Asher's point of view!

The first thought to pop into my head after waking up from a four-hour's sleep was that it was the day. Maybe it wasn't the day, but it was close enough. My brother, my best friend, was getting married. On top of it all, I was proposing to the most beautiful girl inside and out.

Brody and Bea had something in common, though. They were two of the best people I had ever met. Two people I would trust with my life, two people I would die for. Most importantly, two people I wouldn't be able to live without.

Passed out on the queen-sized bed beside mine was Ben. I had to look away from the bare-butt that was sticking up. Cringing, I took the blanket he had kicked off and tossed it over him so I didn't have to see it anymore.

Finally I sat back down on my bed and looked around. The world looked different. The curtains were pulled back, allowing the sun to shine in through the glass. There was no explanation – just that I was happier. I reached for the jacket I had hanging over a chair in the room and pulled the velvet box out of its pocket. The diamond ring inside it made my heart jump.

It took me a few seconds to pull on some pants and a shirt before I could leave the room and find Brody's. It was a ways down the hallway but when I reached it, I pushed the surprisingly unlocked door open to find Brody sleeping peacefully. I laughed inside my head, not for long.

With a big leap, I jumped and landed on top of him just like I used to do on Christmas mornings. He didn't jump or even move, but a loud groan echoed throughout the room. He must have already been awake.

A smile stretched across my face. "Wake up, bub. It's like Christmas morning all over again. This time your present is a wife!"

"Dude," he groaned in response. He shoved my head out of his face and I rolled off of him. "Was that really necessary?"

"It's my brother's wedding day, how else am I supposed to wake him up?" I laughed and laid flat on my back. There was a tense moment of silence then, and for a second I thought he had fallen back asleep.

"I'm really getting married? That wasn't a dream, huh?" For a second I imagined us sitting by the creek that used to run by our house back home where we would take out little toy trucks and have out sophisticated little-boy conversations that usually consisted of who should say what to our imaginary people.

"You're really getting hitched," I confirmed.

"What about you? Did you decide if you were doing it today?" Brody asked with, what I detected, a small amount of excitement. I pursed my lips but didn't say anything yet. It was weird to think of myself asking a girl to be my wife.

"I don't know..." I trailed off. "I don't want to take away from you and Keira."

"Grow some balls, Ash," he said as he sat up. "You won't be taking anything away from Keira and me. She doesn't want a whole bunch of attention anyway, does she? Just take her into the garden, girls like that romantic stuff."

I narrowed my eyes at him jokingly. "You forgot to tell me when you became such an expert on women."

"Just do it, Asher." Brody rolled his eyes.

"Now you sound like Nike," I chuckled while he wacked me on the head with a pillow.

"What do you think Mom would be doing right now?" Brody suddenly asked, making my smile vanish. There was a toss-up on what she may have been doing. Either sitting in her room at home with the world cut off from her or helping Keira get ready with all the enthusiasm in the world. There was no in between.

But for the sake of not having that conversation, I said, "I don't know."

"Yeah," Brody replied with a sigh. He pushed himself out of the bed and walked toward the bathroom. "I'll meet you guys wherever we're supposed to go in half an hour."

I stood up and nodded my head. "Okay." I hoped that he wasn't serious about not knowing where to go.

To put something as special as Brody and Keira's wedding into words would be like telling you about how a rainbow looked, but not being able to show you. The fact that I was able to share the day with them was great in its own. Watching my brother become a part of something so full of love... it baffled me.

I was going to be doing the same thing.

I took my beautiful, hopefully bride to-be into the garden as my brother had suggested and got down on one knee. It was the most beautiful and important day of my entire life. But when she said yes, and after she smacked me on the shoulder, I could have cried. There was so much joy in my heart in that moment. After all that we had been through together – unaccepting parents, suicide, a tour, a long break, and the death of loved ones – we had come out on top.

As I stood at the end of the line near the shiny white limo with a sparkler in my hand, I watched the smile on Bea's face and on my brother's and his new wife. Brody and Keira made their way hand in hand towards the limo as the remaining guests held sparklers over their heads. Brody opened the door for Keira as she stepped inside – all after she gave Bea a huge hug.

