This one-shot goes to Hope-Change -I think she's now Ringoisastarr, but I'm too tired to check it now, I swear I'll do it tomorrow!-. because she's awesome and she writes the best one-shot and she just deserves it. Right now, I've been oficially awake for 27 hours, so whatever mistake or whatever you see, I'll try to fix it by tomorrow. Hopefully, because Mr. FF is being mean with me now.
Love!!
It's all about you
"Boxers or briefs?"
Laura's cheeks turned a deep scarlet, and she focused her eyes on the floor, unable to look at the man in front of her, just in case he was glaring down at her. He had every right to glare down at her, though. Because who in their right mind asked something like that?
"…W-what?" The man asked, his voice sounding as awkward as she felt, but just a little bit amused. Laura could heard giggles and suppressed chuckles but she couldn´t distinguished if they belong to her friends –the ones she was going to kill in their sleep as soon as she got the chance- or his friends, standing beside him.
She inhaled deeply, trying to relax. Ok. You're a strong woman, you can do this. Not only you can do this you're going to be great at it. You're going to do this good. You're already on the dancefloor, so dance. And please don´t humiliate you any further.
"I meant, what do you wear. Boxer or briefs?" Laura managed to sound a little bit haughty, as she forced her eyes to travel up his body to his eyes. He was surprised and a little bit weary, but his eyes were laughing with amusement. That made her felt better. At least, he didn´t hate her.
"Oh." He said.
Laura was going to kill her friends. Next time she thought it a great idea to share with those Macbeth's witches her thoughts about the hotness of any male; she was going to think it better and stuffed her mouth with food in order not to speak up. Gemma and Violet would need to sleep with an eye open every night. Oh, she could already see her revenge. It was going to be sweet.
Laura was taken back to the world of public humiliation Gemma and Violet had forced her to live in by the melodic sound of his laughter, making her stop her plot to get rid of her two best friends to look up at him again, looking up at his laughing –and adorably, sexy, gorgeous, delightful, show-stopping, lust-inducing- face. And she blushed the whole catalogue of red shades of MAC. Because he was really hot. And sexy. And adorable. And the list went on and on.
Her smile froze on her lips when she realized her current position.
She wished she was dead, really, and to take Gemma and Violet with her for putting her in that awful position.
Because, really, there was nothing more humiliating that approaching sir Thomas Fletcher, Almighty mister of the top ten charted songs, and asking him, as if wondering about the weather, what kind of underwear he wore.
*·*·*·
"Guess what?"
Tom turned around to look at Danny with a bored and tired expression on his eyes. It had been a long day. Next time Dougie invited them to "help him with his bedroom painting" –not as if he couldn´t actually pay someone to do that for him-, he was going to make sure that the place was clean already. Because Dougie was known for his ability to collect piles and piles of junk and trash and god knows what.
"What?" He asked, biting his piece of pizza.
"I just saw someone outside of Doug's new bedroom's window." Danny said excited, standing on the top of the stairs and looking down at his friends.
"That was your reflection, mate. I know it can be scary, but it's not to make a scene." Harry offered, chuckling.
"No, idiot. It was not my reflection. Unless I suddenly became a girl." The curly haired boy stated frowning, and Tom almost laughed when he saw him check if he was not indeed a girl.
"Dan, you know the only girl around there is Mrs. Antonelli, and that it's not something important." Dougie stated grabbing another slice of pizza, but he stopped before getting to bit it. "Unless she's trying topless again. I'm not really sure I want to see that again…"
"What I mean," Danny said, frowning at their lack of enthusiasm, "is that I just saw the Boxers&Briefs girl."
Tom was the first one to stand up, throwing his slice of pizza to the box carelessly and running up the stairs to where Danny was standing, past him, and towards the window. Not even half a minute later, and the rest of his band was at his side, with their noses against the glass.
He figured it was not the right moment to say he really didn´t like to call her that. But he didn´t have anything else to call her, and he felt that future-bride-to-be-of—mine was just too creepy for his friends to accept. But, really, that was how he saw her. In part. He also saw her like a gorgeous girl. Funny, too. And any girl –and journalist didn´t count- that ask him about his underwear out of thin blue –not even saying hi, or something-, and then laugh the most adorably laugh he had heard since forever –a Pixar worthy laugh, that is- when he said he only wore Star Wars thongs –and he still wasn´t really sure why he had said that, but at least the realization that she had the most amazing laugh since Jack-Jack and that he loved it cut his humiliation short- was meant to be by his side in both the Oscars –the ones he was going the win with the movie about his life and his encounter with the aliens, that is- and when the aliens actually attacked –and actually take him and her with them because he was born a meant-to-be Jedi. For real.
"Oh, so now you're interested." Danny muttered, but he was grinning. Tom had being talking nonstop about the B&B girl since she had asked that question, and if there was something obvious in the whole world was a Thomas Fletcher with a crush. And this time, his friend was head over heels for the girl. Danny just knew Tom was going all 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my freaking Pixar god' in his mind.
"She's with Gemma!" Dougie exclaimed, almost too eagerly. Harry looked at him arching his eyebrows.
"Gemma, huh?"
"Yes, Mrs. Antonelly's granddaughter." The youngest boy said, blushing slightly. In order to get himself off the hook, he elbowed Tom. "Mate, ask the B&B girl out!"
"Yeah! Dougs knows her friend and he can introduce you two! And then he can take advantage of that to spend time with Miss Gemma." Danny grinned devilishly, making his younger friend blush.
"I don´t really know her."
Tom wasn´t really paying attention to them, too engrossed admiring the way his future-wife moved, laughing with her friends, accepting a glass of something clear from her redhead friend, and shaking her head at something Mrs. Antonelli said. She was really gorgeous, and she was something interesting, given the situation in which he had first met her. Because what girl asked that without knowing you? And not give you her phone, her number, her bra cup, after?
"Oh, god. You're following Danny's steps, you're a stalker now!" Harry said dramatically.
