Chapter 10

It was towards the end of April, and Charlie and Alex have been so caught up in their wedding plans they barely had time for other things.

"There are so many things to do for this stupid wedding!" Charlie screamed out.

"babe, calm down, start with something simple and work your way from there"

"okay then, so what do you think we should have for desert at the wedding?" Charlie asked Alex.

"I don't know, something chocolatey" Alex replied with a smile.

"that's not even a word" Charlie said.

"it is in my vocabulary" Alex said, Charlie just laughed. Soon the phone rang and Charlie picked it up.

"hello?" Charlie answered.

"hey Char"

"hey Paige, what's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure you guys are coming over for dinner on Friday right?

"we are?" Charlie asked.

"yeah of course, don't forget to remind Alex"

"alright sure"

"ok, bye hun"

"bye"

"what did Paige want?" Alex asked.

"apparently we're going over for dinner the day after tomorrow?" Charlie asked.

"oh, okay" Alex replied, mildly surprised.

"any idea why?" Charlie asked.

"well-"

"oh my god! We didn't hire a band yet!" Charlie said as she jumped up to get the phone book.

"yeah, let's do that" Alex replied sadly.

After Charlie had hung up the phone she walked back over to Alex. "okay so the guy on the phone said we could stop by on Friday and he said we would have a few bands audition for us and then we can choose which one we like. But right now we're going to go taste testing for wedding cake and some other desert for our guests."

"mmm, food" Alex said.

"yeah, food, uh huh, let's go" Charlie said grabbing Alex and rushing out the door.

Charlie and Alex finally arrived home a few hours later.

"I thought you said we were just taste testing for cake and desert?" Alex asked sinking into her comfy couch.

"yeah well if I told you we were picking out the whole menu would you have come?"

"no" Alex replied simply.

"exactly"

"that's evil" Alex said.

"no, that's just smart" Charlie said as she sat down beside Alex. She moved Alex's arm around her shoulder and leaned into Alex, and Alex just relaxed against her fiancée.

"do you ever think we're too young to get married?" Alex asked randomly.

Charlie sat up straight and faced Alex "is that what you think?" Charlie asked.

"no, no… well sometimes, but then I remember I'm marrying you, and then it just doesn't seem like it matters. But the thing is, we're only 22 and 21, most people don't even get married until they're like 25 or something" Alex said hoping Charlie would catch a hint.

"yea, but those people who get married at 25 only get married so late because they haven't found the right person yet." Charlie said relaxing back into Alex.

"yeah, you're right" Alex said as she put her other arm around Charlie. "I love you" she whispered into her ear.

"I love you too" Charlie replied as she turned and kissed Alex.

On Friday…

Alex was slowly awoken by a body next to hers moving. It was obviously Charlie and she was obviously just waking up.

"no" Alex mumbled as she grabbed Charlie and pulled her back down on the bed.

"babe, we got to get up we have to go check out the bands today" Charlie said trying to get out of Alex's arms.

"please?" Alex said.

"fine… just for half an hour" Charlie said as she climbed back into Alex's arms.

"thank you" Alex whispered as she put her arms around Charlie from behind her. Soon they went back to sleep peacefully. But before they knew it their half an hour was up. Seeing what time it was Charlie got out of bed, this time making sure Alex got out with her.

"I don't wanna" Alex said jokingly as if she was a 10 year old about to throw a temper tantrum.

"come on baby, why do you want to sleep in today?"

"I just thought that we could have some alone time today" Alex said.

"babe, we spend every day together. Now move your ass" Charlie said pushing Alex into the bathroom.

'She forgot' was all Alex could think as she got ready. After Alex finished showering she stepped out and let Charlie go in and take her shower.

"okay, I'll shower, you get dressed and what ever" Charlie said.

"yeah uh huh" Alex mindlessly muttered. As soon as the door to the bathroom shut Alex flopped down on her bed in only a towel and drifted back to sleep. Charlie stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later in only a shower and sighed angrily when she saw Alex sleeping, half naked on the bed. She walked over to her and shook her awake.

"what's with you today? You usually get up when I tell you to" Charlie said.

"I just like to sleep in sometimes" Alex said as she started to get up again. Charlie threw some clothes at Alex telling her to get ready and got dressed herself. As Charlie and Alex were about to walk out the front door, something caught Alex's eye. It was the answering machine.

"um babe, go start the car and I'll be down in a sec I just want to check the messages" Alex said.

"yeah okay, don't fall asleep on me" Charlie said.

"yeah okay" Alex replied. Charlie walked out the door and Alex walked over to the answering machine. She pressed play on the answering machine and waited to hear a message.

"you have one new message" the automated voice said. All of a sudden a triplicate of voices started to sing.

