and pulled the headdress away. Yeah - that was exactly what she wanted me to do at this point - I could tell it from the look in her eyes. And we leaned together and kissed... no French action, but a very sweet and soft kiss that fit the moment perfectly. The first time I kissed her as my wife. Wow... it'd take a while to get used to that thought.
"Thank you very much, Mister and Mrs Valenti," the minister said, smiling. "If you'll take the front side exit out of the chapel, we'll make sure that your license is all in order." Ahh, right. He wanted us to clear out so that the next couple could get started. Par for the course I guess. So we went to the little paperwork office next to the office - we'd filled out a form before, at the same time as Tess picked our package and I'd paid the fee, but this seemed to be no-kidding-around official government stuff.
We showed our ID - and I checked the driver's license that Tess passed over to make sure that it wasn't the one that said she was 21, just in case that might queer the whole deal. I really did want this marriage to be official, even if a small part of me wasn't sure that I was ready for it. And something else had occurred to me - something that I honestly hadn't thought of in these terms since that moment that Tess blurted out her ill-chosen 'consequence.' Now that we were married, and there wasn't an official reception or anything to go to - heck, our friends didn't even know about us getting hitched - then next would come the wedding night!
Yes, I admit it, I was looking forward to making love to Tess. I wouldn't have gone through with this whole wedding thing if that was the only point... hrm, but it's a nice little bit of icing on the wedding cake, as it were. (Not that we're getting a real wedding cake I guess.)
We went out into the lobby and met up with Wendy and Ryan again, and the four of us went across the corridor to a bar and drank toasts to each other, (though I made sure that Tess got only ginger ale and didn't take a sip out of anyone else's drink this time,) and Wendy and Tess each tossed their bouquets into crowds to see who would catch them, and then ran up to take them back because they wanted to keep them. Finally, we said goodbye to them, and Tess and I rode back up in the elevator to our floor, and I gathered her up in my arms as she worked the lock, and we kissed long and hot as I carried her over the threshold.
"Ahem."
I looked up, and Tess turned to face into the room, which was more brightly lit than either of us had expected. More full, too. Max, Liz, Alex, and Isabel were all sitting around the edge of one bed. Michael and Maria were on the couch next to the coffee table. "Um, were we interrupting something?" Max asked in a low voice.
Tess quirked a delicate eyebrow and gestured with her feet. Belatedly I let her down into a standing position and she smoothed down her dress. "What the heck does it look like, Max? I'd say that you were interrupting something pretty private - wouldn't you?"
"You're... you're married?" Liz breathed softly, seeming stunned and almost personally betrayed by the idea. "Got married in Vegas?" What exactly was her problem, anyway? She couldn't be jealous of me - Liz was with Max now, and disgustingly happy with him, and whatever had happened between us had been long ago. And as far as Tess... well, I would certainly have thought that she'd be thrilled that I was taking Tess off the market, so that she and Max would almost definitely never be an item at all.
"Yes," I said, holding up my left hand and letting the marriage band speak for itself. "For about ten minutes now. Bit of an impulsive hearts kind of deal." Of course, that phrasing wouldn't mean anything to them unless they knew about that particular chapel, but... well, between the odd humiliation of having everybody staring at us like this, and the double bourbon on the rocks I'd had downstairs, I wasn't exactly at my most composed. "What the heck are all of you doing here?"
"Umm, we just kind of wanted to check in on you guys," Alex said, a sad look crossing over his face. "Since we'd hardly seen or heard a peep out of you in two days. If it was clear that you just wanted to have fun by yourselves, then I'd have voted to let you keep your privacy, but... well, I was worried that something weird might have been going on. Somebody threatening you or... or an alien mystery developing. Guess that wasn't the problem."
"No, mmm..." Tess looked down. "Sorry that we went all 'lost boys and girls' without telling you guys or whatever, but... it was kind of a spur of the heart thing." Suddenly I realized why this scene was familiar... some of the people were on the other side of the issue, but the basic issue was exactly the same as when we'd come up into the shared suite last time, and found my Dad waiting for us all pissed off. (Oh, god - Dad. Just what was he going to think about Tess and I getting hitched? Well, we'd storm that bridge when we came to it.) "And... sorry to say it, but it's been a kinduv long day and night, we're not in any life-threatening kind of trouble, and... um, hubby and me would really appreciate a little alone time right now. We'll meet you all for the breakfast buffet at nine-thirty tomorrow morning. Your hotel or ours?"