"I'm not a stalker!" Both boys declared, but Tom interrupted them with a very loud explicative course coming from Tom.
"Fuck!" He exclaimed, staring down at the girl. Something had made the B&B girl looked up, right at him. Tom waited a moment, standing as still as he could right where he was, just in case they –by that time, even Mrs. Antonelli was looking up- couldn´t really see him. But when the redhead girl waved, ignoring his wife-to-be complaints and blushing face, and the third girl, the blonde one, laughed really hard, he knew they were seeing right at him.
Oh, fuck. Now I'm the stalker…
"They're waving!" He said in panic, frozen where he was. What if she really thought he was a stalker, just like Danny and Dougie? What if Gemma, whether he was the redhead or the blonde one, knew about his stalker friend and was just distracting them so they could call the police?
"Wave back, you idiot!" Harry laughed.
"Oh, right." Tom muttered, moving his hand from side to side awkwardly. Down, near the neighbor's pool, the redhead giggled as the blonde elbowed his future-mother-of-his-triplets, telling her something in the ear. "Dude, what are they doing?" He exclaimed when he could actually pay attention to the redhead as she skipped around towards the grinning older woman and then right inside the house.
"God, Tom, you're acting like a retard." Harry declared, sighing as if deciding he could enlighten his friends. The redhead was back now, and Tom's crush stared at her friends with the same bewilderment as them. "She's clearly bringing papers, you see." He said, pointing to the girls.
"Yeah, now I can see that too." Dougie laughed, smacking Harry's hand down in case the girls could see them completely.
"Shush!!" Tom snapped, staring down at his blushing wife-to-be. She seemed agitated, shaking her head no to whatever her friends were offering. Even Mrs. Antonelli was laughing along, encouraging her to do…. What? The convincing didn´t last long, and when the blonde got tired, she just took the paper and a pen out of the redhead, and run towards the very edge of their propriety. Now Tom could see her more clearly, leaning more to the closed window, interested, as she wrote something down.
Before his future-UFO-traveler-companion could react, the blonde held right over her head two papers, towards them. Towards him. He just knew it. When his wife-to-be reached her, blushing madly and yelling, they had already read what she wrote.
"Well, my friend. Apparently it's mutual." Danny grinned.
Tom was beaming, and he didn´t even stop to answer because he was too busy searching franticly for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote something down, running back to the window after that and opening it, as the made the paper into a plane. Tom threw it down, with a perfect aim, and it landed right on the girls' feet. His future-bride picked it up.
Lor would LOVE a date!!
Me, too
*·*·*·
"I'm feeling very matchmaker right now."
Laura turned to glare at her blonde friend with all her might, but she knew the effect was lessened with her permanent grin, the one that she had been wearing since his plane letter. She tugged at the hem of her short dress a little bit worried. What if she couldn´t speak at all? What if he wasn´t what she thought he was, and was a total spoiled popstar? What if she ea -?
"Stop it already, you're giving me headaches." Gemma complained. "You look amazing and you're smart and you're funny and the guy practically fell in love even after you asked him that."
"Stop reading my mind." Laura protested in a low voice. "And I still need to get revenge for that one, too. But…. What if he doesn´t like me at all? What if he realizes I'm just boring and not supermodel popstar-girlfriend material?"
"Girl, if you're already thinking so far, you don´t have to worry." Violet pointed out, fixing her makeup. "He's a nice guy, for what he knows. And Gem here knows his friend, so she can probably kick his ass if he does something."
"Of course I'll kick his ass. His ass, and his friends' ass too. We can even key his car. That would be fun." The redhead said with a dreamy expression on her face.
Laura laughed at that, thanking the friends she got even when they were able to put her in the stickiest and annoying situations. "Thanks, girls. I don´t know what I would do without you."
"Die a crazy old cat woman." Both girls said at the exact same time.
"Yeah… Or live a happier life, that too." Laura frowned, jokingly, and hugged them both. Just before she could open her mouth, they heard a melodic ring around the house. She tensed up. Oh god, oh god, oh god…
"Want me to go first? Give you time to calm down?" Gemma asked, and even when she knew it was probably not a good idea to leave her impulsive friend with the man that could be the one going with her to her brothers' weddings in many years ahead, she nodded.
"Thanks."
"Relax." Violet ordered once the redhead was away. "It's just a date, it's not like your life depends on it. And if it happens not to work out, which I seriously doubt, it's because he's an idiot."
Laura wasn´t feeling like arguing that yes, indeed, her whole life depend on that. Because what if he decided she wasn´t worthy to fight the aliens with? Then she'll have to stick with her friends, and she really love them, but it wasn´t the same. Violet would probably give them a mayor speech about responsibility as the grade school teacher she was –with a dirty mouth, but it was part of her charm-, and Gemma would probably spot the cute aliens right away and have her way with them. They would not fight at all. And that wouldn´t be funny.
"Ok, I'm ready." She announced, grabbing the purse Violet had given her.
"Good luck." The blonde said, winking.
"Yeah, thanks."
Laura walked down the stairs towards the living room, wishing the scene playing over in her head had nothing to do with reality. She could picture Gemma and her older brother complex with her friends threatening Tom to treat her like a queen or else. And everyone knew that Gemma's or elses were worst than The Cat in the Hat's mom's ones.
Thank god, she didn´t have to worry. Her friend was actually sitting next to Tom, speaking animatedly with him about god knew what. Laura felt relaxed. If Gemma and Violet liked him, she was right in like him back; it was hard to her their approval, and it made things a lot easier.
"Hi." She whispered, gaining the undivided attention of Tom as soon as he noticed her there. And his reaction was more than flattering.
He stood up fast, staring at her with a delighted expression in his face. He liked what he saw. Laura was glad she had let her friends dress her up right then, it was worthy just to get a look of Tom's glance at her. She blushed, feeling a little bit awkward, but she loved the feeling.
"You look out of this world. Painted by Pixar." He said almost breathlessly.
