The Maybe Somewhat True Story: Official Engagement Announcement
Part: 5/14
Previous parts: engagement announcement | picking the date | finding a wedding planner | picking the wedding party
Planning The Wedding
Part 4: Official Engagement Announcement
“So,” Faith looks Reg straight in the eyes. “Tell me how bad it was.”
Reg fidgets in his chair - why did he agree to meet with Faith here on her turf? - and takes another sip of his water. “I don’t think it was that bad actually.”
Faith says nothing but fixes him with her steady stare.
Reg gives up. Faith has the same trick to her eyes that her brother does. Luke could always get his way with his eyes too. With his many things actually, but that’s all such a long time ago.
“Well… as you know, the news of their engagement ended up in The Intruder and on Oakdale ONTD and of course, the WOAK. That segment somehow leaked to Chicago and then went national and ended up in ONTD.”
“Yeees?”
“Okay, so there was a little bit of a controversy with me and Luke but it was all rumors, nothing real.”
“What were the rumors?”
“Faith, you read them, too!”
She stares at him silently.
“Just - okay,” Reg wipes a hand over his forehead and starts again. “The truth is that Luke had just seen their engagement announcement in the paper and asked to meet me. He said he wanted to ask for my blessing and for me to join their wedding party. And you know how hands-on Luke gets. He covered my hand with his at one point and thanked me for ‘even-ing out the wedding pictures,’ whatever that means. Nothing else was going on, I swear.”
“But they made it look like Luke was cheating on Noah.”
Reg sighed. “He wasn’t. Luke’s crazy about Noah.”
“So there really wasn’t anything going on - ?”
“I… admit I still harbored some latent feelings for Luke, but I didn’t act on them. And he had clearly moved on. I wished him luck.”
Reg wasn’t the only one who wished them luck. First though, Aunt Ruth called to ask if anyone beyond immediate family was ever going to find out about the engagement. “An official engagement announcement, dear. I talked to Lily and Lucinda and they agree you need one in the papers.”
Noah had frowned about it and wondered what people wrote in such things. Luke E. Snyder is engaged to Noah Mayer. Surely that seemed too brief? But what else did people put in these things? Turned out they would have two.
Lucinda was first:
Lucinda Walsh is proud to announce the engagement of her grandson Luke Eduardo Snyder, son of Lily Walsh Snyder and Holden Snyder to Noah Mayer, son of Colonel Winston Mayer and Charlene Wilson, nephew of Ruth Wilson, god-son of Dusty Donovan. Luke is president of the Luke Snyder Foundation charity, vice president of Worldwide Industries, and author of the acclaimed novel Invisible. Noah is a budding filmmaker with acclaimed shorts to his name such as The Colonel, Back In Iraq, and Same Here. A March wedding is planned.
A day later, Damian countered with his:
Damian Grimaldi is proud to announce the engagement of his and Lily Snyder’s son Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi Snyder to Noah Mayer, son of Colonel Winston Mayer and Charlene Wilson. Luke is heir of Grimaldi Shippings, vice president of Worldwide Industries, and President of the Luke Snyder Foundation. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Invisible. Noah is an up-and-coming young filmmaker, with acclaimed shorts such as The Colonel, Same Here, and Back In Iraq. Their wedding will take place in March.
That was when all hell broke loose. The second day, that was. An anonymous poster submitted to Oakdale ONTD the now infamous photo of Luke’s hand on Reg’s alongside both engagement announcements. The headline? Is Luke’s Grimaldi Side Coming to Light?
Noah sat, at home, frozen, as the phone rang off the hook. Over and over their voicemail message played. “Hi! You’ve reached Luke and (Noah). We are not here right now (probably) but we’ll be here later (probably). So, leave us a message (now) and we’ll get back to you (soon). Probably.”
Noah remembered vividly the day they recorded that message, not long after they moved in together. They had cracked up after hitting off the record button. “Okay, let’s see if that even worked,” Luke licked his lips and looked adorable as he frowned over the instruction manual. Noah couldn’t help putting his hands on Luke’s waist and turning him and crowding him against the support column that separated their kitchen and living room. Noah couldn’t help lowering his lips slow to Luke’s, just a brush of breaths at first. “Our first message,” he marveled against Luke’s mouth.
“Together, yeah.” Luke grinned back, his dimples standing out like starlight, completing the picture.
Noah saved that image, saved it to his Luke vault. “I love you,” he blurted ungracefully, earnestly.
