Chapter Twenty-Five – Big Time Wedding Part 2
"What are you doing?"
Sydney yawned quietly and looked up from the carton of ice cream and blinked rapidly as Julius flipped on the kitchen lights. "We're eating ice cream, what does it look like?" he responded and dug his spoon into the chocolate ice cream again, smiling as he took out a large chunk of brownie. Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah ignored their older brother and continued eating quietly.
"It looks like you're getting fat at three in the morning." Julius remarked and grabbed a spoon out f the drawer and sat down next to his brother and scooped out a chunk of the ice cream as well. Sydney silently shrugged and continued eating. "Listen, guys, I think I know why you've been acting so aggro lately."
"We haven't been acting aggro." Patrick defended himself.
"So your mean streak is normal?" Julius asked as he twitched an eyebrow, speaking around a mouthful of ice cream. "I mean, that's normal for Riley, but that's really out of character for the rest of you." He pointed his spoon at Noah and Sydney. "Especially you two."
"So we're bummed," Noah shrugged one shoulder. "So what?"
"What are you bummed about?" Julius questioned casually.
Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney glanced at each other and then looked down, staying silent. Julius sighed and then turned to Sydney and kept his eyes on him. Sydney shifted in his seat, looking at Julius out of the corner of his eye, then bit his lip and made a whimpering sound as Julius continued to stare.
"We don't want you to leave, alright!" Sydney finally burst out.
"Way to stay strong, Syd." Rhuben commented sarcastically.
"What are you talking about?" Julius asked incredulously. "I'm not leaving, yes I'm getting married in the morning," he looked at his watch. "Later today," he corrected himself. "But after the honeymoon we're going to be back and working with you guys."
"That's not what he means," Noah commented and brushed his hair from his face, his hand shaking slightly. "What he means is that you're going to be moving out, to who knows where, and starting your own family."
"Yeah, that's sort of the point." Julius stated. He then thought for a second and let out a noise of recognition as he sat up straight. "You're still suffering from separation anxiety, aren't you?" he quickly continued. "And don't try to deny it, when we were younger you practically screamed and cried each time you left the house."
"But that was only because they were so young we didn't really have anyone to play with." Rhuben declared as she motioned to Patrick, Noah, and Sydney. "They followed us everywhere!"
"Which is why you followed me everywhere?" Julius cocked an eyebrow.
"So?" Riley looked annoyed. "There's no problem with that." Her features softened and she slumped into her chair. "I mean, it's not your fault that you haven't really been around as much for the past couple of years, but it's still hard to see you leaving us again."
"I'm not leaving you," Julius insisted. "I want all of you to pay attention to me when I say this," he immediately got their attention. "No matter how far away I am from you guys I'm still your big brother and I'm still going to be looking out for you guys. Just call me and I'll be able to help you with whatever you need. Brittany too." He added and gave a half smile. "Don't forget that you're gaining a big sister as well as the rest of her family."
"Don't you think our family is big enough already?" Rhuben commented.
"Yes," Julius admitted. "But don't tell her that." He chuckled and then turned serious again. "I'm always going to be there for you guys, even when you think that I can't be. You know that right?"
"Yeah." Came the unanimous reply.
"Good," Julius smiled and smacked his spoon against the back of the carton and stood up. He then gave each of his brothers and sisters and kiss on the forehead. "Good night."
"You know one good thing about the idea of you moving out is?" Sydney spoke up and smiled as Julius turned around, waiting for the answer. "We get more ice cream than you do." He smiled and stuck out his tongue before taking another bite of ice cream.
"So, can someone explain tom e why we're getting dressed now when we still have two hours before the wedding is even close to starting?" James asked as he tried to tie the tie that was draped around his shoulders. "Fuck!" he cried when the knot slipped again.
The boys were getting dressed for the wedding and they were all gathered in the guest room that Kendall and Logan were sharing. Jo, Camille, Stephanie, and Katie were getting dressed in the room that the four of them were sharing.
"Here, let me." Logan walked over and started to quickly tie James' tie. "You know you can actually still do simple things, even if you have a cast on one arm." He added.
