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Olivia had so much to talk to Abby about. She hadn't told her best friend about the gorgeous beach house Fitz had bought for the two of them to live in. She hadn't told Abby that he was going to let her choose the furniture, towels, bed sheets, and everything else a house needs for people to live in it either. Olivia hadn't even shown her best friend the house yet.
Neither had she told Abby about how Fitz had brought her to the strange house without telling her it was theirs and walked through it with her before dropping to his knee and proposing to her. She hadn't yet gone in great detail about Fitz's corny jokes that had made her cry, how he had explained to her that he had gone to her father beforehand and asked him if he could marry her. Abby didn't know about how after he had proposed, the two of them had spent the next few hours in bed professing their love for each other and showing it in lots of different ways. And Olivia hadn't told her that the day ended with the two of them wrapped up in each other's arms and the thin blanket from their huge bed out on their back porch watching the waves crash.
The reason Olivia hadn't shared any of that goodness with her best friend is because she knew Abby would be less than thrilled instead of overly excited about it. The news itself was exciting, but how it would ultimately affect Abby wasn't. Marrying Fitz was what Olivia wanted, Abby knew. But that would mean that Olivia would have to move out of their small beach house. The one they had signed a yearlong lease for not that long ago.
It had been three days since Fitz had proposed, and Olivia still hadn't told her best friend about any of the changes that were going to happen to both of them because of it. She was beginning to feel guilty. For not being a better friend and giving Abby a heads up about the situation. Olivia knew the more time Abby had while Olivia was still living there, the more time Abby had to find a suitable roommate. She needed to talk to Abs.
She was sitting at the kitchen table, absently twirling her engagement ring with her thumb as she tried to come up with a plan to talk to Abby and keep the peace. She was lost in thought about the whole situation when Stephen and Abby walked through the front door laughing.
"I told you the wallpaper in the bathroom was hysterical!" Abby told him as she made her way to the fridge. She handed him a bottle of water and held onto one for herself.
"Yea but the fact that it said wiener rides twenty five cents was a bit much." He took a drink and then stopped suddenly. "Wait! How did you know what the wallpaper in the loo looks like?"
Abby gave him a devious grin and shrugged. "Wild guess?"
"Did you take him to the Rooster?" Olivia asked.
"Yea. It was fun. Turns out Stephen is an excellent dancer. Who knew?"
"Wow. Maybe the four of us need to go together some time?" Olivia asked.
"That would be fun! You haven't gotten out of the house much lately. It would do you some good." Abby told her friend.
"I'll be getting out of the house soon enough" Olivia muttered quietly.
"What was that?" Abby asked.
"Can I talk to you, Abs?" Olivia asked. "I don't want to interrupt your time with Stephen though, so it can wait until tomorrow."
"It's fine, Liv. I've been trying to find a way to sneak off for a few minutes myself. I need to answer some work emails. I'll go into Abby's room to give you two girls some privacy." Stephen told them. He pecked Abby's lips and disappeared.
"What's up?" Abby asked.
"Maybe this is a bad idea since Stephen is here. It can wait until tomorrow." Olivia said, feeling like a chicken.
"Spill it, momma. What's going on?"
Olivia quietly put both of her hands on top of the table and waited for Abby to notice her ring. It took her a while and when Olivia was beginning to feel like Abby would never notice it, her friend tipped her water up to take a swig. And then coughed, sputtering water everywhere as her finger pointed at Liv's hand. Olivia pounded her on the back until Abby stopped coughing.
"What the hell is that?!" Abby shrieked with her eyes peeled on Olivia's hand.
"A ring."
"Obviously. Is that an engagement ring?"
Olivia nodded, too scared to talk.
"Ohmygod! Fitz proposed to you?"
"Yes."
"Fitz proposed to you! That's so amazing!" Abby snatched Olivia's left hand and was closely inspecting the ring as she rattled off questions. "When did it happen? How did he do it? Did he get down on one knee and say a bunch of sappy words? Was it the most romantic thing in the world? I bet it was. I bet it was fantastic and perfect and ohmygod I'm gonna cry."
