I don't know the Backstreet Boys, or N'Sync, nor is this story meant to imply anything about their sexuality, their private lives or their life choices. Please don't take any of this seriously, it is just a story, nothing more. Nothing in this story is real, it is the product of the author's imagination. That's enough disclaimers I think...
Here is part nine of Season Two - I hope everyone enjoys it, and I hope that I get lots of emails - come on people! My email is at the top of the page! Give me a shout out if you liked it or hated it...now here's is part nine!
On The Streets - Season Two - Chapter Nine
Jared's Point of View<<<
That walk was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I stepped out the passageway, and everyone in the theatre stood. One and a half thousand people watching you walk a hundred metres is terrifying. What if I tripped up? Or stumbled? I wanted to just crawl back into the passageway, but then I noticed Kevin out of the corner of my eye coming up the other side, and he was smiling, and I knew how upset he'd be if I didn't do this too. He was smiling at the people alongside the aisles, of course he actually knew them. I recognised a couple from watching MTV, and there were the bands that I trained - Kevin had seated them close to the aisle on my side, I'm guessing to give me a little more confidence. I don't know why, but I started to wonder about things like 'I wonder how much all the jewellery in this room is worth?' looking around, I noticed some very impressive diamonds and other items made of precious stones adorning the women, and some of the men.
I took a deep breath, and sped up a little so I kept up with Kevin in the other aisle. That was when I got a shock looking over the audience - I saw Elton John sitting a few rows back from the front. I'm pretty sure Kevin invited more than half these people just for the sake of having them. I finally got to the steps of the stage. I'd passed both N'Sync, and 98 degrees, and in the front row Nick and AJ had been sat on my side while Brian and Howie were on Kevin's. I slowly climbed the steps. I tried to follow the directions we'd come up with a few days before, so I headed towards where Rev. Swanson was standing, and stood next to Britney. Kevin was a couple of steps behind me. I smiled at him when he arrived. I really wanted to just fall into his arms and imagine I didn't have so many people's eyes on me, but that's the way it was.
Suddenly, flashes started going off, and I thought somehow the press had got in. But it was just the photographer we'd hired to take the pictures. I knew video cameras were also mounted up on the balcony and above us, and in the pit in front of the stage to film the whole thing... I was wondering if I would make a fool of myself in front of everyone and have it recorded for posterity on film. My eyes flicked out and started registering just how many people were here. I also started trying to name a few of them - I do watch a lot of MTV. I could see Janet Jackson, but Kevin had already told me she was coming because he knew I loved her music. Then there was Whitney Houston, who I only knew cos Kevin and I had watched the Bodyguard together not that long ago. There was Cher - it was funny he had seated these women a long way apart from one another. I would've thought they'd have a lot to talk about, being in the same business and everything.
I could see a couple of younger bands who I thought I could name, The Calling, or at least the lead singer was there. I was presuming the people sitting around him were the rest of the band. I could remember him though - I always thought he looked like a pixie. There was N'Sync, all of them dressed very smartly, though I could see Justin looking a bit forlorn as all the guys had women sitting next to them and Britney was up here with me. I couldn't see anymore of the audience without turning my head, so I looked out the other corner of my eye towards Britney, and she was standing there with a smile on her face, looking very elegant. She had most of her hair held up in some intricate design, but one strand fell down the side of her face. I looked over at Kristin, and could see Kevin's attraction to her. She was one incredible looking woman, blond hair that fell in waves over her shoulders, a figure to die for, and a sparkle in her eyes, that hinted at mischief. She was smiling as well.
Then I looked at Kevin, who was looking straight back at me with his eyebrows raised expectantly. Why was he looking at me like that? Then I turned to the reverend, who was also looking straight at me. How long had I been looking around? Britney and Kristin were staring straight at me as well, and I got the nasty feeling that the entire audience was waiting for me to say something, and they were all staring at me. Think... think... the rehearsal, what was the first thing I had to say in the ceremony? Well, I only had to say one thing - 'I do'. I guessed that was what they were waiting for, now if I could just get my throat to open up again.
