A/N: If you didn’t hate me before, you are going to hate me now…

Oh, and just a reminder: there are six days left to enter my short story/one-shot competition and win a review from me and get my help in advertizing your work. If you are interested, read my book The Contests Book, chapter December challenge.

*****

Nathaniel’s POV

“Slow down, will you?”

Slow down?

Vallery was actually asking me to slow down?

Well, of course she would! She wasn’t the one who woke up married to a member of the same gender. Was that even real? We had to find out. We had to, and if it was for real, we had to make it right, we had to get divorced before we left Vegas.

I released an expletive and sped up. I didn’t even bother stopping to apologize to the woman I rammed with my shoulder as I passed by her.

“The chapel isn’t going away, bro,” Val pointed out but her calm demeanor only served to fuel my anger further.

How could she not care about this?

If mom and dad were to find out… Oh, Lord, if they found out! And what about the rest of the family?

I could already picture Great Aunt Sarah going red in the face and screaming ‘Disgusting!’ at me. What if she stopped funding dad’s research?

It was all my fault; I shouldn’t have drunk even that first beer.

I ran into the chapel – the same one we’d binged in front of last night – and began to frantically look around for the priest. If anyone could tell us how to get out of our predicament, it would be him.

“Where is that damn man?” I shouted after a few minutes of searching.

“You probably shouldn’t use that language in a chapel, Nathaniel.”

Oh, did I mention that Hunter – like Val – had taken this too calmly?

How come he was not panicking?

My heart beat at a speed an Olympic runner would envy and my hands were sweating; Hunter was leaning on the frame of the door, next to my sister, his face devoid of emotion.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I turned around. A sigh escaped my lips – the sound of relief – as the robes of the man showed he was exactly who I’d came here to see.

“Father, we need to speak to you,” I addressed him as I approached the altar where he stood. The priest rearranged his glasses, a politely curious expression on his wrinkled face. “I think that we got married last night,” I began to explain. “That is to say me and…” I hesitated before I pointed to Hunter; Vallery had not moved, but the boy was now sitting on the front right bench. “… me and him. I was drunk, Father; we both were…”

The man nodded and raised a hand to keep me quiet.

“Now, my son,” he began with a voice that would’ve been soothing any other day but today. The man gestured for me to sit down and waited for me to do so before he continued.

“Tell me everything, from the start, and calmly.”

“I did something stupid,” I began. “I had a few drinks – I don’t usually drink, but…”

I admitted I found a guy attractive.

No. I was not going to say that to the priest even if we were in a chapel which offered to link to same gender people into holy matrimony. I shook my head and went on:

“But I did yesterday and I got drunk. I think we both did,” I added, sneaking a glance at Hunter, still just as cool and collected. “When we woke up…” I slowed hard and took a deep breath. “When we woke up, we had wedding bands on our fingers and there was a marriage certificate in our room. We are not together,” I hurried to refute and saw with my peripheral vision that Hunter leaned back and folded his arms over his chest.

“And what brings you here today?” The elderly man asked, in the same reposeful tone.

“We don’t remember getting married but we remember drinking nearby your chapel,” I replied. “We thought that maybe the ceremony was done here?” When he didn’t reply, I added: “If so, maybe you can undo it?”

“Undo it?” The dark eyes behind the glasses grew large. “You mean a divorce?” I nodded. “You need a lawyer for that, my son, not a priest.”

“So it is real?” I asked in a small voice.

“Of course it is real,” the man replied, taking no offence that I questioned the validity of his job. “Every ceremony we perform in this chapel is real no matter if we unite a man to a woman, two women to each other or two men.”

“But we were drunk,” I tried again as if that would change his mind.

“Neither me, nor my colleagues, would perform the ceremony if we saw you were too intoxicated to make a clear decision,” he assured me.

“So there’s nothing you can do about this?” I handed him the marriage certificated.

The man rearranged his glasses again and began reading. His eyebrows furrowed and he huffed.

