Scent of a Rose

[William Blake]

Will tugged at the collar of his shirt uncomfortably, clenching his jaw as he tried to relieve the feeling of the cotton itching against his clean shaven skin.

"Would you stop messing with that shirt?" Joe said, a twinge of nervousness to his voice as he fumbled with his cuff links.

"I haven't worn one since my school graduation, forgive me if I'm not such a big fan of the things." He was eighteen years old as well, if that didn't make him averse to wearing a suit, he didn't know what did.

"You're going to stretch it... or something."

There was a clink as the cufflink hit the tiled floor, and Joe cursed. Will rolled his eyes.

"You're a hopeless mess, you know that, right?"

"I'm getting married, mate, if you were standing here, you wouldn't be much better."

Wasn't that the truth.

Heaving a sigh, Will picked up his friend's cufflink and seized his wrist, fixing the thing through the button hole of his shirt in two easy movements. "There, now concentrate on getting those hands steady, we don't want you flinging the rings into the pews like a bouquet, not after I went through heaven and hell to get them here." Security at the space port had been too damn curious about what he was doing with two small black boxes inside his suitcase, they almost detained his entire bag and him thinking it was parts for a bomb or something.

He may be a pain in the arse sometimes, but he wasn't a terrorist. The Americans were so damn antsy, even more so these days than in the past.

Gripping tightly onto a nearby dresser, Joe took to taking deep steadying breaths, while Will peeked through the door to see that the congregation were nearly all seated. It was a small, modern church in upstate New York, near where Fiona had grown up before she moved to England to live with her Grandparents. Her family had wanted them to have it here, and Joe had caved instantly, incredibly willing to let the plans go to someone else. After all, he was merely happy that they were having it at all, considering Fiona was seven months pregnant, and her disapproving parents wanted the baby to born when it's parents were actually married.

Turning back to Joe, Will seized the man's shoulders, giving them a squeeze.

"You ready?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Deal with it. It's time to get out there." After all, the groom had to be at the altar before the bride.

~

The bridal room wasn't much calmer, Fiona bouncing around while her mother fussed over making her daughter look perfect for her big day. Rose, the most placid of the bridesmaids, was helping one of the other's quickly fix her hair. Out all the women in the room, she probably saw Fiona the least often, and yet, other than her mother, they were probably the closest as well. They'd met at camp one year when they were kids, and had been friends ever since, "pen friends" for the most part, but they saw each other occasionally when Fiona came back to visit her parents.

She'd heard a lot about Joe, the English guy that Fiona had fallen head over heels for at University after they were introduced by this other guy called Will, who was about four years younger than the both of them, more Rose's age. But she'd only actually met him the previous day before he was whisked away to a hotel room to stay for the night. Fiona's parents were being ridiculously traditional about this, despite the fact that Fiona's baby bump was anything but traditional. Not many women walked down the aisle almost halfway into the third trimester.

"Are the boys out there yet?"

Rose stuck her nose out for a look. "Yep, Joe's practically dancing up there."

Fiona let a nervous giggle slip from her lips and was promptly scowled at by her mother.

"Good, signal the band."

Rose did so, and after a moment's pause to breathe, the all too familiar music started up. That got the men's attention.

"Bridesmaids first, orderly line please, like we practiced."

"Yes, ma'am."

~

Will had known that being the best man would come with it's fair amount of responsibilities, he hadn't realised, however, that one of them would be keeping the groom upright; it was a wonder Joe hadn't passed out, and he hadn't even seen the bride yet.

The bridesmaids made their way down the aisle, and he felt a grin creep onto his face. He'd met all three bridesmaids yesterday; there was Anna-Leigh, the cousin from Conneticut who liked horses a little too much, so much so that she was beginning to resemble one, he wouldn't be mentioning anything about long faces; Rachel, the friend from junior school who had only recently had her braces removed (Fiona certainly knew how to pick them); and then, there was Rose... in that red dress, she was almost the picture of perfection. He hadn't learned much about her yet, only that she was about a year and a half older than him, of undisclosed profession, and had a sharp tongue, but he had every intention of finding out a lot more later at the reception.

