Thank you for responding the first chapter! I wanted to thank you personally for it but the week went by before I knew and thought it would be better to post a new chapter. So really, really, really thank you for those kind words.
My feet didn't lead my home. No, I didn't even walk another meter from that bar. My body just turned around and there I was, stalking right back into the bar I had just fled from. She didn't see me entering the bar again. Neither did she expected me to turn her around and crash my lips against hers.
But I did just that. Somewhere in the moment I had decided to go home a switch had gone off in my head. Making me stop thinking about everything and life in the moment for once. I had met this amazing girl today and something told me that I shouldn't let her walk out of my life.
She had gazed at me with big eyes, ready to push me away until she saw me. She relaxed and closed her eyes. Kissing me back she twined her fingers into my hair. She tasted sweet and intoxicating.
'So what now?' I asked her as I pulled back. She gazed up at me, letting her hands go to the front of my shirt where she let them rest.
'Now we find a place where we can get married.' She answered, like it was the most normal thing to do.
'You mean now? Not next week or something?' I ask her. Swallowing the panicking feeling that is building up inside of me. She grabs my hands and squeezes them. I let my eyes go wandering around. Seeing all the people around us that have no idea what is going on.
No familiar face between them but that isn't surprising since I am not in a bar I would usually go to. Then Rose squeezes my hands again and I let my eyes go back to her. Her gaze is soft and making me relax.
'Trust me.' she says before pulling me closer for another kiss. It feels strange but very comfortable to kiss Rose. It felt new and familiar at the same time. Like we had done this many times before. Maybe there was something like meant for each other.
Rose let me go and pulled out her phone. She started to search something on the internet. I sat down next to her and looked at her for a while before letting myself sit closer to her. She was looking for 24-hour chapels.
'You really want to get married in the middle of the night?' I ask her. Thinking it would be a much better idea to do this tomorrow. Sleep a little before doing such rushed things. Maybe she would wake up tomorrow and regret even saying those words. Regretting going on this date with me even.
'It's not the middle of the night, grandpa.' She says, showing me her watch that shows me it is a little past eleven. I don't tell her that by this time at night I am already asleep. Or at least crawled into my bed.
She then puts her phone away and turns to me. Her eyes twinkling and her lips in a soft smile. Her hair is messy, caused by the wind and her running her fingers through it. The red lipstick she had put on is faded.
'Are you ready to do this?' she asks me. I'm doubting this for one last time. In that moment I think quickly about my mother and sisters. What they would think if I told them this? Mama sure would be happy. Even know she doesn't know Rose at all.
'Let's do this.' I tell her before grabbing her hand and pulling her with me. She laughs as she puts her coat back on.
Ten minutes later we are sitting next to each other in a cab. She has told the driver the address of the 24-hour chapel she has picked out. I am thinking of things I could say to her but I can't come up with a single thing.
'Are you nervous?' she asks me, her leg bumping against mine. It makes me look towards her. She is fidgeting with one of the buttons on her coat.
'Are you?' I ask her in return. Not able to voice my own feeling about this whole wedding thing. Yesterday she was just a girl I was going to have a date with. And today I will be marrying her.
'A little bit I guess. I mean I have never been to a wedding before. I don't know what I have to say. What if I mess up?' she rambles on, making me smile at her antics.
'You just have to say I do.' I tell her, grabbing her hands to make her stop fidgeting. She looks at my hand before looking up into my eyes.
'I don't even know your last name.' she suddenly says. This makes me smile even more.
'We don't have to do this. If you are having second thoughts, we can just go home and forget about this.' I tell her. I don't want to do this if she doesn't want to.
'I'm not having second thoughts. Do you?' she says. Her fingers tracing over my hand.
'I'm not.' I tell her. She smiles at me. A beautiful smile that I want to see every day. And I tell myself that I will do anything to see that smile every day.
'It's Belikov.' I tell her. She looks confused for a moment before she gets it. She says my last name a couple times, trying it.
'Do I have to get your last name? Or do I keep mine? What do you think?' she asks question after question. Not doubting anymore or having that nervous look in her eyes. She is just going over a couple things.
'I think I would like to take your last name. Rose Belikov.' She says. Doesn't even wait for what I have to say. It makes me smile.
'Belikova. It would be Rosa Belikova.' I tell her. She looks at me confused. 'It's a Russian thing.'
A shocked look goes over her face before she grins. It makes me uncomfortable. Making me think I wouldn't like what is coming next. I will never find out what she was about to say because the driver tells us that we are the address.
I pay the driver, ignoring the look that Rose gives me. As I step out of the car I bump into her. Grabbing her by reflex and pulling her against me. I would lie if I would say that it didn't feel good.
'Let's get married.' I tell her. She shudders before looking up to me. I grab her hand and walk with her into the building. I have no idea what I expected from it but not this. It looks so normal. With a lady sitting behind a desk and a small waiting room.
