Prologue.
The Walford Community Centre had been decorated to the fullest. There were pink and purple metallic balloons and white festooned around the room and pink streamers hanging from the ceiling and walls. White and purple banners, with jet black writing hung over doors announcing the reason for the party to everyone in attendance. As if they didn't know the reason anyway, why else would they be there if they didn't? It was a hen party, her hen party to be exact. A party she didn't even want, a party she didn't ask for and a party she certainly hadn't wanted to attend. She sighed as she looked around at the party goers, they all seemed to be having a good time. Everyone but her that was. This wasn't what she wanted, she'd been tricked into coming. She remembered the sympathetic, almost apologetic smile from her mother as she'd walked into the room. She was here now and there was nothing she could do about it, much as she'd like to. Her eyes darted to the exit, not for the first time since she'd arrived, she wished she could just leave but her two best friends were lingering near the door, no doubt knowing that she'd hate this and make a bid for freedom. She scowled at them both, sometimes she really hated her best friends – not sure they really knew her at all. Why would they throw her a party like this? This was the kind of party that she hated.
The Hen party was in full swing. The best friends of the bride had pulled out all the stops and then some. They'd been keeping their eyes on the bride and could see she wasn't having as a good a time as they'd hoped she would be. In fact the bride seemed to be checking her watch every few minutes and then looking towards the exit, as if there was somewhere else she would rather be. Deciding to ramp things up and draw the brides attention back to the party the brunette leant over and whispered something to her blonde haired friend. A grin spread across her face and she ran towards the makeshift bar in the corner of the room and whispered into the blonde woman's ear who stood behind it. The brunette moved to the stage of sorts and disappeared behind the red curtain they'd put up.
The bride saw her escape route was clear, now was her chance to get out of there. She quickly swallowed the last mouthful of her wine and casually walked towards the exit, hoping she wouldn't be seen making her escape. She was almost free, her hand gripping the door handle tightly and she tugged on it, pulling it open. Suddenly a voice came over the PA system and Lauren stopped in her tracks as she was suddenly circled by a bright spotlight. 'Everyone, can I have your attention please? I'm Lucy Beale, best friend of the blushing bride to be. I'd like to welcome you all to a very special edition of Mr and Mrs' she announced. The curtains at the back of the stage were pulled back and a cinema screen was revealed. 'Can you please all take your seats, and if we can have the bride to be right up here at the front of the stage please' Lucy said looking directly at the bride who had frozen to the spot at the door as soon as the spotlight had settled on her. A large throne like chair was carried on by some very muscly and good looking men and the bride made her way to the stage, albeit reluctantly, a fake smile plastered onto her face as she internally counted to a thousand. Reaching the stage she climbed the three small steps before walking the short distance to the chair and taking a seat. 'Now, we asked Lauren's gorgeous fiancé, Stuart, some personal and intimate questions about Lauren that only a fiancé should know the answers to. Tonight we're going to ask Lauren the same questions and see just how well she knows her fiancé and how well he knows her' she paused and Whitney came onto the stage and handed Lucy an envelope. 'Now, Lauren, are you ready for the first question?' Lucy looked at Lauren and she nodded her head, while mentally screaming NO! Lucy smiled 'we asked Stuart to tell us what he thought was your favourite part of his body' she said. The group of hens jeered and cackled 'what do you think he said?' Lucy looked at Lauren expectantly.
Lauren didn't need to think about the answer to this question, it was easy 'his eyes' Lauren said softly.
'Good answer, now let's see what Stuart said' Lucy turned to look at the screen as a video of Stuart appeared.
'What's Lauren's favourite part of my body?' he said 'mmm…that's easy….it's my back' he said with confidence.
'Oh no, that's an incorrect answer given by Laurent!' Lucy said sounding as disappointed as Lauren felt. Lucy turned back to the sheet of paper and she read the next question quickly 'moving onto the next question, we asked Stuart what he thought you were most proud of'
'Oh that's easy' Lauren said to her 'Graduating from Art School with Honours' she replied quickly.
'Okay. Good, you know the drill now, let's see what Stuart said' Lucy turned to the screen once more and again Stuart appeared. Lauren looked at him and waited for his answer, still slightly tense.
'Lauren is most proud of…oh this is a hard one' Stuart frowned for a few seconds and then his face lit up 'she's proud of passing her driving test first time' Lauren sank down in the chair a little bit, closing her eyes as she provided another wrong answer…or was it Stuart that gave the wrong answer, she frowned as she thought about it. She felt even worse than she had before the game started.
