The day before the wedding, Alice was overbearing. Every detail had to be perfect, and everyone in our family was ready for Alice to stop decorating.
"Alice, it looks perfect," I told her, hoping to get her to stop. "Let everyone take a break."
"Emma," she told me, "you are the only one who actually needs rest. They are fine."
I followed the girl as she continued to give everyone commands about where to move things. I really did think it looked finished, so I didn't understand why she was still moving things.
"Alice, everyone will be here in 10 minutes for the rehearsal. I think it's time to stop." Noah's words were the only thing that could get through to Alice, and she finally stopped arranging things around the yard.
I left to find Jasper, who was hanging out with Emmet and Rosalie. As I walked up to them, their conversation stopped, and they sent me worried glances.
"Did Alice send you to yell at us?" Emmet asked quietly.
"No, actually," I told him, laughing at his worry. "Noah told her to stop decorating, and she listened. I came over here to get you in time for the rehearsal, so Alice doesn't freak out about that."
"Then we should probably go," Rosalie said, standing up with Emmet. The two of them headed to the house to meet with everyone else.
Jasper stood up and walked up to me, giving me a hug. "You left me alone with Alice," I told him, wrapping my arms around him.
"That's only because I'm going to be stuck with her all night after you fall asleep," he told me, laughing at my pouting. "But I am sorry I left you alone."
"Come on," I told him, pulling away and dragging him by his hand. "We have a rehearsal to get through."
We all gathered in the house as Sam, Quill, Embry, Paul, and Seth showed up. Everyone said hi to each other, and Seth ran over and hugged Jasper and me.
"You still sure you want me up there?" Seth asked, looking up at Jasper. He was a mess of nerves, and he didn't want Jasper or I to be mad at him.
"Positive," Jasper told him, soothing his worries. We both were happy Seth would be in the wedding, and nothing would change that.
Everyone slowly made their way outside as Alice told everyone where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do.
"Alice," Jasper said, looking at his sister. "I feel ridiculous walking down the entire aisle by myself."
"Man up and walk," she told him, ready to fight.
"But you made it so long. It feels awkward."
I laughed at the two as they continued to fight, realizing this rehearsal would take a long time. There were way too many opinionated people, and Alice would fight every one of them until things went her way.
After a few minutes of arguing, Jasper came up with a good solution. "Why don't I walk down the aisle with Esme, like Carlisle is going to do with Emma."
"What a wonderful idea, Jasper," I yelled out, making it so Alice couldn't say no.
Esme was happy to do whatever, and the two of them finally walked down the aisle, officially starting our rehearsal wedding. Esme sat down in her seat as Jasper stood in the front.
"See how much better that was?" Jasper called out, making me laugh even harder at him.
Next, Noah and Rosalie walked down as my Maid of Honor and Jasper's Best Man. They were followed by Edward, Emmet, Seth, Alice, Bree, and Emily. As soon as they all got up there, I could hear Emmet and Edward talking to Jasper about including Esme. We could all see her smile had gotten brighter after that, and I felt bad not thinking about including her before.
The next group to walk down the aisle was supposed to be Embry and Quill, followed closely behind by Paul, but the three boys were already in an argument.
"Emma," Quill called out, "why does Paul get to be the ring bearer?"
"We already had this conversation," Sam told them. "Just walk down the aisle."
They made it halfway down the aisle before Paul, apparently, walked too close to Embry. "That's it!" Embry yelled, turning around to face Paul. He threw the basket on the ground and pushed Paul to the ground.
"Boys!" I yelled, zooming in between them. I pushed Embry back half a step, and Paul got up off the floor. "What is going on?"
"He got too close to me and kept pushing me!" Embry yelled, pointing at Paul.
"Okay," I told him, turning to look at Paul. "How about you stay five feet behind them while you walk down the aisle, so you don't get too close to him?" I suggested.
"Okay," Paul said quickly, not wanting me to get mad. "And Embry, I didn't mean to get so close. I'm sorry."
"It's fine," he said, calming down as well.
I walked with the boys the rest of the way, ensuring a fight didn't break out. As we made it to the front, Alice yelled at me.
"Emma!" she yelled. "You're supposed to walk up with Carlisle and Sam now."
"Can they just walk up, and we pretend like I'm with them?" I asked her. "I'm too lazy to do it again."
She started to protest when Carlisle called out, "That's fine, Emma."
We all watched as Sam and Carlisle walked down the aisle, pretending I was with them. It was kind of funny to watch. The two sat down by Esme, Quill, Embry, and Paul.
I stood across from Jasper as we pretended to have the ceremony. Carlisle started saying random nonsense from his seat so we could all get an idea of the order of events.
A few minutes in, Bree had something to say. "Hey, why isn't Carlisle officiating the wedding? Wasn't he a pastor or something?"
"We're having Eleazor officiate the wedding because we want Carlisle to walk Emma down the aisle and then sit in the audience like a normal family would do," Jasper told her.
"Which I love," Carlisle told Bree. "I was also never a pastor, just a pastor's son." He then went back to saying things that would happen. The calm was quickly stopped when we got to the part where the rings were involved.
"Okay," Carlisle said, "Now you bring up the rings, Paul."
"I still disagree that Paul should be the ring bearer," Quill said once again before adding, "also, why does Seth get to stand up there the whole time, and we have to sit down?"
"Would you like me to replace you with someone else?" I asked him, genuinely curious. "Because I will."
"I'm just saying how I feel," Quill countered. "No need to freak out about it."
As Paul walked up to the two of us, I saw him send worrying glances to the boys behind Jasper. He reached us and whispered, "You should probably know that Seth is crying, and Emmet and Edward and freaking out about it."
"What?!" the two of us yelled, quickly ignoring everything else. We both turned to see Seth holding back tears and Edward and Emmet, who were subtly and silently trying to help him.
"What happened?" I yelled, walking over to them.
Emmet looked up at me quickly, seeing I was upset about this. "I accidentally slapped his shoulder too hard, and I think I dislocated it."
"You what?!" Jasper yelled.
Carlisle and Sam quickly got up from their seats and came over to help as I gently put my hand on Seth's other shoulder. "Are you okay?" I asked him, wanting to know how to help.
"I think it's dislocated," he whispered, leaning into my touch. I could feel how much pain he was in, and I slowly started taking it away.
Carlisle quickly looked it over before saying, "It's definitely dislocated. But I can pop it back into place." He put his hand on either side of his shoulder, ready to pop it back into place. "This is going to hurt."
I gripped Seth's uninjured hand in my own as Jasper set his hand on his arm. The two of us focused on taking away his pain as Seth gripped my hand tightly.
In one quick movement, Carlisle popped his shoulder back into place with only a grimace from Seth.
"Alright," Carlisle said. "You should be good to go. Just take it easy for a while, and you'll be fine."
"Thank you, Carlisle," Sam said gratefully.
"Of course," Carlisle replied, sending glares at Emmet and Edward.
I looked down at Seth, who was calming down. "Why didn't you say anything?" I asked him.
"I didn't want to stop the rehearsal," he told me, looking wide-eyed at me.
"Well, you being injured is a reason to stop the rehearsal," Jasper told him.
"Heck," I continued, "that's a good enough reason to stop the actual wedding too."
Seth nodded as I looked up at Emmet and Edward. "I didn't think I had to say this," I told the two boys, "but don't break Seth!"