It's white and open. No windows but the lights are slightly dimmed. The woman, an older woman with grey hair which she has pulled up in a knot and a kind smile on her lips, looks up as we walk in together.
'What can I do for you?' the lady asks us. Rose and I look towards each other before stepping closer to the desk.
'We want to get married.' I tell the lady. Pulling Rose to my side. I have no idea why I do that but it feels good. Rose wraps her arm around my waist.
She smiles kindly at us while she starts pulling files from drawers and saying those lines that she probably tells everyone who is stepping inside of this building. It takes 24 hours before the state has us listed as a married couple. We have fill out a couple of papers and she tells us the costs of marrying at the chapel. Rose and I pull our wallets out at the same time.
'I will pay.' I tell her. She wants to interrupt but I bent down and kiss her, silence her. It works perfectly. I tell myself to remember that. When I don't want her to argue with me I can just kiss her. Not that it is a bad thing to kiss her.
'What about rings?' the woman behind the desk asks us. I exchange looks with Rose. We didn't think about that. The lady pulls out a couple of rings she has stocked behind her desk.
'We have a couple of sets you can choose from. You will borrow them for tonight and after that they will be made specially for you. They will be done in about a week and you can pick them up.' she explains to us.
'Which one do you like?' I ask Rose. It feels so weird to be picking out wedding rings. I had always wanted to do that once in my life. But expected to do it with a woman I knew so well that I had already know which one she liked more.
'I don't like the flashy ones. I rather keep it a bit simpler.' She says to me while looking up. That is a relief at least. I don't want to be walking around with a flashy and big ring. Rather keep it just a simple golden wedding band.
'What about the golden ones?' I ask her. She looks at them before nodding her approval. I give my card to the lady again. I don't want to look at my bank account after this night. It's not that I am poor but I wasn't expecting this so never set away money for this.
'I see that you have rental for wedding dresses and tuxes?' Rose says suddenly, pointing at something behind the woman. I look down at my own clothes. I can't get married in my jeans and red shirt.
'Yes, would I add that to?' she asks us. Rose nods before looking at me. I nod too. If we are doing this, I want to have her in front of me in a beautiful white dress.
'Alright. Just fill out these papers and I will make sure that the wedding officiant is ready to marry you.' The lady says with another kind smile before disappearing through a door behind her. We take the papers from the desk and sit down in the small waiting room.
'It's not really what I expected.' Rose says before laughing. I join her. It isn't what I expected either. I mean, you hear those crazy stories but I didn't expect it to be so just. With the paperwork and the rings.
I fill in my own information and see Rose do the same. It is a lot more than I expected but it seems normal that they need all of this to get someone to be your wife. I mean they won't do it if I only told my name and Rose told hers.
'We will have to pick which ceremony we want.' She tells me, showing the folders we received. They have special ceremonies for Christians or Muslims or any kind of religion you believe in. we discard them almost immediately. You have crazy ceremonies like an Elvis ceremony. That is not something for us we decide after laughing at it. After looking at three we are considering we choose a simple one.
I take her hand in mine and play with her fingers while reading through the ceremony description one last time. The reality hasn't really caught up with me and I am perfectly fine with that at the moment.
'Where are we going to live? My place or your place?' I suddenly ask her. She squeezes my hand.
'Don't worry. We will figure that all out tomorrow.' She says to me. Calming me. We don't have to know everything right away. It will all be right.
'Have you finished filling your paperwork?' she lady asks us, standing in front of us. We both say yes at same time. Giving the paperwork back to her.
'Alright, this looks good. Rosemarie you can go through that door, you will find dresses there and I will be with you in a minute. Dimitri you can go through that door, you will find tuxes in there and my colleague will join you in a minute.' She tells us, pointing at the rooms.
I turn to Rose, smiling down at her. Grabbing her hands in mine. 'I will see you in front of the altar.' I say before giving her a quick kiss. In just a matter of time I will have this beautiful woman as my wife. My missis Belikova.
I watch her as she walks into the room before turning and walking in another room. Ready to change my clothes for a tuxedo and seeing Rose in white. Well, at least in a wedding gown.
'Hey, I'm Jonathan. I will help you picking out your tuxedo for tonight.' A young man says to me. He wears a tuxedo himself, has light blue hair and more piercings that I'm going to count. I nod before looking around.
It is a small room with a couple of choices. I go through them before picking the things I like. A black dress pants and blazer, a white blouse and a red tie. I try them on and let Jonathan help me pulling things right.
It doesn't fit perfectly but it has to do for tonight. Jonathan brings me towards the altar where the wedding officiant is waiting for me, us. It is an older man with grey hair, a stern face and a good fitting tuxedo on. He introduces himself as Tom before we both stand waiting for Rose.
Then the doors open and Rose walks in.
Alright, so Dimitri walked back into that bar and now they are actually getting married? Well, how will that work out. So, I have to apologize before you get angry because I have absolutly no idea how the whole eloping thing goes. So I just made something up and probably a lot more romantic than it actually would be. Forgive me.
Let me know what you thought about it!
