Ta-ta-ta-da! Here it is everyone, the much anticipated sequel to "More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers!"
Four months until Jessica and Ryan's wedding
Six months until Horatio and Arianna's wedding
Jessica stood on the podium in the dress boutique. She smiled at her reflection as the consultant attached the veil to her head and draped it over her shoulders. Her heart thudded as she imagined herself walking down the aisle towards Ryan. Tears welled in her eyes and she turned to face Calleigh and Arianna. "What do you think?" she whispered.
"Oh you're so beautiful Jessica!" Calleigh exclaimed, "You look like some kind of snow princess!"
Jessica smiled and looked at her soon to be mother. "Arianna?" she whispered.
Arianna couldn't speak. Tears had begun to stream down her face. "Oh Jessie Bug," she finally managed, "You're beautiful."
Jessica smiled and hopped off the podium. She struggled with the long wedding gown and wrapped her arms around Arianna. "Thanks Momma," she whispered.
"Excuse me, Ms. Wolfe, Dr. Caine, are you going to be looking at any other dresses today?" the consultant named Sally asked.
Arianna looked at Jessica and sighed. They had decided to go dress shopping for their wedding dresses together. The particular boutique they had decided upon was having a mother-daughter special. If a mother and daughter pair came in together and bought their dresses at the same time then they received a fifty percent discount. Jessica had managed to convince the boutique owner to allow her and Arianna to shop together since Arianna was her father's fiancée.
Arianna held Jessica's cheek in her hand and sighed again. "I'm sorry Jess, there's just nothing here for me," Arianna quietly said.
Tears welled up in Jessica's eyes and she turned away. She climbed back up onto the podium and stared at herself. The dress was all white with a drop waist corset top that shimmered in the light. The skirt was made of satin with a sheer overskirt made of the same shimmering material as the top, with an underskirt made of tulle that made the skirt poof away from her body. It had thin straps and the neck line hit a few inches below her collar bone. It was everything Jessica wanted in a dress and it was just the dress for her and Ryan's January wedding. It was perfect.
"It's ok," she whispered, stepping down from the podium, "I can find another one somewhere else."
"No Jess, it's perfect for you," Arianna insisted, "We're just not going to be able to get the discount, that's all."
"No it's fine Arianna," Jessica continued to argue, "We can try somewhere else. Maybe we can still get a discount if we purchase them together."
"No Jessie Bug," Arianna said, "This is your dress. It was made for you. This is the dress you're going to wear the day you walk down the aisle to Ryan. And I'm going to make sure you're wearing it that day."
Jessica turned and looked at her. "Arianna, you're not."
"Yes I am," Arianna said with a smile, "I'm going to buy this dress for you."
"No you don't have to do this Arianna," Jessica insisted, "Ryan and I can pay for it ourselves."
"I'm quite aware of that but this is my gift to you," Arianna smiled, "To my new daughter."
Tears poured down Jessica's face. She wrapped her arms around Arianna and cried. "Thank you," she whispered.
"Excuse me, Ms. Wolfe?" They looked to see the owner of the boutique, Martha, "I couldn't help but over hear your dilemma."
"Um, my dilemma?" Arianna asked.
"Yes, you and your daughter want to part take in our sale special but you seem to be having troubles finding the dress for you." Martha continued, "I think I might have a solution."
Jessica, Arianna, and Calleigh followed Martha, Jessica now wearing her normal clothes. She led them into the back of the boutique. "The dresses back here are new arrivals and aren't included in our special," Martha explained, "But in your case I think we can make an exception," she said with a smile.
They searched through the backroom, shuffling through rows of dresses. Calleigh stopped when she found one and her eyes lit up. "Hey Arianna," she said with a smile, "I think you should check this one out."
Arianna walked over and looked at the dress. "I don't know," she said uneasily.
"Oh just try it on Arianna!" Jessica said, "I think it's beautiful."
"Ok fine," Arianna replied a little annoyed.
She stood in the dressing room with Sally and Martha. They wriggled her into the dress and zipped it up. Arianna refused to look in the mirror and trudged out to Calleigh and Jessica. She climbed onto the podium and stood there with her back to the mirror facing Calleigh and Jessica.
"Ta-da," she said blandly.
They stared at her with their mouths open. "Oh my gosh," Calleigh muttered, "Arianna you look…"
"Terrible," Arianna said in a grumpy voice, "Yeah, I know. It's just like every other dress I've tried on today. Nothing looks good on my stupid old body!"
"No, Arianna you look…" Calleigh stuttered, lost for word, "You look beautiful."
Arianna stared at her for a moment. Jessica walked over and gently turned Arianna towards the mirrors. Arianna gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
It was a beautiful white dress with a high waist and small cap sleeves. The skirt was long satin material with a lace overskirt. She stared at herself and took in her presence.
"Told you looked beautiful," Calleigh whispered.
"Ms. Wolfe," Martha said. Arianna watched her place a lace veil on the top of her head and fanned it out over her shoulders. "I think this is the one," Martha quietly whispered.
Arianna nodded her head and tears began to stream down her face. "Yes, this is it," she said in a voice so small it was almost inaudible.
Sally and Martha helped Arianna out of her dress and placed it back into its garment bag. They hung Jessica and Arianna's dresses together as they each picked out a veil.
"Will you be needing anything else today?" Sally asked as she packaged up the veils.
"Yeah actually why don't we look at some bridesmaids dresses," Jessica commented.
"Why not, I already have two of my three here," Arianna said with a smile.
"Alright, do you know what styles you want?" Sally asked as she led them through the shop.
