“Thank you,” we both said, a bit breathless.
“There’s a catch,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eye.
“What’s that?” Callum asked, chuckling.
“Just send me a pic of your family in ten years. Give an old man something to look forward to.”
Suddenly I felt very guilty, my stomach fell and I wanted to pull the ring off my finger and flee the store. Callum, sensing my discomfort, grabbed my hand.
“We promise,” he said, with suspicious confidence.
Callum
We paid the man, thanked him profusely again and headed straight for the Office of the New York City Clerk. The line to apply for the license was of ridiculous proportions as they handled all living documents, including birth and death certificates. We had been there close to an hour already but Harper and I were grateful just to be able to get out of the sun.
“Dude, this line is worse than The Hope House,” I joked, feeling lighter in the chest than I had in a very long time.
She laughed.
They were pumping old hits through the sound system above our heads and Billy Joel’s For The Longest Time started to play. Harper started to bob her head a little bit and I noticed several other people started tapping their feet or quietly swaying back and forth. I don’t know what came over me but I took Harper’s bag from her shoulder and set it at our feet. She just stared at me curiously but I refused to give it away, only smiling from ear to ear. I set my own bag down and wrapped an arm around her waist, twisting her into the middle of the hall, making several women around us ooh and awe. I sung the words quietly into her ear, trying not to worry at just how applicable the lyrics were to how I really felt for her. (Look them up, seriously.) And we danced, slowly, achingly slowly.
Her soft skin melted at my touch, malleable beneath my fingers it was so silky, smooth and cool like glass. At a lull in the lyrics, I pressed my nose into her hair and inhaled loudly, causing a breath to hitch in her throat. She drove me crazy, she was so sexy. We swayed around the little hallway, holding on tightly, her hand cupping beautifully in mine.
As the song came to an all too short end, we looked up to see that a few other couples had joined us, creating an impromptu Prom in the middle of a city government office. I dipped her unexpectedly, my hand sweeping around the back of her neck and resting at her throat. I wanted so badly to kiss her. People started clapping and whistling when I brought her back up and Harper and I stood back in line.
“That was...so fun,” Harper said, her cheeks pink.
“What can I say? I’m a fun guy.”
She laughed and bit her bottom lip, sending me into a frenzy. Just do it, Callum. Take her lips with yours. Right now. I ordered myself but became sane at the last second.
I bent to grab Harper’s bag just as she did and we met on the floor, our faces close and breathing hard. We came up slowly, pulled into one another’s stares. A woman next to us broke our trance.
“Getting married, are you?” She asked.
“Uh, yes,” Harper said. “What gave us away?”
“The dancing for one and the way you two look at each other.”
Harper and I got slightly uncomfortable when she said that. I don’t know how we had gone so far with all the flirtations and near kisses without ever really discussing them. For God’s sake, we were standing in a line that handed out marriage licenses! How had we never talked about our true feelings?
We reached the top of the line and waited our turn. My hands began to tremble so I threw them into my front pockets.
o;I know.”
“And, uh, I’m not sure how you feel about this but we can’t get married in a church. This is not a promise we’re making to God, only to the state.”
I laughed. “Callum, I know that. Trust me, you’ve made that very clear. This is not a real marriage,” I said, my stomach hurting knowing the pain I was purposely inflicting on myself. What a glutton for punishment.
All the color surprisingly drained from his face. “I’m sorry, I know.”
“So, when would we do it?” I asked.
“We would have to apply for a license. It takes several days to process. Then get married on Saturday.”
“And we’re sure John would never be able to find me?”
“There’s no guarantee, Harper. I mean, I’m just betting he’s too stupid to check to see if you were married. We can ask about making the records private.”