Author: Celeste
Theme challenge: A failed elopement
Things to include: “What’s your purpose?”, Converse All-Stars, pink lillies
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Author’s Notes: This is the first story I have completely finished! (Although there is definitely a way for it to be expanded.) I also think this could of been better with more time, but I am a procrastinator!

I closed my eyes and a smile spread across my face at the feeling of the plane leaving the ground and breaking through the clouds. It was my favorite feeling involved in flying. I could do without the rest but unfortunately that wouldn’t get me very far. Once we plateaued, I opened my eyes and looked out the window to my right.

‘How did I get here?’ I thought to myself. Within a matter of 96 hours I had gotten engaged, found out I was pregnant, had a huge argument with my new fiancée about our wedding, and received a promotion at my job. In that exact order, thank god. Now I was on a plane heading to Las Vegas to elope. Of course, there is much to the story than that. Taylor and I had quite the history and we had really been through a lot.

Our relationship goes back about 4 and a half years. We met during our freshman year of college at NYU. I was from western New York and he was from Oklahoma. We lived on the same floor of our dorm and were pretty much inseparable from day one. At some point during freshman year Taylor decided that he was way too homesick and was going to transfer to a school back in Oklahoma starting our sophomore year. That summer when I went to visit him, I realized why he was so homesick. His family is extremely close and it was just as hard for them to have him far away as it was for him to be far away.

We decided to stay together, even though it wasn’t easy. He visited me, I visited him and even though it was tough everything worked out in the end. I got my major in Public Relations and he finished up his degree in Music Education, although his big dream was to become a famous musician… and his music was beautiful. I knew he could do it too. After I graduated I moved down to Oklahoma to be with him. It didn’t take long for me to find a job at a Public Relations firm and Taylor was working hard on getting his music out there.

A few months after I had moved down there, we had a joint graduation party for the two of us. Most of my family was able to fly down and it was the first time that our families met each other. It was at that party that Taylor popped the question. Our families were just as excited as we were and it turned into an impromptu engagement party! It was a couple days later that I felt like something wasn’t right. I took a pregnancy test and sure enough, I was pregnant. I told Taylor and he was the one that suggested we elope. I fought it at first but after he explained that we could tell everyone that we wanted to get married before we moved into our new apartment together, I understood where he was coming from.

This way when we finally told everyone that we were pregnant, they would think that it happened on our wedding night. We planned to fly to Vegas and get married that weekend. The morning of our trip when I went to work, my boss called me into the office and congratulated me on my engagement. He had been out of the office earlier in the week at some meetings. Next thing I knew, he promoted me to the Creative Director position. I wouldn’t be starting for a month, as I would be training with the current Creative Director who was leaving, so when I asked for Monday off, due to my elopement, he granted me that favor.

When I arrived home from work that day Taylor was waiting for me with our bags packed. The itinerary was already set and we were on our way to get married! Even though this was nowhere near what I had imagined, I had to be the happiest girl on the planet at this moment.

“Babe…” Taylor whispered in my ear.

“Yeah?” I turned my head towards the love of my life.

“Where were you staring off into?” He asked.

“Nowhere in particular. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Everything.” I sighed. “I’m worried, concerned, happy, sad…you name it… I think I’m feeling it!”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it softly.

“Oh Taylor.” I turned to face him. “Of course I do! I mean, we both know it’s not how I imagined it to be, but we also know that it’s the right thing to do. We can have our family wedding in a few years with our little baby as the flower girl.”

“Or ring bearer!” Taylor cut me off.

“Exactly.” I smiled and placed my hand on his face. “You know I love you and I couldn’t be any happier to be your wife.”

He pressed his lips against the palm of my hand and smiled. “I love you too Dee.”

I turned back to my right and reclined the back of my seat as much as it would allow. I closed my eyes and took a nap for the remainder of the flight.

We arrived at the hotel and checked into our room. It was already 10 pm so our big adventure was going to start in the morning. I was more nervous and even more excited with every minute that passed by. I climbed into bed and snuggled up next to Taylor.

“Mmm.” I moaned, wrapping my arm around his waist. I felt him kiss my forehead.

“Sleepy?” He asked.

“Yeah but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep. I’m way too excited.”

“By the end of this weekend, you will be Mrs. Delilah Hanson.” I could tell Taylor was smiling.

“I’m still so sad that my family doesn’t get to be a part of it.” I sighed.

“Trust me dear, I am too.” He said. “But it’s for the best. I mean they knew we were taking a mini vacation… and they know that we’re in Vegas… so I don’t think they’ll be too surprised.”

“I trust you with everything inside.” I looked up at him and he pressed his soft lips against mine. I ran my hand across his chest and placed it on his cheek. He ran his fingers through my hair and I pulled away from the kiss. “Now, now… we decided that we’d wait until after we were married to do that again!”