"We want just one style that will go with each of our dresses," Jessica said. Sally gave her a strange look and Jessica continued to explain. "Calleigh's in both of our bridal parties so we decide on getting the same color and style so she didn't have to buy two dresses."
"Oh, alright," Sally said, understanding their concept. "Well how about we look at just some generic styles?"
"Sounds good," Jessica said.
Dress after dress was pulled onto Calleigh and Jessica's bodies. They examined them each and rejected them one-by-one. Finally Arianna and Jessica agreed on a simple one strap floor length satin gown. It had a high waist with an embellished belt under the bust.
"Hmm," Calleigh said as she checked herself out in the mirror, "This will make Eric come begging for more."
"Are you guys getting back together?" Jessica asked.
Calleigh laughed. "Well it doesn't seem like any time in the near future, but I wouldn't mind."
"So what color did you want these in?" Sally asked.
"Emerald green," Jessica said with a smirk, "The perfect color for January and March."
"Alright, how many bridesmaids total?" Sally asked as she wrote down notes, "And what about a ring bearer or flower girl?"
"We have three bridesmaids each, but we'll only need five dresses and we have the same flower girl but no ring bearer," Jessica continued to explain as she looked at herself in the bridesmaid dress.
"Alright, groomsmen?" Sally prompted.
"Three each again, but we're not sure about who yet exactly," Jessica said. She turned and looked at Arianna. "We've got Eric, Jesse, and Kyle. Who do you have?"
"Well we were also planning on Eric and Kyle, but we're not sure about the third one," Arianna said a little uncomfortable.
Jessica looked at her quizzically. "What about the third one? I can't walk down the aisle alone."
Arianna sighed and looked at her feet. "Horatio was thinking about asking Yelina for Ray Jr., you know because his brother can't be there."
"Oh…" Jessica quietly said, "I guess it makes sense that he would want Ray Jr., but I can see how that would be awkward."
"What would be awkward?" Calleigh inquired.
"Um, well…" Jessica stuttered.
"Yelina and Horatio were sleeping together before we started dating," Arianna bluntly said, "She fell in love with him but he had fallen out of love with her."
"Well I don't see how that's awkward," Calleigh said, "She's going to be at the wedding anyways, I mean Horatio still sees her as his sister-in-law. Might as well get over it and congratulate him."
"What about the grooms' tuxedoes?" Sally interjected. "Are they going to be wearing the same tuxedo as the groomsmen?"
"Actually yes," Jessica answered, "They're both in our wedding parties so again, we're kind of being thrifty."
"So how many tuxedoes?" Sally asked.
"Um, let's see," Jessica said, counting on her fingers, "Eric, Kyle, Jesse, Ray Jr., Ryan, and Horatio, so six total."
"Ok, I'm going to guess emerald green for the vest, or are you using cuberbuns?"
"Oh no, cuberbuns are ugly!" Jessica exclaimed, "Vests for sure."
Arianna and Calleigh chuckled. "Girly knows what she likes!" Calleigh laughed.
The consultant gave them a smug smile. "Ok then, shoes?"
Jessica smirked at Arianna. "Actually, we're going to use our own," Arianna said.
"Oh really?" the consultant inquired.
"Yes," Jessica smiled, "Individually unique, together complete. Everyone has their own shoes and it gives them a unique personality to their outfit."
"Interesting concept, who thought of that?" Sally asked.
"That would be my newest daughter," Arianna said with a smile.
Jessica smiled at Arianna. "Thanks Momma," she quietly said.
Ryan crept through the condo. Jessica had arrived home before him after he'd gotten off work. She had gone dress shopping with Arianna and Ryan was curious to see what they got. He opened the closet in their bedroom and looked through the garment bags that were hanging up. All of the dresses there were ones Jessica already owned, and none of them a wedding dress.
He tip-toed down the hall and looked through their shared at home office and then Jessica's photography studio. He searched through the hall closet before he made his way downstairs to the guest bedroom. He searched through the closet and bathroom and even crawled under the bed. Ryan sighed and laid on his stomach under the bed, admitting defeat for the time being.
"Ryan, this isn't Christmas," Jessica's voice sounded from above him, "I didn't hide it under the bed." The springs on the bed creaked as Jessica sat on the bed. "Now why don't you come up here and I'll show you a good time."
Ryan chuckled and crawled his way out from under the bed frame. He crawled onto the bed with Jessica and kissed her passionately. "A guy can hope, can't he?"
Jessica giggled and laid down as Ryan crawled on top of her. "Well I figured since you found the presents I bought you last year if I brought my wedding dress here I shouldn't hide it under the bed."
Ryan laughed and ran his hands across her body. "Ok so where is it?"
"Still at the shop," Jessica teased.
Ryan groaned. "Why?" he whined.
"Because I have to go in for a fitting in two months," Jessica explained.
"Two months?" Ryan continued to whine, "Why that long?"
"Because a lot can happen in two months," Jessica continued. She ran her hands across Ryan's chest and down to his lower abdomen. "And there's one thing I've been thinking a lot about lately."
Ryan looked at her lovingly and ran his hands across her abdomen. "You know I've been thinking about the same thing, too," Ryan quietly said.
"So what do you want to do about it?" Jessica inquired.
Ryan unzipped her pants and ran his hands across Jessica's pelvic region between her hips. "I think I'd like to pursue this idea," he quietly said.
"Alright, then why don't we?"
"You sure about that?"
Jessica shrugged. "Why not? I mean my fitting isn't for two months, they can fix the dress."
Ryan's hands continued to roam across Jessica's body. "Alright then," he said as he began to pull off her clothes, "Commence baby attempt number one."
Looking under the bed for a wedding dress just seems like something Ryan would do. He's so silly.