man, floss, and more in a navy blue tuxedo that fit him like a glove. He was the center of attention, everyone gathering around him in a circle, clapping and laughing as he dove down onto the floor and did the worm all the way back to the edge of the dance floor. He hopped up like it was nothing, grooving his way back over to where I stood with my arms crossed shaking my head. But in the next breath, I was launched up into the air in a spin, and he caught me just as easily as he’d tossed me, twirling me around before he took me in his arms.
“You’re a freaking nut!” I screamed over the music.
“I’m nuts for you.”
He kissed my neck as I rolled my eyes at the cheesy line, but I couldn’t even fake that I was annoyed for too long before I was laughing and kissing him back.
The truth was, I was happy to see him letting loose on the dance floor. God knows he needed it, after all the pressure he’d been under the last few weeks. I’d felt more like his coach than his girlfriend recently, helping him get his head right so he could show out in practice and in the final two pre-season games.
And boy, did he show out.
His third game was even more monstrous than his first, and the fact that he had a solid game last Sunday proved to his coach and the rest of his team that he could be depended on. Yes, he’d had a rough week, but he’d snapped out of it and come back with a vengeance.
And now, he was officially a Chicago Bear.
Tonight felt like a celebration of that as much as it did Zach and Gemma’s love, especially with everything in the damn place being football themed. There was a Chicago Bears jersey with BOWEN on the back that everyone signed instead of a guest book. The dance floor had been painted like a football field, green with the yard lines, complete with a field goal post at each end that Makoa had swung on before landing in a half split at one point in the night.
From the centerpieces to the flowers, Gemma had found clever ways to weave in her and Zach’s mutual love for the game into their big day, and as much as I had thought it was a hideously stupid idea in the beginning… it worked.
It was so beautifully them.
The day had gone off without a hitch, and as much as I’d sworn to keep my shit together, I’d cried a dozen times already — the first time being when I stood opposite Zach and watched his face as Gemma walked down the aisle to him, and the most recent being when Gemma and Zach held onto each other through their first dance. It had started with the soft, slow melody of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley, which shocked me, honestly, because I never would have guessed that’d be their pick for their first dance. But when the music cut out and “The Final Countdown” came on instead, the two jokesters breaking out into a wild and crazy dance, I wasn’t the only guest surprised. We’d all laughed and cheered, and it was Makoa who filled me in that the dance moves they were doing were from the final number in Silver Linings Playbook.
Because, of course.
At the base of it all, the only thing that mattered was that Gemma and Zach had permanent smiles on their faces throughout the day and into the night, too. They looked at each other in the way that made you want to both swoon and gag at the same time.
They were in love.
So desperately in love.
Makoa was a sweaty mess when I managed to drag him off the dance floor for a break. I chuckled when he flopped down into his chair, legs sprawled out, hand fanning himself. I grabbed a spare cloth napkin from an unused silverware roll and dabbed his forehead with it, smiling and shaking my head.
“You’re going to be more sore from dancing than from practice today.”
“No regrets,” he said, flashing his signature smile.
He stole a kiss before we were joined by the newlyweds, and Zach flopped down in the seat next to Makoa, while Gemma wrapped her arms around my neck from behind.
“Are you guys having fun?!” she asked excitedly.
I poked her side, pulling her into my lap, big fluffy white dress and