“I know, but you’re just so irresistible!” Taylor kissed my lips again. I giggled in the kiss and then rolled over to turn off the light. Taylor wrapped his arm around my waist and we drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

I awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs. My favorite breakfast was before me when I opened my eyes. “Oh the joys of room service!” I giggled and sat up against the headboard. Taylor handed the tray to me and I placed it over my lap. “What did you get?”

“Belgium waffles with powdered sugar and strawberries.”

“Mmm, strawberries!” I smiled. “What can I trade up for some of those?”

“Nothing, they’re all mine! You snooze you lose!” He laughed.

I took a piece of toast and broke open the yolk on my over easy eggs. As soon as the familiar taste landed on my taste buds, I began to devour the rest of my breakfast, barely coming up for air. When I had finished everything Taylor was still working on his. “I never felt like such a pig in my life!” I laughed.

“Good thing I love pigs.” He smiled and placed a small kiss on my cheek.

“Well slow poke, I am going to hop in the shower, we have a long day ahead of us.” I placed my tray onto the room service cart and went into the bathroom. I turned the water on and let it heat up while I got out of my pajamas. I was just about to step into the shower when the door slowly creaked open. I quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my body. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I need to take a shower too.” Taylor pouted, shutting the bathroom door behind him.

“If you get into this shower with me now, we’re going to break our pact and we’re going to end up taking a whole hell of a lot longer!” I pointed out. “Now get out of here! I’ll make it quick, I promise.”

“Alright!” He whined. “I’m stealing a kiss first.”

He walked over and gently placed his lips onto mine. I felt his tongue softly graze my bottom lip and I opened my mouth to accept him. I reached my hand up and ran my fingers through his hair as he pulled me closer to him. I pulled my head away and smiled. “You sure aren’t making this easy, now get out of here!!” I softly pushed him out of the bathroom.

Once both of us were ready for the day we started all of our errands. First we went to find me a dress. It didn’t take very long, I’m not too picky and there were a million shops. The dress I decided on was white and strapless. It fell around my knees and had a hot pink sash that wrapped around just underneath the chest area. Our next stop was a tux shop so that Taylor could get some dress pants and a shirt. That was relatively quick and painless so off we went to find a chapel.

We passed a couple that didn’t look too appealing so we didn’t even go inside. There were some that we walked right out of because we had no desire to be married by any type of impersonator. Next we came upon a quaint little chapel that was located just off the main strip. Taylor squeezed my hand when we walked through the door. I looked over at him and smiled. We were greeted by a receptionist who didn’t seem very happy to be there and held up her finger to signal us to wait a minute while she was on the phone. Taylor and I looked around the waiting room at some of the pictures on the wall.

“Oh babe, look at all the celebrities that got married here!” I said.

“Only the best for you.” He kissed the back of my head and we both laughed.

“Can I help you?” A less than enthusiastic voice interrupted us.

Taylor and I made our way back over to the desk. “Yes, we would like to get married.”

“No way, I never could of guessed.” I noticed her roll her eyes as she reached into one of her desk drawers. “Fill these out and we’ll talk after I review them.”

We each received the questionnaire and took a seat to fill them out. They were mostly background and relationship questions. It seemed to me that they just wanted to see how compatible we were. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the last question.

“What’s your purpose???” Taylor turned to me.

“Huh?”

“Did you get to the last question yet?”

I flipped the page to the last question. “What’s your purpose?” I looked back at Taylor. “What are we supposed to write? I mean… we want to get married, what do they expect!!?”

“Well, why don’t we write our vows down and just say that we really love each other and don’t have the time or money to throw some extravagant wedding.” Taylor suggested.

“That sounds wonderful!” I smiled. “I’m going to go over here, I don’t want you peeking!” I moved a couple seats over and began to really think about what I wanted to say to him.

I turned in my questionnaire before Taylor but he was in deep concentration and writing like crazy. I began to look through the binder of the different “packages” that we could choose from. By the time Taylor had finished with his, I had found the package that I wanted.

“Hey.” I said. “I want this one!” I pointed to the page and Taylor read it over. It was a traditional wedding package without the thrills of a Vegas wedding. It was about as close to a “normal” wedding that we were going to get. I had hoped that Taylor would agree with me.

“Sounds great!”

“Are you sure?” I questioned. “Do you want to look at the others at all?”

“Nope. I trust you.” He smiled. “And now, I need to ask you to trust me.”

“Ok?” I said, a little confused.

“I want to finish up here and you can’t be present!”

“Oh boy, I don’t know if I’m worried or excited! Probably both!” I laughed.

“Why don’t you go to the coffee shop we saw next door on our way in? Get yourself an iced cappuccino, read the paper or something and I will come there when I am finished.”

“Alright, I think that’d be fine.” I smiled. “Why don’t I take your tux with me.”

