Hi all my lovely readers! I'd like to take this time to thank everybody who has been reading my story so far. I love reading all of your reviews, and it would mean so much to me if you continued to share your kind words so I know you're enjoying the story and I should keep writing.
Hope you like the new characters! They have some important roles in this story. This chapter is a bit on the longish side, but I've realised, as I have planned out how this story will go, this story will be quite long. Hope you like long stories! ;)
"Is it just me, or is the bartender really cute?" Trish whispered as she walked over to Ally. Ally furrowed her eyebrows and looked across the room to the bar, to see a fairly tall, slender, dark blonde male wearing suit pants, a white shirt and a black vest.
"Yeah, he's pretty cute." Ally agreed. But Ally wasn't really interested in the bartender. She was more concerned about all the guests that had arrived for their engagement party.
They had set up their party in a private function room of the Plaza, it had been decorated according to Austin and Ally's chosen colour scheme: red and yellow. She loved seeing the two colours together through napkins, flower arrangements and the cupcake tower. It was like seeing a little bit of them everywhere about the room.
"But guys should be the last thing on your mind, Trish. Go on, I want you to get to know the other bridesmaids." Ally shoved her toward her friends, receiving a glare from her best friend. Ally smirked.
"Yes ma'am." Trish replied, mimicking a brief courtesy in front of her before proceeding toward the girls. Ally frowned but ignored it.
Ally joined Austin as he spoke with a few of his relatives in a circle. In the circle, Ally noticed another blonde haired 20-something year old male, perhaps older than Austin, and definitely handsome.
"Here she is, the future addition to the Moon clan. Everybody, this is Ally." Austin introduced Ally as she smiled warmly to her to-be relatives, Austin's parents also standing with them.
"It's so nice to finally meet all of you." Ally greeted, shaking their hands.
"It's not often we get a brunette within the Moon line. This is good, we can change up the hair colour." An older man, presumably Austin's uncle joked. The rest of his family laughed.
"Blondes and brunettes look great together." Austin added.
"Well, you two do anyway." A woman said, taking a small canapé from the waitress.
"Oh, Ally you remember my cousin, Ayden? When you asked Kira to be a bridesmaid I asked him to be a groomsman, remember?" Austin introduced his cousin as Ayden politely smiled.
After Kira and Ally had first caught up, they had gone shopping together and spent a lot of time together over the month. Ally had felt it only right to include Kira in the bridal party, which she had happily accepted. Afterward, Austin had no difficulty in asking Ayden to be part of his groomsmen, especially since he had felt guilty for leaving him out in the first place.
"Yes of course. Hi! And congratulations, Austin told me the good news." Ally shook his hand as she gestured to him and his wife who was standing right beside him, who was obviously pregnant. A year and a half earlier, Austin had been a groomsman at Ayden and Sarah's wedding, which Ally had attended too with Austin. Sarah was the same height as Ayden, very attractive and blonde. Ally suddenly felt very cautious of her brown head of hair.
"Thank you, we're very excited." Sarah said warmly, touching her stomach. Ayden put his arm around Sarah as the two couples continued to talk. Ally blushed as Austin took hold of her waist.
Later, Ally stood by the bar with Trish, Zoe, Georgia, Carrie and Kira – the full party of bridesmaids. Ally loved seeing all of her closest friends together, ready to share and prepare for her special day.
"Well, your photographer is pretty rude. She wouldn't take any of my suggestions." Dez complained as he approached the girls. Ally raised her eyebrows at her red-haired goofy friend.
"Why are you giving the photographer suggestions?" Trish pressed, as Ally looked over at the sweet photographer taking pictures of her family and friends.
"Uh, hello? I'm a director?" Dez reminded her, waving his hands around. Trish didn't appear moved by what she was saying.
"What, you think she's seen Zombies Resurfaced for its photographic quality?" Trish challenged in a condescending tone. Dez glared down at her.
"Yeah, who hasn't?" Dez declared.
"I haven't." - Zoe
"What was it?" – Kira
"Zombies what?" – Georgia (in unison)
Dez looked down with a sigh, deflated at the response. Carrie flew to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I've seen it. I loved it." Carrie comforted her boyfriend. Dez looked at her.
"Thanks babe." He replied, walking away from the girls as Carrie followed after him.
Ally shook her head with a laugh and felt a hand on her arm. She looked up to see Kira dragging a good looking dark, tall male behind her by her other hand.
"Ally, I want you to meet my partner, this is Kyle." Kira said brightly, holding onto his arm. Ally smiled wholesomely and shook his hand.