'I'm sorry that's not the answer that Stuart gave' Lucy announced 'so let's get straight onto the next question. We asked Stuart what makes you cry' she said 'Lauren, what did Stuart say?' Lucy looked at her.
This was one that Lauren was certain Stuart would give the same answer that she did. It was something that Stuart found amusing and annoying in equal measures. 'Soppy movies' Lauren answered.
'Soppy movies hey, well let's ask Stuart?'
'Lauren cries at soppy movies' Stuart said, causing the crowd in the club to clap and cheer. Lauren was starting to hate this game and wished it was over so she could go outside and take a walk, clear her head a little. She wondered how many of these questions she had to answer before the torture was over.
'Okay, next question' Lucy said 'Lauren, we asked Stuart what your worst habit is, what do you think he said?'
Lauren knew he commented often about one personal habit she had that he despised, in fact they'd had a few heated arguments about it. Sometimes Lauren did it on purpose just to piss him off. She smiled to herself 'leaving the top off the toothpaste' she said confidently.
'And we'll see what Stuart says' Lucy said.
'Worst habit?' Stuart said, seeming to mull over the question. 'Mmm…that's another difficult one' he said 'Lauren has a lot of bad habits…' he mused 'Mmm, I would guess… out of all of her bad habits… I would have to pick…the way she mutters under her breath when she doesn't agree with something I've said'
Lauren wished a hole in the ground would open up and swallow her. So far she wasn't doing too well and Stuart was managing to make her look like the worst girlfriend in the world. Lucy turned back to the audience 'Okay so we've asked both Lauren and Stuart four questions about Lauren and they have both only answered one correctly. 'So it's time for another four questions' Lauren sighed, wished she'd had the foresight to bring over a drink with her so she could at least be numbing the humiliation she felt with alcohol. 'Are you ready for another four questions?' Lucy asked her, feeling embarrassed for Lauren, this game wasn't going as well as she thought it would for her best friend.
'Bring it on' Lauren said forcing a fake smile on her face once more.
'Okay. We asked Stuart what was his favourite part of your body' Lucy said. 'What do you think he said?' Lauren thought for a while he'd always said he liked her lips so she guessed that.
'My lips?' Lauren asked, not sounding in the least bit confident with her answer.
'You said your lips, let's see what Stuart's answer was' Lucy said turning to the screen, but not before shooting a look at Whitney who shook her head.
'My favourite part of Lauren's body is the back of her knees' Stuart said.
Lauren frowned as she heard his answer, 'Where the hell was he getting these answers from? Just plucking them out of thin air? Was he being deliberately stupid? Was he even talking about Lauren? Never once in the three years she and Stuart had been together had he mentioned liking the back of her knees. Who the fuck liked the back of someone's knees? She felt her face flushing with humiliation and embarrassment as Lucy turned to look at her with a sympathetic smile on her face.
'Nope, not right. Let's move onto the next question. Lauren, what do you think Stuart is most proud of?' Lucy asked looking at her friend, she put her hand on her shoulder and gave it a sympathetic squeeze.
'I'd have to say his career' Lauren said softly.
'Okay let's get Stuart's answer' Lucy said, catching Whitney's eye as she turned to look at the screen again. The brunette girl shook her head again and Lucy's heart fell.
'I'm most proud of my car' Stuart said 'I built her up from scrap into the thing of beauty she is today' he beamed proudly at the camera.
Lauren's mother looked at her and she felt her heart breaking for her daughter up on the stage. She knew she'd be hating every single part of this and she'd told Lucy as such when she'd come to her with this idea for the hen party. But Lucy wouldn't be dissuaded and said she'd go ahead with the game with or without Lauren's mother's help. So she'd done it without her help. Tanya not wanting to have anything to do with it. She'd wished she'd been able to shut it down completely.
'Another incorrect answer' Lucy said 'Two more questions to go' Lucy said 'We asked Stuart what makes him cry, what was his answer?'
Lauren couldn't remember the last time Stuart cried. She couldn't remember ever seeing him cry. She sighed 'When his football team loses a match' she said, giving up all hope of getting any of the answers right now. All this game was showing her was how little she knew her fiancé, the man she was planning to marry and spend the rest of her life with. Apparently it was also showing her how little he knew her.
'And Stuart said?' Lucy said this time not turning round to the screen.
'I don't cry. Men don't cry' Stuart announced.