"I know," James grinned. "But it's better to have people do things for me than to do them myself."
"You're so lazy." Kendall commented as he straightened the collar of his pressed shirt before tying his tie himself. "Anyway, we're getting ready now because if we wait and leave later, we'll get stuck with all of the paparazzi and the guests that are going to the wedding." He finished and turned to the mirror. "I mean, think about it, the brother of the most famous band here is getting married, there's bound to be some sort of mob for pictures and stuff."
"Yeah, it's like the royal wedding that's supposed to happen soon," WayneWayne spoke up as he brushed his hair. He paused and shrugged. "Just less, you know, royal."
"That's a great way of putting it." Logan commented dryly as he laughed a little. He lifted his head and looked around. "Hey, where'd Carlos go?" he asked suddenly.
"Do you guys always get this worried whenever Carlos wanders off?" WayneWayne asked when he noticed the fearful expression on Logan's face as Kendall and James quickly looked around, only just then noticing the lack of hyperness in the room.
"Seriously, you're friends with us and you still don't notice how things go from bad to worse whenever he wanders off?" James asked as he turned to WayneWayne, continuously running his fingers through his hair. "Ow!" He winced as he accidentally hit himself in the forehead with his cast. "God, I can't wait until this thing comes off."
"Don't be such a baby." Kendall remarked and opened the door to the room. The guys then walked down into the living room, where Jo, Camille, Stephanie, and Katie were waiting and already dressed. "How is it possible that you guys were finished before we were, that's like, scientifically impossible." He teased.
"Shut up Kendall," Katie replied as she rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Not all girls care about their looks as much as James does." She motioned behind him, where James was standing in the foyer, looking at his reflection.
"Yeah, you got me there." Kendall admitted.
"You all look great!" WayneWayne added with a grin.
"So what you're saying is that we usually just look ok?" Camille asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and regarded her boyfriend, whose eyes widened and he looked around, stammering to try and find an answer.
"What?" he stammered. "No, well, I, what I mean was-"
"You might as well quiet while you're behind." Logan remarked as he slapped a hand over WayneWayne's mouth, cutting him off. "Because there's no way that you can get out of this one.
"I was just kidding anyway," Camille walked forward and moved Logan's hand off of WayneWayne's mouth and kissed her boyfriend. "You look great as well. You all do."
"Thanks," James finally tore himself away from the mirror and joined everyone in the living room. "But I'd look better without this cast." Jo smiled and kissed his fingertips and James grinned as he pulled her into his side. "Where is everybody?"
"Um, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney are in the kitchen polishing their shoes," Stephanie rattled off. "Riley and Rhuben are finishing putting on their makeup, Brittany and Julius left earlier, in different cars of course, to go down to the church to make sure that everything is set up there, and Kelly, Gustavo, Ronan, and Mrs. Knight are around getting dressed as well."
"I'm surprised they aren't annoyed of all of the noise out there." Jo commented as she looked out the back windows to see workers moving large tables and chairs across the backyard. "It's funny, because the Jacksons weren't adopted by their actual family, I didn't think that they had a lot of family to begin with."
"It's not that no one from their family wanted to adopt them," Logan spoke up as he put his hands into his pockets. "It's that they weren't able to, what with having too many kids of their own and other things like that." He scratched the back of his neck. "They didn't really go into a lot of detail, but that's all I know for sure."
"Why are all of you guys standing around?" Riley asked as she and Rhuben walked into the living room, wearing light pink dresses and high-heels to match. The only thing that was different about them was that they had their hair blown out and it went straight down, going a little past their shoulders. Their makeup was light and subtle, except for the red and black and purple and black eye shadow that they were wearing. "Isn't everyone ready to go?"
"I think, along with the adults, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney is still getting dressed." Stephanie commented and pulled out her digital camera and took a quick picture of the two girls. "Plus, we can't find Carlos."
"Which means that he's getting in trouble somewhere." Rhuben remarked as she scratched the side of her neck. "What?" she asked when she noticed that all eyes were on her and Riley. "What're you staring for?"
"Nothing," Logan shook his head and beamed. "You just look really beautiful."