"Congratulations, Ally. Kira always raves about you whenever you're on the radio." Kyle complimented as Ally blushed.
"Well, thank you. I actually owe part of my career to Kira. She let me sing at what should have been her own breakthrough concert." Ally revealed, looking over at Kira who smiled lightly.
"Yeah, dad wasn't all too thrilled about that." Kira said. Ally bit her lip. She did not see such a nice story diverting back to the one topic she wanted to avoid in front of them both – Jimmy Starr.
"Hey, I hope you're excited about our wedding destination." Ally changed the topic. Kyle nodded.
"Yeah, it should be nice to go back there." Kyle put in.
"You still have to show me pictures of this mysterious Museum and Gardens in Miami I have never heard of." Kira reminded her. Ally laughed. She recalled Kira's fun-loving attitude and interests which included many of Austin's - video games, films and concerts, not like Ally who took interest in art and literature.
"Yeah sure. You know it's near the library." Ally pointed out, still seeing a blank expression on Kira's face.
"We had a library?" Kira repeated, as Ally pressed her lips together and patted her on the back.
Austin's groomsmen sat by the bar drinking and talking with one another. Dez came to them and sat on a stool next to Daniel.
"Hey man, what are you drinking?" Dez asked, looking at Daniel with his whiskey. Daniel looked at him.
"Whiskey, you want one?" he offered, proceeding to hail the bartender but Dez stopped him.
"Oh no, I don't really drink that much." Dez explained, making Daniel's eyes go wild.
"Oh man, you have not lived!" he commented. Dez smiled goofily and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't tell me you haven't tried shots before either?" he went on. Dez shook his head.
"Nah, I usually just have beers. Besides, Carrie would kill me if I did those hard drinks." Dez explained. Daniel blinked once at him.
"All this because you have a girlfriend? Man, now I remember why I love being single! Haha!" he laughed a little too loudly. Dez furrowed his eyebrows as he laughed. Austin saw the scene and came to place his hand on Dez's shoulder.
"Don't take him to seriously, man. When he's sober he's not nearly as crazy." Austin said, patting his shoulder and proceeded to leave again. Dez nodded but was suddenly intrigued by Daniel's words.
"Maybe I should try those shots you were talking about." Dez thought out loud, looking at the bartender. Daniel looked at Dez.
"Nah man, not tonight … Ally said this is supposed to be a somewhat classy party. Let me get you something different, eh?" Daniel offered. Dez smiled willingly as Daniel called the bartender and ordered Dez a foreign alcoholic beverage he had never heard of.
"Maybe, when we have that bachelor party for Austin … we'll go all out and do those drinks. What do you say?" Daniel suggested as Dez drank the last of the new drink, obviously enjoying the last drop.
"Absolutely. But first, get me another one of these." Dez said, as Daniel laughed and spoke to the bartender again.
"Daniel is really cute, huh?" Georgia whispered toward Carrie, taking a sip from her diet coke. Carrie looked in the direction Georgia was looking and seemed confused. As she was new and a little slow at times, she couldn't figure out who Georgia meant.
"Who?" Carrie asked, looking around.
"The guy talking to your boyfriend." Georgia pointed out, as Carrie looked directly at Dez and saw the back of the boy he was talking to.
"How can you tell? All you can see is the back of him." Carrie said confusedly, as Georgia looked at her with a smirk.
"It's a pretty good view isn't it?" Georgia said with a giggle as she looked at Daniel's frame closely. Carrie pressed her lips together and shook her head.
~ with Dez and Daniel
"You mean to tell me you've only been with one girl your whole life?" Daniel pressed, as Dez nodded happily.
"Yeah, we broke up while I was in LA but we got back together soon after." Dez explained as Daniel just stared at him.
"Man, you and Austin really believe in this whole one woman your whole life thing don't you? Was there something sickly romantic in that ocean water in Miami?" Daniel asked with his eyes narrowing from side to side. Dez stared blankly and thought about the concept literally for a moment.
"Not that I know of-" but Daniel cut him off.
"See, I prefer exploring the local supermarket … looking for a new neighbourhood, or trying an exported brand." Daniel analogised.
"So you're the ladies' man? That's funny … I used to call myself the Love Whisperer." Dez automatically whispered the familiar title as Brad came down to sit next to him.
"Did anybody actually call you that?" Brad asked him. Dez went to reply but was stumped.
"You see there was this huge conspiracy about the whole thing while I was in high school … I mean I did also call myself Dr. Cupid …" he explained in a mess as Daniel shook his head. He looked up and gazed across the room to Georgia who seemed to give him a flirtatious look. Daniel was instantly intrigued by her and returned the look.