"Our hotel is also yours," Maria put in. "At least, there are beds there for you - not that they've been slept in."
"Our hotel," Max said firmly. "We'll see you then." He got up, a little uncertainly, and went up to kiss Tess on the cheek. "Best wishes." He sighed slightly. "You might just need them." And with that sidelong shot at me, he led an exodus out of the room. Liz followed him without saying anything to us.
Alex whispered something to me on his way: 'I would've liked an invite.' That kinda made me feel like a first-class heel for the whole thing. Tess got all kinds of attention and stuff from the rest of the group - Isabel hugged her, Michael congratulated her - which made Maria slap him hard on the side. When Michael asked what he'd done now, Maria went into a big spiel about how it was all kinds of uncooth to congratulate a bride on her wedding day, because it implied that she was luckier than she deserved to get married, or because it suggested that she'd had to go out and catch a man.
"But it's okay to congratulate the groom?"
"Well, in this case, yes." Maria giggled. Apparently, I was going to get no end of abuse for this. I didn't care. Finally they all left and it was just the two of us. I turned to look at Tess. "Well, apparently the honeymoon's over already."
She smiled, her eyes glinting softly, and pushed me onto the bed. "Not quite yet I hope!"
"Ooh." I was suddenly conflicted. "Umm... sorry, can we use the other bed?" Tess seemed to be a bit confused by the request. "This is the one that everybody else was sitting and waiting for us on."
Tess shook her head in mild exasperation, (which made her curly hair glint with hidden wonders of gold,) but we recreated the same position over on the other bed. Tess waved a hand, and all of the lights went out except for one, which dimmed to a suitably romantic level. Suddenly I wished that we had thought to get some candles - I bet that Tess would have really liked that touch. But it didn't seem worth the effort to stop for that now. Especially now that, well... Tess made some kind of odd and complicated gesture at herself with both hands, closing her eyes - as if she were an enchantress casting a spell... (Hmm, maybe that's how she managed to steal my heart.)
Her white gown fuzzed, its outlines becoming indistinct, and then she was just clothed in a white puffy cloud, which streamed off towards the chair next to the window, and then resumed the shape of a white dress, folded over the back of the chair. I blinked in susprise, struck by what she must have done - reduced the dress to its component atoms, moved those atoms, and then re-constituted it. Oh, well, the view that was left now that the dress was not actually being worn any more was also something that I was struck by.
Tess' underwear was pure white, and lacy, and kinduv more involved than anything I'd ever seen on a girl before. (Of course, this wasn't just any girl now - she was my wife. Still can't quite wrap my head around that one.) Bustier top, seperate garter belt and stockings... the overall effect was definitely impressive and dangerously sexy. (I was already hard as a steel pole inside my suit pants, and reaching mentally for some baseball facts - not that I needed them just yet, but if she tried to tease me very much more before we got to the real deal, well...) She leaned over just enough to give me a hint of a further cleavage shot. "Should we take these off the same way as the dress, or use a more old-fashioned approach?"
Thought about that for a second. "I don't really feel like being old fashioned," I admitted. "At least, not when it comes to this. Umm... can you try doing me that way? I'm curious about what it feels like."
She didn't wave her hands or close her eyes that time... just kind of stared at me and maybe muttered under her breath, which again was not something that Tess usually did when exercising her powers, but I didn't really care. Suddenly... there was an odd sensation of getting dumped into water that was freezing cold and incredibly hot at the same time, and... and everything that I'd been wearing burst away in several directions, leaving me completely naked there on the bed, my state of readiness suddenly impossible to hide.
Tess smiled, but didn't giggle or laugh at my predicament... in fact, she seemed to grow more excited herself at the prospect of what my stiff and thick tool meant. Well, that was good. I was certainly feeling eager enough to... well, I first thought 'to use it on her', but that doesn't really seem the right turn of phrase in this moment. Too stereotypically underage male, too crude. If I could bring the girl I loved pleasure, (and get some sexual satisfaction myself at the same time,) that was well and good, but I didn't feel the need to be too direct about that, even in my thoughts. I was Tess' husband now, and we were about to consummate our love, that is if she would ever quit playing games and get to the point.