"Oh." Rhuben looked startled for a second and then blushed as she looked at her feet. "Thank you."
"Eh," WayneWayne shrugged a little. "Pink's not really your color." He remarked to Riley who raised an eyebrow. "But you do look great, really hot." He winced as Camille elbowed him in the side. "Wow, I really can't talk today."
"Just stop for a while and it should fix itself," Riley remarked and then silently counted as she looked around. "Where's Carlos?"
"Probably getting in some sort of trouble." Kendall remarked shortly.
"I'm right here," Carlos walked into the room with something white draped over his arm. His smile widened when he saw Stephanie and he walked over to her. "You look amazing!" he breathed and then kissed her. "Just think," he lowered his voice. "If it was you and me that were getting married. Then we could make love without me feeling the slightest bit guilty."
Stephanie gave him a hurt look. "You feel guilty about it?" she spoke quietly as well. "I mean, I know we've done it three times, but-"
"Only because I know that my mom will probably blow a gasket since she wanted me to wait for my wedding night," Carlos smoothed her hair. "But you're so beautiful I can't help it." He cleared his throat as he turned back around. "Look what I found in the hall closet!" He held out his arm.
"That's Brittany's wedding dress!" Riley stated as she gently took it from him. "We have to bring it to the church soon." She looked over it and her eyes widened and her mouth opened and closed, causing her to look like a drowning fish. "I, he, you-"
"Words Landy, use your words." Logan coaxed her.
"You put a tear in it!" Riley stated through gritted teeth as she held up the dress and stuck her finger through a hole, glaring at Carlos, who suddenly looked scared. "How could you have put a tear in it?"
"It must have been when I was trying to get it off the hanger." Carlos replied slowly as he thought about it.
"What did I tell you about taking things that aren't yours?" Stephanie asked as she placed her hands on her hips.
"It just looked so pretty," Carlos mumbled a dug the tip of his shoe into the floor. "I couldn't help myself."
"Ok, don't panic." Rhuben took the dress from her sister and looked it over. "It doesn't look that bad, and I'm sure that Noah can fix it. Let's go ask him." She led everyone into the spacious kitchen and Sydney looked up and smiled when he saw them. "Syd, you got some shoe polish on your cheeks.
"Thanks." Sydney got up from his seat and went over to the sink to wash up.
"You guys are dressed already?" Noah flicked his head to the side and looked at his watch. "We still have two hours and-"Noah's mouth dropped open when he got a good look at Katie. Katie blushed and looked down at her dress self consciously.
"What do you think?" she asked and then raised her eyebrows when Noah continued to stare. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
"I think his brain is fried," Patrick commented as he got up from his own chair. "Trust me; it's not a great feeling." He commented and walked over to his brother. "No, hello!" He knocked on his brother's forehead and then grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook him back and forth. "HELLO!"
"I think that explains half of the things that Patrick says that doesn't make any sense." Stephanie laughed as she watched the two.
"Welcome to my world." Riley commented.
"What?" Noah blinked and then his whole face and neck flushed red when he noticed everyone staring at him. "You look great, really." He replied and blushed harder, his face resembling a tomato, when his voice cracked.
"Thanks." Katie giggled at his embarrassment.
"Why are you guys holding onto Brittany's wedding dress?" Sydney asked innocently as he turned from the sink, drying his hands. "I thought that you were supposed to be taking it down to the church."
"We were going to, but that was before we saw what Carlos did to it." Rhuben replied and shoved it into Carlos's chest. "Show them what you did." Carlos held the dress out and showed them the whole. "Do you think that you can fix it, No?" she asked as Noah got up from his chair and examined it.
"YOU TORE HER DRESS?" Patrick practically shouted.
James took a short breath and placed a hand on Patrick's shoulder. "Yeah, you know, that would have been a really good thing to whisper!" He hissed into Patrick's face and then messed up Patrick's hair. Patrick let out a shriek and started to move his spikes back up into place.
"Alright," Noah sighed and took a step back. "It doesn't look too bad; I think I can fix it." He placed a hand on his chin. "Just put it down while I go get my sewing kit."
