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Epilogue
Minutes Before The Wedding
Danielle's View
"How do I look?" Elizabeth asked as she walked into the room with her mother walking behind her. We all looked up from adjusting our own dresses and smiled widely.
"You look gorgeous! You're gonna blow Brian away!" Sophia squealed. She really did look beautiful in her dress.
"Yeah, you really do look beautiful," I said. I could see why Brian would want to marry her. She's really pretty and she has a great personality. Something, in my opinion, I don't have.
"Get ready girls, it's time to go," Elizabeth's mother said gathering us all together at the door that led into the church. We all got in line and I was matched with Kevin. Colleen was matched with Nick, Darlene was matched with Howie, and Sophia and AJ were together. Kevin smiled down at me and whispered, "This is pretty exciting eh?"
"Yeah I guess so," I whispered back.
"Remember! Big smiles and don't look down!" Elizabeth's mother said. We all nodded and stood up straight. She then opened the doors and stepped aside. Brian was standing at the very end with the priest smiling at all of us. Couple by couple we walked down the isle. Everyone sitting in the benches watched as we walked by. Flower pedals were scattered over the carpet and flowers and ribbons lined the benches.
Kevin and I walked arm and arm until we came to the front where Brian stood. Kevin went to Brian's side and I stood up in the middle of where Darlene and Sophia stood. Brian looked at me and gave me a slight smile. I just smiled back.
Finally, the traditional wedding song started to play. All heads turned as Elizabeth came into view. Everyone then stood as she began to walk down the isle with her father. I just looked down at the flowers that were in my hands and frowned. I wanted to cry so bad right then and there.
Brian's View
Elizabeth walked down the aisle smiling at me. She looked so beautiful but as much as I hated to say this on my wedding day, there was only one woman in that whole church that looked more beautiful than her. No one could ever get near Danielle and her beauty. My heart beat so fast as she walked down the aisle with Kevin. Normally, that should happen with Elizabeth...but it didn't. I knew that I was making a mistake, a very large one. I really didn't want to admit this now but deep down, I knew I was marrying the wrong woman.
Elizabeth stepped up next to me as I took her hand in mine. I looked into her eyes as the priest began to talk. His words began to fade and ended up in the back of my mind. I couldn't hear him...my thoughts were only focused on Elizabeth's eyes. As I looked into them, they began to change...they started to change into the only eyes I could ever get lost in, the only eyes that made me smile of the thought of them, the only eyes that I actually loved. I smiled with pure happiness when Danielle's face appeared before me. It wasn't Elizabeth in the wedding dress, it wasn't Elizabeth standing before me holding my hand, it wasn't Elizabeth I was marrying...it was Danielle. It should be Danielle.
Danielle's View
As the priest talked on I started to feel alone. I felt crammed in and that the room was caving in on me. I started to breath harder, it's like I totally forgot how to breath in the first place. Seeing Elizabeth and Brian up there holding hands, seeing Brian's smiling face, made my stomach tighten up. Tears blurred my vision. I tried to blink them away as hard as it was. I couldn't believe this was happening now. Everything was hitting me, and it was hitting me hard. Brian was getting married and there was nothing I could do about it and I had no one, NO ONE, to comfort me...Jason was the only one that could and I gave him up. Right then and there, standing there in front of hundreds of people, my world began to crash down on me. I couldn't break down, not then. I looked around frantically trying to figure out what to do. Darlene looked at me concerned.
"Are you OK?" she whispered leaning over. I breathed heavily as I shook my head.
"I need some air," I choked out. She frowned and nodded. I stepped back and rushed down the stairs. A few people turned their heads to look at me oddly as I walked past but for the most part no one noticed that I had stepped down from the alter. All eyes were on the couple getting married.
As I reached the back of the church, the tears that I have been holding back, burst out with full force. I covered my mouth and ran out of the church doors and out into the bright sun light. I stopped and sucked in air, people walking past looked at me strangely but went on their way. I was breathing heavily, tears rapidly slid down my cheeks. They wouldn't stop.