"Wow. Calm down. That's a lot of questions. He proposed to me three days ago. He..."
Abby's head snapped up and she squinted intensively at Olivia. "Three days? Fitz proposed to you almost a week ago and you didn't tell me until this minute? Why not?"
"I didn't know you'd be so happy about it." Olivia told her as she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why wouldn't I be happy for you? This is fantastic news!" Abby gushed, still holding Olivia's hand.
"I thought so too." Olivia answered with a wistful smile.
"Tell me everything and don't leave out any details! It's been three days. You've probably forgotten half of them already. Dammit, Liv! You should have told me the second that ring slid onto your finger." Abby lamented as she took a chair at the kitchen table.
"I wasn't really thinking about anything other than how Fitz was making me feel once that ring was on my hand. If you know what I mean?"
"You dirty little harlot! The two of you got engaged and then did the wild thing all night. Is that it?" Abby asked with a wicked grin.
"Pretty much." Olivia replied giggling. "Abby, he asked my dad if he could marry me before he proposed."
"Ohmygod. That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard." Abby told Liv with a soft sigh. And then she crinkled her nose. "Wait! I didn't know guys did that anymore? I bet your parents are more in love with Fitz than you are." Abby said laughing. "So, where did he pop the question?"
"Well, that's part of the reason why I didn't tell you before now." This would be the hard part. Olivia's thumb began to twirl her ring again.
"You guys got kicked out of Olive Garden for getting frisky at the table?" Abby asked wiggling her eyebrows.
Olivia snorted. "No. Weirdo. Fitz has bought us a house to live in once we get married. He proposed to me there."
"Holy shit! He bought you a house?" The redhead exclaimed. "Where is it? What does it look like? Why haven't you shown it to me yet? It's a fixer upper isn't it? A shit hole? And you're embarrassed by it until it's completely renovated or something like that? I'll help however I can."
"It's not a fixer upper, Abby. Far from it. The house is right on the beach. It's not very far from here as a matter of fact. It has three bedrooms and lots of open space for the bean to run around in. It's really beautiful, but it's empty. Like, there's hardly any furniture in it right now. It needs to be painted inside too and Fitz said I could paint and decorate it however I want. So, I'm glad you want to help. I was kinda counting on that. I can't wait to show it to you." Olivia gushed. This was going so much better than she had anticipated.
"That's so romantic, Liv. Have you guys set a date yet? It'll be some time next year, I'm sure. After the peanut is here, right? This is just so great!"
"Well...yes. We have set a date. But it's not next year." That feeling of dread was beginning to creep back inside of her.
"Oh? You're gonna wait until the peanut is able to walk? Awww, she could be your flower girl. That would be so cute, Liv. The three of you standing together. And we could put flowers in her hair and..."
"Abby. We're not waiting that long to get married."
"I don't understand."
"We're getting married this year. September twenty third."
"But that's just around the corner. It's like a little over two months away! Are you guys insane?"
"We didn't want to wait. We want to be married by the time she's born." Olivia said rubbing her belly. "And it's gonna be a super small ceremony. There will be like fifty people there, max. And most of them will be people Fitz knows."
"Wow. Well, in that case, we have a lot of work to do in a little time. We can totally do it though. We're bad..."
Olivia watched as the math began to add up for Abby. Her face went from excited to questioning to disbelief.
"Wait. So, you're moving out and getting married this year?" she asked softly.
"Yea" Olivia replied just as softly. "I am."
"I'm happy for you. I really am. You guys are gonna make each other so happy. I know that you and Fitz love each other. It's like the two of you were meant to be in some weird cosmic way or something that will last forever, but...what about the lease on this house?" Abby held her hands, out palms up. "We still have several months left and I can't swing the rent and all the other bills by myself."
"What about asking Stephen to live here? He might be interested in being your roommate?" Olivia suggested.