"Ok." Carlos shrugged and tossed it towards the table.
"NOT ON THE SHOE POLISH!" Riley and Rhuben screamed in unison.
Carlos jumped and quickly took the dress up off of the table. The girls gasped loudly when they saw the large black stain on the front of the dress. Sydney's eyes were about three times as large and Patrick and Noah just stared, their mouths dropped open. Kendall slapped himself on the forehead.
"I really should have seen that coming." Logan commented as he shook his head.
"Hey, what's all that screaming about?" Ronan's voice floated from the hallway and they could hear rapid footsteps coming towards the kitchen.
"Crap, it's Ronan!" Riley started to pace frantically as she thought. "He's going to do his block on us!"
"Give it here!" Patrick grabbed the wedding dress and shoved it into the refrigerator and turned around and leaned on it, smiling innocently as Gustavo, Ronan, Kelly, and Kacy entered the kitchen. "Hey dad!" he said loudly.
"What's going on?" Kacy asked as she looked around. "What was all the screaming about?"
"Nothing." Everyone responded in unison and continued to smile at the four adults.
"Stop doing that," Gustavo commanded. "It's getting really creepy.
"We heard screaming." Kelly insisted and raised her eyebrows when no one answered her. "There's really nothing going on?"
"Screaming?" Sydney murmured and then his eyes widened when all attention was brought onto him. His right eye twitched as he laughed nervously. "Oh that screaming! It must have come from outside, one of the workers probably dropped something onto his foot." He started laughing even harder as he backed out of the kitchen and into the backyard, closing the glass door behind him.
"What's up with that?" Ronan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Probably nervous," WayneWayne piped up. "You know, having to be the ring bearer and everything, it's a very important job in the wedding."
"Right," Ronan nodded, looking like he didn't but it. "Well it's time to go down to the church," he looked at his watch. "We want to get there before all of the paparazzi come and-"
"You go ahead!" Logan jumped in. "We still have some things that we need to get done, so we're just going to go meet you down there." He started to push them out of the room. "Trust me; nothing is wrong, just having a few problems finding shoes and everything. You know how girls are…" his voice trailed off as he disappeared around the corner.
"Whew!" Patrick let out a breath of air and pulled the wedding dress back out of the refrigerator, but now there was a giant orange stain on it as well as the shoe polish. "What the hell is that?" he spat. The kitchen door opened and closed and Sydney entered the house again.
"Is he gone?" he asked and then smiled when he got nods in reply. "Good, I hate lying and-"he let out a scream when he saw the dress. "What the hell is that?" he asked, repeating Patrick's question.
"We're dead." Riley moaned.
"No we're not," Kendall took the dress from Patrick. "I've seen my mom clean out worse stains than this, I think we can clean it," he looked it over and nodded. "Yeah, we can clean it, but we're going to have to act fast." He turned and started to leave the room, but stopped and his eyes widened when he heard a loud tearing sound. Kendall turned around and gaped when he saw part of the dress on the floor, under Patrick's foot.
James and Carlos grabbed onto their hair and let out high-pitched screams at the same time.
"What happened?" Logan raced back into the kitchen. "I just got them to leave and I heard you guys screaming."
"What else could go wrong?" Jo asked, finally speaking up, staring at the dress. She, Camille, Stephanie, and Katie had been watching in stunned silence as everything went downhill. "I don't know why I'm asking myself this? With everything that these guys have done, I wouldn't be surprised if the fucking world explodes!"
"Would you stop fucking cursing around my brothers?" Riley snapped at her.
"You fucking stop cursing!" Jo replied.
"Hold it!" Katie shouted, getting everyone to fall silent. "We're all a little on edge here, but we all need to calm down." She looked over at the dress and forced a smile. "Think of it this way, someday in the future, we're all going to laugh about this." She turned to the Jacksons. "You might now, 'because I'm sure that Julius will disown you, but we're all going to laugh at this."
"Katie's right," Carlos agreed. "You're all going to be disowned.
"Carlos!" Kendall, Logan, James, WayneWayne, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, and Katie shouted in unison.
