With a heavy heart he returned to the bar where Brian was still pouring drinks at the speed of lightning and the older lady—Emily's mother—was barking at him to go faster.

"I'm back," River announced.

Brian let out a sigh of relief, but didn't have the time to answer him and handed River a bottle of champagne instead. "Can't get it open," he managed to say between breaths.

"Brian, are you okay?" River asked.

Brian was panting. "I will be," he said. "Once today is over."

"Don't let her get to your head, you're doing great so far," River said. He turned around to grab more champagne glasses with the intention to help, but found an empty shelf instead. "Are you for real?" He sighed.

Brian didn't even answer this time, so River took the initiative of leaving the bar to collect the empty glasses from the welcoming hall. He found them in places like the seating room and the standing table, but as he was collecting them, he noticed a peculiar group of people enter the door.

"Is this a joke?" he asked Brian when he returned, pointing at the group standing in the opening. They were holding cameras and notepads and their hands were glued to their phones.

"Eyes don't lie, brother," Brian said, shaking his head at the sight as well.

He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment in hopelessness. The whole wedding was already exaggerated with silver diamonds and the champagne bottles costing hundreds of dollars apiece, but now even the media was here to report the wedding. "I'm sorry, I can't watch this."

Brian was grinning when he saw the determined look on River's face as he flounced to the group. "Oh please, go," Brian chuckled. He already knew this couldn't end well.

"I'm sorry, people," River announced himself to the group, but only one person looked up and give him her full attention. "What are you doing here?"

"We're with the San Francisco Chronicle," the woman, about twenty-five years old, said.

"But, why are you here?"

"We need to report about the wedding for the paper," she said, glancing at her phone quickly and he lost her attention for a second.

"But, why?"

She sighed. "Don't you get it?" she asked. "This is an important event. We're with the paper. The paper reports about important events."

He frowned. Important event? It was just a wedding—okay, it was an extravagant wedding that had more diamonds on the walls and hanging from the ceiling than there were people invited (and a lot of people were invited) but it was a wedding in Miami. Why did it interest these people from San Francisco so much?

"Why is it important?" he asked.

"You have too many questions, little boy," she said, sighing, and it was belittling to hear the words 'little boy' come from the mouth of a woman almost as old as him. "It's the wedding of Jason King and Emily Abbington, that's why."

Emily Abbington. He hadn't known her full name until then and told himself to remember it so he could look it up later. He was learning a lot about the girl that made his stomach twist and his insides melt.

"Who are they?" he asked, ignoring her comment about him asking too many questions. He wanted to know more and the more he knew, the more confused he got and the more he needed to know.

"Are you in charge here?" she asked impatiently. She was staring at her phone, not even giving him the respect that eye contact offered. "If not, I don't see a reason to continue this conversation."

He raised his eyebrows at the sudden dislike showing from her comment, surprised to see how quickly the conversation came to here. "Sure thing." He decided to leave, but had the satisfaction of knowing Emily's full name. With that, he could look her up and see what all the fuss was about. She clearly hadn't told him anything about her life—something, he reckoned, she'd done on purpose. He remembered how she always dodged the topic of her life back home and her past.

Was she afraid of judgment?

"So, what have you learned?" Brian asked. He'd taken River's advice and was taking it slowly with the glasses, so he had the energy to talk again.

"Apparently, this is some celebrity wedding," he said absently. "I don't know, she didn't want to tell me a lot about them."

"A celebrity?" Brian asked, his eyes wide open. "I have to get a picture!"

River frowned. "You don't even know these people."

"So?"

"Why would you want a picture with them?"

"You don't get it, River," Brian said, shaking his head. His blonde curls moved in a funny fashion when doing so. "They're celebrities."

But River didn't even want to understand. His mind was still on Emily and the new things he'd learned about her.

A man in a suit tapped twice on the bar with the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry," he said, and his voice was quieter than River had expected, as if he was conscious about being an intruder. River recognized him as the guy that had been welcoming guests with Emily earlier, the groom, Jason. "I need a few more glasses of champagne." The look on his face, however, said he'd rather not be here at all. That intrigued River; what was it about today that nobody seemed excited about it—not counting the press, of course. Emily was focused on getting it over with, her mother wanted everything to be perfect but didn't seem to enjoy it and Jason would run the second he'd be given the chance.

"Of course," River said, "getting them ready for you now."