"happy Birthday to you

happy Birthday to you

happy Birthday dear Alex…

happy Birthday to you"

"Hey Charlie, hey Alex, just calling to sing you a happy birthday, after all you are part of the family now, but we're sorry we couldn't be there" said Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.

"yeah, our tours a little crazy, but we made sure to wish you a happy birthday" said Joe.

"so once again…" started Tom.

"happy birthday to you" they all sang in unison. Then the beep from the answering machine sounded, signaling the message was over. Alex smiled.

"at least someone remembered" Alex said out loud to her self and walked out the door.

In the car Charlie was talking about a bunch of wedding stuff and Alex was ignoring her, but just enjoying the look on Charlie's face. She could tell Charlie was so excited about this wedding, she got to plan everything, which was fine with Alex, because she wasn't big on planning. But she knew Charlie wanted everything to be perfect, and she wasn't about to take that away from her.

Alex's staring at Charlie was interrupted by Alex's phone ringing.

"hello?" Alex answered.

"hi Lexi!" her mom said.

"hi mom"

"I was just calling to wish you a happy birthday!"

"thanks" Alex replied.

"well I won't keep you, I'm sure you and Charlie have a fun day planned out already" Mrs. Nunez said.

"yeah, something like that" Alex replied with a small trace of disappointment but her mom didn't catch it.

"alright, bye sweetie"

"bye" Alex said and hung up the phone.

"what did your mom want?" Charlie asked.

"just wanted to say hi, I haven't talked to her in a while" Alex said with a fake smile that even Charlie couldn't tell she was lying.

"oh okay" Charlie said, she was about to say something else but Alex's phone rang again.

"hello?"

"happy birthday" Paige said.

"thanks Paige"

"so what are you and Charlie doing today?"

"um we're just going to check out some bands for the wedding" Alex said.

"on your birthday?" Paige asked.

"yeah…"

"why would she take you to… oh my god, she didn't!" Paige practically yelled.

"ok look, don't tell them" Alex said trying to make it seem like she wasn't talking about Charlie, considering she was in the car with her. "they've been pretty busy lately and I don't want to put any pressure on them"

"Alex, just tell her, the longer you wait to tell her, the more she'll feel guilty"

"no, just leave it Paige. And don't even think about telling her-them yourself" Alex threatened.

"fine, but when she kills you for not telling her, don't blame me. I'll see you guys later tonight" Paige said and hung up the phone. Alex closed the phone and smiled at Charlie who just smiled back.

All of a sudden Charlie's phone started to ring. Charlie pulled it out of her purse and before she could answer it, Alex took it from her hand.

"it's dangerous to talk on the phone and drive at the same time" Alex said making up an excuse. She opened the phone

"Paige, what did I tell you?" Alex answered angrily.

"can't blame a girl for trying." Paige said innocently. "plus she's going to have to find out sooner or later"

"goodbye Paige" Alex said and hung up the phone.

"what was that all about?" Charlie asked.

"nothing, but I think I should hang on to your phone today" Alex said.

"what? No, I need my phone!" Charlie said trying to grab it from her hands. But Alex just moved the phone out of grabbing distance.

"don't worry, I'll give it to you if it's about the wedding or something, it's just I don't want you talking to Paige until we go there for dinner"

"why are you acting all weird today?" Charlie asked.

"I'm not… well I am, but… it's just… what kind of flowers are we using for the wedding?" Alex asked quickly changing the subject. And as soon as she mentioned the word 'wedding' Charlie began to talk about the wedding again. Alex saw her face light up when she heard the word. She didn't know why she was so excited about the planning of the wedding, but it made her happy, which made Alex happy.

Over the next few hours Alex received phone calls from Marco and Dylan (together), Ellie, Ashley, Spinner and Jimmy. She even got a call from Charlie's parents earlier. The only person that seemed to have forgotten was Charlie. As soon as Alex hung up the phone from speaking with Jimmy, Charlie started talking.

"another call?" Charlie asked.

"yeah" Alex replied.

"what's with all the phone calls today miss popular?"

"I don't know…" Alex lied.

"liar" Charlie said. "give me my phone, I'm calling Paige."

"no, you can't!" Alex quickly said.

"Alex, give me my phone, now" Charlie said forcefully.

"no" Alex said dropping Charlie's phone down her pants.

"yeah, like that's really going to stop me" Charlie said about to reach for Alex's pants, but was stopped when the guy who arranged the band's auditions came over.

"Charlotte Barker?" he asked.

Charlie quickly turned around. "yeah, that's me" Charlie said.

"so what did you think?" he asked.

"okay well we really liked the third band" Charlie said. Funny, Alex didn't remember Charlie asking her about what band she liked best.