"Ok, put this in the washing machine for twenty minutes," Kendall gave Patrick the dress and he nodded and disappeared from sight. "Ok, now we have to think of what to do if this doesn't work."
"You mean you don't have a plan?" James asked as he turned to his 'leader'. "But you always have a plan."
"I can't think of everything," Kendall defended himself and then turned to Riley. "Can't you think of anything?"
"It wouldn't matter," she remarked. "Usually my plans either end of backfiring in my face, or they just end up getting us in trouble." She held up a finger. "Only once in my career of making plans has it ever actually worked.
"She's right about that." Rhuben commented. "Ok," she let out a cleansing breath. "We all have to calm down and think rationally." She stated as calmly as possible, being the peace maker of the Jacksons. "I know what kind of dress that was and where she got it, so Logan and I will go and see if there is another dress that we can get."
"Not that I don't like spending time with you alone, because I do," Logan stated quickly, looking confused. "But why is it that I'm the one that's going with you?"
"Because you can use big words to talk the cashier into giving me another dress if I need it." Rhuben replied and then shot a glare at Carlos. "And I'm sure that somewhere in the time it takes for me to get there, I'm going to really lose my temper and I know that I can bounce it off of you because you won't take offense from it."
"Thanks." Logan replied, slightly sarcastic as he followed Rhuben out of the kitchen and out the house.
"So how long do we have to wait?" WayneWayne asked, starting to pace as well.
"Twenty minutes," Kendall replied and brought his hand to his mouth, starting to bite on his nails, something he did whenever he was nervous.
"Nails." Katie reminded him and he quickly pulled his hand out of his mouth.
"Thanks."
Patrick hummed to himself as he sat on top of the washing machine, reading a magazine. He looked up as footsteps thundered down the stairs and Carlos, Riley, Camille, and Kendall headed into the basement.
"Patrick, I told you to put the dress in the washing machine for twenty minutes." Kendall reminded the younger teenage boy.
"And I did," Patrick replied with a nod. "It's in the dryer now."
"Sparky, please tell me you just put that in there." Riley pleaded and then let out another groan when the dryer suddenly stopped. Camille and Carlos darted forward and pulled open the dryer, slowly pulling out the dress.
It was now shrunk and it was gray.
Patrick stared at it for a second and tried to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was a high-pitched screech.
"Let's look on the bright side," Carlos stated nervously, giving a lopsided grin. "Maybe gray is a better color for Brittany.
"CARLOS!"
After about an hour of searching, Rhuben and Logan were able to find an exact copy of Brittany's dress and headed to the church with it. Rhuben called everyone else along the way and ordered them to get rid of the real dress and Patrick did so, by cutting it up completely and stuffing it into the bottom of the trash can and then everyone else headed to the church. Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney disappeared into their designated rooms to wait for the processional as BTR, Jo ,Camille, Stephanie, Katie, and WayneWayne slid into their seats in the audience, avoiding Ronan, Kacy, Kelly, and Gustavo the best that they could. (But that wasn't before everyone promised that as long as they weren't caught they would NEVER bring up what happened to the dress for the rest of their lives.)
Before they knew it, the wedding started.
Julius gave a nervous smile as he and his groomsmen, his best friends Matt and Mike, and Patrick and Noah entered the church and over to their places at the altar. He smiled warmly as Brittany's bridesmaids, her best friends Amanda and Kelsey, and Riley and Rhuben walked down the aisle, holding onto bouquets of flowers and over to their places on the other side of the altar. Then Sydney and Brittany's little cousin Lilly, the ring bearer and the flower girl walked down the aisle.
Then the wedding march music started and everyone stood up and turned towards the back of the church as Brittany slowly glided down the aisle.
Julius smiled so big he felt that his cheeks were going to explode. His heart started beating faster and his hands became sweaty. Mr. McNabb smiled at his daughter, and she smiled back. As they came up the aisle, Julius' nervousness increased, but he knew that he could do this.
When Brittany got to the altar, Julius smiled at her, and as she smiled back nervously. He took her hand gently and gave it a squeeze to reassure her. She looked so beautiful. She was beautiful every day, but exceptionally so on that day.