"I do." I said quietly. My throat felt like it was going to collapse, and I could feel the phlegm rising in the back of my mouth. I listened attentively to the last couple of minutes of the service. I had been paying no attention for almost forty-five minutes, I felt really bad, I'd missed our entire wedding because I was so inattentive. Shit. I felt like shit. Finally, I heard the words I was dying to hear since the beginning of the day, as the priest finished his 'sermon':
"And now, the typical words at the end of a wedding ceremony will not do, so I must now pronounce you husband, and husband. You many now kiss." He took a step back, and Kevin and I looked at each other, he smiled slightly, then everything seemed to slow down. I know I took a step forward somehow, and I started to reach my arms around him, but they met his. Our hands joined in mid air, and Kevin brought them down between us. We bent our heads to the side, and kissed gently, then more passionately, then gently again. Kevin finally backed away. I wish we could have stayed in the kiss longer - for that brief moment, there seemed to be no one else in the room, no clapping or cheering, no people rising to their feet, just Kevin and me.
"I love you." Kevin said as he moved apart.
"I love you too." I said softly. I still felt nervous, but it was over. We were done, and I could feel the strain going. I knew I still had hundreds of eyes focused on me and Kevin together, but it didn't seem to hurt so much anymore. "I'm sorry about this morning."
"That's ok, let's just enjoy it now." Kevin smiled, and I leant in again to kiss him. Kevin and I were supposed to walk down the left hand aisle from the stage together, and out the door to a waiting limo. We slowly went down the stairs, getting quicker as we walked along the aisle. Our hands remained connected, and I couldn't help but start smiling, as everyone clapped in the audience. The entryway was held open by two guys dressed in suits, and we walked out into the theatre lobby, and then out the main entrance. Flashes started going off, but Kevin dragged me through - the press was still there, fortunately held back by the security guards we'd hired. We headed for the limo, the door of which was being held open by the driver. Kevin ducked in, and sat in the far corner on the back seat, and I eventually joined him. The door shut behind us, sealing us in. It was quiet and dark, I looked over at Kevin, and saw him breathing heavily, and a slight smile on his face.
"Wow." He said.
"What?"
"We're married!" He said with a big grin.
"Yeah." I said, answering him with an equally big smile.
"I love you."
"Love you too." I answered. "I'm sorry I phased out in there." I said quickly, looking down at my lap.
"You were still nervous weren't you?" I nodded.
"There were a lot of people, more than I expected, it felt a little uncomfortable, I'm sorry."
"It's ok, it's over now. I just wish you'd had a better time." Kevin pursed his lips.
"No, Kevin, I had..." I couldn't say a good time, that would just be lying, but... "Kevin, I didn't have a bad time, it was just nerve-wracking I guess, like going on a roller-coaster or something, or taking an exam or something like that. I had butterflies, but it was my own fault, I wouldn't have done it any differently. It was a beautiful wedding, thank you Kevin." I leant over and kissed him gently on the cheek.
"Now we've just got the reception, and then we're on our honeymoon." Kevin said softly, then leant over and kissed me again. "We've got to drive around for about an hour before we can go to the reception, what should we do?" Kevin asked with a gleam in his eyes. I shook my head as if I didn't know, but with a grin. "Let's go get a drink." Kevin said with a smirk.
"What?" I asked.
"Look Jared, I know we could get... a little active here, but we would have to hurry, and I think you could do with something to calm you down a bit more?" Kevin said tentatively.
"You think sex won't calm me down?"
"Errr...no, it would just get you excited." Kevin started chuckling.
"I meant afterwards!" I said incredulously.
"Let's go get a drink first." Kevin said, and walked crouched over to the window to the driver's section. He knocked and explained what we wanted to do. He came back and knelt in front of me. "Jared." He said, and just looked at me, then he slowly let his chin rest in my lap. "I can't believe we're married." He said with a slight smile, then I saw him start to get misty eyed. I ran my thumb under his eye, and he took a shaky breath.
"We're here sir." The door opened, and the driver waited for us to climb out. We were outside the 'closest bar', which is what Kevin had asked for. Unfortunately, it was a bit of dive, and we walked in a little tentatively. It seemed like a nice enough place once we got inside though - it was a normal bar, TV up at one end, mounted from the ceiling, a dartboard down the other end, and a few booths running along one wall. Kevin and I both sat down on one of the bar stools. The barman came up and Kevin ordered a beer, and so did I. We sat there drinking for a while, neither of us saying anything. We both looked up at the same time, and saw one another in the mirror behind the bar. We smirked slightly.