Tess got rid of the bustier the same way, (except that it didn't look like a cloud so much as a faint wisp of mist, probably because it was smaller, and her garter belt, stockings, and shoes at the same time. (I had to bite my lip to not tell her to put the shoes on again... time enough to play out fantasies like that later.)
Then she crawled onto the bed, her torso upright, her legs bent at the knees, and I stared up and down at the seamless perfection of her body. Breasts that were full and soft without getting too huge and massive, just perfectly upright and perky, sweet and delicious looking nipples, a gently curving pale stomach, tidily flared hips, smooth and luscious legs. Our lips met in an explosive kiss, me rising to meet Tess as she fell down against my chest, (which was just enough of an impact to force me back flat,) and hands wandering everywhere in an incindiary flare of passion. Soon Tess was licking at my chest, which I knew was something that she loved, but... "Come on, I'm nearly ready to explode, my darling wife," I said. "Are... are you ready to really go at it?"
"Hmm." Tess considered. "Let's see." She sat up, kind of straddling me, and held up her hand. Something winged into it from somebody's bag - a little wrapped condom. "Put it on. I can't go on human hormones, and I'm not going to become a married, teenage mother."
"Ohh." Fair enough, I supposed. Actually, Tess helped me put it on, with a few cues. I've always found that that's easier, partly just because anybody else but a guy can get their head and arms closer to his crotch, and partly because a woman's fingers can keep me, umm, stiff and straight better, which is the best way to make sure that a rubber is on snugly. "Anything else, dear?"
"Yeah." She turned over and lay back on the other side of the bed. "If' you're so racing to go, then you can make sure I'm there too. You're really hot, but I don't think I go without more foreplay than this."
"Works for me," I said. Between last year, and the past two days, I had learned quite a lot of what turned Tess on, what made her hungry for more, and I used every little trick in the book as quickly as possible. Even so, I was still a little worried about going prematurely, considering that the tricks in the book involved my hands and mouth on Tess' supple bosom, her belly button, her short but perfect thighs, and a few places that were even more exciting. Finally she waved me off - or maybe waved me in. "Do... do you want me to be on the top?" I asked, feeling a little uncertain about it.
"Umm... yeah, err, I dunno," she mumbled. "Why? Does it... does it make a difference?"
"Well, not for me personally," I said. "It's you - I'm going to love it just about anyway. But - well, this is your first time, and I've heard that it's less painful and easier to get off if the girl's on top the first few times."
Tess shrugged. "Okay, works for me." She spun around again, having grabbed me by the arms and wrapped her legs around mine so that I ended up beneath her. Working her groin against my hips for a moment before getting right into position, she bent down far enough to kiss me - and for a long moment, I wasn't in the hotel room. Instead, I was sitting on a folding chair, outside a summer cabin high up on a hill. Tess... Tess was coming up a path towards me, but she wasn't quite like the Tess I was really familiar with. She seemed... older and a bit more elegant. Still pretty short and fresh-faced, but maybe thirty years old, and carrying a little baby in her arms with brown hair like mine and wearing a pink jumper. Right then, whoosh, two little rugrats, maybe three or four years old, rush past, one in front of me and one behind, nearly knocking my chair over. The one I got a good look at had straw-colored hair nearly like Tess', a cute little guy.
"Boys, how many times have I told you not to roughhouse like that around your father," Tess called out with a wink. "You'll set him a bad example!" I shook my head and frowned, but the frown didn't last as my wife reached me and bent down to kiss me on the lips. She was wearing a soft, comfy flannel shirt, and I could feel the edge of one breast pushing against my upper arm through it. And then... back into the hotel room.
"Wow," I muttered, and I realized that Tess was looking at me with a surprised expression too. "Did... did you see something from our future together too?"
"Y-yeah," she breathed. "Or maybe just something I want to be in our future. You, me. A cozy little apartment, somewhere with snow falling outside the windows. It... it was our son's first christmas, and he was playing with wrapping paper instead of the toys we'd bought him."
I laughed. "Sure you want to wait, what, seven years before we meet him?" I teased her.
"At least three," she countered. "Probably five. But that doesn't mean that we can't... " and she wriggled around a little. "Practice a little."
"Oh, practicing sounds like a very good idea," I managed to gasp out. And that's when she started to do it... or maybe I should say we started to do it together.
No, I'm not describing any more of this scene. Come on, you perverts! That's my wife you're talking about, now!