As the priest started the ceremony, Julius trembled with love and fear as he looked into Brittany's eyes. Her smile was so beautiful, and it was as if we were kids again.
"Who gives this bride away to be married?" The priest asked.
"Her mother and I do." Mr. McNabb replied with a big smile, wiping at the tears in his eyes.
"I do too!" Sydney spoke up and then was shushed harshly by his brothers and sisters as the audience chuckled. Then the priest started them on their vows.
"I, Julius Rhyder Jackson, take you, Brittany, to be my lawfully wedded wife." Julius stated quietly, but loud enough for it to be picked up by the microphones. "To have and to hold, for better or worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." He smiled as he slid her ring onto her finger.
Then it was her turn. "I, Brittany Maria McNabb, take you, Julius, to be my lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold, for better or worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." She slid his ring onto his finger.
"By the power invested in me and by the law of Sydney, New South Wales Australia, I pronounce you husband and wife." The priest then said, "You may now kiss the bride."
Julius smiled as he turned to Brittany and lifted her veil and planted his lips on hers to the cheers of their family and friends.
"I now introduce for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson as husband and wife." The priest smiled and cleared his throat. "At this time, I believe that some of your family has a presentation for you."
"Yes, we do." Sydney nodded and he, Patrick, Noah, Riley, and Rhuben headed over to the five microphones that were set up in the side of the room. "This sing is for Brittany," Sydney said into his microphone. "Our new sister and a great addition to our family."
Noah smiled at the music started and then grabbed his microphone. "It's a beautiful night; we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you." He sang and smiled over at Rhuben.
"Is it the look in your eyes, or is it this dancing juice?" Rhuben sang as she lightly swayed to the song. "Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you."
Now it was Riley's turn to sing. She grabbed her microphone and smiled over at Julius and Brittany. "Well I know this little chapel on the boulevard we can go, no one will know,"
"Come on girl." Patrick sang his part with a grin.
"Who cares if we're trashed got a pocket full of cash we can blow, shots of patron," Riley sang and turned to Patrick again.
"And it's on girl."
"Don't say no, no, no, no-no; Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah; and we'll go, go, go, go-go. If you're ready, like I'm ready." Sydney beamed as he clapped a beat with his hands, getting into the beat of the song.
"Cause it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do." Rhuben and Noah sang the first part of the chorus. "Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you."
"Is it the look in your eyes, or is it this dancing juice?" Riley, Rhuben, and Sydney came in next. "Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you."
"I'll go get a ring let the choir bells sing like oooh," Rhuben took up the verse. "So whatcha wanna do?"
"Let's just run girl." Noah sang back.
"If we wake up and you wanna break up that's cool. No, I won't blame you; it was fun girl." Rhuben and Noah sang and then turned to Sydney again.
"Don't say no, no, no, no-no; Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah;" Sydney clapped his hands over his head, to get the audience to join with the beat of the song, and they did so. "And we'll go, go, go, go-go.
If you're ready, like I'm ready."
"Cause it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you. Is it the look in your eyes, or is it this dancing juice? Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you." They all sang again.
"Just say I do," Riley and Rhuben sang.
"Tell me right now baby," Patrick came in.
"Tell me right now baby, baby." Noah sang after him.
"Just say I do,"
"Tell me right now baby,"
"Tell me right now baby, baby."
"Cause it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you. Is it the look in your eyes, or is it this dancing juice? Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you."
"That was one of the sweetest weddings I've ever been to in my life." Kacy stated with a smile as she and Ronan moved across the dance floor with all of the other adults. An older song was playing that none of the younger people recognized. "You guys really know how to throw a party."
"Why do you think people in Australia are so happy?" Ronan laughed in reply as he gently took her hand and twirled her out before pulling her back into his chest. "We love to have parties, for any occasion." Kacy laughed as Ronan kissed her cheek and continued dancing.
Across the dance floor, Big Time Rush were sitting at one of the tables, eating dinner as they watched numerous friends and family of the Jacksons walk by.