"Want a game of darts?" Kevin said as he stood up, and pulled me up as well.
"Do I have a choice?" I grinned at him. He seemed to think about it for a second.
"No." Then he picked up his beer, and walked over to the dartboard. He put his beer down on the closest booth table, and picked up one set of darts. He threw all three, and scored high. I picked up mine and beat him, then he took his again, and scored slightly than the first time, and I picked up mine, and beat him again. "You know, I think I've had enough of this." Kevin smirked.
"Uh uh. You made me stand up, now we're gonna finish this game." So we did finish it, and I thrashed Kevin. We ordered another beer each, and he spotted the pool table on the other side of the bar, and he dragged me over to it.
"Now, I'll beat you at this - we used to play pool before almost every concert." I just smirked, making sure he didn't see it, and picked up a cue.
"Who breaks?"
"Well, I wouldn't want to have an unfair advantage, you can break." He said. I leant over the edge of the table, and knocked the white ball, just to the left of the lead of the triangle. The triangle neatly split, and sent one ball into the far right hand pocket. "But! What?" Kevin was flustered. I shot the next two balls down, and saw Kevin with his shoulders slumped up at one end of the table. I missed the next ball on purpose. Kevin perked up and potted a few of his balls, then I came back when he missed one, and I cleared the rest of my balls. "What?" Kevin said shocked by the speed I cleared the table.
"Kevin, what did you think I did when I was younger? We hung around in youth clubs, and when I got older, we started going to snooker clubs. Even when I was out, I could walk into a pub and play with someone! I must have played thousands of games of pool over the years. Playing before each of your concerts, doesn't really match up to it." I was practically laughing at him. He started scowling at me, but eventually he just grinned and laughed too. We walked back over to the bar. Just then the local news came on the TV, Kevin and I both watched, still laughing slightly - we were both getting a buzz off the beers. At that moment a picture of us came up on screen as we jogged out of the Lakeland theatre. Both of us smiled slightly when we saw ourselves up on screen.
"In local news, Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson married his boyfriend today in the Moonlight Theatre. The gay couple are now heading off to a secret location on their honeymoon." The news switched to another story, and that's when Kevin and I realised we were in rough bar and we'd just been outed. The bartender came over and leant on the bar.
"So you boys just got married huh?" He asked as he leant on the bar. Kevin and I were both stood up, and we were swivelled slightly so our backs were partially in contact - we were trying to take in as much of the bar as possible. "Hey everyone these boys just got married!" The guy behind the bar shouted. I could feel my eyes just shoot open. Kevin's and my backs were up against one another, and we were both tensed. There were about fifteen people in the bar, and I didn't fancy our chances if a few of them turned out to not like gay people. The bartender started laughing. We looked at him, worried for a second. "Man, for a couple of homos you guys are sure ready to put up a fight." Kevin and I had literally got into a fighting position - we were back-to-back, and could keep an eye on everyone around us. "Geez, let me get you guys a couple of beers, on the house." Kevin and I looked at him, a little confused for a second, then we realised he wasn't kidding around. We both sat down slowly, neither of us willing to give up our vantage point of being able to see the other bar patrons. "Don't worry guys, there hasn't been a fight in here for about 10 years. And we ain't got nothin' against you guys, just keep to yourselves ok?" Kevin and I both nodded slowly, and took our drinks that he offered. We shouldn't have been drinking this much before we even went to the reception, but we couldn't exactly refuse. Once we were finished, we thanked him, and started to stand up.
"Shit, we're late." Kevin said, we'd been in there for over an hour and a half, all the guests should already be at the reception. I was surprised the driver hadn't come in and said something. "Thanks again for the drink, tell you what, how about drinks on me for the next half hour. Here's the number to call with total, and you'll be reimbursed." The barman's eyebrows shot up.
"Sure! But you know some of these guys drink pretty heavy."
"It's ok." Kevin said, he smiled, and the grabbed me and pulled me out the door. We headed towards the limo, the driver had fallen asleep in his seat, and when we knocked on his window, he shot up like a bat out of hell. We both laughed when he stumbled as he climbed out the car, hey, the beer was taking effect! He held the door open for us, and we climbed in. "Man, we've gotta sober up a bit before we get there." Kevin slurred slightly. I looked in the mini bar thing, and there were soft drinks, and alcoholic drinks, but no coffee.