Jason looked relieved and River noticed a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his forehead. "Thank you," he said. "If you don't mind, I'll wait here—I can't be seen returning without a tray in hand."

River chuckled, pretending to know what it was like to have to disappoint rich people by not returning with champagne. In reality, he only knew what he remembered from the stories Talia had told him from books she'd read and from TV shows—TV shows that were years old, since he hadn't owned a TV for three and a half years now and he couldn't watch any newer shows.

"So, you're the groom?" River asked, aware of the awkwardness hanging in the air. He felt forced to talk to this guy he didn't even know and felt pressured to make a good impression.

Jason nodded. "I sure am." He didn't seem to believe it himself. "It feels strange, to be honest."

"Not good?" River inquired, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes, of course, it's good," Jason said, repositioning himself in an effort to seem more powerful and sure of himself, but the tone of his voice said he was doubting his answer himself. "Emily's amazing."

River nodded absent-mindedly, his thoughts wandering off. He filled glasses one after another, while Brian didn't say anything to fill in the silence.

Then, he remembered he wasn't supposed to know her. "Emily's the bride, I take it?" River asked.

"Yeah, but she's not here at the moment," Jason said. "Getting ready for the big moment."

Despite his lack of confidence, something in the way he talked asked for respect and made River feel obliged to give it to him. He talked in a formal manner with a British accent and in a low volume, but he was dressed nicely and had taken care of himself. He was also much taller than River, making him feel small both literally and figuratively.

But comparing himself to Jason was wrong. It wasn't a contest; he'd already lost. Jason King—the name the woman from the press had given him—was the king. He got the girl. And the worst thing about it was he didn't even realize. He didn't know about River and Emily and the feelings the guy pouring him drinks had for the girl who would walk down the aisle any second.

"You nervous?" River asked, and as he said it he wanted to face palm himself for talking that way to the groom. He was a waiter, he needed to show respect for the people employing him. It was what had cost him his previous jobs and he wasn't about to lose another one. It would mean losing the last bit of confidence he still had.

As he was thinking about jobs, his attention was brought back to the business card in his pocket again. He hadn't thought about the small object for a while now, but now that he remembered it, he could feel it burning figuratively. Every second passing by he knew he had to make a choice, one that was difficult and that would change his life.

Only Emily had succeeded at taking his focus off it; something about her made him lose his mind. He'd forgotten about everything when their eyes locked and it took Jason to remind him of what he was supposed to do.

"A little," Jason said in answer to River's question if he was nervous. "Nothing more than healthy stress, though. I'm sure everything will be alright; Brooke has been amazing with planning everything for us in such a short timespan—I mean, Emily's mother. She's right over there." He pointed at Emily's mother, but River hardly glanced. He already knew her, so he nodded in confirmation as he filled another glass. At the same time, he thought about how 'Brooke' didn't fit as a name for that woman; she was more of a 'Mrs. Maud' or 'Mrs. Barbara Abbington'.

"Short timespan?" River questioned, while at the same time trying to keep the conversation going as he was filling up glass after glass and was being handed a new bottle of champagne by Brian. It must be the twelfth bottle by now, he thought, and he didn't even want to do the math to find out how much it cost.

Jason nodded. "She planned this wedding with a wedding planner in just three months," he said. "Was a bit of a hassle, actually. Everyone had to clear their schedule; no one had anticipated for a wedding to happen that soon."

"Not even you or Emily—I mean, Ms. Abbington—I mean, Mrs. King-to-be?" River felt his cheeks blushing at his slip-up. He'd called his employer 'Emily'!

Fortunately, Jason didn't seem to notice his blooper—or didn't care. "No, not even us," he said.

It was a stab to the heart when Jason said 'us'.

"It was a surprise to everyone, really," he continued. "Three months ago, there were talks and then... It just happened."

So, Emily hadn't known this would be happening back in February. At least it wasn't all a lie, River thought to himself. He knew he couldn't have imagined the feelings and the connection, but since thirty minutes ago, he'd begun to doubt everything.

Because Jason was waiting for confirmation that River was still paying attention, he nodded with the satisfaction of having heard more. "Anyway, here you go," River said, putting the last couple of glasses on the silver tray and handing it to him.

Jason smiled. "Thanks a lot, mate!" With that, he walked away.

* * *

I'm temporarily only updating once a week, on Friday. I have a very busy schedule at the moment and can't edit two chapters a week to have it ready in time to upload. I'm sorry :'-) But what do you think of Jason? I actually think he's nice :D