"I'm gonna go talk to him." Georgia announced, beginning to walk away from Carrie.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Carrie warned with concern in her voice. Georgia looked at her.
"I don't know, let's see." Georgia moved forward and walked to the bar.
Daniel looked from Georgia to Brad and Dez and braced himself.
"Watch the master, students." Daniel whispered to them. Brad rolled his eyes.
"I don't really remember asking for a lesson …" he muttered as Dez pressed his lips together and watched Georgia stand next to Daniel.
"I was just telling Carrie that I think you look pretty cute tonight." Georgia opened slyly. Daniel frowned and looked up.
"Don't use the word 'pretty', that's reserved for you." Daniel replied with a wink. Dez just stared blankly as Brad rolled his eyes again.
"Oh, give me a break." Brad commented under his breath.
"That's sweet. So what are you drinking?" Georgia asked, leaning her elbows on the bar. Daniel lifted his drink and swirled it round.
"Whiskey … you want one?" Daniel asked, taking a sip but not keeping his eyes off her. Georgia stared back at him and was about to reply when Ally barged in between them.
"Daniel, can you keep some of my bridesmaids sober? This is supposed to be a classy party." Ally warned, rushing off before he could reply.
"Then why do you have a bar!?" he challenged, as Ally shook her head and kept walking. Daniel turned back to Georgia with a smile.
"So can I get you a drink?" he offered again. Georgia smiled but shook her head.
"No thanks. I'd prefer talking." Georgia replied, as Daniel just looked at her blankly, unsure of how to respond. Brad leaned in toward Dez.
"He may be good at the flirting and the sex part but talking is not exactly his forte with a girl." Brad explained in a whisper as they observed the silence between the two. Nevertheless, Georgia sat down next to him and she tried to engage him in interesting conversation.
Zoe and Chase approached Carrie who was still standing on her own. Zoe had her hand locked firmly in Chase's while his other hand was occupied with a drink.
"Hey, Carrie. What's going on?" Zoe asked politely as Carrie nodded toward the bar.
"Georgia went to go hit on Daniel … I wanna see how this turns out." Carrie explained. Zoe looked over while at a perplexed Chase who looked directly at Carrie.
"You mean Austin's groomsman Daniel?" Chase repeated as Carrie looked at him with a frown.
"Are there any other Daniels at this party …?" Carrie asked. Chase shook his head.
"Does she not know him already?" Chase went on as Carrie shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know … probably not much more than me." Carrie said. Chase shook his head.
"What's the big deal anyway?" Zoe asked her boyfriend.
"Daniel is a player. He has a night with one girl, goes on to a new one the next day. If he breaks her heart then there might be some unwanted drama in the bridal party." Chase explained.
"You can't seriously mean that he's as bad as what you made him to be …" Zoe tilted her head.
"He's worse. I'm telling you if Georgia is looking for something serious, Daniel is not the guy." Chase said. Zoe looked over to the bar again and thought for a moment.
"I'm sure George will be fine. I don't even think she's looking for something serious anyway." Zoe concluded.
After the speeches, The full bridal party eagerly waited for Austin and Ally to sit down with them. This was the first time they were all together, so it was important that they started planning many things in advance. Most of the guests had already left, so the bridal party stayed back to talk with one another.
"God, there's so many things to organise. The wedding, the ceremony, the reception, the photo shoots, the dresses, the suits, the flowers, the …" Zoe listed, as Ally held her hand up to stop Zoe from talking. Ally laughed nervously.
"Okay, yeah … there's a lot to do. But I figure that if we just take one step at a time, I won't freak out … right?" Ally suggested, turning to Austin for comfort in her words. Austin smirked at her and placed his arm around her waist.
"Don't worry, Ally. We'll get through this one step at a time. It's gotta be done carefully cause I want you to have the wedding you've always dreamed of." Austin said, kissing the top of her head. Carrie smiled at them and mouthed 'aww'.
"We've always dreamed of." Ally corrected him. Austin smiled at her.
"Well, maybe we should go wedding dress shopping as early as possible. Then later we can do the bridesmaids dresses." Trish suggested. Ally's eyes lit up.
"That's a great idea! If all of us girls go in the next few days it would be good since Trish is going back to New York soon." Ally said, looking around the table at the girls. They all nodded along and finally decided to go on Saturday through some boutiques in New York City itself. Georgia looked at the boys.
"And what are you guys gonna do?" Georgia asked. They boys were silent, and turned to Austin who seemed just as lost for an answer.