"Here." I handed Kevin a coke. "It's got caffeine in, it might have the same effect as coffee." I hope. We sat there drinking cokes, and driving to the reception, finally we pulled up outside, and the twenty minute drive had given the alcohol time to wear off a bit. We were about half an hour late, and we started walking up the main gangway to the entrance.
"Where have you guys been!" Britney shouted as she burst out the door. Kristin was following her, looking equally flustered.
"Ummm..." Kevin started, then he snorted, and started giggling. "We were, um..." Kevin was full out laughing now. "At a bar." Britney looked over at me, and I couldn't help but crack a smile too.
"Oh for God's sake! Are you two drunk or something?" Kristin asked. Kevin held up his hands, and I could tell he was putting on an act now, as he was leaning on me.
"A little bit." Kevin slurred, and he held up the hand that wasn't holding onto me, and made a gap about an inch apart with his fingers, then it got bigger and smaller, and he looked at it but acted like he couldn't focus.
"Oh for God's sake!" Kristin threw her hands up into the air.
"Kris!" She paid no attention to Kevin. "Kris!" She turned. "I was kidding!" Kevin stood up on his own.
"That's it!" Kristin ran at him, and jumped. It was lucky her dress had a slit running up the leg otherwise I'm sure it would have ripped. Britney and I just stood and watched. Kevin fell backwards, landing on the grassy verge to the path, and was on his back. Kristin was straddling his waist, and was 'play-slapping' him, like girls do when they're having a cat fight. She was barely touching him, but it looked very funny. Finally, she got up and pulled him up with her. Kevin looked slightly dazed.
"We'd better get in there. You got a lotta hungry celebrities, and a few divas." Britney said with a roll of her eyes. She turned and started walking to the main doors.
"Divas!" Kevin started laughing. "Look who's talking!" He started laughing hysterically, and Kristin and I were both covering our mouths, trying not to show Britney that we were laughing.
"That's it!" Britney shouted, and she did a running jump at Kevin who once again landed on his butt on the grass. She started play-slapping him just like Kristin had done. Kristin and I started laughing at the two of them.
"Can we go in now?" Kristin asked as the two of them stood up. Kevin came over and put his arm around me, and I locked mine around him.
"Yep." Kevin said with a big smile. Finally, we headed to the doors, and I started to get a little nervous, but I leant on Kevin, and I felt ok.
Kevin's Point of View<<<
We walked into the main building. It was actually an old converted farmhouse or something. The main lobby was empty, all the people were already seated, and were just waiting for us to arrive. We walked into the main dining room. There was silence for a second, and I could feel the heat of Jared's body as he leant on me a bit more, and he tensed up. He had leant on me most of the way from outside. The silence was suddenly broken as the guys started clapping, joined by N'Sync, and eventually everyone in the room got the idea, and everyone stood up as we walked in, and made it to the head table, which sat at right angles to the other tables which were laid out in parallel rows. It could have passed for a school canteen. Once we were at the head table, and were about to sit down, I looked over at Jared, and he still looked a little confused, or scared, I'm not sure. But as the clapping carried on, he looked towards me, and just looked at me. I couldn't read what he was thinking, then he looked out towards the crowd, and after a moment he started to blush slightly and smile. He looked over at the guys, and Nick and AJ both started to holler at the top of their voices. He smiled again, then turned back to me, took my head in his hands, and kissed me, hard on the lips.
"Wow." I said, as we pulled back. I hadn't been expecting that from him.
"Yeah wow. This is amazing."
"What?" I asked.
"This, everything. I've never been in front of this many people before. It's kinda... exciting. I suddenly get what you like about performing." I smiled at Jared. I had never seen this side of him before. The calls and shouts had increased when we kissed, and died down as we were about to sit. We sat down, and gradually everyone followed suit. A veritable army of waiters then appeared from one side of the hall, and brought out big trays and carts full of food. There must have been a good 200 waiters to deal with everyone - I hate it when you're at a party and by the time the last person is served, the first one is finished. I had also seen the kitchen in this place when I was booking it, and the kitchen was at least as big as the ground floor of my house. Soft music also started playing, something melodic, and classical. I looked up into one of the galleries that ran around the edge of the main hall, and there was the thirty piece orchestra I hired. Jared tapped me on the arm. "You hired an orchestra?"