Her cheeks were burning now. "Thanks. You look good too." She said in a whisper. And he did look good, more than good. Debonair, sexy, and dashing. Tempting. Laura wanted to run her hands all over him.
"This is my second skin. I wore it just for you. My original one is not that nice." Tom joked, grinning at her as he offered her his arm. Laura didn´t minded at all the old-school movement, and accepted it gladly. Any kind of awkwardness that may exist before that moment disappeared magically.
"That's because you didn´t see my real face. This is all potions to make you fall in love with me." She chuckled.
Tom smiled, and looked at her right in the eyes. "It's working." He confessed without any type of innuendo, just pure honesty. Yes, he was the right one for her. "If you're ready, we can get going any time you want." He said, tapping her hand on his arm with his other hand.
"I'm ready." She nodded, excited. Weirdly, she could only feel one thing. It was the same feeling before a roller-coaster made its abrupt drop. You knew it was coming, you knew you were going to be just a little bit scared, and you knew you were going to just love it. That feeling of anxiety in the tip of your stomach right before gravity disappeared.
"Ok, then. It was nice meeting you, Ge-……. Your friend is a witch." Tom stated, as he turned around looking for the redhead, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Laura laughed, and didn´t take it as an insult. "There's a reason we called her Kitty all her life. She can resemblance a cat in many ways."
"And you're sure she's not an alien, right? Or a Hogwarts student?" Tom wondered, accepting her guidance towards the door, still holding her hand in his arm. It felt right, nice, great.
"Not really. Sometimes I think she's the original Cassandra Trelawney." Laura laughed as he opened the door for her, and then closed her behind her. He led her to his car, and did the same. Really, was he trying to sweep her off her feet in the first half an hour of the rest of their lives? Because it was kinda working.
"I was thinking about Thai food, but if you want anything else, it's ok. I made a couple of reservations to keep everything in check."
Laura was surprised. "A couple of reservations?"
"Yeah. Even in a Starbucks, just in case you didn´t feel like eating, or something." He grinned, starting the car.
"Since when do you need reservations in Starbuck?"
"Are you telling me I was robbed out of those five dollars I used to pay for it?" Tom asked with an innocent perplex expression she loved. Both were laughing not too long after that.
"Thai food is good." She smiled.
*·*·*·
"Well…" She trailed off, looking nervous and… anxious? He wasn´t really sure, but seeing her fidgeting with her dress made him nervous. "I really enjoyed it."
"I did, too." He nodded, smiling, stepping closer to her. They were standing in her front door after one of the best dates he had ever had, and he hoped she felt like him. That night was the last proof he needed to know they were meant to be. And then, in his future bestselling book, he'll write something like 'she didn´t have me at Hello. He had me at Boxers o Briefs?' and everyone would think him really funny for that and only a select group of people would know he was actually just being honest and that those were her exact words. No matter that he knew now it was all a dare of her friends, and that made her even more adorably at his eyes. She wouldn´t think bad of he and his friends when they did stupid things in dares, too. "I want to do it again." Tom confessed, but he was sure that wasn´t close to a confession. Hell, he was sure even the NASA could know he really really like her.
"That would be great." Laura's smile was just perfect. Very Pixar. "I have Violet's art gallery opening next week, would you like to go with me?"
"Wouldn´t I'll be intruding?" He wondered.
"Nope, not at all. She'll be thrilled to have you there."
"Then I'll go. Definitely." Tom assured her, his gaze dropping casually to her lips, wondering how they taste. "But I don´t want to wait until next week." He pouted, stepping even closer to her. She didn´t back out, and Tom grinned. Laura liked him, too. Just as much as he liked her. It was clear. But he still needed to figure out what would she do if he happened to…. Kiss her. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
Laura looked surprised and shocked. Was that surprising he wanted to spend time with his future wife? "Tomorrow?.... Nothing. What do you have in mind?" Great, she doesn´t thinks you're a stalker!
"Actually…. Nothing. Yet. But I'll like to see you, that much I know." Tom confessed.
She blushed. "I like that too."
"Then it's a date." Tom said smiling widely at her. He wanted to kiss her. He really wanted to kiss her. More than he wanted to go to the space or to be a Jedi, which was a pretty impressive thing in itself. But, at the same time, he didn´t want to do anything that could ruin everything. Tom wasn´t sure how kissing her would ruin everything, but girls were complicated and he was not going to risk it.
"Yes. You have my number." Laura smiled, and then her smile turned into a smirk. "Unless you prefer other ways of communicating. Like paper planes. Or smoke signal?"
Tom laughed. "What about a chevalier to bring you a fancy letter?" He said, reaching for her hand and linking his fingers with her. He was making sure she was not going to slap him or push him apart of throw a glass of wine to his head, and when she didn´t do any of that, Tom grinned even more.
"That would surely shut my friends up for a while. Would I need to dress like Juliet or Scarlett?" Laura wondered jokingly, moving their entwined hands softly from side to side.
"Only if you feel like it." Tom said in a low voice, leaning towards her to whisper in her ear. He grinned even more when he saw the goose bumps on her neck and shoulders, and the temptation to kiss her all over was almost too much. Somehow, he wasn´t sure how, he managed to control himself.
Keep it cool, man. Control yourself!
She giggled, a soft melodic sound. "Wouldn´t that ruin my costume for Halloween?" Laura said, linking her free hand with his, too.
"We could go as Agents Mulder and Scully, then." He offered. Tom knew if he wanted to control himself, he should move apart of her skin, because he didn´t want to rush things. But it wasn´t that easy to do, not when she smell like strawberries and cinnamon and her skin looked as tempting as melting vanilla ice-cream in a hot, sunny day. Slowly, he lowered his face to his neck, giving her time to break apart if she felt like it. She didn´t, and when he was half an inch away of her skin, he kissed her. Softly, lovingly. Her neck tasted as good as it looked.
Laura dropped his hand, only to get hers buried in his hair, following the trail of kisses he did across her skin towards her chin, stopping shortly after her lips. She had her eyes closed, and she was breathing heavily. He felt strangely proud of the reaction he got from her.
