True Love (The Society #4)

Chapter 33 – My Immortal

Thursday – April 4, 2024

Ash

I looked up at the screens. They showed all the pictures that we’d just taken in the photobooth. WHY?!

Matt covered Jacob’s eyes before he could see the sex wall.

“Oops.” Tanner shrugged. “I forgot about that.”

He forgot?! “Tanner...” I hissed.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “It’s fine. It’s just our friends that saw. I’ll break the projector as soon as everyone goes into the ballroom.”

A little machine whirred to life and spit out a photo-strip of the sex we’d just had. Mr. & Mrs. Rhodes was written on it in a beautiful scrawl.

“Priceless,” said Tanner and slipped it into his pocket.

I waited for everyone to start laughing or something. But no one made us feel weird about it. Except Rob. I loved these guys.

Penny grabbed James’ hand. “Should we go next?”

“What?” he said.

She laughed. “It’s just a photobooth. Although...can we turn the live feed off?”

“Why don’t we all go in there?” asked Rob.

Daphne hit him. “We’re not having a bridal party orgy.”

“Wow, get your mind out of the gutter. I just wanted to take some cute pics with my fellow groomsmen.”

“Splendid idea,” said Nigel. “Master Matthew and I will go first. No wedding album is complete without some classic best boy/best friend pics.”

Um...what? That really felt like a sex thing...

“Absolutely not,” said Matt.

Nigel stuck his lower lip out.

“Put that away, son,” said Tanner.

Nigel put it away. “Do you really think of me as a son?”

Tanner shrugged.

“I thought I was the best son,” said Matt.

Tanner just laughed.

I could hear the DJ start talking in the other room.

“You two lovebirds better hurry,” said Rob. “You don’t want to miss the dance.”

“I don’t think they can do our first dance without us,” I said.

Rob smiled. Slowly. The way he smiled the whole time he’d been planning Joe’s wedding pudding prank. “Oh, I’m not talking about your first dance. We have a surprise for you.”

“We...who?” I asked.

Rob just rubbed his hands together. “This is going to be epic.”

The bridal party all went into the ballroom, but Justin stopped us. He placed his hand on Tanner’s chest.

“Wait for them to announce you.” He patted Tanner’s chest and then just kept his hand there.

Tanner gave him a weird look.

I laughed. Such an old man .

“What’s so funny?” asked Tanner as he stepped away from Justin.

“Nothing.”

“Do you know what Rob has planned?” Tanner asked Justin.

“Oh yes. It’s supreme.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’ll see.” He pushed open the doors.

“And for the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Tanner Rhodes!” said Spaceboy.

Ah! Spaceboy! I’d fucked him! Tanner was such a good sport about all my sexcapades.

Tanner held my hand as we ran into the ballroom. The bridal party formed a tunnel for us to run under. Even Jacob. Although he was less of a part of the tunnel and more an inadvertent-punch-in-the-nuts hazard for Tanner. Tanner dodged him right in time.

And then Tanner pulled me into his arms. “Are you excited to see what our song is?”

I still couldn’t believe he’d planned all this for me. “So excited.” I turned to look at the stage. But Matt had taken the mic from Spaceboy.

Matt tapped it. “We have a special surprise for the happy couple.”

I looked up at Tanner.

“I have no idea what’s happening,” he said.

“If everyone will please take a seat,” said Matt.

Tanner guided me over to our sweetheart table. He pulled out my chair and I sat down.

I was even more confused when Rosalie got up on the stage too .

Matt cleared his throat. “The bridal party has put together a retelling of sorts of Tanner and Ash’s love story.”

Um...what?

Matt took a deep breath. “I swore I’d only ever do this once in my life. For my girl.” He pointed to Brooklyn. “But it’s time to break out the pipes and dance moves for one of my best friends. Love you, man.”

Tanner smiled. “This is going to be amazing.”