Brody turned to me and roughly grabbed me in his arms. I hugged him back, squeezed him tightly, and made sure he knew I was proud of him. I couldn't be any happier to send my brother off with someone else knowing how happy and perfect they are together.

"Thanks for everything, man," Brody told me as he backed away toward the limo door. I formed my hand into the rocker's sign and watched them drive off into the sunset... okay, not really the sunset, more like the moonlight.

When I turned around to find Bea, she wasn't standing there anymore. I somehow had a weird feeling that the warmth beside of me was missing.

I then resulted to looking for her. I asked around and no one had seen her, but then I looked in the garden where it was nice and quiet, which was exactly the type of place she would be doing her thinking.

Fortunately, Bea was sitting on the same bench we had just been sitting on after I proposed to her. Her face was scrunched up in the same manner it always did when she was thinking hard. Those moments never led to anything great and mostly resulted in panic or anxiety attacks. I was ready.

"You aren't rethinking it, are you?" I asked her half-jokingly as I sat down next to her on the bench. Her fingers rolled around each other as she continued to stare off into space. On instinct, I grabbed her hand and laced it with mine so that if she had to twiddle her fingers, it would be with mine.

"What's wrong, Bea?"

She closed her eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and then reopened them.

"I have no doubt in wanting to marry you, Asher." She finally turned to look at me and saw the panic and tears in her eyes. "I love you more than I need oxygen. I need you because you are my life support and my best friend. I'm just... I don't want to..."

I felt my heart beat a little faster. "Don't want to... what?"

She knew what I was thinking and she knew I was going to fall apart if she wouldn't tell me what the hell was going on with her all of a sudden.

"I don't want to end up like my parents. They used to be in love, maybe not like we are, but they were. The thought that something so beautiful could end so badly just... scares me. They were always at each other's throats. I don't want us to end up like them." Holding onto her sweaty hands like I was – or maybe my hands were sweating – I could practically feel her blood pumping at an abnormal pace, if that was even a thing.

I stood up and held my hand out for her to take. As she stood up, I held her hands as we danced slowly, without music, and without looking at each other.

"That's why we won't be," I said quietly. I had no doubt in my mind that we were better off than Jamie and Ava ever were. "I promise you. We won't be."

"You say that now, but... neither of us know that," he said, but didn't pull away from me. I took that as a sign that everything was going to be all right.

"That's true, only God knows. But I do know we have something different. You and I are meant for each other in every way possible, Beatrice. You fill me up in ways I was never able to do myself, and I hope it's the same way for you." I pulled back to look at her and see the soft smile on her face.

"It is," she said softy.

"I don't care what we do to make each other mad, no matter what I'm always going to fight for you. I'm always going to be irrevocably in love with you." As I said that I couldn't help but cringe inwardly and hope no one heard me say it, except Bea of course.

Bea leaned in and kissed me softly at first, but then held my face on either side and deepened it. I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up. There was no possible way that I was ever going to get enough of this girl.

I put her down but didn't let go. "Let's hit the road. We have a wedding to plan."

She smiled widely and grabbed my hand in hers, pulling me with her out of the garden.

"You bet we do. I hope you're ready for lots of sparkly lights, dancing, and, oh," she spun herself around and gave me a kiss on the lips, "lots of kissing."

A smile a mile wide crossed my face. "I think I could do that."   

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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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Dedicated to lunasquiescent because of her kind words and kind heart, although you may not be this far into the sequel yet! Thank you so much!

The song is Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran. I'm not sure if I've used it already, but I thought it was a good song to end with. I may end up editing this chapter a little more to show you more of what Asher thought about his engagement... We'll see how time treats me.

So sorry it took me an eon to post this... I'm one of those people where if I'm not feeling it, I can't do it. But I'm so happy I finally got it up! I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading! Also I apologize for it being kind of short.

If you would like to be notified for when my next story comes out (which will hopefully be soon!) then leave this book in your library! I'll be posting the first chapter of it right here.

Once again, thanks so much for your support, comments, messages, votes, follows, and kind words! It all means the world to me, you have no idea.