"Can I kiss you?" Tom asked, closing his own eyes, feeling something he had never felt before. He needed her approval to kiss her, and that was more than weird.
"You don´t ask for a kiss." Laura stated, but before he could feel crushed in his expectations, she stood in her tiptoes, and kissed him herself. It was a sweet kiss at first, her lips over him, moving slowly, painfully seductive, but as soon as her tongue touched his lips, everything was set on fire. His body, hers, the floor, the wall, their clothes, the street, his car, everything.
When they broke apart, he was breathless, but happier than he had been in…. well, maybe forever. With a girl.
"I've wanted to do that since you came here, so I figured I could just as well start it myself." Laura said sheepishly, kissing his lips softly one more time.
Tom blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I….. I didn´t want to ruin anything by taking things too fast." He confessed, which got a snort out of her.
"You clearly don´t live with Violet and Gemma." She laughed. "And just the fact that you don´t want to ruin it is enough for me."
"I want this to work." Tom stated, because he felt he should. He felt really happy, too, and in desperate need of a cold shower, but that could be dealt with later. "It may be weird to say it now, but… I really want this to work."
She smiled. "Then that makes us two. It would be weird if you say something like… I don´t know….. I don´t really like Star Wars, or I eat rats for breakfast because of their amazing brains. Now that would be weird."
"But they are amazing. Real tasty. It's almost as good as frogs' legs. I'll make some for you when you come to my house." Tom said, feeling quite proud of his smoothness to invite her over.
"Then I'll have to bring dessert, right? Is baby fingers with seasoning of raspberries and blood enough?"
Tom laughed. Yeah, she was meant for him. "That sounds great."
"It does, innit? Probably better than what it taste, but we'll make it work."
"Of course." He assured her, kissing her one more time, because he knew they were going to make it work. It was meant to be. She belonged with him.
*·*·*·
"Please, girls. Please. Behave. Don´t do anything out of order. Don´t be mean, witches, seductresses, bitches –"
"We're going to be good! Geez, L, everyone would think you don´t trust us!" Violet complained.
"That's hurts, you know? We're here just because you ask. We had real dates for this Halloween night. Fionn MacDiarmid and Luke Worrell. Do they sound familiar to you?" Gemma said crossing her fingers over the tight blue corset she wore.
"Only because you two mentioned them over and over for the past week." Laura answered. Deep down, she knew she was just freaking out and her friends were trying to help her relax, but it was not going to work. She was going to meet the family of her future husband! It was not a trip to the park or something.
"What she means is that you have to relax. We're here for you. Tom's here for you. And no one that raises a boy like Tom can be a bad person." The blond said, brushing something out of her friend's Dana Scully's costume.
"Maybe if you had listen to us and dress like sexy Snow White you would be feeling more confident." Gemma offered.
"I think we have too many sexy whatever with you two." Laura stated, pointing at her friends' costumes. Gemma was a sexy witch –with endless heels and fishnets include- and Violet had decided for a sexy Dorothy Gale. Somehow, they managed to look PG 13, and that was something. "Just… please. Behave. Please?"
"Yes! Stop worrying. Violet is not going to have her way with Tom's friends in the bathroom. Scout's honor." The redhead joked.
"Neither is Gem. We're going to be good girls." Violet promised. "Now, can we please knock? It's going to rain any time now and I don´t feel like getting wet."
"Oh… Ok." Laura accepted, but she didn´t need to knock, because before she could even touch the wood, the door opened to reveal a young blonde girl dressing as Mrs. Lovett, from Sweeney Todd.
"Oh! You must be Laura!" Mrs. Lovett exclaimed happily. "Tom thought there was someone on the door, but he didn´t feel to come and check. Figures." She laughed, moving from the doorway to let them inside the house. "I'm Carrie, by the way. Tom's sister. It's nice to finally meet you. He talks about you a lot. You're Gemma and Violet, right? Dougie complete the picture." She joked.
If Laura wasn´t so nervous about meeting Tom's family, she would have probably noticed Gemma's brilliant eyes and slight blush. "It's nice to meet you, too." She said, hoping to not sound like an idiot.
"As you can see, L is nervous as shit." Violet explained, making her blush, but Carrie just laughed.
"Don´t worry, Laura. Mom's not a mean mother-in-law, I promised. She's dying to meet you."
She nodded, but there wasn´t much she could do, really. She inhaled deeply, trying to relax herself just a little bit as Carrie give her a few moments to compose herself. Then, the door to the living room opened in front of them to reveal the Fletcher family and many other invitees. Suddenly, her resolution disappeared. Maybe she had had to listen to her friends. In her Dana Scully costume she felt out of place around so many witches, vampires, zombies, cartoon characters and the like.
Until Mulder appeared in front of her.
"Laura!" Tom exclaimed delighted, not waiting to reach for her wait and kiss her in the lips.
Yeah, everything was going to be ok. She had him, after all.
"You look great, better than the original." He stated, winking at her. "Come here, I want you meet my mother. Dad's MIA at the moment, probably getting the pumpkin cupcakes out of circulation."
Laura smiled, letting him guided her towards a woman that looked very much like Tom. There was something in the way she smiled at her as soon as she saw her that made Laura feel comfortable, and her nervousness disappeared just like that.
"Tom, she's really pretty. I'm Debbie, very nice to finally meet the famous Laura." The woman said, and as soon as she was close enough, she hugged her. Laura was surprised, but also happy, and she hugged her back. "You make my son really happy. Don´t be nervous, you're part of the family."
See? Nothing to worried about, said an annoying voice in her head that sounded mysteriously a lot like Gemma and Violet.
*·*·*·
"Look at the bright side," Danny stated as they walked the few meters left to their destination, "if you happen to feel out of place, you can always go back to our house to celebrate Christmas's Eve there with your pretty girlfriend."
Tom laughed, hiding his nervousness with it. "I'm going to be ok. I think I love her." He confessed.
