Wedding Time Stop
The groom stood next to his bride, his champagne flute raised for a triumphant toast. He had done it, the woman of his dreams was seated next to him, dressed immaculately in her wedding dress as his beautiful bride. He had a proclivity toward the braggadocio that had tended to generate eye rolls from those who had to witness, but today it would be suffered out of obligation by his guests. Today it would pass as endearing or irritatingly admirable, because his smug boasting gave praise, in his own way, to his adorably charming and fully worthy new bride.
"I won!" He proclaimed with his glass held high. It wasn't the toast that suggested his deep appreciation for his partner and marriage, instead it was one that made it clear, he had won a prize. In this moment, it was forgivable, and a bit expected. For many in the room, he was tolerated, out of respect for her.
Morgan looked up at her haughty groom. His overflowing pride made her feel special. She liked feeling so valued and at this moment, she was coveted. Her guests seemed captive by her new husbands "victory speech" as they looked upon the couple at their sweetheart table perched on risers. This gave her a feeling of being royalty.
Her mind drifted for a moment, wondering if what she felt was bliss, pondering her future as Mrs. Ryan Strong. For a moment time seemed to hold its breath. She looked out at her invited guests, they seemed held in a silent moment. In the same moment, she noticed a strange silence, louder than sound, over the room. She shook her head to shake her daydreaming thoughts. Something was very strange, as if reality forgot to move.
She looked up at Ryan, glass still raised, but motionless. She could not make sense of the eerie tableau she was suddenly immersed in. A survey of the room didn't bring her any clarity. Reality had paused, mid-step, mid-breath, everyone paused.
"What was happening?" She thought to herself. A nervous laugh escaped her, hoping to provoke an answer to the riddle she had found herself in. Perhaps an elaborate prank?
Motion from a side door caught her attention, someone was walking towards her. She stood from her chair trying to make sense of her surroundings, not sure if she was dreaming or if the world was somehow ending in a strange "paused" manner.
"Hello Morgan", that someone who was walking towards her said. She recognized him, but could not remember from where. Certainly, there was no context in this moment to help her recall. As he stepped closer, she became more certain she was in some sort of dream. It was an old coworker of hers, someone she used to lifeguard with several years ago. She couldn't snap out of her confused daze enough to respond.
As he walked towards her he explained to her that everyone was "frozen in time." They would remain so, until he released them. None of this made sense to her. Someone she knew, not too long ago, but also a lifetime ago was monologuing to her as he stepped out from the crowd that was her wedding guests.
"What was happening?" Her thoughts were racing. He went on to explain that he wouldn't overwhelm her on her special day, with a long explanation of stunting neuro-response in mass groups, and how the drink she had earlier tonight was an antidote of sorts. As he approached her sweetheart table he made his appeal, that the real question she should be asking is, why?
The shock made her feel frozen as well, but it wasn't the same. She could move, and talk, unlike her groom, who was currently a sculpture next to her.
"Mikey!" She blurted out. His name somehow coming to her. That was the wedding crashers' name. A lifeguard, who she had trained when he first began working at her resort, years ago. Upon recognizing him he reminded her how they had quite a flirtatious past. In fact, they had even "made out" in the storage room back in the day. He explained that they were well on their way to a steamy work romance, until she met her future groom. She had met Ryan around the same time, and now that Mikey was refreshing her memory, she supposed that was fairly true, if not irrelevant.
He reminded her about a time when she knew that no one else was going to be on duty for an hour, so she called Mikey on the radio; "10-44 in A14". This meant she had a message for him in building A14, which was the shower. When he arrived, she was just finishing up a shower, fully nude, she smiled at him and asked for a towel. That type of suggestive banter continued between the two of them for the entire season. It was leading to an inevitable steamy end until it instead ended abruptly when her attention shifted to Ryan Strong.
"I couldn't gain back your attention back then, but I certainly can now" he told her with a sly smirk on his face.
The shock of the "time freeze" has subsided in her, and she was heading down this detour of a trip down memory lane, with a jealous fling from her past.
"So, you show up at my wedding, and freeze everyone, so what?... you are going to try and convince me that I should have picked you or something?"
He laughed and explained that he had no interest in changing her future or swaying her away from her husband. His request was a bit simpler.
"Of course, this would have been much less invasive, if I approached you at your bachelorette party. Perhaps I could have made an appeal to you that you could claim one final transgression before your marriage vows, and of course, I would have suggested myself as that one transgression. My timing is not great for you, but I am hoping you come around my thinking that this way is much more exciting."
She was aghast thinking that he was expecting to take her up to her bridal sweet while everyone at her wedding waited, frozen in time for her to be deflowered by some random guy.
She demanded that he unfreeze everyone immediately, but as she tried to think of the "or else" part of the ultimatum, she couldn't overcome that he had frozen everyone.
Morgan asked Mikey what he had hoped to get out of this.... intrusion. Mikey confessed that "all he wanted...." was to get the girl just once. He wanted the girl that had excited him so much several summers ago, to be his, just once. She quickly informed him that he would in no way be "getting the girl". He responded with a word of caution about not knowing how long her groom and guests could stay frozen without causing some permanent side effects. This scared her into "negotiating."
"Will you settle for a kiss? She optimistically pleaded, barely containing her eye rolls.
"A kiss would be a start, but I'll tell you when we are done."
She sighed "ok fine, it will be a good kiss" but then you will leave and put everyone back to normal?! She still believed she must be experiencing some strange hallucination.
"I promise, I will unfreeze everyone, when we are done."
She reluctantly stepped towards him, looked back at her husband with his hand raised in triumph in seeming perpetuity, and then turned back to Mikey. She closed her eyes and puckered her lips as she leaned into him. When their lips touched she pulled back instinctually at first before pressing back forward. She had promised it would be good. Her simple peck gave way as she softened her lips to deliver the kiss that would free her wedding from his pause.
After a generous, long, soft kiss she gently pulled back. She looked into his eyes, optimistically waiting for a word or facial expression that would confirm he got what he wanted. His gaze showed no sign of such a feeling. The immediate feeling of disappointment and impatience filled her and manifested in a hard slap across his face. Mikey absorbed the slap as a fair reaction. He conceded that she may feel that he deserved it, and likely more, but he knew that he would certainly earn every ounce of that slap and much more before he relented. If ever there was a smug look that rivaled her new husbands, Mikey just delivered it.
Morgan looked back at him, un phased by her slap, which was certainly a powerful smack. She looked over at her husband, and back over her guests still looking more like a painting than a party. Frustration began to stew in he, she begrudgingly recognized a simple kiss was not going to be enough. She threw herself back into Mikey and laid her lips upon him again. This time she opened her mouth to him. She let her tongue aggressively enter his mouth. The energy of her delivery made it passionate if not sloppy. Dressed in her stunning white gown, she was now tongue dancing with an old fling.
Mikey accepted her frantic attempt to pacify him with a steamy kiss. While she kissed him he grabbed hold of the clasp on the back of her dress. She swatted at his arm in protest. His overzealous audacity was absurd and puzzling. He persisted, which led her to turn up intensity to keep him at bay. She had no intention of feigning anymore false passion for him, but his delusional assumption that he could get away with undressing her called for a certain defense. She pulled back to catch her breath, his hands had a firm grip on the zipper of her dress.
"You can't!" She demanded, still befuddled that she would even have to tell him that.