Luke kissed him in response, lips pressing sweet and slow against his, as his body wrapped sinewy around Noah’s. One kiss grew into two, three. Three kisses grew to ten. Soon, they’ve lost count as they gripped onto each other harder, rutting against the half wall. They fumbled with buttons and zippers, their elbows hitting errant objects - wall, plastic cup on the ledge, hanging plant - as they went. By the time Noah’s got Luke half spread over the counter, by the time Noah had kissed his way down Luke’s neck and chest and belly, by the time Luke was about broke from curses, Luke’s elbow dug into a button on their new answering machine. Their message started anew. “Hi! You’ve reached Luke and (Noah). We are not here right now (probably) but we’ll be here later (probably). So, leave us a message (now) and we’ll get back to you (soon). Probably.”
The probablys were so appropriate in that moment that they decided on a grin to leave it forever. And then oh god, who cared about phones, y’know, when Noah was doing that and Luke was straining, his whole body arching up like that?
Right now though, right now Noah wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or laugh listening to media after media contacts leaving messages for them to call back for an exclusive interview.
Then came a message he couldn’t ignore, a message from a certain pregnant woman, his best movie buddy, Maddie. “Noah,” she sounded almost calm. “Pick up. I know you’re there. Are you freaking out? Don’t freak out, okay? But pick up the phone or I swear I’ll march over there and personally…”
“Hello?”
“Noah, thank god,” Maddie chattered on as if she were on ten bars of chocolate. (Which he wouldn’t put it past her to be hopped up on actually.) “I knew you knew when I couldn’t get through to you on your cell. Don’t worry though. Just because these rumors are all over the net and airwave and TV too doesn’t mean your lives are coming to a stop.”
“Thanks for that calming tidbit, Maddie.” Noah tucked himself harder into a small ball on the sofa.
“Sorry! But Noah, it’s just gossip. You know that, right? Luke - Luke’s crazy about you.”
“No, I-I know that.” Still, Noah had to admit it felt better hearing it from Maddie. “I just… I just never knew how much of a celebrity he was. I mean, they’re talking about him like he’s some starlet gone wild.”
Maddie laughed, a clear tinkle of a sound. “Yeah, yeah, that’s our Luke. Ooo! Holding hands with his friend. Ooo!”
Noah had to snort at that. Thank god for Maddie. Belatedly he remembered Luke’s advice about saying what he thought out loud sometimes. “Thanks Maddie.”
“Yeah, yeah, you owe me Chinese.”
“Anytime.”
“More like all the time, man,” Casey cut in.
“Sorry, you’re on speaker! I need my hands for-for stuff.”
“Ice cream and crackers,” Casey supplied helpfully.
“Anyway, I just wanted to check in with you, Noah. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Thank you Maddie.”
Luke called him a second later. “Noah, it’s me. I just got out of my meeting and checked the news. Baby, it was nothing I swear. I just asked him to join our wedding party before Jade strangles me. And you know Jade. She would totally do it…”
Noah answered the call, relief pouring down his spine from Luke’s voice. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Luke smiled into the phone. Noah could hear it. He could always hear it. It surprised him the first time how expressive Luke was even over the phone. He was expressive now, concerned and loving all at once. “You haven’t hit the CD of woes, have you?”
“The what?”
“You know. Your Adele and Amy Winehouse playlist.”
“Shut up.”
“I love you. I love you and I can’t wait to get married to you, Noah. All this BS will die down soon, I promise.”
“Well, if you promise…”
“I’ll be home in fifteen. Do you want anything?”
“Yeah,” Noah admitted quietly. “I want you.”
Luke made it home in under fifteen and Noah didn’t even have it in him to chide him for speeding. Luke de-media’ed them, unplugging the laptops and the phone and turned off his own cell as well.
They ate leftover pizza from the fridge and washed it down with root beer. They sat on the couch and relaxed, watching Mama Mia! for the umpteenth time.
“What’s your perfect, ideal wedding?” Luke asked as the credit rolled. “Like, if you could put all of our families and friends and everyone else’s demands out of the way. What would you want, Noah?”
Noah shifted so that Luke could fit in his lap better. “You remember that one date we had at the Snyder pond? The one where we talked for the longest time about your dreams and mine? You told me the water would be cool and it was. It was perfect, floating between earth and sky with just you. It felt infinite, like anything can happen. I think I’d like that, something small, maybe at night. What about you?”
Luke squeezed Noah’s fingers as he leaned back against Noah’s chest. “I don’t know. I like your perfect wedding. I’d like to be there.”
“Dork, it’s no wedding if you’re not there.”
“Oh dork yourself.” Luke turned and tackled Noah, play wrestling. And just like that, the day fell away completely, the world and all their prying eyes. There was just Luke and Noah and the night wrapped around them.
Or, well, to be more precise, it was Luke’s legs wrapped around Noah’s waist and back as Noah carried him to their bed.