Lauren closed her eyes and Lucy took a long deep breath 'and Lauren, the final question is, we asked Stuart what his worst habit is, what did he say?'
Lauren hated to think what Stuart's answer would be, so instead she plumped for his most annoying habit, one that pushed all her buttons and one she had yelled at him about on numerous occasions. 'He never puts the toilet seat down' Lauren told them.
'And let's see what Stuart's answer was to the final question' Lucy said.
'Bad habit? I don't have any bad habits' Stuart said with a grin. The screen went dark and a hush fell over the club. Each one of Lauren's friends and family felt awful for her sitting on the stage having to go through that.
'Well, let's get some more drinks shall we?' Lucy announced trying to sound cheerful and failing miserably.
*XX*XX*XX*XX*
After the total and utter debacle of Mr and Mrs, Lauren was now sitting outside on the steps of the club. She and Stuart had only got one question right out of 8. To say she was feeling embarrassed was an understatement. They should've at least got more than one right. She'd voiced her concerns to Lucy and Whitney after the quiz and they'd both shrugged it off saying it was just a little bit of fun and nothing more, telling Lauren she shouldn't read anything more into it. But reading into it was what Lauren was currently doing…did Stuart really know so little about her? Did she know so little about him? This was the man she was planning to marry in three days. A man she was going to vow to spend the rest of her life with. A man who clearly knew nothing about Lauren as a person. And what she thought she knew about him she was now doubting as a result of his answers to those stupid fucking questions. Maybe she was getting cold feet, last minute pre wedding jitters. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that she'd be making a big mistake if she went ahead and married Stuart. She'd been thrilled when he'd proposed to her, she glanced down at the large diamond ring on her left hand. He'd seemed pleased with his purchase when he gave it to, and whilst Lauren had smiled and told him it was beautiful and exactly what she'd hoped for, she thought it was ostentatious and too big. Maybe she should've taken that as a sign she was making a mistake.
She licked her lips and sighed, closing her eyes and covering her face with her hands. She needed to call off the wedding. She couldn't go through with this. Marrying Stuart wasn't what she wanted. He had only proposed to her eight months ago. Their parents had railroaded them into setting a date and she had said the first date that came into her head… now suddenly it was almost here and she wasn't ready. The ring was beginning to feel like a noose around her finger…tightening more with each passing hour. She loved Stuart. At least she thought she did. Now she wasn't so sure. It wasn't exactly what she thought love would feel like. But then again, maybe this was what being in love felt like. It wasn't as though there was a rule book anywhere telling how she should feel. She let her hands drop from her face and she took a deep breath and stood up, heading back inside the club. She had a difficult decision to make and for that she needed some vodka.
Just as she was about to go inside she heard the first few bars of You Can Keep Your Hat On and she knew Lucy had booked strippers despite Lauren's specifically saying she thought strippers were tacky and tasteless and she had no desire for a perfect stranger to be bumping and grinding on her lap or shaking their "business" in her face. She knew Stuart had gone to Monte Carlo for his stag do whilst she was stuck in dreary old Walford, which meant she could go to the Vic without worrying she was going to bump into the stag party.
*XX*XX*XX*XX*
Lauren walked into the Vic and saw her dad and Uncle Jack propping up the bar right in front of her. She walked over to them both. 'Can you buy me a drink, please' she asked her father.
'What are you doing here? You should be at your hen party' he said surprised to see her.
'Yeah? Well, the hen party sucks' Lauren said to him as he gestured for Alfie to come over.
'Vodka and coke please' he said glancing at Lauren and she nodded her head.
'Make it a double, please' Lauren added quickly.
'It can't be as bad as that' Jack said with an amused smile, turning sideways so he could look at his niece.
'It was worse. She arranged strippers' Lauren said with a frown 'and she knows that I hate them' she explained 'oh! But you haven't even heard the best bit yet….'
'You better come and sit down and tell us all about it' Max said, handing Lauren her drink and putting his arm around her, leading her over to a table.
Despite the talk with her father and Uncle and the disastrous hen party games, the wedding was still on. Lauren had convinced herself she'd just had cold feet, which was usual for brides to be before the wedding. She was convinced that she and Stuart knew each other better than she thought they did. It was just a stupid hen party game after all, what could a game really tell her about her future?
AN: Well, there it is the first chapter of my new story which had taken me a long time to write and to get right. I hope you like it. Leave me a review…back tomorrow.