“Thank you babe.” He kissed my lips and we parted ways.

Taylor joined me at the coffee shop about 30 minutes later. He refused to tell me anything. My Jedi-mind trick didn’t even work! I finished up my iced cap and we headed onto our other errands. I still needed shoes and jewelry.

Taylor found some hot pink converse all stars, which matched the sash on my dress. We also went to a florist and ordered a bouquet of pink lilies for my bouquet, and the same flowers for Taylor’s boutonniere. Once we were finished running all of our errands we began our walk back to the hotel.

“So what did you do back at the chapel?” I asked. “What time is everything? A girl needs to know these things!”

“All I can tell you is that I am to be there at 1 tomorrow and you have to be there at 2.”

“Will I have a dressing room? I don’t want to walk all the down there from the hotel, all dressed up…” I said. “What about a witness? Are they supplying us with one?”

“There is actually a surprise waiting for you back at the room.” He smiled and grabbed my hand. I squeezed his and grabbed his arm with my other hand to snuggle close while we walked down the strip.

“A surprise??” I racked my brain trying to think of what Taylor could of possibly done. “How about we run back to the hotel room then?”

“Patience is a virtue my dear.”

I sighed and we walked the rest of the way in silence, just looking at all the clubs and bars and casinos as we passed them. It felt the walk to the hotel was getting longer and longer. I wanted to know what this surprise was. I ran all the possibilities through my head but didn’t want to get my hopes up for any certain thing.

Taylor stopped me at the door to our hotel room. “Are you ready?”

“Just let me in already!!” I laughed and tried to push past him. He wrapped my arms around his waist and kept me behind him while he inserted our room key card into the slot. He shuffled into the room, holding my arms in place so his body blocked my view. Once we were fully in the room, he released my grip and I stepped to the side of him.

My eyes widened at the site of my best friend standing by the bed looking back at me. I ran over to her and embraced her in a huge hug. I hadn’t seen her since I moved to Tulsa. She wasn’t able to come down to the graduation parties and I had to tell her about our engagement over the phone.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, letting go of her and sitting down on the bed.

“You can thank your future husband!” Joette said. “He called me and asked me to come be your witness.”

I looked over at Taylor, my heart filling up with even more love. “I am so glad that someone gets to be here.” I hugged her again.

“I’m glad. I’m very excited that I get to be a part of it!” She said. “Speaking of which, you need to get your things together because you’re sleeping in my room tonight and we’re going out to dinner. It may not be much of a bachelorette party, but it will be fun!”

“Of course it will be fun. We have a lot to talk about anyway.” I said.

“Alright, well I’ll give you two love birds time to say your goodbyes… here is the extra key to my room” Joette placed it in my hand. “I’ll be waiting for you up there!”

After she left, I gathered my wedding clothes and my toiletries. Taylor helped me pack up my things and was being really sweet about everything. “You really are amazing.” I said to him.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug. “I know. But so are you and I just want you to be happy.”

“Being with you makes me happy. Don’t ever forget that!” I softly kissed his nose. “I should probably get going.”

“Next time I see you, you’ll almost be Mrs. Hanson!”

“I know! I’m so nervous and excited!” I kissed him one last time before grabbing my things and heading up to Joette’s room.

That night Joette and I talked and talked and talked. It was like when we were teenagers and had sleepovers. I couldn’t believe that she was here and I was so excited about it. Now I didn’t feel so bad about eloping. At least my most favorite person in the world got to be there. I showed her my dress and explained to her what the chapel looked like.

“I bet everything is going to be perfect.” She reassured me.

“I know. I just… I want my family and friends here too though.” I sighed.

“I completely understand… but look what Taylor did for you by bringing me here.” She said. “You know that he really loves you and I definitely see that you are so right for each other. You can have a bigger ceremony later.”

“It will be a lot later.” I said.

“Why is that?”

“Well… you are the first to know but… we’re pregnant!” I smiled.

Joette screeched and leaped at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and tackling me onto the bed. “I get to be an aunt… sort off.” We both laughed. “Is that why you guys are getting married?”

“Well… he asked me to marry him before we found out that I was pregnant. We decided to elope so that our families would think that it happened on our wedding night. They knew we were coming to Vegas so they’ll just think it was on a whim that we got married.”

“I guess that’s a pretty good plan. I am so freaking excited for you. Your baby is going to be the cutest ever!” She hugged me again.

Joette’s reaction really reassured me that everything was going to turn out ok. I slept better than I thought I would that night because of it. I awoke fully rested and ready to start the day. Joette began by helping me with my hair. She put most of it up in curls and had a few ringlets falling around my face.

The next thing we tackled was my make up. I put my trust in my best friend and she did an amazing job. I looked more beautiful than I ever thought I would. Time was flying by and we had to get down to the chapel. We both grabbed our dresses and made our way to the place where I would become Mrs. Taylor Hanson. Once we were in the dressing room, my nerves kicked in. It finally hit me what I was about to do. After getting dressed I pulled out the paper that I wrote my vows on and continued to try to memorize them.