Part 6. Guest List and Invitations
Previous parts: engagement announcement | picking the date | finding a wedding planner | picking the wedding party
Planning The Wedding
Part 4: Official Engagement Announcement
“So,” Faith looks Reg straight in the eyes. “Tell me how bad it was.”
Reg fidgets in his chair - why did he agree to meet with Faith here on her turf? - and takes another sip of his water. “I don’t think it was that bad actually.”
Faith says nothing but fixes him with her steady stare.
Reg gives up. Faith has the same trick to her eyes that her brother does. Luke could always get his way with his eyes too. With his many things actually, but that’s all such a long time ago.
“Well… as you know, the news of their engagement ended up in The Intruder and on Oakdale ONTD and of course, the WOAK. That segment somehow leaked to Chicago and then went national and ended up in ONTD.”
“Yeees?”
“Okay, so there was a little bit of a controversy with me and Luke but it was all rumors, nothing real.”
“What were the rumors?”
“Faith, you read them, too!”
She stares at him silently.
“Just - okay,” Reg wipes a hand over his forehead and starts again. “The truth is that Luke had just seen their engagement announcement in the paper and asked to meet me. He said he wanted to ask for my blessing and for me to join their wedding party. And you know how hands-on Luke gets. He covered my hand with his at one point and thanked me for ‘even-ing out the wedding pictures,’ whatever that means. Nothing else was going on, I swear.”
“But they made it look like Luke was cheating on Noah.”
Reg sighed. “He wasn’t. Luke’s crazy about Noah.”
“So there really wasn’t anything going on - ?”
“I… admit I still harbored some latent feelings for Luke, but I didn’t act on them. And he had clearly moved on. I wished him luck.”
Reg wasn’t the only one who wished them luck. First though, Aunt Ruth called to ask if anyone beyond immediate family was ever going to find out about the engagement. “An official engagement announcement, dear. I talked to Lily and Lucinda and they agree you need one in the papers.”
Noah had frowned about it and wondered what people wrote in such things. Luke E. Snyder is engaged to Noah Mayer. Surely that seemed too brief? But what else did people put in these things? Turned out they would have two.
Lucinda was first:
Lucinda Walsh is proud to announce the engagement of her grandson Luke Eduardo Snyder, son of Lily Walsh Snyder and Holden Snyder to Noah Mayer, son of Colonel Winston Mayer and Charlene Wilson, nephew of Ruth Wilson, god-son of Dusty Donovan. Luke is president of the Luke Snyder Foundation charity, vice president of Worldwide Industries, and author of the acclaimed novel Invisible. Noah is a budding filmmaker with acclaimed shorts to his name such as The Colonel, Back In Iraq, and Same Here. A March wedding is planned.
A day later, Damian countered with his:
Damian Grimaldi is proud to announce the engagement of his and Lily Snyder’s son Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi Snyder to Noah Mayer, son of Colonel Winston Mayer and Charlene Wilson. Luke is heir of Grimaldi Shippings, vice president of Worldwide Industries, and President of the Luke Snyder Foundation. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Invisible. Noah is an up-and-coming young filmmaker, with acclaimed shorts such as The Colonel, Same Here, and Back In Iraq. Their wedding will take place in March.
That was when all hell broke loose. The second day, that was. An anonymous poster submitted to Oakdale ONTD the now infamous photo of Luke’s hand on Reg’s alongside both engagement announcements. The headline? Is Luke’s Grimaldi Side Coming to Light?
Noah sat, at home, frozen, as the phone rang off the hook. Over and over their voicemail message played. “Hi! You’ve reached Luke and (Noah). We are not here right now (probably) but we’ll be here later (probably). So, leave us a message (now) and we’ll get back to you (soon). Probably.”
Noah remembered vividly the day they recorded that message, not long after they moved in together. They had cracked up after hitting off the record button. “Okay, let’s see if that even worked,” Luke licked his lips and looked adorable as he frowned over the instruction manual. Noah couldn’t help putting his hands on Luke’s waist and turning him and crowding him against the support column that separated their kitchen and living room. Noah couldn’t help lowering his lips slow to Luke’s, just a brush of breaths at first. “Our first message,” he marveled against Luke’s mouth.
“Together, yeah.” Luke grinned back, his dimples standing out like starlight, completing the picture.
Noah saved that image, saved it to his Luke vault. “I love you,” he blurted ungracefully, earnestly.