"Are you sure?" Ant asked, surprised. "We can find a cure for that." He added, and they all laughed.
"No, I don´t want it, thank you very much. If she was brave enough to meet my parents, I can meet hers." He stated, more to himself than to his friends. Tom stopped in front of the door.
"Ready?" Harry asked, patting his back.
"Yeah."
Come on, Tom, be a man! It can´t be that bad!
He knocked, and not long after, the door opened to reveal an older woman of tiny body and long hair dyed purple. She was wearing a red velvet gown that reached her knees, and it was spunky and youthful and looked great on her. Mrs. Antonelli was a beauty when she was younger, but she was beautiful even at her age.
The woman stared at them for a whole three seconds in silence, and then grinned. "Dougie, how lovely to see you! I didn´t thought Gem would actually invite you, she doesn´t like boys here." She said winking. Tom didn´t notice Dougie's blushing, too worried for the woman's approval. He had heard Laura talk about Mrs. Antonelli as one of the most important persons in her life, and he knew getting her approval was even more important than getting Laura's father's. "Danny, I see you got rid of those long curls. You should be glad you're gorgeous or I wouldn´t talk to you ever again. Trent Williams said it, down to where it stops by itself." She sang with a lovely voice. "Ant, I don´t see you with any of your lady friends now. I'll set you up with Violet! Harry, it's been a while. You're the only one with my permission to have short hair. You and that guy Puck from Glee… And Tom." Mrs. Antonelli finally stopped to look at him and he stopped breathing just in case that was what she expected. He had paid attention to the conversation, too worried to think. But she grinned, and he suspected she couldn´t really hate him if she grinned. "I like you, you're brave. And you're not annoying like my Gem's ex boyfriend. Or the one after that one. Or the one after-… you get the picture. Don´t worry, my boy, you only need Laura's approval to get mine, because god knows she's the only smart out of the trio."
Tom sighed relieved. "Thank you, ma'am. And let me tell you how lovely Pixar-y you look tonight." He grinned, too happy to care if she didn´t got his praise.
Mrs. Antonelli laughed. "Yeah, Laura told me about your Pixar obsession. I think it's great to keep in touch with your inner child. But don´t call me ma'am. I'm Theresa. Come on, come on, I'm sure the girls are waiting for you."
Tom offered her his arm, and followed her lead toward the place where a huge Christmas tree and a long table was set up. The place was full with Gemma's family, a typical Italian family, and her friends' families too. Walking with his friends and Mrs. Ant- Theresa, he felt like the king of the world. He could face Laura's father. Yeah, he could.
"Now, I only have to say something to get over with, ok?" Theresa said in a soft voice after guiding his friends to the snacks table and introduced Violet, Laura's pretty blonde girl, to Ant, before taking him towards his future wife.
"Whatever you want, Theresa." He accepted, nodding respectfully.
"You hurt that little girl, and you'll be sorry, ok? I may be old, but I can kick your butt. This is just regular stuff, ok? I know you're not going to hurt her. I can see it in your eyes." Theresa grinned. "Oh, look. Your little girl is looking over here. She may get jealous, so I'll let you to her, ok?"
Tom nodded, but as soon as he saw her, everything stopped having sense, the world stopped moving, the air was different, and everything seemed to moved around her. Laura. She looked beautiful in a white dress, with her dark curls framing her face, and her eyes shining even brighter with a touch of makeup. Probably thanks to Gemma and Violet.
"Merry Christmas." She said when he reached her side, after he kissed her. Tom felt like an idiot for not remembering that before, but he couldn´t really worried about it when he was with her.
"Merry Christmas." Tom repeated, smiling at her as he slid an arm around her shoulders. "Should I take this opportunity to accept Dan and Dougie's offering of his house to hide from your father?"
Laura laughed softly. "I don´t think so. He's talking with V's mother right now, so he'll probably even thank his daughter's boyfriend to escape her. Are you feeling like facing him now?"
"Would I sound too bad if I say something like…let's get this over with fast? Not because I don´t like your parents, but be-…." Laura grinned at him, and kissed her on the lips. "If that's the way to shut me up, I'll keep talking over and over and over and over and ov-…"
She kissed him once more, and then she broke apart. "Ok, let's go now. Ok?"
"Ok."
Tom was nervous. He wasn´t going to hide it, because that was plain stupid. But as close as he got to Laura's father and Violet's aunt, the more he felt like turning around and just eloping to….. Switzerland. They had chocolate there, and McFly could probably start something there, too.
Right before stopping by her father, she turned to offered him a reassuring smile, and she squeezed his hand. "It's ok. I felt just like you when I met your parents." She accepted, smiling. He nodded, praying to every single Pixar, Music, or whatever god to not make him look like an idiot.
"Hi. Dad? I want to introduce you to my boyfriend. Tom." Laura said. As Violet's aunt excused herself, the man turned to them. Tom swallowed with some difficulty as he stared him up and down, analyzing him, trying to find any flaws he could have, trying to find him lacking. He was going to survive it, because he wanted to be with that man's daughter. He was a to-be Jedi, he could survive this! This was nothing against fighting with the Force!
Laura's father watched them both in silence for some long minutes. If it wasn´t because she was so relaxed, Tom would have probably die of a heart attack by then. But she looked so calm… he was going to trust her with her own father, right? She knew what was going on better than him, probably.
Finally, after what looked like forever, the man looked him in the eye. "You could have done much worse. At least he has all his teeth. And he looks clean cut. He's ok. I'm James Starr, nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine." Tom said, holding a relieved sigh to his mind.
Yeah, everything was going to work, no matter how.
He was happy.
*·*·*·
"Violet told me you're not that good with dates." Tom said from across the table. They were sitting in a fancy restaurant, celebrating something Laura wasn´t really sure what it was. But after her boyfriend's words, she felt a little bit guilty. Had she forgotten about their anniversary? No, that couldn´t be. Violet had made her remember two months ago. And how could she forget that magical trip to Polynesia? It has been just amazing.
