❛ You're a brother to me
You're my partner in crime ❜
- Steamroller, Phoebe Bridgers

Lois' bump has been growing bigger everyday, and I've only just processed that there's going to be another person in the house. Another sibling.

Francis and Piama are over, it's always nice to have them around. We have lunch with them after school and Lois announces that they're going to induce labour this thursday. It's shocking how this is all happening so fast.

If I look back, so much has changed in the past year or so. Francis is married and leading a much more stable life, there's going to be a new member of the Wilkerson family, and everyone is just so grown up. In hindsight, this is all so crazy.

Lois tells Hal to take the boys out for the day so she could have some spare time before the baby comes, and I offer to stay home and help, but she insists I go with them. Hal says there's a car show at the convention center, which doesn't sound too bad.

So that's what we're doing, aimlessly standing in the center, wondering why there's no sign that reads 'Car Show', and instead a 'Festival of Brides' banner. Hal was mistaken, and the car show had already passed. Great. We still have to go in regardless since Hal already paid for the parking and we have to be busy with something just as Lois instructed.

We walk in and it's decorated with an obnoxious bridal theme, flowers and colors like pink and white. It would have been a sight for sore eyes if it weren't bustling with people and women in big wedding dresses. A band was playing a terrible rendition of Celebration as we walk through the masses. 

"I know I haven't been everywhere, but I'm pretty sure this is the most boring place on earth," Reese says. That's one way to put it. Our group of four guys and a teenage girl sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the middle aged women and couples.

"What are you talking about, Reese? Do you know what kind of craftsmanship goes into these lace veils," Hal says, holding one of the pieces of fabric that is displayed in his hands, desperately trying to get us interested. The dresses are pretty and all that, but marriage and weddings are the last thing on my mind right now for me to care about any of this.

I don't have many good examples of marriage. For one, my parents spent the entirety of theirs bickering until they eventually split up, which tainted my notion of a happy relationship from a very young age. Hal and Lois are the next example, and though they seem so in love, I can't help but think that if they didn't go with the traditional path of marriage and kids; they would be much happier. Love does it as it is, marriage is just legally binding something that's already there—it shouldn't change the relationship. If anything, an official vow to love eachother forever should only strengthen the bond, not break it.

But at the end of the day, love is really just one big con job.

Malcolm's voice breaks my deep thoughts about love and relationship dynamics. "So, Dad, I was wondering, do you have any kind of—savings put away?" What does that have to do with anything? Hal answers by breaking into hysterical laughter. I swear, if someone else stepped into my shoes for a day and witnessed this family, they'd think I was living in an asylum full of aliens disguised as a suburban family.

"Oh, I'll have to tell your mother that one."

"No, I'm serious, what if something came up. A big, unexpected expense; would you be prepared for something like that?" I have no clue why Malcolm is worried about this right now. I zone out at the wedding dress models, the way their dresses flit gracefully behind them. I sigh.

"Don't worry about that stuff, son. Things have a way of taking care of themselves," Hal brushes Malcolm's serious question off.

"But-"

"Come on, you guys are young, you're at a bridal expo. You should be having the time of your life," Hal says, and I see the way he tries to look at me for support. As if I would be interested in any of this more than the boys are. We look around, I don't even notice Dewey is nowhere to be seen. Usually, I'd be the first to realize. "Dewey? Dewey?" Still no sign of the boy.

We eventually all wander out into the expo until we see a place that's giving out cake. Free cake? It's a bit too good to be true. Reese and I stall behind as Hal and Malcolm hurry to get one for themselves. "Hey," Reese squeezes in between people, "can I have the piece with the flower." His impoliteness makes me cringe.

"I'm talking to an actual customer right now," the man who is serving answers.

"I'm a customer," Reese retaliates.

"Yeah, are you getting married?" The man scorns, I roll my eyes. I want a cake too! It's not my fault I got dragged to this thing. But there's practically no hope of us getting one of those cakes. My eyes dart between Reese and I, and an idea pops into my head, I just don't know if we can go through with it.