“Here’s to the happy couple,” said Matt. He pulled a Band-Aid out of his pocket and put it on under his eye.

And then Hot in Herre by Nelly started playing. Matt started singing in place of Nelly. It was terrible, yet amazing at the same time.

Matt pulled on his collar to show that he was hot and twirled around. He shimmied and then pointed to Rosalie. She copied the move.

It was hilarious. But...Hot in Herre? What did this have to do with Tanner and my love story?

But then Spaceboy carried out a table. With a tablecloth and an unlit candle. Rosalie and Matt sat down at the table.

No.

Rosalie knocked the unlit candle onto the table into a bowl of oil that I very much hoped was empty. She screamed at the top of her lungs as Matt kept singing. Then she pulled on the tablecloth, making the “flaming” oil hit Matt right in the junk. Some pyrotechnics went off behind him, symbolizing his flaming pants.

They were reenacting the OG Incident. Fuck my life .

Matt dropped the mic and screamed at the top of his lungs. The same ear-piercing, super high-pitched scream that came out of his mouth at the restaurant.

Tanner was laughing so hard.

Actually, everyone was laughing.

Which made it easier for me to laugh too. The incidents were in the past. It was time I started laughing at them. And the OG Incident had been the start of my dating journey.

Rosalie fell to her knees and pretended to pat the front of Matt’s pants while the music kept playing.

Okay. Hot in here. I got it. Hot as in flames. Cute.

Tanner put his arm around my shoulders. “I’m glad we didn’t erase our memories of the incidents. Or else this would have been very confusing.”

I laughed. “True.”

The song ended and Nigel and Chastity ran up on stage as Matt and Rosalie exited.

One Way or Another by Blondie started playing. And surprisingly, Nigel was the one singing it instead of Chastity.

I laughed. “A stalker song. Perfect.” I lightly shoved Tanner’s shoulder.

“It is perfect. For you.”

I shook my head and watched Nigel and Chastity on stage. Chastity sat down on a bench that Spaceboy had brought out. She pulled some binoculars out of her purse.

“You were saying?” asked Tanner.

But then Nigel pulled on a trench coat and a fake mustache.

“ You were saying?” I looked up at Tanner .

He laughed.

Nigel started chasing Chastity around the stage. But it was really more of a dance than a chase. It was quite elegant.

Nigel kept changing his disguises. Colorful tuxedos. Normal billionaire tuxedos. His Francois the waiter costume that Tanner had borrowed. And lederhosen, which did not make sense for Tanner. But totally made sense for Nigel. Nigel threw himself against the wall and Chastity pretended she couldn’t see him.

She pulled out her binoculars to get a better view.

And then Nigel jumped off the wall and started chasing her again in their elegant leaping dance moves.

It was so well choreographed. How much time had they spent putting this dance together? It seemed like it should have taken months. They must have spent every waking hour of the last week planning this. I smiled. Chastity was the best. And as dedicated to her maid of honor duties as Nigel was dedicated to his best boy duties.

The song ended as Nigel chased Chastity off the stage.

Brooklyn and James walked up.

Brooklyn gave an apologetic look to Matt. “Just to clarify, we tried to change up the couples,” she said.

“But Nigel insisted we had to go in order,” finished James. He awkwardly cleared his throat.

And then Let Her Go by Passenger started playing.

This song was definitely about when we’d broken up the first time. Or maybe the second. Either way, it was a beautiful love song about realizing how much you cared for someone once they were gone .

James had a surprisingly good voice. And he and Brooklyn sung it perfectly in sync.

They were sharing one mic and staring at each other.

It was like I could almost feel the ache of missing Tanner from their words. Why were they so good at this?

Brooklyn tried to lighten the mood by turning her hands into a showerhead.

James laughed and pretended to shampoo his hair.

I heard the sound of shattering glass. I looked over to see that Matt had snapped his champagne flute in half. Penny laughed and patted his back.