"She did?" Laura asked, worried, as she started to franticly analyze the date. What could have happened in that time?
"Yeah. And I told her that was ok, because I'm good enough for both of us." Tom grinned winking at her. She smiled, but she couldn´t relax knowing there was something she should know and couldn´t remember.
"Ok, I give up. What happened today?" She asked, and he chuckled.
"Well…" His cheeks turned a slight shade of red she found adorable. "Tonight, a whole ago… we made love for the first time." Tom confessed.
"So it's official." Laura muttered, more than surprised. Weren´t girls supposed to know and remember those kinds of things? What was wrong with her?! "I'm an idiot. Why are you still dating me if I can´t remember the important things?"
"Because I love you." Tom laughed. "And I don´t really care if you don´t remember them, because I know you care, and that's enough for me. I swear." He stated, leaning over the table to kiss her softly on the lips.
"No, really, you should dump me. Violet remembers things better than I do, date her."
"She's with Ant, he'll probably won´t really appreciate if I steal his girlfriend. Besides, I don´t Violet like that. I want you. And I didn´t make this to make you feel sorry."
"You should."
"Stop the Bella act." Tom ordered, grinning, as he reached for her hand and linked his fingers with hers, looking up at her with a soft smile. "I have something for you."
"Good, make me feel bad for it." Laura whispered, and she wasn´t been sarcastic. It was better if he did make her feel bad. That was normal.
…You REALLY are acting like Bella with Jacob….
"Stop that, woman! Are you going to listen to me or not?"
"Ok, fine." She accepted, nodding slowly. "I'll listen, I promise."
"Good." He smiled, taking something out of his pocket and placing it in the table in front of her.
Laura's heart stopped beating when she saw the small purple velvet box. The perfect size for a ring. Oh god, you're not ready to be a wife!! Not at all!! She contemplated for a slight second standing up and running away, but his face was so adorable she couldn´t manage to do so. Ok, so she wasn´t wife material. But she didn´t want to lose him. At all.
"Come on, open it!" Tom said with a wide smile, motioning for her to do just that, his eyes shining with mischief.
When she reached for the box, her hands were shaking, but she forced herself to be strong. She could do it. She was a smart, powerful woman, and she was going to face it with -…
"A… key?" Laura said completely shocked when she finally opened the box. Tom couldn´t hold it anymore and broke up laughing, and she was too surprised to feel annoyed by it. Not like she would feel annoyed, anyway, because it was Tom, but still. "What…. What does it open?" She wondered, analyzing the key over and over to see if maybe, just maybe, it had something that would give her any clue about it.
It didn´t.
"I'll explain in a minute, but you have to let me rephrase it so it won´t sound chauvinist, or so Gemma said. First of all, you have to know that I loved the idea from the very moment we became serious, and I started to really ponder it some months ago. And now, finally, it seems the situation we're both in is perfect for it. I'm not asking you to drop your life for me, I swear, and I don´t expect you to become a second mom or something. I'm not really sure why Gemma and Violet felt I should make that really clear to you, because I'm sure you already know it. But they were pretty adamant about that. I love you, and I want to spend all my time with you, and that's the only reason for this. Be-…"
"Tom." Laura interrupted him, because she was not really understanding what was he asking her. It was not marriage, that she was sure of, but if it wasn´t that… what was the key about? It wasn´t a car, and it sure as hell wasn´t a puppy name tag like the one that guy had given Natallie in Charlie's Angels. It looked more like the key to… a house. "Oh, god." She finally whispered. "Don´t tell…?"
Tom grinned. "Laura, would you move in with me?" He asked with the most adorable exciting gleam in his eyes. "I know you have to think it over, so I don´t expect an answer right now."
Seriously, the guy was crazy.
Why would she have to think that over? Come on!
"Oh, Tom." She said softly, dropping the box and the key on the table as she stood up and went to his side as fast as she could. "Yes! Yes, I'll move in with you!" Laura announced happily, passing her arms around his neck as he put her on his lap, grinning the widest grin she had ever seen.
"God, I thought you were going to break up with me. But really, I swear it's not a sign of my misogynist impromptu, and I don´t want you to stop your life to move in with me. It's just that I would really love to have you around all the time you're free and Violet told me about the contract for your apartment, and-…."
Laura laughed and kissed him once. "You talk too much. And next time, don´t ask my friends for this kind of things."
"What? You're planning more of this askings?" He asked jokingly, kissing her. "I asked Harry, too, but he gave m a long speech about how bad it was to involve a girl in your life. I think he's still angry with Ashley-….. I'll stop talking now." Tom said sheepishly.
She smiled at him. "So… does that mean I get a whole side of your walk-in closet?" She asked, batting her eyelashes at him dramatically.
*·*·*·
"No, no. Wait!"
Tom reached for her arm almost desperately. He had been angry, furious, just five minutes ago, but at the prospect of losing her, of having her walking away just as furious as he was to go to Gemma's house, he was suddenly…. Well, not angry anymore. Everything seemed in perspective now, and he couldn´t stay mad at her. Not for something so stupid and useless he didn´t even remember.
"What, Tom? This is useless! I knew it was a mistake. I should pay attention to what my friends do and not to what they say. This is all wrong!" Laura snapped at the verge of crying as she tried to jerk herself free. Her baggage was on the bed, and she was throwing her clothes in when he stopped her. He felt even guiltier at that sight.
"It's not a mistake! Everyone has fights, Lor! It's a stupid fight, and we're going to work it out! I'm not going to let you give up on this just because we're angry." He said fiercely, grabbing both her shoulders and making her face him. God, he loved that woman.
"Let me go, Tom! You made me wait for you! You made me feel like an idiot! I don´t want to be here right now!"
"I know. Believe, I know, and you can´t even begin to imagine how sorry I am! But if you go now, it's always going to be there. We need to talk. Please." Tom said with a desperate tone in his voice. At least she had stopped fighting him and was now just staring at him, not as furious as before. "I was a bastard. I should have call, I should have taken you with me, and whatever excuse no matter how real it is would never be enough. And I know that if you go right now and disappear right now from my life, and send to the Lepers Island, I'll deserve it. Just, please don´t do it."