If we could pretend to be a young engaged couple, maybe we'd get some advantage around here. And then we could get all the cake we want. I'm still not sure of how to execute this plan. "Why? Does somebody like me?" Reese answers the man, and I take that as my cue to pull him away by his arm. Before he can whine, a man in a suit stops us.

"Hi, what a beautiful couple you are," he smiles and before I can say anything to that, he continues. "Do you both happen to be around 5'8, 5'7?"

I'm confused, but I nod, and Reese gives him a 'yeah'.

"Okay, perfect. I own the shop over there and my models didn't show up, I'll give you each twenty bucks if you walk around in a dress and a tux and pass out my card." His proposal doesn't sound too bad, it could perfectly help with my original plan of tricking the workers here that we're getting married.

"Buzz off," Reese replies brusquely before I could say anything.

"No, wait. We'd actually like to do it," I smile at the man, squeezing Reese's arm so he would go along with it. The man then nods and leads us to his store, filled with almost identical tuxedos and pretty white dresses. He motions for a woman standing next to the dresses and she tells me to go with her, as he practically drags Reese to the tuxedos. I look over my shoulder for Reese, but they've both disappeared. When I look back at the woman, she's holding a huge dress. I'm supposed to wear that? It looks like it weighs a ton.

"Okay, come with me," she says in her soft voice. She seems like a nice woman. She's a brunette and much shorter than me, and she looks pretty young. I follow her into a dressing room and she hands me the dress. It's pretty and fluffy, but just as heavy as I'd imagined. "Put it on, and when you're done, I'll be here to help you close it." I simply nod and close the curtain. I undress and begin to put on the dress. It actually fits, and it looks... good on me. It's a simple strapless ballgown with fabric that resembles a floral pattern, although the sparkles make it look a bit gauche. Overall, it's a really pretty dress. I look in the mirror again, if I had my hair done and proper makeup on, I'd look like an actual bride—even though I'm still wearing my worn out sneakers under the dress.

"You need any help? Does it fit?" The woman says when I take a bit too long.

"No, I'm done." I pull away the curtain and turn to her so she can close the dress from the back. Well, it might be pleasing to the eye but it isn't exactly comfortable. She spins me to face her and beams as she fixes some of my hair.

"Okay, all good," she says before she hastily grabs my hand and pulls me outside. I see the man from before talking to Reese, but his taller frame is covering him. "Here comes the bride," the woman giggles. I just want this to be over with so I can get some cake.

The man turns to me and I can see Reese now, he's clad in a fancy tuxedo that fits him surprisingly well. It makes his shoulders look broader and is complimented by a simple boutonnière. I glimpse his eyes widening at the dress, but I brush it off. "Oh, beautiful—okay. He has the cards." He pats Reese on the back and walks away. I give Reese a confused look and he shrugs. When I look to my right, the woman isn't there anymore. Reese and I walk out the store in our new attire and he throws away the cards in the nearest trash can.

"What do we do now?" He says as we continue walking, but we're interrupted by the same man from before asking us if we want some cake. We give each other knowing smirks.

"Can we have the pieces with the flowers?" Reese asks him, just like he did mere minutes ago.

"No, you get the ones with the flowers and a little lemon bee." He hands us the plates and Reese smiles down at his. My plan is working, and I practically did nothing.

For the next hour or so, people continuously congratulate us and workers give us free stuff. It's like wedding heaven.

A group of people crowd around us as I narrate our fictional love story, and Reese goes on about his fictional life. It's actually really fun messing with these clueless people.

"So, you two look so young. How'd this happen?" A middle aged woman asks me and I fake a pageant smile like I've been doing this entire time.

"Well, we love each other so much that we just couldn't wait until we're older." I smile at Reese and place my hand on his shoulder. He's telling a joke to a group of people around him.

"And then I said, 'orange you glad I didn't say banana.'" The people begin laughing.

"Isn't he just the funniest," I chuckle, even though I didn't even hear his joke. Someone pokes Reese and he turns around. It's the owner of the shop, and he has the stack of cards we threw away in his hands. How do we get away with this now? I knew he shouldn't have thrown those.

"I found these in the trash," he says in a hostile tone.