"I don't know, what do you think, Dez?" he asked helplessly, knowing Dez would not be able to come up with a good answer. Dez opened his mouth, but Daniel leaned over him.
"Bachelor party!" he chanted, holding his stretched out palm to Brad who smacked it obediently. Ally looked at Daniel carefully and slightly turned to Dez.
"Dez, about this bachelor party … I would really appreciate it if there were no strippers." Ally requested, fearing she would receive a bad response. Zoe immediately agreed with her while Daniel and Brad fell into remorse.
"Yeah, I don't want you going anywhere near a stripper, buster." Zoe pointed over to her boyfriend Chase, who threw his hands up in mid-air.
"Hey, I didn't suggest it." Chase defended himself, as Zoe leaned back in her chair. Carrie let out a noise of disgust, thinking about strippers.
"I don't see the point of having a stripper anyway … the idea is to get excited about getting married, not think about why you shouldn't." Carrie pointed out as Georgia nodded. Kira shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't see anything wrong with seeing a stripper," Kira put in, caring little. Carrie gasped as Ally turned to her with her eyes wide open.
"Kira, what are you saying?" Ally questioned her. Kira laughed, still seeming firm on her viewpoint.
"What's the big deal, Alls? Those people know what they're doing. And I think you should have enough trust in your partner to know that they wouldn't do anything stupid." Kira explained, soon turning to Kyle with a sincere look on her face. Kyle smiled at her crookedly. Zoe laughed.
"Wow, you have an awful lot of trust, Kira." Zoe commented. Kira shrugged her shoulders and kept smiling lightly. Trish sighed.
"I think I have to agree with Kira." Trish said regretfully. Ally leaped back in her chair, her eyes now bugged at out at her maid of honour.
"What?" she said, trying to calm her tone as much as possible.
"Well, if Austin doesn't have one … that means you can't either." Trish pointed out. Ally pressed her lips together, obviously unmoved by her comment.
"I'm okay with that." Ally replied slowly. Trish looked somewhat distraught by her answer. Ayden leaned over the table.
"I personally didn't have a stripper at mine." Ayden put in. Sarah smiled.
"But I don't think I would've minded if you did. I mean, you wouldn't do it again." Sarah added, as Ayden looked at her. Ally looked at both of them carefully. There was no way she would change her mind about this. A silence filled the table for a split second.
"Are we getting strippers or not?" Daniel cried, his eyebrows furrowed and slightly anxious in tone. Everybody turned to him, but only Ally and Zoe were quick to respond.
"No!" they both replied in unison, leaving a deflated look on Daniel's face. Austin turned to Ally.
"I don't care what happens. Whatever you want is cool." Austin assured her. Before Ally could respond, Daniel quickly intervened.
"Dude, you don't have to be a pushover already … you're not married to her yet." Daniel reminded him. Austin shook his head but turned to Ally reassuringly. Ally kissed him on the cheek.
"You … need to be quiet." Zoe warned Daniel with a stern look in her eyes. Daniel laughed it off, but upon seeing her eyes once again he quickly sat still in his chair. Ally sighed.
"So, shopping on Sunday morning then?" Ally confirmed, glancing over at her bridesmaids. They all nodded. It was Friday night, and Trish would be leaving Sunday evening so Sunday morning seemed like the only good time to at least start looking.
As they all began to put on their coats and began to say their goodbyes, Ayden approached Austin and Ally with his pregnant wife.
"Guys, I hope you understand that as much as I'd like to help with the wedding …" he began, but Austin cut him off.
"Ayden, don't worry about it. Sarah and the baby need you right now." Austin filled in the words ready to leave Ayden's lips.
"Absolutely. We'd just like you to come to the rehearsal dinner to prepare for the ceremony. There is 100% no pressure." Ally went on politely. Ayden smiled with appreciation, and so did Sarah. Ally beamed and stood closer to Sarah.
"We didn't even get to talk!" Ally said, looking at Sarah who was glowing. "When are you due?" she asked excitedly.
"Only five months to go." Sarah replied with a wide grin. Ally grinned back at her and immediately turned to Austin.
"This is so exciting! I'm gonna be an aunt!" Ally exclaimed, as they all laughed.
Putting their coats on, Dez turned to Daniel.
"So, you're pretty bummed out about the stripper, huh?" Dez asked, straightening his coat collar. Daniel had a dark look in his eyes.
"I'm not giving up yet, man." he replied. Chase slapped his palm on Daniel's shoulder, Brad next to him.
"We need to get you a girlfriend." Chase said. Chase placed his arm around Dez and headed for the door with Brad, leaving Daniel who soon ran to walk with them too.
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