"Fine." Laura muttered, but her eyes were shining with a different light. She was amused. "But only because I love your skin the way it is."
Tom smiled, hugging her to him, ready to let her go if she asked him. But instead of doing that, she hugged him back, burring her head in his chest. He caressed her hair, more than relieved the storm was over now. "That means…. You're not leaving me, right?"
"No, you dodo. I really love you too much to do that. I wasn't really goi-…"
"Let's do this. Next time, if there is a next time, you offer me to Gem to practice her witchery tortures. Ok?" Tom interrupted her, kissing the top of her head.
She grinned. "Oh, you do love me." Laura sighed jokingly, letting him push her baggage out of the bed. "Just don´t ruin the Louboutins, V would kill me. Seriously kill me."
"Ok, we'll take care of the Loubowhatever. See?" Tom said, showing her as he dropped the shoes carefully over the chaise in one corner of the room. "Now… Can I enjoy some nice tranquility with my future wife here on the bed while we patiently wait for the ice-cream to arrive?"
"Ok, fine." Laura accepted, jumping on the bed next to him, as Tom hugged her to himself.
"I really love you." He whispered softly.
*·*·*·
"We have something to say."
Around him, his friends stopped chattering around and focused their attention on the couple. Tom linked his hand with Laura's, playing softly with the ring he had put on her finger earlier. Truth be told, he wasn´t that excited about sharing that secret with them, but she was adamant in that.
However, before he could even think his next words exactly, Gemma interrupted him.
"I have something to say, too." She said with a wide smile, but Dougie elbowed her to interrupt her. Or so Tom thought at first. "Ouch! Us, I mean." She protested. Gemma had just come back from a trip to France and was sitting currently next to Dougie, who, casually, had also just returned from his vacations in Italy. Tom stared at them surprised and suspicious. They were acting quite strange, even for them. What was going on with those two?
Looking around the table, Tom realized he wasn´t the only one surprised by their behavior, and that made him somehow feel calmer. If he wasn´t the only one not knowing, then he wasn´t an amnesiac idiot. Yet, at least. And that was a huge relief.
"But you called dibs, so go on." Gemma interrupted herself, as if she had just remembered that little piece of information.
"No, no, now I'm interested!" Violet complained, leaning over the table towards the redhead. "What's going on, huh? Don´t tell me you're on drugs and decided we were good enough dealers.
"Now, V, that's ridiculous." Ant laughed, sitting next to his girlfriend. Since that Christmas' Eve three years ago when Tom had met Laura's parents and Theresa introduced Ant and Violet, those two had been completely inseparable.
"Yeah, it is. But now that you mention in…." Dougie said thoughtfully, joking.
"Dude, if you succeed with that, I expect some mayor gifts from you two. Like… Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo…. Everything like that." Laura stated laughing.
"But I want to know what's going on if it's not some narc emporium!" Violet demanded.
"Jem has a point, doll. Let Tom have his moment, Babyface." Ant grinned, caressing the back of the blonde.
"Yeah, Tom called dibs." Gemma repeated, and Tom smiled at her. That was right. He had dibs, he deserved the attention! It was immaterial if he wanted to tell if at first or not, now he was going to say it no matter what. Just because.
"Yeah, let's hear him!" Danny exclaimed eagerly.
Laura blushed, but she gave Tom the most amazing smile he had ever seen. She was really happy, and it showed. And he was damn proud of being the one involved in making her that happy. "It's an important announcement that concerns us both, but also all of you…" She started.
"Please, tell me you changed your awful idea of pink dresses!" Violet interrupted her, pleading jokingly, but Tom and Laura stopped completely, looking at her wide-eyed. How did she know?! "Oh… my… god… You are!!! That's amazing!!!" The blonde shrieked, standing up and running to Laura, hugging her with all her might.
"Hum…" Tom muttered, turning to his friends as the three girls shrieked as banshees in the loose. "Well, they surely figured it out fast… We're getting married." He explained, less excited than before, but still as proud of that as ever. Really, girls were just problems. Would have killed them to let him announced his own bloody marriage?!
"Congratulations, mate!" Harry grinned, patting his back as he was sitting next to him.
"Poor Laura, now she's going to suffer from endless hours of Star Wars and Back to the Future for the rest of her days." Danny laughed.
Tom didn´t even take the time to glare, too happy just with holding her hand to care about the puns of his friends. Or the annoying girls that happened to be like sisters to his future bride. They both meant well. Right?
He wasn´t really sure when he started to pondered about actually getting married, but it had not been a hasty decision. Tom had seriously think it over for almost a whole year, or so, and finding out that she felt exactly the same way as him when he finally dared to ask was more than he could have ever ask for. Then, after that, it had been an easy ride. He wanted to be with her the rest of his life, waking up every morning by her side and visiting aliens in Mars just holding her hand. Why not ask? Tom had needed to know how she felt.
And Laura feels the same.
He still couldn´t quite believe it.
Yeah, deal with it! Tom was a cheesy, corny man. So what?
"So," Ant wondered when everyone calmed down a little bit, "what was that so important it couldn´t wait, huh?" He asked, turning to Gemma and Dougie.
Dougie smirked sheepishly, giving him the appearance of a little boy under the Christmas tree the night before when he was supposed to be sleeping. "Well…" He started with the same mischievous tone that matched his expression.
"It's going to sound stupid and irrelevant now, after Laura and Tom, but…" Gemma trailed off, as the boy linked his fingers with hers. Tom looked down at their hands, noticing a small ring in one of his fingers –the important finger, as Tom had decided to re-name it-that wasn´t there before. It was one of those cheap toy rings, with a small picture of Slimer, from Ghostbusters, in it.
Well, your ring is way better than, he couldn´t help to think, right before realizing what his own thought really meant.
"We got married." Dougie announced shocking everyone to silence.