"Yep." I smiled cheesily. Jared just shook his head. "You don't like it?" Kevin asked.
"No, I do. I just didn't think you'd go to the trouble of hiring a big orchestra for dinner music!" Jared sniggered.
"I'd do anything to make this perfect for you Jared." I pulled him over to me, and kissed him on the top of his head, as he rested his forehead on my shoulder.
"I love you." He said softly.
"Love you too." We both kissed, and the tables closest to us, who had been watching us, let out a gentle 'aaahh'. We both sniggered slightly. A couple of plates were put in front of us by waiters, and left there. I heard Jared sniffing.
"Is that Chinese food?" Jared said with his head still on my shoulder.
"Ok, I'll sit up for that." Jared took his head off my shoulder, and tucked in to the food in front of him. He looked over his shoulder, and saw me watching him. "What?"
"Nothin'." I said as I sat forward to eat too.
We were sat at the head table, and I watched the people on the tables in front of us. To the left was my family, my mom, my brothers, to the right, sitting opposite them, were Jared's brothers, and their fiancées. Then there were the guys, AJ, Brian, Howie and Nick. Leo was sat next to Nick - we figured it wouldn't be a problem to sit him there, and just say he was a close friend of the group if someone asked. We'd finished our meal, with a huge selection of ice-cream. I thought that would please Jared, and he seemed suitably replete.
"You know we've got dancing in a bit?" I asked Jared. He looked over at me, and smiled.
"Yeah, I figured you couldn't have a party without there being dancing." He laughed.
"Uh hum." Kristin now stood up, and started tapping the edge of her glass. I saw Jared's face cringe at the high-pitched tapping. He tipped her a dirty look. I turned and saw my best man clear her throat as the hall went silent. "Well!" Kristin started. "I know, I'm not your most traditional best man, but just cos of the obvious lack of genitals doesn't mean that I can't fill a man's shoes. Or underwear." A laugh went across the hall at Kristin's brusque sense of humour. "I'm not going to go into stories about Kevin and I cos, well, you all know where that ended up, and it's probably really bad etiquette to talk about your ex husband in front of his new husband, in that way. So I thought I'd talk a bit about him and Jared. I first met Jared, last November, and the two of them had only known each other properly for a couple of weeks. And when he realised who I was, you should have seen the look on his face!" At this point, she lifted her hands to her cheeks and did a home alone pose, causing another ripple of laughter. "Seriously though." She paused. "Kevin has never been one to let go, to just, live. For the first time, last November, I saw Kevin live. He was finally alive, and Jared was the one who brought him to life. I wish them all the best for years to come. Oh yeah, and if anyone out there knows any single guys, let me know, seems I'm short a husband!" She smirked, and sat down. The joke took a second to set in, but then everyone started laughing and clapping. Which is when Britney stood up and started tapping her glass as well. Jared's arm literally flashed over, and grabbed her wrist. She looked down in surprise, and Jared mouthed the word `stop' to her. The guests looked on with rapt attention as Jared held Britney's hand until she dropped the fork. Then she picked up a spoon with the other hand, and once Jared had let go of her left hand, she picked up the glass and tapped away at it anyway. The guests laughed. Jared just glared at her.
"Right, now that that's over." Britney started. "We can get on with my speech. Funny, I never thought I'd be giving a best man's speech." Britney shook her head as if she was confused. "Now, I could go into what the other best man went into, and tell you all how Jared turned up as Kevin's boyfriend to my wedding or how he comforted me when I got nervous, or maybe how angry Kevin looked when I managed to shuffle the seating arrangements at my wedding so that Jared was seated on my side of the aisle. See, I wanted him on my side, but there was only room for one person to be swapped to my side, so I took Jared, and have you ever seen that guy scowl? He looks downright evil!" She looked towards Kevin. "See! He's doing it now!" The guests watched, and Kevin's frown faded, and he smiled and shook his head. Murmurs of laughter came from the guests.