"They really do have a lot of family." Jo remarked as her eyes widened, she then smiled peacefully. "I'm happy for them, now they won't feel as lonely."
"I was thinking the same thing." Stephanie agreed as she continued to wave her video camera around the reception.
"Hey guys!" Sydney grinned as he hurried over to the table, a boy and a girl behind him. "I want you to meet my cousins on my mom's side. This is my adoptive cousin Aaron," he pointed to the blonde boy that was standing by his side and he waved shyly. "Uncle Christian adopted him a couple of years ago. He's blind, but a really cool friend to have, he doesn't let it get in the way at all." He then turned to the girl behind him. "And this is Crystal; I call her Crystie-Chan." He lightly pushed her forward. "Isn't she pretty?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you look like Riley and Rhuben?" Carlos asked and let out a cry of pain when Kendall, Logan, and WayneWayne kicked him in the leg from three sides.
"Yeah," Crystal laughed as she moved her black hair out of her blue eyes. "It makes sense, because our mom's were twins."
"Wow, twins really do run in your family." Camille remarked, her eyes wide.
"Beauty does too, apparently." James commented and grinned over towards Crystal.
"Here James," Jo quickly cut off a chunk of James' steak and held up the meat on her fork. "You look hungry!" She shoved the piece into James' mouth, effectively choking him, as everyone else laughed. Crystal's eyes widened as she watched, obviously not used to seeing Jo get jealous over James' constant flirting.
"Oh! I love this song!" Sydney cried as I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas came over the speakers. "Crystie-Chan, dance with me!" He grabbed onto his cousin's hand, probably hyper off of cake, and dragged her off onto the dance floor.
"Hey," Patrick waved as he, Noah, Riley, and Rhuben walked over to them, pushing their way across the dance floor. "I see you guys have met Crystie-Chan and Aaron." He smiled, shouting slightly over the music.
"Yeah, we've met a lot of your family here today." Katie added with a nod. "So many cousins and friends…and Ronan's family came as well." She added.
"Yeah, we were hoping that could have been avoided." Rhuben commented as she winced, laughing a little. In the middle of the ceremony, Ronan and his brothers Aaron and Ely had gotten into a loud argument (over something ridiculously stupid) and it wasn't until Gustavo shouted at them that they had finally shut up. "But they can be like us sometimes, we can't help but argue."
"You guys never argue," Kendall pointed out.
"We haven't gotten mad enough." Noah shrugged and then turned to Katie with a gleam in his eyes. "Want to dance?" he held his hand out to her. Katie smiled and jumped to her feet. She smoothed out her dress a little and then rounded the table, taking Noah's hand as they hurried onto the dance floor. "I meant what I said earlier," he said to her as they started dancing. "You really do look great, beautiful even." Katie smile and kissed him on the cheek and continued dancing.
With that, Camille and WayneWayne, James and Jo, and Carlos and Stephanie hurried onto the dance floor as the song switched from I Gotta Feeling to My First Kiss by 3oh3 ft. Ke$ha.
Kendall cleared his throat and got up from the table and rounded it, keeping his eyes on Riley. "Do you want to dance?" he asked, leaning over towards Riley's ear so she could hear him. She looked at him warily and he laughed. "We're friends right? And what friends can't dance with each other?"
"Fine," Riley smirked and flicked him on the nose. "But don't be embarrassed when I out dance you." She hesitated and looked over at Patrick, who was faking a look of offence.
"Oh sure, leave me all alone." He stated and then smiled. "I'm fine, go" he lightly pushed her into Kendall's chest. "Have fun; don't let me get in the way."
Riley took a step back, unconsciously breathing in Kendall's familiar scent of Old Spice and soap and let out a short sigh, looking at her feet. She blinked when she saw Kendall's hand suddenly in her face, the small leather bracelet bobbing on his wrist and looked up at him. He smiled back at her, something flashing through his eyes as his lips curled into a smirk.
"Unless you're scared." He taunted lightly.
Kendall laughed at his friends as he shook his head. Logan was almost as happy as he was whenever he scored a goal on the ice rink. But in his own opinion nothing could ever beat hockey. (Not that that's surprising.) Kendall went back to drinking his punch and almost choked when a hand was shoved in his face. "Hockey-Head?"