I had blew it, I had blown every chance that I had with Brian. The hurt that was inside me was unbearable, it was eating away at me. I couldn't take it. I was in so much pain and I didn't know how to stop it. I never knew love could inflict so much pain on a human being.
I walked to the side of the building and slumped down, covering my face with my hands, letting all the tears escape. The saying is true, it's more than true, love does hurt.
Brian's View
"Brian..." Danielle's lips moved but as she spoke, her face began to change back into Elizabeth.
"Brian," Elizabeth said looking at me weirdly.
"Huh? What?" I asked. She looked over at the priest and then back at me whispering, "Answer."
I just looked at her confused. The priest cleared his throat and then began again, "Brian Thomas Littrell, do you take Elizabeth Ann White to be your lawful wedded wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
I looked up at him as he finished his sentence and then looked back into Elizabeth's face. She smiled lightly up at me waiting for me to answer. I opened my mouth to speak and said, "I...."
I looked from Elizabeth to the priest and back to Elizabeth again.
"I..." I licked my lips. Elizabeth's forehead scrunched up and she looked at me concerned.
"I....I...I..." I stuttered. Everyone was staring at me intently waiting for what I was going to say. I looked down on the floor and closed my eyes. Danielle's smiling face was there, looking up at me. I smiled lightly and then opened my eyes. I knew what I had to do.
I looked up at Elizabeth who was now looking at me worried. I gave her an apologizing look and then said, "I can't."
The crowd gasped and began to move around. Elizabeth just stared at me.
"I'm sorry, I just can't. I should have ended this sooner, I shouldn't have proposed to you. Elizabeth, I love you, but I'm not IN love with you. I never will be. My feelings for you are strictly friendship. I never meant to hurt you, I never intended to. I'm so sorry to do this to you, especially on your wedding day. I'm in love with another woman..."
Elizabeth then began to cry. She dropped her arms to her sides and just stood there. The people on the benches began to stand up, talking wildly to each other. Some were filing out into the isles. I bit my lip and looked up at the brides maids, all standing there with shocked faces.
"Danielle," escaped my lips. I searched for her in the line of girls but did not see her.
"Danielle!" I said more loudly.
"Where's Danielle?" I asked frantically to Darlene.
"She...she said she needed some air," Darlene said pointing toward the doors. I looked at her and then around the church. I looked over at the guys who were all smiling at me. They knew what I was about to do and they totally wanted me to do it. I glanced at Elizabeth who was crying, the priest and her mother and father were comforting her. I turned away and rushed down the steps pushing passed the crowd. I was beginning to breath heavily and my eyes were beginning to water. I was hoping I wasn't too late.
"Please move," I said squeezing through people. I pushed past and ran to the doors of the church. I swung them open and ran out into the sun. I looked frantically left to right trying to see any sign of Danielle.
"Danielle!" I yelled out. I walked out onto the grass and looked around quickly. "DANIELLE!"
People were exiting the church giving me looks of disproval. I knew what I did was wrong but I couldn't go through with something that I didn't think was right.
I ran to the side of the building and began to yell, "Dan..."
I stopped abruptly to the sight before me. Danielle was slumped down, hands covering her face, shaking. She was crying her eyes out.
I stepped closer to her and said softly, "Danielle..."
She snapped her head up and looked at me shocked. She got to her feet and tried to wipe the tears away.
"Brian, what are you doing out here?" she asked looking down as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.
"No...what are you doing out here? Why are you crying?" I asked worried.
"No reason," she sniffled.
"No, there's a reason. You don't cry unless there's a reason..." I said.