Tom pouted. Great, now your wedding announcement is going to be forever tinted with the Poynters actual marriage… He was tempted to throw a tantrum, because, really, it was supposed to be his day –everyone knows the wedding is the bride's day, after all. But Dougie had beaten him!
Life's so unfair. If we were a Pixar movie-…..
If we were a Pixar movie, admit it dude, but life wouldn´t be quite as interesting. There would be no sex!
It only took him half a minute to realize the stupidity of his reaction, and congratulated his friend. After all, he had gotten the girl, anyway, and it could very well be their night. Ice-cream, movie, bed, that sexy red lingerie Violet had given Laura for Christmas…
The best of all, was that he had not only gotten the girl, but The girl. The girl of his dreams, the one that fit every single one of this thoughts and songs and fantasies. And she liked Star Wars just as much as he did.
"Congratulations!" Tom exclaimed, a little late in comparison with the rest. "Who would have thought? Baby hairy bassist getting marry." He said as if he was talking to a baby. Dougie laughed.
"Yeah, I'm still thinking he just drugged me." Gemma pointed out with a wide grin.
"You," Laura started, glaring at her friend, "are a whore. What happened to never getting married?!"
Tom almost laughed at that.
"Blame France!" Gemma defended herself innocently.
"And how did you dare marrying without me?! Without us! That's so totally unfair!" Laura pouted.
Tom chuckled, leaning towards her and winking. "Our party is going to rock theirs!"
"Hum…" Ant said pensively after some moments to calm down the exciment. He offered his girlfriend a sheepish look as he kissed her forehead. "What do you say, V? Do we join their train??" He asked smirking.
Violet elbowed him and scowled. "In your dreams. One of us has to remain sane, dude."
Laura smiled at him and kissed his lips softly, forgetting about the populate restaurant they were sitting at. "I'm happy." She announced with a soft smile. "Are you happy?"
"More than ever." And it was truly true.
*·*·*·
"I swear to god, Laura Annabelle Starr, if you keep going like this I'm going to tear your dress to pieces and FORCE YOU DOWN THE AISLE HALF NAKED!!!"
"V, as always, is being slightly overdramatic, but I have to say that you're getting on my nerves too. Stop it already, because everyone and their mother know that there's no chance in hell for you not to walk down the FUCKING AISLE. So you could as well save us this drama!!" Gemma snapped, standing up with Laura's white Louboutin before Bridezilla could stomped on them and kill them.
Laura pouted at her friends, too nervous to even cry. "But, girls!" She protested, trying to make them understand how she felt. She knew damn well she was doing to walk down the aisle, but… what about Tom, huh? Or her dress? What about that models that somehow had managed to get invited? She was going to look awful next to them! She could probably just kick them out… right? It was her day, after all.
"Can I come in?" A male voice sounded from across the door. "I have a peace offering." The man said, opening the door just enough to slid inside the room a bottle of Dom Perignon, holding it with one hand for them to appreciate it. "I heard it's great for nerves." Dougie said, with a grin clear in his voice.
"Oh, thank god!" Laura exclaimed, running to the door as fast as she could with her dress on and dragging him –and the bottle- inside. She really needed something, anything, for her nerves.
"Great, now she's going to get married drunk. Didn´t you have a joint around there, too?" Violet asked frowning.
"Oh, shut up. Rather drunk than naked. Right, Doug?" Laura asked, opening the bottle and drinking right from it. She sighed after the first sip. "Oh, this is heaven."
"Nice to be of any help." Dougie ginned, hugging the brunette with one arm as he accepted the bottle she handed him.
"Thank god the lipstick is one of those stay-on-forever." Violet sighed, denying her turn of the champagne. Not even Dom Perignon was going to make her ruin her makeup.
"Eight minutes to go!" Announced the wedding planner, and Gemma immediately hid the bottle behind her emerald green dress, letting it over a small table. "Are you ready, girls?... and boy?"
"Yes, yes. We're ready. We're all ready. We were born ready." Laura assured, waving her off. Next time, she was going to accept the redhead smartness and eloped. Yeah, that's it. Elope.
… With Tom, obviously, so it wouldn´t really be eloping…
Gemma helped her with the shoes, as Violet handed her the small, delicate bouquet.
"Good luck, babe. You're the most wonderful bride in the whole wide world." The redhead said, hugging her friend. "Keep your eyes on the prize." She whispered jokingly, letting Dougie guide her outside.
"You're beautiful, Lor." Dougie winked before disappearing behind the wedding planner.
"Don´t worry, doll. That man there is your soulmate, girl." Violet grinned. "And, besides, there's always divorce." She laughed, walking away with one last air kiss.
Once Laura was alone, she took a deep breath. "Ok, girl. This is your day. Party of the century and all, thanks to Gem and V. This is going to be amazing."She said to herself.
Laura was sure she was going to get married, it wasn´t that what made her nervous. It was the fact that she was getting married with Tom Fletcher. She felt like Bella with Edward, he was just too good for her. Not that she wasn´t good enough for him, of course not. She was not the kind of girl to think less of herself depending on who she was with.
"Are you ready, kiddo?" Her father asked as he stepped inside, hugging his daughter to his side. Laura nodded, smiling. "You look beautiful, kiddo. I never really thought I would live to this day." He joked.
"Oh, come on, dad, you're not that all." Laura laughed, winking at him.
"It's your moment." The wedding planner said with a wide smile, guiding them towards the door in front of the aisle. "When you're ready…"
So, this is it.
Laura smiled. Yeah, that was it. She was going to be expending the rest of her life with the man she loved. She wasn´t nervous anymore, not as the doors opened, and in front of her, across the aisle, was Tom waiting for her. It was just another long walk to reach him. Like going to the studio to have dinner for him, or walking to Danny's house for some movies. Because, to her, the wedding didn´t really mean anything. It was just a party to celebrate what she already knew. That she loved him, and he loved her back.
There was no reason to be nervous.
Right?
Besides, Violet was right. There was always divorce, right?