"Instead of all that, I'm gonna tell you about Kevin and Jared together. Now, I have spoken to everyone who speaks to the guys or sees them a lot. And I can tell you that there have never been two more private people in the whole world! What is it with you guys? Open up a little bit! It is impossible to get dirt on you two!" Britney practically shouted at the two of us! We both started laughing, and so did the guests. "Apart from one little incident about two months ago which I was a part of..." She looked over at Jared, and I could feel him tense slightly - she was talking about when he made that mistake and ran away for a week. "There is nothing!" Jared calmed down again, and I couldn't help but laugh a little at Britney's frustration. We both calmed down completely. She had nothing on us. She started to sit down.
"But!" She shouted as she stood back up. "There is the advantage of both of these guys having a load of brothers between them. Yes, surprisingly, four brothers can come up with a hell of a lot of dirt on two guys like these two, especially four brothers who were a little... hurt? No, more like... vengeful, that you didn't ask them to be your best men." Britney took the microphone she'd been given and started walking around in front of the head table. I cast a glance to my brothers, and saw them smiling slightly. So were Jared's. Then I turned to look at Jared, who had a really worried expression on his face. Britney started walking up and down in front of the tables, and she stopped by the Backstreet Boys. "Now, then, Nick. Remember what we talked about yesterday?" Nick nodded, with a slight grin. "Could you tell us what it is, that you have in common with those guys up there?" I tensed, Nicky wouldn't, he couldn't, Leo was right there though, it would be a perfect time, but he wouldn't, would he?
"Sure Britney. I'll tell you what us three have in common." Nicky was way too calm to be outing himself. "A criminal record." He said in a sing-song voice. I could feel my face pale. Oh fuck. Wait - Jared has a criminal record? I looked towards him, and he was looking down at the table, his eyes fixed on his plate. Oh God, please don't let this hurt Jared, pleased don't let this go too far!
"That's right! So let's start at the beginning!" Britney was really getting into the whole stand-up routine. "Kevin, what's this I hear from Tim about you getting caught by the police riding a motorcycle when you were... 14?" The guests let off a little gasp, and I realised the only way to get through this was to laugh it off, so that's what I did, I tried a slight laugh, trying not to look too obvious. "And... oh dear, with your brother Jerald, what did you do?" She held the microphone out to me.
"I broke our next door neighbour's window."
"Yes, but you did it while your parents were away didn't you? So what did you do? You tried to get it fixed, but, without asking the next-door neighbours permission, so they had you down for breaking and entering!" Britney practically cracked up, and the guests were tentatively joining in, waiting to see me laughing first. Then Britney went through this whole thing of flipping the card back and forwards, looking at the back and front. "That's it?" She asked, kidding around. "That's nothing! Now, you want a real hardened criminal, you look at your husband! You've got nothing but community service under your belt! Man, I can't wait to see what happens when the tabloid gets hold of this stuff!" I saw Jared tense up, and look at me, then he leant over.
"Do you want me to stop this?" I asked him as he got closer.
"No, it's ok. But, I just, I'm sorry, I should've told you this stuff before, there's a lot, my brother's know, which I didn't want to tell you. I'm really sorry." Britney started, and I couldn't stop looking at Jared.
"Ok, first, age 12." Britney started. "You were given 30 days in a juvenile detention center for damage to property with malicious intent! Woohoo! That's even worse than Kevin's! You broke a shop window with your brothers when the shopkeeper refused to let you go in there together!" I heard a gasp coming from the guests, and Jared blushed slightly, then looked up at me and smiled slightly. I figured that was cos he'd already told me about that one. "Next! Oh what a surprise, damage to property with malicious intent! 45 days in juvenile detention center." The gasp wasn't as loud this time, and I hoped it went on like that for a bit. "Age 15, Jared was caught being truant from school, and given more time in a juvenile detention center, or 'juvie' as his brothers affectionately call it, bear in mind these two..." She put her arms around Adam's and Seth's shoulders. "these two, were also in juvie with Jared for all this time. Now, age 17, assault, Jared, I'm ashamed in you. Fighting in the street!" Another gasp came over the guests. I looked over at Jared who didn't seem concerned. He reached over and grabbed the microphone from Kristin.
"For God's sake get your facts right Brit." He said as he stood up, ok, I wasn't expecting this. "It was assault and battery, and please bear in mind there were forty people arrested for the same thing! The early 1980's in East London wasn't the nicest place to be. The closest comparison is probably Bosnia." I chuckled, and so did a lot of the audience.