"Damn it Brian! There is nothing wrong!" she burst out. Tears began to slide down her face again. "Everything's just fine and dandy! You're completely happy! You got Elizabeth! You got the greatest career in the world! You have it made! Elizabeth has it made! She won the heart of the greatest guy any girl could ever have! She won the love of one of the sweetest guys that any girl could ever know! You don't understand! No one understands! My world just completely crashed down in there! All because of you...YOU! Beth just married the only man that could ever make me truly happy! She married you! It had to be you! I had to meet you! I had to become friends with you!" she paused to wipe tears away, I stepped forward but she stepped back continuing her outburst.
"It had to be you...I had to start to like you..." she said calming down a little bit. She cried more and stomped her foot on the ground. She looked up at me and I could see all the tears and sadness in her eyes...the eyes that I love so much. She then said the words I've waited so long to hear.
"I had...I just had...to fall in love with you," she said so softly I could barely hear it. She covered her face with her hands and began to cry harder. I frowned deeply and stepped forward enveloping her in my arms. She wrapped her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder. I rubbed her back and leaned my head onto hers and closed my eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she said softly. I opened my eyes and pulled back slightly looking her in the face.
"You don't need to be sorry," I said.
"Yes, I do! I ruined your wedding! I ruined everything! I ruined our friendship! I ruined our trust! I ruined every friendship with the guys! I ruined everything! I wish so much that I were her...that I were Beth! I wish that SO much!" she exclaimed.
"Shhhh," I said. I wiped some of her tears away with my thumbs and then said quietly, "Elizabeth didn't win my heart. She didn't win my love. All she has ever won from me, was my friendship. We didn't get married Danielle...I said no."
Danielle looked up at me confused.
"I was standing up on that alter looking into Elizabeth's face and all I could think about was you. I knew all along I was making a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life. I officially knew what I was doing wasn't right when Elizabeth turned into you. I saw you, not her. I was marrying you. It made me realize that it wasn't her I was supposed to be up there with...it was you. I was supposed to be with you...only you."
I paused and moved some of her hair out of her face and behind her ear.
"It was always you...always you," I softly said. Danielle licked her lips and looked down.
"I love you."
She looked up at me and said quietly, "What?"
"I've always known it. I've known it since we've met. I just never had the guts to tell you...I never thought I would tell you but just thinking about it makes me smile. The thought of you makes me smile. I've never felt like this before. God Danielle...I love you so much."
Danielle's eyes then began to water and she smiled at me, "You do?"
"I always have," I quietly said pulling her closer to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and said softly, "I love you too."
As I looked into her eyes, I knew that everything was going to be OK. That everything was now coming together. The world around us seemed to stop and only the two of us seemed to be the only ones there. I raised my hand and stroked her cheek gently. She was the most beautiful girl that I have ever known...and she loved me. That just brought the biggest smile to my face.
I looked in her eyes as I stroked her cheek and then looked down to her lips. I leaned in as she tipped her head up. Our lips met and everything around me was blocked out. Her soft lips against mine were all that I wanted to think about...to feel. She ran her hands through my hair as we kissed a kiss that I have never experienced before. This kiss was true passion...better than anything that I have ever experienced. All of our feelings for each other, all of our love, was being felt in that kiss.
We just stood there in each other's arms, still sharing the kiss that would forever be in my mind. At that very moment I knew that this was the happiest I have ever been in my life. I finally knew that Danielle loved me. I finally knew that I was going to be with her forever. I've been waiting for this day to come for so long and I was so happy it finally did come.
I've learned a lot of stuff ever since I met Danielle. Her friendship means a lot to me and she has taught me a great deal. She taught me how to have fun again, actual fun. She taught me how to be true to myself...she taught me true love. I thank God everyday for bringing her into my life and for giving me the chance to love the greatest girl that has come into my life. I'm thanking him now for letting me receive the same love back from that girl. I'm so grateful and so lucky to have her, to be able to hold her, to kiss her, to laugh with her, to sing to her, to spend the rest of my life with her...to love her.
I've learned over the years that you can't stop who you meet or who you talk to, you can't stop who you become friends with, you can't stop a liking of someone from happening and as much as you try, as...hard as you try...you can't stop love from happening.
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