"alright, good choice, so do you want to book them?"

"please" Charlie said. They walked away to fill out some paper work, leaving Alex by her self. Alex pulled out Charlie's phone from her pants and put it away in her bag.

After checking out the bands Charlie and Alex headed home for lunch, and then later would go out for dinner at Paige's.

"so what do you want for lunch?" Alex asked as she stood in the kitchen.

"what ever you're having" Charlie called out from the living room. Alex quickly made a couple of PB&J sandwiches and put some chips on the side of the plate and took it out to her fiancée.

"so you still haven't told me why Paige was calling earlier" Charlie said.

"isn't there something about the wedding we have to do?" Alex asked taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"no, you've changed the subject enough today, just tell me" Charlie said, but soon Charlie's cell phone rang again.

"Paige stop calling" Alex answered.

"tell her already!" Paige yelled.

"no" Alex said sternly.

"that's it" Paige said and hung up. As soon as Alex hung up their home phone rang, and after one ring it went straight to the answering machine. That's how Charlie and Alex programmed it. Alex was about to jump up and turn off the machine when Charlie jumped up and knocked Alex to the floor. She straddled Alex and pinned her arms down.

"hey you've reached Charlie…"

"and Alex. Sorry we can't take your call, we're to busy having hot wild sex!" Then the beep came.

"Charlie it's Paige. I know you're at home, today is Alex's birthday. I repeat, today is Alex's birthday. That's all" Paige said and hung up.

Charlie looked down at the girl underneath her in complete and udder shock.

"oh my god" Charlie whispered as she got up off of Alex and ran over to her bag. She pulled out her organizer frantically and Alex got up. She flipped to today's date and saw that the day of April 27th was decorated in pretty colours, all surrounding huge letters that read 'Alex's birthday'.

"oh my god" Charlie whispered again. She looked up at a sad Alex who was just standing in the living room. "Alex, baby I am so sorry! I have no idea how I could forget your birthday!" Charlie said as she ran towards Alex and pulled her into a hug.

"it's okay…" Alex said trying to comfort Charlie.

"no it's not, we're engaged and I forgot your birthday. I feel like a complete jack ass"

"Charlie, don't worry about it"

"why didn't you just tell me?"

"I don't know… you were busy doing all the wedding stuff and you looked so happy"

"I'm the worst fiancée ever! So this is why everyone was calling you today? And that's why you wouldn't let me have my phone. Alex you should have just told me instead of going to all these lengths to avoid it!" Charlie said, her voice now turning to anger.

Alex just looked down in her spot. "you just looked so happy, and all I want is for you to be happy"

Charlie pushed Alex lightly on the shoulder.

"what was that for?" Alex asked.

"I don't know, it seemed like the right thing to do since you hid this from me!"

"…" Alex didn't say anything.

"who called you today?" Charlie asked.

"um, my mom, Paige, Dylan and Marco, Ellie, Ashley, Spinner, Jimmy, your parents, and Uncle Steven and the rest of Aerosmith" Alex said listing out everyone.

"oh my god! Everyone remembered but me" Charlie said, she had tears in her eyes, as she sat down on the couch. Alex sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug.

"come on baby, don't cry… please" Alex said.

Charlie wiped the tears out of her eyes, but they kept coming. "I promise, I will make it up to you" Charlie said.

"no you don't have to… all I wanted to do was be with you on my birthday… and I technically got that" Alex said, unintentionally emphasizing 'technically'.

"okay tomorrow, we're going to do what ever you want. I don't care what it is we'll do it! Okay?"

"Barker, really we don't have to"

"no. tomorrow we'll spend the whole day together, nothing about the wedding and we'll just have fun. Okay?" Charlie asked again.

"alright" Alex said giving in. "I'm sorry I lied to you"

"I'm sorry I forgot about your birthday. I feel terrible" Charlie said.

"don't worry, things happen"

"yeah, but those things don't happen to me. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Charlie, I never blamed you in the first place. You can't be so hard on yourself"

"I know I just… I can't believe I forgot… I look forward to your birthday every year, I don't even know how I could forget."

"you know, I know a way to get rid of the guilty feeling…" Alex said slyly.

A smile crept up on Charlie's face "oh really?" she sniffled, the tears quickly disappeared.

"yes really" Alex said.

"tell me then, what can I do?" Charlie said as she sat across Alex's lap.

"well come here, and I'll show you" Alex said as she leaned down to kiss Charlie.

The next day Alex woke up to the sight of her fiancée staring back at her.

"hey beautiful" Alex whispered.

"right back at ya" Charlie said. Alex pulled Charlie closer to her body and basically hugged her, but kept her there.