Luke kissed him in response, lips pressing sweet and slow against his, as his body wrapped sinewy around Noah’s. One kiss grew into two, three. Three kisses grew to ten. Soon, they’ve lost count as they gripped onto each other harder, rutting against the half wall. They fumbled with buttons and zippers, their elbows hitting errant objects - wall, plastic cup on the ledge, hanging plant - as they went. By the time Noah’s got Luke half spread over the counter, by the time Noah had kissed his way down Luke’s neck and chest and belly, by the time Luke was about broke from curses, Luke’s elbow dug into a button on their new answering machine. Their message started anew. “Hi! You’ve reached Luke and (Noah). We are not here right now (probably) but we’ll be here later (probably). So, leave us a message (now) and we’ll get back to you (soon). Probably.”
The probablys were so appropriate in that moment that they decided on a grin to leave it forever. And then oh god, who cared about phones, y’know, when Noah was doing that and Luke was straining, his whole body arching up like that?
Right now though, right now Noah wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or laugh listening to media after media contacts leaving messages for them to call back for an exclusive interview.
Then came a message he couldn’t ignore, a message from a certain pregnant woman, his best movie buddy, Maddie. “Noah,” she sounded almost calm. “Pick up. I know you’re there. Are you freaking out? Don’t freak out, okay? But pick up the phone or I swear I’ll march over there and personally…”
“Hello?”
“Noah, thank god,” Maddie chattered on as if she were on ten bars of chocolate. (Which he wouldn’t put it past her to be hopped up on actually.) “I knew you knew when I couldn’t get through to you on your cell. Don’t worry though. Just because these rumors are all over the net and airwave and TV too doesn’t mean your lives are coming to a stop.”
“Thanks for that calming tidbit, Maddie.” Noah tucked himself harder into a small ball on the sofa.
“Sorry! But Noah, it’s just gossip. You know that, right? Luke - Luke’s crazy about you.”
“No, I-I know that.” Still, Noah had to admit it felt better hearing it from Maddie. “I just… I just never knew how much of a celebrity he was. I mean, they’re talking about him like he’s some starlet gone wild.”
Maddie laughed, a clear tinkle of a sound. “Yeah, yeah, that’s our Luke. Ooo! Holding hands with his friend. Ooo!”
Noah had to snort at that. Thank god for Maddie. Belatedly he remembered Luke’s advice about saying what he thought out loud sometimes. “Thanks Maddie.”
“Yeah, yeah, you owe me Chinese.”
“Anytime.”
“More like all the time, man,” Casey cut in.
“Sorry, you’re on speaker! I need my hands for-for stuff.”
“Ice cream and crackers,” Casey supplied helpfully.
“Anyway, I just wanted to check in with you, Noah. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Thank you Maddie.”
Luke called him a second later. “Noah, it’s me. I just got out of my meeting and checked the news. Baby, it was nothing I swear. I just asked him to join our wedding party before Jade strangles me. And you know Jade. She would totally do it…”
Noah answered the call, relief pouring down his spine from Luke’s voice. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Luke smiled into the phone. Noah could hear it. He could always hear it. It surprised him the first time how expressive Luke was even over the phone. He was expressive now, concerned and loving all at once. “You haven’t hit the CD of woes, have you?”
“The what?”
“You know. Your Adele and Amy Winehouse playlist.”
“Shut up.”
“I love you. I love you and I can’t wait to get married to you, Noah. All this BS will die down soon, I promise.”
“Well, if you promise…”
“I’ll be home in fifteen. Do you want anything?”
“Yeah,” Noah admitted quietly. “I want you.”
Luke made it home in under fifteen and Noah didn’t even have it in him to chide him for speeding. Luke de-media’ed them, unplugging the laptops and the phone and turned off his own cell as well.
They ate leftover pizza from the fridge and washed it down with root beer. They sat on the couch and relaxed, watching Mama Mia! for the umpteenth time.
“What’s your perfect, ideal wedding?” Luke asked as the credit rolled. “Like, if you could put all of our families and friends and everyone else’s demands out of the way. What would you want, Noah?”
Noah shifted so that Luke could fit in his lap better. “You remember that one date we had at the Snyder pond? The one where we talked for the longest time about your dreams and mine? You told me the water would be cool and it was. It was perfect, floating between earth and sky with just you. It felt infinite, like anything can happen. I think I’d like that, something small, maybe at night. What about you?”
Luke squeezed Noah’s fingers as he leaned back against Noah’s chest. “I don’t know. I like your perfect wedding. I’d like to be there.”
“Dork, it’s no wedding if you’re not there.”
“Oh dork yourself.” Luke turned and tackled Noah, play wrestling. And just like that, the day fell away completely, the world and all their prying eyes. There was just Luke and Noah and the night wrapped around them.
Or, well, to be more precise, it was Luke’s legs wrapped around Noah’s waist and back as Noah carried him to their bed.
Part 6. Guest List and Invitations