Will felt a hand grasp his arm as Fiona stepped out, her arm linked with her father's. She was so very pregnant, but oh so very radiant at the same time, even he could admit that. Patting Joe's hand, he plucked it from his bicep before he lost feeling there, and kept a steady hand between Joe's shoulder blades while Fi made her way down the aisle. Will managed to catch Rose's eye from across the altar, they both smirked.

~

After many vows, much weeping, and trying to organise everyone across to the reception hall for the dinner, Will was sitting comfortably, top button undone, second drink in hand, listening to Joe and Fiona make goo-goo eyes at each other to his right. When he had said that they were getting married, he'd thought they'd gone barmy, but then when he learned about the pregnancy, and what her parents wanted, he understood... sort of. Well, he understood the family obligation forcing you to part. But they were actually happy to bow to her crazy mother's wishes, so he supposed that was okay.

The stressful part was out of the way, and now even Fiona's Mum was beginning to loosen up, he could see her laughing loudly with her husband, a couple of tables away; they hadn't wanted to sit with their daughter, which was rude, but if it kept them far away from him, he didn't mind. He didn't care for them much, and them even less for him. It probably just added to their disapproval of Joe, but Joe had made it clear that he didn't give a damn. This is why Will loved the bloke.

The DJ, with all his fancy equipment (which Will wouldn't mind getting his hands on at some point over the evening), suddenly announced that it was time for the couple's first dance. Joe and Fiona excitedly made their way to the dance floor, revealing Rose sitting two seats away, her chin resting on her hands, watching them avidly. He would never understand what it was with women and weddings, at least, that's what he told himself anyway.

Once the first dance was over, the tempo picked up, but the married couple stayed on the dance floor, others beginning to join them. Will subtly hopped the two seats that distanced Rose from him, leaning forward on his elbow to catch her attention.

"Rose."

"That's my name." Her eyes flickered across to him for a moment, before darting back to the dancing family members.

Will actually felt himself pause. "As best man, I get to pick the best of the bridesmaids to dance."

Rose heard both of the other girls move behind her, as if preparing themselves to be chosen. She knew where he was going, choosing to turn to face him properly.

"Best man by name, maybe, not necessarily by spirit."

"I beg to differ."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Then shouldn't you choose who is the best overall? I'm afraid I may be pretty, but I'm not a good dancer, nor very friendly. Anna-Leigh on the other hand has a winning personality, and is very light on her feet."

Anna-Leigh nodded vigorously.

She smirked at Will, knowing only he could see her face.

"Surely, she's the best bridesmaid."

Will narrowed his eyes at her, knowing he shouldn't really answer in any way that would offend the other two girls, for the sake of his friends. Plus, she was winding him up, testing him, and they both knew it.

Looking past Rose, he sighed internally before saying, "Anna-Leigh, care to dance?"

The woman was up so fast she barely missed knocking the table over.

Rose watched as Will was forced to guide Anna-Leigh over to the dance floor, where she proceeded to perform dance moves that no one had ever seen. Will briefly looked like a startled deer before managing to compose himself. To be fair to him, he played along masterfully, exhibiting similar sorts of crazy moves to his partner; it wasn't long before they had the whole floor alive with laughter and hand jiving.

The song ended in a crescendo of instruments, and Will bowed low, to raucous applause. Rose burst out laughing, having to cover her face with her hands as Will winked over at her. After he managed to pass Anna-Leigh off to another like-minded partner, he made his way back over to the table, standing opposite Rose.

"I think that earns me a drink at least," he told her, raising his eyebrows, having to breathe a little harder after exerting himself like that on the dancefloor.

"Oh, at least," she agreed with a nod, grinning at him. He offered her a hand, and she took it, telling him, "come with me."

~

To be continued...