"Oh yeah, and what about these fifty or so charges you've got down here for underage drinking?" Britney asked with one hand on her hip. "You can't explain that away with living in a rough area!"
"Ermm, I'm pretty sure you're not one to talk on that either!" Jared said back. I started laughing out loud, and so did the guests. I was sure they thought this whole thing was set up by now, but it was funny to watch.
"Hmmm, and... the Grand Theft Auto?" Britney asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh?" Jared said into the microphone. Suddenly I heard an English sounding voice shout from one of the tables close to them.
"She means auto-vehicle theft!" The voice said. I looked over, and Elton John had just shouted at Jared.
"Oh, yeah, so?"
"Well, how do you explain that? You were 16!"
"The car was abandoned. It had a 'Police Aware' sign in it, and we figured that no one would care if we took a ride. Apparently the police were a little more concerned about the car's well being than we thought!" Jared said with a laugh, and everyone else laughed too.
"Oh. Well, thanks, you've ruined all my material, thought at least now you know you two have got something in common, and I guess that's my word of wisdom to you. You two are already very close, both as lovers and as friends, enjoy that, live with one another's interests, and try to take part in them, but remember you can always enjoy time apart too, cos at the end of it all, you'll have each other to turn to." She said with a smile. The guests started clapping, and rose to their feet. Jared walked back around the table, with his arm around Britney. I saw him kiss the top of her head, and she smiled at him. Then he came over to me, and he was still smiling, then he got a devious smile on his face. He walked right over to me, and put his hand on the back of my head. I thought he was just gonna kiss me.
"You know, I don't know about over here, but in England, it's normal for the groom to do this." He suddenly took me and swung me around, so that he was holding me up, and kissed me hard on the lips. My feet were just about on the floor, but my back was leant right back as if we were finishing some dance or something. Finally, he pulled back and stood me upright. The guests gradually stopped clapping, and sat down. So did we. I don't know what had got into Jared, but he was terrified this morning, then he admitted he was scared of being in front of all the people, and now he was giving me dramatic stage kisses in front of all of our guests!
"What happened?" I asked as we sat down again. The floor was being prepared for us to dance on, and the band was setting up.
"What do you mean what happened?" Jared asked.
"The kiss? And dealing with Britney like that?" I told him. "You were scared stiff less than an hour ago, and now you're acting like you're the confident one."
"I don't know, I guess I just, I guess I was sick of being the scared one. I realised I'm with you. I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was a problem." Jared said swallowing, and looking down in his lap. I put my finger under his chin, and lifted it up to look at me, and then kissed him.
"It's not a problem. I love you Jared, act however you want ok?" Jared nodded, and smiled slightly. Suddenly a blare of instruments came from the far end of the room. A voice started speaking through the speakers.
"Ok, Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to ask you all to come up here in just a moment, but first, we need the groom and groom to come down here, and start the dancing for us." I saw Jared take a deep breath, and as I stood up, he stood up to join me. He'd gone onto the back foot again. I shouldn't have said anything when he was feeling confident. He held onto my hand as we walked around the head table, and between the long rows of tables to the centre of the dance floor. The band was a ten-piece brass band supplemented by a string quintet from the orchestra I'd hired, and a piano player. They were playing a soft piece which was perfect for us to dance to. I took Jared in my arms, and he wrapped his arms around my lower back too, and we started moving slowly to the music. People had stood up and were now standing all around the huge dance floor, and were watching us. The lights in the rest of the hall had been dimmed slightly, bringing the attention onto us, and I could feel Jared was tense again. He was moving like he was at least. Eventually, he moved closer to me, and faced his head inwards, basically so that all he could see was the side of my face. He relaxed slightly, and we got towards the end of the song like that. More people started joining in now, and the band moved flawlessly into the next song.
"I love you Kevin." Jared said into my ear. He leant his head slightly on my shoulder as we continued dancing.
"I love you too Jared." I turned my head slightly, and kissed his.
End of Chapter Nine TBC...
Man, it's taking a LONG time to get through the wedding - I think this is my worst yet - three chapters to one day! I really hope that everyone likes weddings and that no one is hoping this will just hurry up! I'm also kinda sick of people telling me that something's got to go wrong with this wedding, what is wrong with you people? Does something have to go wrong every single time in this archive? Can't for once everything just be happy?