Chapter Six: The Rehearsal Dinner

All of the Ham-hams sat at the very long table chatting and whatnot. At the head of it were four seats: the left one for Stan, two in the middle for Sandy and Maxwell, and one on the right for Candace, who wasn't there at the moment.

Maxwell stood up and clacked a fork to his glass to get everyone's attention. Penelope raised her paw to help quiet the others down. Some laughed.

"What? We do it at school ookyoo!" Cappy nodded in agreement. Everyone burst into laughter.

"Ahh... Kids." Boss sighed, chuckling.

"Hey! C'mon, guys, shut the Hell up! Can't ya see Max is tryin' to talk here!" Stan bellowed. The others fell silent.

"Ugh...Thanks, Stan." Maxwell gulped at seeing everyone's gaze upon him. He took a deep breath and wiped some sweat from his brow. Then, he began. "I'd like to thank you all for coming and supporting us. Friends like you only come around once in a blue moon and Sandy and I are very thankful for you. I'd also like to thank Stan for taking such good care of his sister and for being there for me when I needed advice or someone to talk to. But, the one who I really owe thanks to is the lady who did it all. Without her, I doubt this wedding would be half as great as she's made it. Please give a round of applause to... Candace Fox!"

Everyone began to clap, but quickly stopped when they realized she wasn't there. The only one still clapping was Howdy, who applauded in a circular motion. He laughed.

"Get it? Round of applause?"

"Yes, we got it, Howdy. You can cut it out any time now," an annoyed Dexter said.

"Aww...C'mon, Dex! This is Grade-A hilarious!"

"Nu-uh!" Cappy said as he and Penelope stuck their tongues out, giving him a thumbs-down.

"Penelope!" Pashmina scolded as Howdy hung his head down.

"ANYWAY... Candace Fox!" Stan repeated. Everyone was quiet as a voice was heard from outside in the tunnels.

"I have to go, Rodger, Thanks." All the hamsters held in their breath as someone opened the clubhouse door. "Yeah, guys?" Candace asked, poking her head in the doorway. Everybody's gaze left Maxwell and went straight to Candace. "I'm really sorry about that. It's just my agent, Rodger McCarthy, called and told me he reserved a try-out spot for me for this movie role next month... Sorry, Max. Didn't mean to steal your thunder," she finished, noticing everyone staring at her.

"... I don't think we had any thunder to steal... That's GREAT news, Candace!" He ran over to her and they hugged. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Max." All the Ham-hams applauded and/or whistled for her. She blushed. "Thanks, everyone."

-.-.-.

"Hey, Oxnard. Seeing as you've tried everything here, can you tell me what's good?" Candace asked.

"Well, the roasted pumpkin seeds are pretty good, so are the walnuts and strawberries... not to mention the sunflowers and dandelion salad. Oh! And the cheese cubes are to die for," Oxnard replied, drooling.

Candace sweat dropped. "I'll take your word for it..." She took a strawberry and two pumpkin seeds and went to the table. As she walked to her seat, she accidentally brushed against Stan. The two blushed.

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay." 'Say something...preferably cool!' his mind screamed. "Besides, if you were a booger, I'd pick you first." 'Not cool, not cool!"

Candace laughed heartily. "I guess I'd pick you, too."

'Okay, okay... Maybe it was cool.' He grinned.

"Your brother is so funny," Candace said once in her seat. Sandy grimaced.

"What did he do now?"

"Oh, nothing... It was just silly. Something to do with boogers."

"Eww! Stanley!" Stan looked up from his plate with orange salad dressing on his face. Candace giggled and pointed to her cheek. He quickly wiped it off with his sleeve. Sandy sighed.

"What?" her brother simply asked. More giggles from Candace. Sandy sighed once more and rolled her eyes.

-.-.-.

"Alright. Powder blue for Bijou, light rose for Pashmina, and yellow for our flower girl?"

"Mmhm." The girls nodded.

"Okay, then!" Candace said and went back to the table to scribble on a piece of paper. She walked back with it and a pen. "Now, if I could just get your sizes..."

Moments later...

"What are the dresses going to look like?" Pashmina asked, in a giddy way.

"I haven't drawn a pattern yet."

"You mean, you're drawing..." Pashmina was so surprised, she couldn't finish her sentence. What else was this girl good at?

"Mmhm. Wanna see Sandy's?" The girls vigorously nodded and Candace went over to her bag, pulling out a sketch pad. She opened it up to the page where the pattern was drawn.

The dress would be white, of course, with silver lining around the three-quarter sleeves and the bottom of the dress, which would come to her shins. It was semi-frilly and had a bit of poof to it, as every wedding dress does. The veil would be attached to a very small tiara and match the dress. It would come to the bride's chin.

The others' eyes widened as they gasped.

"You aren't sewing them too, are you?" Bijou asked, still bewildered.

"No. I can't sew for crap!" Candace laughed.

"It's so beautiful..." Pashmina gushed, eyes twinkling. "I wish Sandy could see it. Are you going to show her?"

"No. Stan said he had a feeling she wanted to be surprised."

-.-.-.

"Hey Candace! Throw this sunflower seed," Stan said. Candace threw it on the ground. "No. To me." She picked it up, dusted it off, and threw it towards him, hitting his pant leg. "To me, not at me!" He laughed.

"Sorry, I have terrible aim," Candace admitted.

"Here. I'll do it myself," he grumbled, fake-mad.

Stan threw the seed high into the air. It went a little to the left, so he leaned that way and barely caught it in his teeth.

"Ta-da!" Stan said as Candace clapped. "What can you do?" he challenged playfully.

"I bet you can't do this!"

Candace went over to the buffet table and took the plate of cheese cubes. One by one, she fit fourteen in her mouth. Swallowing hard, she triumphantly said, "HA!"

"Wow, that's quite a big mouth you have there." Stan was thoroughly impressed. 'Good, 'cuz I have a big-'

"Hey Stan!" Sandy called, interrupting her brother's thought as she skipped over to him.

"Y-yeah, sis...?" Stan asked, shaken.

"C'mon, dance with me!" his twin replied.

"Have fun!" Candace called, smiling.