“Are you ready?” Joette asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I smiled.

“Ok, I’m going to head out there and someone will come get you when it’s time. Are you going to be ok?” She asked.

“Yes. I’ll be fine.”

“Good luck, even though I know you don’t need it.” She hugged me quickly and left the room.

I nervously paced the room waiting for someone to come tell me it was time. My eyes darted from the door to the clock several times and it seemed like the hands weren’t moving at all. Suddenly there was a soft knock on the door and the receptionist from the day before poked her head in the door.

“They’re waiting for you.” She said. She was much more polite than she had been the previous day.

I took a deep breath and slowly made my way out of the dressing room door and to the doors that go into the chapel. The receptionist and another person I had never seen before were standing at the double doors waiting to open them when the wedding march music was played. The next few seconds were a complete blur. Suddenly the doors were being opened and I focused on my handsome fiancée standing at the end of the aisle. As I began my march I took notice that the chapel was almost full with people. Everyone in the seats stood and turned towards me. I looked at the faces and noticed that I knew every person in that room. I saw Taylor’s family and members of my family… I could not believe it. This all had to be Taylor’s doing.

I had the biggest smile on my face when I reached the end of the aisle and tears were softly and slowly running down my cheeks. I was seriously the happiest girl alive. I smiled widely at Taylor and he grabbed my hands as we faced each other to begin the ceremony.

The justice of the peace began and I barely heard a word he said. I was lost in Taylor’s blue eyes. We repeated the normal vows and then it was time for our own. It was decided that I would go first so I cleared my throat and took a few deep breaths. It was going to be hard to fight back my pounding heart, I was so nervous.

“Taylor.” I squeezed his hands tightly. “When I think back on our relationship I see everything. I see spontaneity, love, fun, sharing, and so many more adjectives we’d be here forever for me to list them off. You are my every thing and together we will rule the world. I knew that eloping with you was the right decision regardless of my reservations. I’d do anything to be with you and was willing to risk it all to come to Vegas and marry you right away. This isn’t much of an elopement now… and you never cease to amaze me. I always knew deep down that you could pull something off like this but it still surprises me. I am ready for it all. I am ready to share the rest of my life with you and I am so excited for you to share yours with me. I love you with all of my heart Taylor.”

I took a deep breath and it felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. It was now Taylor’s turn and I was really excited. He let go of my hands and walked over to the corner and picked up his acoustic guitar. I hadn’t even noticed it was there until then. He quickly tuned it up and then spoke into the microphone.

“I wrote this song recently about our relationship” He began. “And it is perfect for right now. I love you Delilah.”

Tears slowly rolled down my cheek as I listened to the beautiful song that he played before me.

“Hey there Delilah
What’s it like in New York City?
I’m a thousand miles away
But girl tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Times Square can’t shine as bright as you
I swear it’s true

Hey there Delilah
Don’t you worry about the distance
I’m right there if you get lonely
Give this song another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to my voice it’s my disguise
I’m by your side

Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there Delilah
I know times are getting hard
But just believe me girl
Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar
We’ll have it good
We’ll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there Delilah
I’ve got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I’d write it all
Even more in love with me you’d fall
We’d have it all

Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they’ve got planes and trains and cars
I’d walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
and we’ll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Delilah I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you’re to blame

Hey there Delilah
You be good and don’t you miss me
Two more years and you’ll be done with school
And I’ll be making history like I do
You know it’s all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here’s to you
This ones for you

Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
What you do to me.”

He placed the guitar back on its stand and walked back over to me. I looked into his eyes and saw that he had been crying too. I grabbed his hands and squeezed them again, rubbing my thumbs over his fingers. I just wanted to hear those words and I didn’t have to wait very long.

“I now pronounce you Mr. And Mrs. Taylor Hanson. You may now kiss the bride!”

We leaned into each other and touched our lips together. I reached up and put my hands on his face as I heard the crowd in the chapel clapping. I pulled away from the kiss and rested my forehead on his. “I love you so much Taylor. This was the most amazing day of my life.”

“I love you too… and there is more.” He smiled. “Now we get to go to our reception.”

“Where!?”

“In one of the ballrooms at the hotel.” I jumped into his arms and he held me tightly, twirling us in a circle. Once he put me down we were bombarded with hugs and kisses from all of our family members. The next few minutes were a blur and before I knew it Taylor and I were in a limo on our way to the hotel.

“You are truly amazing.” I snuggled up to him.

“So are you.”

“How excited are they going to be when they find out we’re pregnant?”

“Our life is going to be wonderful.” He kissed my cheek.

“I love you more than anything.” I stared deep into his eyes.

“More Than Anything.”