I got it. Brooklyn and James had great chemistry. If Penny wasn’t a thing, I was sure they would have been true love.

But I would never say that out loud. Gingers had to stick together. #GingerSupremecy. Ah! No!

James and Brooklyn kept singing and I actually got tears in my eyes.

I looked up at Tanner. “I hated when we weren’t together.”

“For the record, I already knew I loved you.” He kissed my cheek. “It killed me to be apart.”

“Me too.” I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled as the song ended.

Penny and Mason walked up to the stage.

James caught Penny around the waist and gave her a searing kiss before he sat back down.

And Matt pulled Brooklyn onto his lap. She laughed and hugged him tight .

Addicted by Simple Plan started playing. Penny and Mason were laughing the whole time as they kept copying each other’s silly dance moves. And Penny kept pointing at Mason’s dick and yelling “dick!”

Which just made Mason laugh harder.

They were hilarious. I loved this song. And I hadn’t heard it in forever.

“I am addicted to you,” whispered Tanner in my ear.

“Is that you admitting that you’re the sex addict?” I asked.

“Try not having sex for 343 years and get back to me on that one.”

I laughed.

Penny pointed her mic at Mason’s dick and he thrust.

The ballroom went pitch black as soon as their song ended.

And then piano music started up. And a spotlight landed on Rob playing a grand piano in the corner.

Was he playing My Immortal by Evanescence?

“I didn’t realize Robert was a pianist,” said Tanner.

“Me neither.” But he was quite remarkable.

And then Rob started singing.

Yup, this was definitely My Immortal by Evanescence.

Rob stared straight into Tanner’s eyes while he played piano and sung.

Madison sat down on the piano and tried to sing along, but mostly she was just sobbing.

I laughed because the whole scene was just ridiculous .

Rob kept on playing flawlessly and staring deep into Tanner’s eyes.

“Um...what is happening right now?” said Tanner. “Is Rob about to kill himself? Or is he in love with me?”

I laughed. “The song is My Immortal. I think it’s a subtle nod to your secret. A better question is…what is going on with Madison?”

“Maybe she’s in love with you?” Tanner looked deeply confused.

I laughed again. “Who knows. But I’m loving your new friendship with Rob.”

“Robert and me? Friends? Never.” But he said it with way less gumption than usual.

“Sure.”

Rob was doing a great job singing and playing, but it felt like the song lasted forever. Probably because the way he was staring at Tanner was so off-putting. And intimate. The whole thing was over the top dramatic. And only the title of the song made any sense at all.

“Well that was creepy as hell,” said Tanner when the song finally ended.

“I’m surprised he didn’t just play Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera.”

Daphne laughed as she walked by our table holding Jacob’s hand. “That was his first thought, but he said it wasn’t dramatic enough.”

“We needed more drama,” said Jacob.

I couldn’t wait to see what the two of them were about to sing.

Daphne lifted him up and carried him up the stage .

Baby Shark started playing and Jacob hopped around.

Tanner laughed.

Oh my God, this was epic.

“A clever nod to your baby fever era,” said Tanner. “But he also just loves this song, so maybe he had no idea about that.”

Jacob and Daphne put their hands above their heads to look like shark fins and stared running around the stage together like they were swimming. It was adorable.

“Abuelo! Abuelo!” Jacob yelled. “Baby shark dance!” He jumped up and down.

Tanner got up and put his hand out for me.

I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet and out onto the middle of the dance floor.

And then Tanner put his hands over his head and stared running around pretending to be a shark.

God I loved this man. I put my hands over my head too and started running around.

Daphne helped Jacob off the stage and he ran over to us with his hands above his head like a fin.

He ducked between Tanner’s legs and then we chased him around the dance floor.

Our whole wedding party got up and started pretending to be sharks too. I wasn’t even sure Scarlett, Sophie, and Jacob were the ones having the most fun. I was pretty sure it was the adults.

Spaceboy played the song twice since everyone was having a blast.

