Epilogue One
Shea
One Month Later
I would say that our wedding day didn't turn out exactly how I expected, but I had to be honest with myself—I hadn't thought about my own wedding in a very long time. Not since my parents took me away from Theo.
So any day that I finally got to be beside them and be bound together for life, I would count as a win.
It didn't matter to me that we'd hardly gotten dressed that day.
Instead, Sophie got ordained online and signed as the official.
We said our vows in nothing but our underwear.
We didn't have rings—yet. Neither of us knew exactly what we wanted.
Cujo was the honorary best man, complete with a bow tie and even giving a speech of his own. Nobody knew what he said, but it sounded heartfelt and emotional.
Sophie rushed through all the legal stuff so she could leave us to our own devices, even taking Cujo with her.
Theo and I spent our first day of wedded bliss tangled up in each other, hardly even leaving the bed. We went nowhere, and we told no one. There would be time for that later. I wanted to soak up every moment I could with my new spouse, and no one was going to take that away from me.
I traced their body with my lips and my tongue, discovering exactly what I could do with that piercing of theirs to drive them wild. I'd bring them to the edge and back off, over and over again until I thought they'd rip out a fistful of my hair.
Then they'd do the same to me.
Hours passed, morning turning into afternoon and by the evening, Sophie had a cake delivered—that turned out to be the only food we had that day.
"I have something to show you," Theo finally said, sucking icing off their fingers. They were up and out of the bed before I could react to what that image did to me.
They opened a drawer in their dresser and returned to the bed with something in their hand. They sprawled out in front of me on their stomach and handed the object over—it was a picture. The back was yellowed and corners worn with age, and Theo handled it with extreme care.
I couldn't read the scribbles on the back, but I didn't need to. I remembered the events from that day like it was yesterday.
The photo was taken not long after Theo and I met. It must have been by their mom, who said from the beginning that we were two peas in a pod. From the first word we spoke to each other, we were inseparable.
Red cheeks and bleary eyes signaled a day in the pool, and we'd made a blanket fort in the living room, too tired and sore to get anywhere else.
Chlorine-textured hair fell in waves over both our shoulders.
Theo, forever the tomboy, wore athletic shorts and a cut up T-shirt.
My appearance was much more feminine; the remnants of eyeliner and mascara smudged beneath my eyes.
I wore Theo's borrowed clothes, more gender neutral in a way that would have given both my parents an aneurysm.
Theo laid across the blankets with me between their legs, lounged back on their chest. My eyes were shut, and Theo gazed down at me, one hand combing through my tangled hair.
Although neither of us looked directly at the camera, annoyance was written across both of our faces.
Somehow, it was one of Theo's favorites.
"Where did you find this?" I asked, handing the picture over before I studied my old self too closely.
Theo admired the picture, obviously seeing something in that teenage girl that I never saw in myself.
Shining bourbon eyes gazed up at me, and they propped their chin in their hand.
"Mom gave it to me the day after you left.
Your parents scrubbed all the pictures of us from your socials before I could save any, but my mom had this. "
"Well, I think we have to take a new one. We look a bit different from that day."
"If you think I'm getting rid of it, you've got another thing coming." Theo's attention flitted down to the image, then back to me. "That's the day I fell in love with you."
The breath whooshed from my lungs. "You're killing me," I groaned. "I don't think I can have sex again. There's nothing left in me."
We'd already changed the sheets… twice…
Theo laughed, their eyes sparkling in the late afternoon sun.
I wanted to capture that color, bottle it and keep it all to myself.
Some said brown eyes were boring—I begged to differ.
Theo's eyes were the most captivating thing I've ever seen.
So much more than just melted chocolate, a shimmer like someone had drizzled liquid gold right into their irises.
And their eyes held so much emotion—love, lust, and in that moment—mischief.
"I know what we could do instead."