"I'm not living with Stephen!" Abby stated. "It was supposed to be you and me here for a year. After that we were going to see where we were. See if we wanted to live here another year or go in a different direction."
"I didn't plan this. It just happened. I'm sorry, Abby."
"Of course you didn't. Neither one of us thought we'd be single for the rest of our lives." Abby gave Olivia a smile and hugged her tightly. "I'm really happy for you and Fitz. The three of you are going to be the cutest little family ever. We just need to come up with a plan for the remainder of the lease. If you hear about anyone looking for a roommate that doesn't scream murderer or psycho, then let me know."
"I definitely will. We still have a couple of months to find someone. Something will come up."
Abby took her hands and gave Olivia a smile. "Hey. I'm glad you told me your exciting news. Don't ever feel like you have to stifle your joy because of how you think I'll react. My best friend is getting married! I'm so so happy for you guys. And, we'll figure out this roommate situation soon. Like you said, something will come up."
"Now that we have that all worked out, I need to talk to you about something serious."
"That wasn't serious enough?"
Olivia put her arm around her best friend and said, "Fitz and I want to get married right on the beach in front of our new house. I don't know where we'll have the reception yet, but we'll have to figure that out later. I'm going to need a ton of help finding a dress, flowers, reception location, and a cake. There is so much to do in such a short amount of time."
"Pffff. You and me...and yanno, Fitz when necessary, can handle all of that. We'll make a list of what we need to get done and start making sub lists under each item. Places to call, people to talk to, prices quoted. We'll knock this out in no time at all." Abby declared with more boldness than she actually felt. Whatever it took to keep the mommy to be relaxed and stress free.
She was starting to feel a little calmer now that she was talking everything out with Abby. She still hadn't gotten the point, but she was getting there. "Okay, but I'm gonna get stressed out, have meltdowns, freak out, and cry, probably on a daily basis the closer we get to the day of the wedding. If planning this wedding doesn't make me a crazy person, these pregnancy hormones definitely will. Will you be able to live with me like that?"
Abby shrugged. "It sounds like nothing is gonna change much really."
Olivia grinned at her chill friend. She was going to enjoy watching her best friend come unglued. "Good. As long as you're prepared and know what you're getting yourself into. Now, I'd like to get the first order of wedding business taken care of right now."
"Now?" Abby asked. She looked around the kitchen. "Do I need to find a pen and paper for this?"
"Nope."
"Okay. What is it?" The redhead asked nervously.
"I'd like for you to be my maid of honor at my tiny wedding. What do you think?"
"Are you serious?" Abby asked with wide shocked eyes.
Olivia nodded with a huge smile.
Abby screamed loudly, grabbed Liv in a hug and began to jump up and down. "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod! Of course I will!"
Stephen dashed into the kitchen with wide wild eyes, breathing heavy, and looking around for an armed gunman or something equally dangerous based on all the noise he had just heard. When he didn't see one, he said, "what the hell is going on out here?"
Abby and Olivia exchanged a look and then burst into wild laughter.
"What am I missing? Two seconds ago, both of you were screaming like lunatics, and now you're laughing together? What gives?"
Abby looked at Olivia and asked, "can I tell him?"
Olivia nodded excitedly.
"Liv and Fitz are getting married and..." Abby began excitedly.
"Heyyyyy! congratulations, Liv." Stephen said pulling her in for a hug as he listened to the rest.
"Thank you" Olivia said hugging him back.
"...and she just asked me to be her maid of honor." Abby said with a grin.
"Ohhh, now I understand the real reason for the screaming." Stephen chuckled. "Abby is excited about getting a new dress and new shoes."
"He knows you so well, Abs." Olivia chuckled.
The front door opened, and Fitz walked in. He looked at Stephen and Liv hugging and said teasingly, "get your hands off my girlfriend, mate!"
"Don't you mean your fiancé?" Abby asked in a challenging tone.
Fitz grinned proudly and pulled Olivia into his arms, rubbing noses with her. "I do."