But then Cole grabbed Bee’s hand and they ran up on stage .

“We saved the best for last,” said Cole and winked at me.

Oh no.

“To celebrate an amazing wedding. But this one’s really for you, Ash.”

What was he about to sing? I hoped it wasn’t about minotaurs...

I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At The Disco started playing.

Eek. I mean...the song wasn’t inaccurate. But damn it, Cole!

Bee didn’t seem to realize the significance. She was happily singing along. She probably just thought they’d chosen a fun wedding song.

“What’s this song about?” asked Tanner. “Wait, I know this one.” He frowned. “That little asshole…” Tanner got to the stage and pulled the plug on the speakers right before they sung, “WHORE.”

Tanner plugged the speaker back in and tapped the mic. “I think it’s time my beautiful bride and I had our first dance. Well...I guess technically Baby Shark was our first dance.”

“Baby Shark!” yelled Jacob.

I laughed.

Tanner nodded at Spaceboy. As Spaceboy switched records, Tanner jumped off the stage and walked up to me. He bowed. “Will you do me the honor of having this dance?”

“Absolutely. Husband.” I placed my hand in his as the music started playing. He immediately started twirling me around the dance floor. He was such a good dancer .

He pulled me close as the words of the song finally started. And I recognized it. I smiled up at him. The song was I Will Possess Your Heart by Death Cab for Cutie. “I know this song.”

“Yeah? I made sure to choose a modern-day bop.”

I laughed. I wouldn’t exactly call it that. But it was perfect.

“It’s about you,” he said.

I couldn’t stop smiling. “No, it’s a stalker song about you .”

“Is it though?”

“Yes!”

He started guiding me around the dance floor again. He was spinning us around so quickly that it felt like I was flying.

I smiled at the lyrics. This really was a perfect song. About Tanner stalking me. Not the other way around. It was a very strange choice for a wedding song. But it was also so perfectly perfect. My stalker husband would choose this song.

“You do possess my heart,” said Tanner as the song came to a close. He dipped me so low that I was surprised my back didn’t give out.

Everyone cheered around us.

I was surprised when the song immediately changed again. It was I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick.

“Another stalker song,” said Tanner with a laugh.

Nigel was really snapping to the beat. Or was he doing magic?

I dropped Tanner’s hand and felt my legs moving all by themselves .

Yup...Nigel was definitely doing magic.

I started doing all sorts of wild moves. Rocking my arms up and down in an old-fashioned way. I laughed as my hips started to sway back and forth.

And my bridesmaids all rushed onto the dance floor to join me. The ones not in on the whole magic-is-real thing seem very confused about what was happening to their bodies.

We all pointed at our men and dropped it low.

Tanner and his groomsmen smiled.

It seemed like the only one not being magically controlled was Chastity. But she was hitting all the moves. Had she and Nigel planned this too? Best maid of honor and best boy ever!

I pulled my skirt off and did a saucy little shimmy as flames shot out of the floor behind me. Whoa!

Oh no. Is Nigel gonna puppet me into stripping completely? Bad houseboy!

But luckily he didn’t.

We all just started snapping our fingers and shimmying.

We all rubbed beneath our eyes and pretended to faint at all the right moments.

And I did a lot of body rolls. Apparently Nigel was into those.

I felt my arms lift as I grabbed my tits and shimmied again. Nigel! Don’t make me tear my top off!

He didn’t make me get top nude, though. The music ended shortly after I’d grabbed my boobs. It took me a while to get my hands off them.

Everyone cheered.

That was amazing! I’d never felt so cool before .

And Tanner was looking at me like he wanted to rip the rest of my dress off.

Penny fanned her face. “I don’t know what just got into me.”

“Same,” said Bee. “How many cocktails have I had?”

Daphne laughed. “It was definitely just the cocktails.” And then she winked at me.

Magic was definitely in the air. I smiled as Tanner wrapped his arms around me from behind.