"Leah Danielle James, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live. " JC said, reciting the traditional wedding vows, sliding the silver Tiffany Soleste diamond ring onto her left ring finger. Looking into Leah's deep green eyes literally took his breath away. She looked like a vision in her Chantilly lace and silk organza Monique Lhuillier gown.
"Joshua Scott Chasez, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my husband: to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to have and to cherish, as long as we both shall live. And hereto, I pledge you my faithfulness to show to you the same kind of love as Christ showed the Church when He died for her, and to love you as a part of myself because in His sight we shall be one. " Leah recited, sliding the 14 carat white gold band onto his left ring finger, lost in his ocean blue eyes.
Here they were, the two of them professing their undying love to each other before God, their families, and all of their friends. The long awaited moment had finally arrived. JC and Leah were finally doing it. They were getting married! They were going to spend the rest of their lives together, and no one was going to stop that from happening. There was no turning back now! A calm came over JC. He was at peace. In that moment he knew, that the key to eternal happiness was standing right in front of him. He and Leah would have a beautiful life together. They had conquered everything together, and have overcome nearly impossible obstacles. He was ready now, more than ever to start forever with the love of his life.
"In as much as you, Joshua, and you Leah, have consented together in the union of matrimony and you have pledged your faith each to the other in the presence of these witnesses, now by the authority vested in me by the State of Florida, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife." The minister announced. "You may now kiss the bride." Just as JC leaned in to kiss his beautiful bride, he heard a ringing in his ear.
Ring!
Ring!
Ring! JC jerked up, now wide awake. He reached out into the blackness searching for his phone. He found it on his nightstand. Who in the hell could be calling at 3:30 in the fucking morning? JC thought to himself, pissed that he didn't get to finish his dream.
"Hello?!" JC barked into the phone, highly irritated.
"Um... JC?" He heard a female voice speak into the receiver.
"Who is this?" JC asked confused.
"Sorry, it's Lucky." Now JC was not only wide awake, but alert. He and Lucky weren't necessarily friends. They only connection to each other that they had was Leah. So the fact Lucky was calling him at this ungodly hour made JC panic. He immediately assumed the worse.
"Oh my God, is Leah okay? Is she hurt? What happened?" JC blurted out anxiously.
"No, she's not hurt, but I don't think she's okay." Lucky answered him.
"So there's no emergency?" JC asked, calming down a little.
"No. No emergency, but I'm really worried about Leah." Lucky replied. "Where are you?" Lucky asked.
"I'm at my house in Orlando, the group is doing some recording here." JC replied. "Why?"
"Are you planning to be in New York anytime soon?" Lucky asked.
"Yeah in a couple days we have an interview on the Today Show to tape." JC replied.
"While you're there I need you to check up on Leah, I'll only be here until tomorrow, and I'm really worried about her." Lucky said, putting an emphasis on the word really.
"Okay, you're still not telling me what's wrong." JC replied, now confused.
"She really taking her grandmother's death hard. Of course anyone would, but the thing with Leah is, she doesn't know how to deal with it. She's shutting down, and I'm afraid that she'll go back to being her old self." Lucky responded. Now JC was really confused. What did Lucky mean by Leah may be going back to her old self? That was a good thing right? Because as far back as JC could remember, Leah was always a happy-go-lucky kind of person.
"I don't understand." JC admitted, turning his lamp on.
"JC, there's something you should know." Lucky said.
"Okay." JC replied.
"Leah has an eating disorder. Or had one anyway. A few years back when her career started to pick up, the label kept putting pressure on her, and she had family issues, and she couldn't take it anymore, so she caved, she felt like she had no control over her career, or her family, or what people thought of her and she developed an eating disorder. Anorexia and Bulimia to be correct. Kevin got her help, and she went into treatment. She's been better ever since, but now since this has happened, I'm afraid that she'll go back to being weak again. I'm scared for her. I'm scared that she'll relapse." Lucky explained, she willed herself not to cry.
"Wait a second, back up!" JC said, completely shocked at Lucky's revelation. "An eating disorder?" It was 3:40 in the morning, and maybe he hadn't heard right.
"Yes." Lucky confirmed.
"Why don't I know anything about this?!" JC demanded, raising his voice.
"Only Kevin, myself, and the people in her camp know. That's all. She was too ashamed for anyone to know about her problem. We were all sworn to secrecy." JC knew that he shouldn't be mad at Lucky, she was only trying to help, but he couldn't help but to feel hurt that Leah would keep something so important from him.
"So where was I when all of this happened?" JC demanded, wanting very badly to know how this very big piece of information got passed him.
"Germany." Lucky replied. JC began to feel guilty. He wasn't their for his bestfriend when she needed him the most.
"I don't understand, why wouldn't she just come to me? She knows I'm always here for her."
"JC, people with eating disorders suffer in silence. They don't want anyone to know, because they don't want anyone to stop them."
"So what do I do?" JC asked.
"Keep her from shutting down. Try to get her to talk to you. Try to help her deal with this. Let her know that she's not alone." Lucky instructed. "And please, please, please watch out for her eating patterns. If anything at all seems to be suspicious then let me know."
"Okay." JC sighed, trying to take all of this information in. "I can do that."
"Remember JC, she does love you. She just has her own way of dealing with things. A very unhealthy way of dealing with things."
"I'll let you know when I get to New York." JC said.
"Thanks." Lucky replied.
"Thank you for telling me Lucky."
"Bye."
"Bye." JC hung up his phone, and laid back down in bed. He couldn't believe what had just happened. There was no way in hell he could get back to sleep now. Now with what Lucky had just told him. An eating disorder? JC couldn't believe that. It didn't seem like Leah to him, not his Leah. He always thought that despite not seeing eye to eye with her parents, she seemed like an overall happy person. Or at least he thought. How could he let the fact that she was so unhappy completely escape him? How could she let this happen to herself? Does she not love herself? Better yet, what made her think that no matter what she was going through, she couldn't come to him? She knew he was always there for her. He would never turn his back on her, no matter what the situation was. He was her bestfriend. Or was he?
