The young couple walked hand in hand towards the small building. Leah's palms were sweaty and she was worried that Johnny would notice. Johnny's palms were equally moist, but they held hands just the same. Leah leaned slightly towards Johnny. It was a small movement that showed how much protection she needed.
Leah was wearing a pale white dress. It was in the style of a ballroom gown. It was what she wanted. Johnny had wanted to give her everything that she could possibly imagine. It wasn't possible, but having a beautiful white gown was something he could give to her. Her dark red hair was curled in ringlets and she had a tiara on her head. It was silver with rhinestones around the edge. It could have been worth a small fortune or something fake purchased at a retail store. Either way, it looked stunning on Leah's head.
Johnny was wearing a suit and tie. He looked very grown up and dignified. Leah had blushed and couldn't stop smiling when she had first seen him. He had tried not to look awkward in the suit, but his large muscular body was bulging under the material.
As the couple walked towards the building, the events of the day ran through their heads. It had been a small wedding. The ceremony was at a small chapel on the outskirts of the town. The chapel held barely sixty people and it wasn't even half full. In attendance were both sets of parents along with Leah's two older brothers. There were also some of their peers from school. Some had attended to wish the happy couple a long and joyful marriage, but some were there to gawk. It was very uncommon for these high school students to have a friend of theirs get married and it made them nervous and insecure.
The couple got to the door of the building. It was a tiny cottage on the edge of the lot. Johnny's parents owned a large piece of land on the lake with a large cottage and guesthouse. This was the small cottage that wasn't well maintained. It was used as a play area for when the children were younger and then as a game room for the weekends when it rained. Leah and Johnny had spent many afternoons in the cottage playing Monopoly and Scrabble. Leah was the Monopoly master, but did horribly at Scrabble. Johnny was great at Scrabble, but could never beat her at Monopoly.
The cottage was one room. The walls were dark mahogany and the carpet was dark orange. One side of the room had two single beds. At one time, there had been a double bed as well as the single beds, but Johnny's parents had made a quick fix when they had entered one morning to find the two lovers in bed together. Johnny's parents had refused an explanation, but it was a good reason. Leah had had one of her violent nightmares and had woken up screaming at the top of her lungs. The only way for Johnny to calm his girlfriend down was to bring her into the double bed and hug her tight until she relaxed. He remembered holding her tiny body against his and wishing that he could brush away her pain.
Johnny picked up his bride easily and entered the room. He and Leah were so very different, both inside and out. Leah was four feet ten inches tall with dark red hair and pale white skin. Her nose was spattered with freckles. She was petite and tiny. Johnny was massive. He was six feet seven inches tall with dark skin, hair, and eyes. He was a football player and was very muscular. He could easily pick her up with one hand. It wasn't only physical features that were different. Leah and Johnny came from different backgrounds as well. Leah lived in a poor area of town. Had she not qualified for Advanced Placement Mathematics, she would not have been allowed to go to Eastside High School. She lived in a small mobile home with her parents. Her two brothers had moved out ages ago. Johnny was an only child and lived in a large manor home. He was wealthy and was never denied anything he wanted.
The two of them had met in senior year and had become very close friends. Their relationship developed and before long they were dating. It was no surprise when, on Valentine's Day, Johnny had proposed to Leah. It was the perfect day really. They were both hopeless romantics and it was almost fate that their birthdays were on the same day, February 14th. Johnny had spent weeks figuring out the best way to propose to her and, in the end; he had just gotten down on one knee outside his house and asked her.