Reese rolls his eyes, "can we discuss this later, we're with friends." He keeps up his act. Hm, he's even better at this than I am.

"Give me the tux. You give me the dress," the man says coldly. No way I'm giving this dress back, at least not now.

Reese's mouth gapes, "what, no. I like this tux. It's mine! We're married, now leave us alone!"

"Those are not yours, give them back or I'll call security."

Reese and I look at eachother. "Hey, we're over there!" he says and the guy actually falls for it. I would laugh if Reese didn't roughly pull my hand to run with him. We keep running and moving along with the crowds. At one point, the lights go off and a child's voice sounds through the speakers—it almost sounds like Dewey, but we're too busy to care. The convention is trafficked and messy enough that we eventually lose the man, but Reese keeps going.

"Wait! I can't run in this stupid dress," I catch my breath and he looks up and down at me before crouching and grabbing the fabric to tear it. "Hey! Are you crazy!"

"What?! You said you can't run in it!"

"Well—do you know how much this dress is worth?! If we get away with this, I'm taking this home and saving it for my actual wedding!" I frantically yell at him.

"Okay, then what do we do?!" His eyebrows are raised in agitation. I look around and spot the man again, but this time he has a bunch of security with him. And they are headed right towards us.

I look back and forth between them and Reese. They could look at us any second now. My mind fumbles and does multiple cartwheels as I try to figure out what to do next. My eyes land on a couple making out just a few feet of us, and when I look back at Reese, there's only one thing I could think of.

In a millisecond, I have his head in my hands and my lips smash with his. My eyes are squeezed shut and my brain processes just one thing: how to not get caught. I cover his hair with my hands to make us as unrecognizable as possible. Focusing doesn't do me any good when his lips are just as soft as I had imagined. My body is on fire and it's brewing right where our lips are connected.

Reese does not move, his mouth doesn't either. He goes stiff. I can't pull away just yet though, the risk of them seeing us is too high. So I have no choice but to keep my lips on his and move them a little. I feel his hand twitch and brush my waist. His head tilts and his lips move ever so slightly. If this wasn't such an unfortunate time, I'd think he was kissing me back. I pull away after exactly minute and immediately turn to where they were as soon as my eyes open.

They're nowhere around. It worked. And, oh my god, I kissed Reese!

My heartbeat is racing and my breathing is still uneven when I turn back to Reese, his eyes haven't yet opened since the kiss. I can't believe that just happened. It hasn't even been processed yet. Adrenaline is pulsing through my veins as if a dam had breached. I'm afraid, but this is also so incredibly exhilarating—everything is with Reese. "Reese." His eyes snap open at my voice. "We should hide," I suggest. I see his adam's apple bob, and he nods.

I hold his hand to lead him behind a cardboard wall, amongst a few wires. The chances of anyone finding us here are low. We can hear faint yelling, and as it gets closer, it sounds more and more like Hal and the other boys calling us. Reese and I exchange a look and he peaks out to say, "we're over here!"

Hal comes over to where we are and I cringe at how he's blowing our cover. Not a few moments later and the security spots us. Hal being Hal, panics and calls for us to run. So we do.

"Hey, come back here! You can't run away with my $1400 Tuxedo and dress!" The man chases us, and we have to sprint even faster than we did before. Now I'm thankful more than ever that they didn't make me wear different shoes. If I was in anything other than my comfortable sneakers, this would be way harder than it already is.

We reach the parking lot and hurry into the car. Malcolm gets in the passenger seat and Reese, Dewey and I cramp in the back. Reese and I don't realize our hands are still clasped together until we get in and I pull mine away. Hal is still talking to what sounds like Lois on the phone, but we just need to drive away as soon as possible.

"Go, Dad!" Malcolm yells.

"I can't find the keys!" Hal frantically feels for them in his pockets and around the car. "Where the hell are the keys?!" His shrill voice rings in my ear.

Reese's face twists in realization. "Oh, man! They were with me, I left them in my pants." I gasp in disbelief. How could he be so irresponsible?

It's too late, the security has caught up to us and are leaning to talk to Hal through the window.

"Honey, can I call you back?"

TO BE CONTINUED

AN:

so... that just happened