It came out as a wheeze.
Okay. Okay. This is fine. This is manageable. I just need to think. I need to remember. I need to...The room tilted slightly. I sat down hard on the edge of the bed, the opposite edge from where she was sleeping, and put my head between my knees.
Breathe. I needed to breathe.
In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
Except my nose wasn’t cooperating, and my mouth tasted like something had died in it, and my hands were shaking so badly I had to grip my knees to keep them still.
Think, Julien. Think.
What did I remember?
The bar. Lucky’s. Whiskey. So much whiskey.
Her talking. Endlessly. About the universe and cosmic energy and soulmates and...Oh God!
Fragments started surfacing. Blurry, disconnected, like a film reel that had been cut up and randomly reassembled by someone who’d never seen a movie before. Her laughing at something I’d said.
Had I been funny? I was never funny.
I was usually just sad and philosophical and prone to quoting medical journals.
Walking. Stumbling. Her arm around my waist, holding me upright.
Neon lights. So many neon lights. A sign that said something about destiny. Or was it chapel? Destiny Chapel?
No.
No... no no no no!
Her voice, bright and excited. “The universe is literally showing us the way! Look at that sign!”
Me, slurring, “That’s not the universe; that’s marketing.”
Her, “Same thing!”
More walking. A building. Pink. Everything was pink. Why was everything pink?
A man in a white suit. Elvis? Was it Elvis? It might have been Elvis.
Oh God, it was definitely Elvis.
Music. “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” I knew that song. Everyone knew that song. It was playing, and she was crying, happy crying, the kind that made her eyes sparkle, and I was...
What was I doing?
Smiling?
Had I beensmiling?
“Do you take this woman?”
No. Stop. Stop, stop, stop!
My heart was racing now. Actually racing. I could feel it hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape my chest cavity and make a run for it.
I couldn’t blame it. I wanted to escape too.