“Such documentation is not issued by our chapel,” he concluded, handing me the certificate back; I didn’t take it.

“What do you mean it is not issued by your chapel?”

“I mean that we do not issue such certificates. For starters, that is not the mark of our chapel.”

Oh, God, did we need to go somewhere else now?

“I’m not even sure this is a real marriage certificate, my son. It has signatures and stamps, but…”

“Are you sure?” I rose to my feet in confusion. “Are you sure it is not real?”

“Even if it looks like a part of an official documentation, I doubt any chapel would ever write ‘married with Viva Las Vegas playing in the background (the ZZ Top version)’.”

I finally took the document from his hand.

The ZZ Top version.

“VALLERY!”

*****

Hunter’s POV

I knew she had something to do with this!

Her laughter echoed through the small chapel. She’d better quit that and start running since her brother had already darted in her direction; I’d never seen the boy so furious. He even cussed again. This was what?

The third time he did it today and the third I’d ever heard him do that?

Yes, that seemed right: third time for today and third time ever.

The priest stood wide-eyed before me. He looked like a nice man, but his kind eyes were full of confusion now.

“Family business, Father,” I said, standing up and looking towards the door through which the twins had disappeared. “They would sort it out.”

Or at least I hoped they would.

Perhaps Vallery had gone too far this time. I thought I had a good idea as to why she’d done it, but still… Even if she meant well, it all turned out to be a mean prank in the end.

I should feel relief now that I knew for sure I did not have to address anyone as husband. I had never even dated seriously – although there had been a time I’d considered that – and now I’d been in danger of being married. Me, of all people.

I snorted.

If Blake were here to see this!

Maybe I should tell him the whole story from the start, from how I woke up with a ring on my finger. Make him sweat a bit, have him fooled for a while… Now that I knew it was not real, the situation seemed funny.

Well, almost.

Nathaniel would be seething. He would be angry at Val – it had been her idea after all – yet he would probably blame me for it too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to avoid me the next few weeks, maybe barricade himself in his room, invite her over. Vallery meant for him and I to get together but her actions always backfired and pushed him towards Irene instead. Perhaps I should not forgive Val so easily this time…

“Are they… coming back?” The priest asked hesitantly and I shook my head.

“I don’t believe they will, Father,” I replied quietly. “I’m sorry we wasted your time.”

I turned around to leave but his voice stopped me.

“Are you a praying man, my son?”

“Why would you think that?” I asked, curious about his assumption.

“You don’t look like the type of person who is respectful towards everyone yet you act respectful towards me,” he commented. “I thought it might have something to do with my occupation.”

I graced the man with a flat grin.

“I don’t know what I am, Father,” I said. “I guess you just seem like a nice man. Have a good day, Father.”

I walked between the two columns of white benched, decorated with colorful ribbons and paper flowers. As I was to pass the arc-shaped door, I noticed a scrunched piece of paper. I leaned down to pick it up. It was our marriage certificate. Our fake marriage certificate.

It had no value now; just a piece of paper with my name and that of Nathaniel written in a curvy font. We were not married; we were not together.

Val had put in some effort; I had to give her credit for that. At a first glance, it all looked very official, very real; at a second – how had we missed ‘the ZZ Top version’?

Had we been that excited that we’d only read our names and paid attention to our signatures?

She had done a great job imitating those too, even adding a touch of thoughtfulness and making them shaky; if we were signing this drunk, they would’ve been shaky.

“Vallery, what have you gotten us into now?” I asked quietly. “And how will that gorgeous brother of yours react?”

I smoothed the wrinkles and carefully folded the certificate before placing it in the pocket of my jacket, making sure to zip the slit, securing the paper.

*****

A/N: Short, huh? Well, I think that is enough for this chapter. Did you enjoy it?

If so, give it a vote!

How do you think this prank will affect Nat’s relationship with Val?

What about that of him and Hunter?

Would Nat be angry with one of them, with both of them?

Would Hunter be angry with Val?

Happy time wattpading, everybody! <3