Page 18 of The Second Chance Cinema
He pulled her close. “If it means I get to marry you sooner, I’m in.”
The chapel they found was a retro white church illuminated by two halves of a neon heart that bounced together to form a whole. Ellie skipped to its pulse across the parking lot. A woman who had taken a smokey eye too far ushered them inside and situated them at the back of the room to witness drunk humans— potentially business colleagues—make a huge mistake.
Ellie’s excitement shifted to doubt as she looked around. The stained glass windows were actually plastic. The Styrofoam columns near the fabric-floral archway had taken both too much and not enough inspiration from the Roman Colosseum. Then there was the soundtrack—were those organs playing? Elvis moved his way up the aisle and onto a small elevated stage where the happy couple stood awaiting their nuptial king.
“I know I suggested this,” Ellie told Drake under her breath. The groom stumbled. The bride, who was confirmed to be his colleague, snickered in response.
“Yeah?” Drake asked.
Ellie flattened out the wrinkles on her thrifted wedding dress, which they’d picked up hours earlier. “I don’t think this is right.”
Drake’s face fell a few stories. “You don’t think … getting married is right?”
“Not in this venue,” Ellie said. As if to prove her statement, the organ music stopped, and Elvis started to sing and sway.
“Who cares about the venue?” Drake insisted. “We’re getting married.” He kissed her cheek. “That’s all that matters.”
“Well, maybe I don’t want to do it this way,” Ellie said, firmer this time. In theory, Vegas was the perfect situation for a wedding—there was no one around to stir things up and nothing to go wrong. But Drake deserved more. She knew he dreamed of elaborate speeches and rehearsal dinners, of passed hors d’oeuvres. He’d once used the wordshowstoppingin reference to their first dance. She wanted to give him all of that and more. Still, he looked startled by her words.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because this place is terrible,” Ellie pointed out. “And also, you’re dressed like a walking mall kiosk.” Being in Vegas brought out Drake’s shopper alter ego she’d never met before. Since their arrival, he’d purchased two fake designer wristwatches, a gold muscle tank Ellie hoped he would quickly come to regret, and a blended cocktail attached to a cheap beaded necklace.
Drake’s teeth clenched so tightly together that when he blew air out, it formed a whistle. “I want to marry you, Ellie. Please tell me you want to marry me.”
She had never given Drake any reason to doubt she wanted to marry him. Ellie scooted to fully face him. “Of course I want to marry you. Look, I’ll marry you wherever you want,” she told him. “And you know I love the kitsch. But are you sure this is whatyouwant?”
Elvis hit a piercing high note that made them push back in the pew. Ellie watched Drake’s eyes move around the room, from the Styrofoam columns to the artwork that belonged inside a cheesy Italian restaurant. “Why are there artichokes on the wall?” he asked.
“Those are flowers, Drake.” She took his hand. “But do youreally want to be playing the ‘flower or artichoke’ game at our wedding?”
His slow nod turned into a fast, decisive one. “Okay. It isn’t right.”
Before leaving the chapel, they claimed their complimentary photo shoot with Elvis. They had already paid for the wedding package, and they should at least have a way to commemorate it, Ellie insisted. Mostly, she wanted to lift Drake’s mood and prove to him that the night wasn’t a bust. So they joined Elvis at the staged photo area in front of a white limousine. Ellie set a rose in her mouth, Drake held her hand, and Elvis revealed a shiny gold flask in his pocket that gave away he was about to be off the clock.
“I’d never want to forget this,” Ellie said. The photographer, who may have also been the chapel’s owner, snapped away.
“Are you that drunk?” Drake asked.
“No!” Ellie said. “But you know what they say. What happens in Vegas—”
“Stays in Vegas,” Drake finished as the final photo snapped.
Ellie jolted up in bed and flung the comforter off herself.Vegaswas the answer to all their problems, wasn’t it? Drake was worried about how she would react to his past, but the cinema could be their Vegas: whatever happened there could stay right there. They could simply watch the movies, and upon walking out, go about their lives as if none of it existed. And if they did this, Ellie could get the answers she so desperately needed, and it wouldn’t have to impact their relationship.
Even better, they could experience each other’s childhood memories. What went into a sly smile in a single photograph could be understood with deeper context. Ellie and Drake could hear the voice on the other side of the camera. They could see thefoundation of the person they loved being built right before their eyes.
Photos. Photos would sell Drake on what she was thinking. He didn’t stir when Ellie closed the bedroom door and tiptoed downstairs. It was five in the morning. She had plenty of time to dig around the garage before he’d wake up.
A cold gust flew across her shoulders as she opened the door and flicked on the light switch. The outdoor shelves were a mess of boxes; a downside to living in an old home was that it didn’t come with much closet space. People in the past must have owned fewer things. That had been Ellie’s philosophy for a while, too.Throw it all awaywas the mantra of her early twenties. If she could free herself from the heirlooms, photographs, and knickknacks that defined her back then, maybe she could move on from the pain.
But somewhere, more recently, regret had taken the place of her nonchalance. She began to mourn the physical objects she’d given away. Now their home brimmed with vintage items, other people’s discards in need of safekeeping. A three-legged coffee table with a chipped top. Hundreds of matchbooks she never used. The white shag rug with a single missing square. Who had collected the scraps of Ellie’s past? She hoped her things had found a good home as she stared up at the single cardboard box that housed all her childhood photos and videos.
MEMORIES, the lid read. She blew the dust off the top.
Within an hour, Ellie had tacked hundreds of old photos to their blank living room wall. Her hands moved over the glossy prints, mixing images from her own life chronologically with Drake’s based on the pen-marked numbers lining the back of each one.
There wasEllie’s first day at schoolwhen she wore a royal blue parka and a pair of silver clip-on earrings.