"What?" Kendall coughed as he looked up at Riley, who looked amused.
"I'm asking you to dance," she replied and rolled her eyes. "I mean, I've already danced with James, Carlos, and Logan, now I need to see how well you do."
"Uh, ok, sure." Kendall put his cup down before taking Riley's hand and following her onto the dance floor.
"Never" she replied with a half smile and took his hand, following him onto the dance floor with their friends.
The reception continued to rage on for another two hours or so, and then the guests started to leave as Julius and Brittany packed up the limo to go on their honeymoon to the Bahamas. "I still don't see why you can't just stay here for our honeymoon." Sydney whined as Ronan loaded the back of the limo with suitcases.
"Trust me; you don't want to be woken up at odd hours of the night." Noah replied with a sly smile as Brittany giggled nervously and Julius glared at his brother, lightly cuffing him on the back of the head.
"Hey, he's telling the truth." Patrick grinned, not letting up on the jokes. "But you better be sure that you have protect-"
"Knock it off!" Julius stated, although he was grinning. He looked at his watch and then his smile faded a little. "You guys better behave yourselves." He stated and then looked over at Patrick and Noah. "Even though they're older than you, while I'm gone, you have to take care of Riles and Rhubes, keep an eye on em', yeah?"
"Yeah." Patrick and Noah replied and gave him a hug.
Julius then turned and started to say something to Riley and Rhuben but stopped and smiled sadly at them. When Riley asked when he was staring, Julius just shook his head. "I just remember when you guys were little and were so carefree, before everything was messed up. You may not be little anymore, but you're still my baby sisters and I love you."
"We love you too," Rhuben replied and gave her big brother a hug. "But if there's anything that you left-"
"You can have it." Julius interrupted.
"Sweet," Riley smiled and then wrapped her arms around her brother's neck and gave him a hug as well. "See you later, JJ." They then gave Brittany a hug as well.
Sydney, at this point, was fully blown crying and gave both Brittany and Julius bone-crushing hugs. But when as he hugged Julius, he threw his arms around his brother's necks and whimpered, "I don't want you to go."
"I have to." Julius laughed and tried to pry his brother from his neck. After a few seconds, Ronan had to pull Sydney away. "Thanks, Dad." Julius gave Ronan a hug as well.
"Call us as soon as you get to the hotel." Ronan reminded his son and then kissed his daughter-in-law on the head.
"We will." Brittany smiled and waved and the two got into the limo and drove off to the airport.
A couple of hours later, after they had gotten back home from the wedding, Riley and Rhuben went to the beach and had been sitting down on the sand, looking out at the waves for about ten minutes before they heard a voice behind them.
"I thought I'd find you out here." Logan remarked as he walked up behind them, unfolding a blanket as he went. "It's getting kid of cold out here." He unfolded it all the way and sat down in between them and put the blanket around all of their shoulders. "What are you doing?"
"Just thinking." Riley replied after a second, she was smiling peacefully.
"By the way," Rhuben turned to her boyfriend and best friend. "Thanks for talking to Julius."
"How'd you know it was me?" Logan asked, looking interested, but not denying it.
"You're our best friend Logie-Bear, we can tell when you're up to something," Riley replied with a shake of her head. "Besides, you can hardly keep a secret; you looked like you were going to burst." Logan laughed and pulled the two girls closer to his side.
"Yeah, well, you know that I would do anything to make you guys happy." He said.
"Ace," Rhuben replied with a slight nod, turning back to the ocean as they watched the sunset. "We'd do the same for you."
Logan smiled.
A/N: Whew! It took all day, but I finally got it done. The song is 'Marry You' by Bruno Mars and it's the only song by Bruno Mars that I actually like. The parts where everyone are freaking out because Carlos ruined Brittany's wedding dress I got from an episode of That 70's Show, which I absolutely love! There, I tried (try being the keyword) to show a little bit of everyone, even if it was a couple of lines so I hope you liked that. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter; the next one will be up soon and it will be an even funnier one.
Cheers,
-Riley