"so as promised, today you and me are going to spend the day together." Charlie said playing with a string on Alex's shirt.

"you know we don't really have to do anything" Alex said.

"would you stop saying that already? We are going to spend the day together whether you like it or not" Charlie said forcefully.

"alright, if I have to…" Alex said sarcastically. "so what's the plan then?"

"um it's kind of a surprise… so go get ready and we'll leave in about half an hour, okay?"

"alright, but how are we going to both get ready in half an hour?" Alex asked.

"well since we only have 30 minutes we're going to have to shower together…"

"The sacrifices I have to make…" Alex said earning herself a slap in the arm from Charlie. "I'm kidding. Come on you, let's save some time…" Alex said as she got up and pulled Charlie into the bathroom. About half an hour later Charlie and Alex were just leaving their apartment and Alex saw Charlie carrying a picnic basket.

"we're going on a picnic?" Alex asked.

"sort of… not really" Charlie said as they stepped into the elevator.

"well that helps" Alex said.

"I told you, it's a surprise, but this is just for the trip there."

"and there would be?"

"you'll see…"

Charlie and Alex had been driving for a couple of hours just spending time with each other laughing and talking. It was fun.

"Jack's Mannequin" Alex said.

"dark blue" Charlie replied. They were playing this sort of game, where one person would say a band and the other would have to guess their favourite song by them. Both girls were pro at this game, after 4 years you tend to learn a few things about each other.

"fall out boy" Charlie said.

"dance dance"

"damn" Charlie said.

"uh, something corporate"

"punk rock princess" Charlie replied.

"yeah…" Alex said.

"three days Grace"

"over and over" Alex said.

"I think we spend too much time together" Charlie said as she held Alex's hand in hers as she continued driving.

"on the contrary, I don't think we spend enough time together" Alex said as she kissed the back of Charlie's hand while still holding it. "so are we there yet?"

"for the 10th time. No!" Charlie said.

"oh come on, we've been driving for like 2 hours"

"and we'll get there soon, just don't worry"

"can you at least give me a hint?"

"okay… um, we've been here before" Charlie said.

"okay, is it the ice cream store down the street from our apartment?" Alex asked jokingly.

"hun, we've been driving around for 2 hours, we would have been at the ice cream store by now…"

"so that's a no?"

"that's a definite no" Charlie said with a smile, sometimes Alex could be so childish, but for some reason Charlie loved that about her.

"fine, then give me a better hint"

"uh we've had sex there" Charlie said.

"oh Barker… that could be like… anywhere" Alex said.

"ok fine, it has water" Charlie said giving the worst clue ever.

"is it Marco's parent's cottage?" Alex asked.

"oh my god how did you know!?" Charlie asked stunned.

"one, because I'm a genius, and two, because I just saw their mail box with their last name on it"

"cheater" Charlie said as she parked the car beside the cottage.

"sorry I'm not blind" Alex said sarcastically as she got out of the car.

"so you like it?" Charlie asked standing beside Alex.

"I love it" Alex said as she pulled Charlie into a hug.

"well I love you" Charlie said.

"I love you too" Alex said as they walked towards the cottage.

For the rest of the day Alex and Charlie spent the whole day just doing things they wanted to do, they went swimming, watched movies, took a walk around the area and made their way over to the old park they were at 4 years ago, it was all basically what Alex wanted to do on her birthday.

"so you want to start a fire?" Charlie asked not realizing how dirty it sounded.

"we already did that this morning" Alex said slyly.

"not that you horn dog" Charlie said slapping Alex on the arm. "I meant a real fire"

"oh, yeah sure" Alex said mentally laughing at herself.

About 15 minutes later Charlie and Alex had started up the fire and were both sitting on a bench, side by side, underneath a blanket just enjoying their time together.

"you want anything to drink?" Charlie asked.

"nah, it's just not the same when everyone isn't drinking with you" Alex said.

"well then it's a good thing we showed up" a male voice came from behind the two. Alex craned her neck in that direction and saw Spinner, Paige, Marco, Dylan, Ellie, Ashley and Jimmy all standing behind them.

"no way!" Alex said jumping up to see them.

"oh come on, it's not a party until I'm here" Spinner, who was holding 2 cases of beer, said. Alex started walking towards him as if she was going to hug him, but instead took the beer from him and walked away.

"I'm just kidding" Alex said as she put the beer down on the picnic table and one by one hugged them all.

"I can't believe you guys are all here" Alex said.

"yeah well, Charlie called us all up and informed us of her situation and had to do something" Ellie said.

"thank you baby" Alex said as she kissed Charlie and put her arm around her. "so who wants to play a game?" Alex asked knowing it would just be a repeat of their last time up here.