Becoming a wedding planner (or event consultant, as he preferred it) had never occurred to Thorne as a possible career path. But one couldn't dream of becoming a space pirate forever, and while Thorne was convinced that he would excel at flying a space ship, technology unfortunately hadn't caught up to his elaborate dreams (yet - Thorne still held out hope).

In the meantime, Thorne enjoyed a simpler lifestyle. He always knew how to have a good time and more importantly, others knew it too. After throwing another successful party, Thorne decided that he might as well make money with it. Planning an event of any kind played on his strengths, and Thorne knew how to advertise not only his parties but also himself better than others in the same field with more experience.

It started out simple enough, but soon Thorne had a small circle of customers who were more than happy to recommend him to others and it went from there.

Thorne hadn't been a wedding planner initially. He had started out with events of all kind—from birthday parties to business functions, from opening nights of clubs and art galleries to rowdy sport events. Basically everything, as long as the guests were over the legal drinking age. No birthday parties for kids and teens - no money was worth that trouble.

When Thorne snagged the gig of planning the release party for a popular indie band's new album, Thorne was suddenly in the big leagues. He didn't try to get further than that, though, because that would require more work than made him comfortable. But the paychecks were more than decent and from then on, he had the option to pick his jobs as he chose.

And while planning events had been lucrative, the real money had come from weddings. Weddings were usually a once-in-a-lifetime thing (although Thorne had clients who had hired him for their second wedding already). People were more likely to exceed their budget if you knew how to handle one particular person and that was the bride.

Sweet-talking the bride (and sometimes her mother) was Thorne's true calling and no groom or parent could say no to the bride's wishes after Thorne had convinced her that she so deserved the rose centerpiece with the mother of pearl vases and wouldn't a special wedding cocktail just be so much fun? If you had the bride, you had the budget and Thorne always got the bride with his flirty charm. And afterward - another perk - he usually got the jealous bridesmaid or desperate maid of honor, too.

Yes, being a wedding planner had its perks. Until you decide to do your best friend's wedding apparently—because now Thorne had to do something he didn't like at all: working with someone else and relying on them not to screw up.

No event planner did everything on their own, of course, and Thorne usually needed "assistance" when it came to the technical parts such as lightning or sound, but he usually delegated his work. But now, he had to manage his best friend's wedding and a complete newbie, too. He couldn't even treat her like a trainee, sending her out for coffee and getting his clothes from the dry cleaner, with her being friends with Kai and all.

Thorne sighed.

As if the short deadline wasn't enough to worry about.

He had double-checked with the venue and browsed a few ideas and color schemes. He also rewrote Cinder's complete text for the invitations (which had been more than necessary) but there wasn't much he could do until Kai's friend arrived. It bothered him that he was losing time. They were on a tight schedule after all. Thorne had accepted the fact that if he wanted to be Kai's best man, he would need someone to take care of everything during the ceremony and at least his speech before he could take over again. That he had no say in his "partner" was unfortunate, but he would have to make do as best as he could.

And maybe rethink his stance on sending her out for coffee. For now, he had to prepare a cup by himself and figured that he might as well check out the girl.

The search for "Crescent Moon Darnel" - with that name, unsurprisingly - came up with only one person and Thorne easily found her website. He wondered if it was a fake name, but he had to admit "Crescent Moon Weddings" had a nice ring to it that probably appealed to many brides-to-be. Looking over her website, he was pleasantly surprised. It looked much more professional than he had anticipated. Instead of a gaudy, pink, and overly-clustered interface, the choice of colors was tasteful and the design elegant and well-structured. Thorne knew from experience how expensive web designers could be, so maybe she was more successful than he had given her credit for.

But when Thorne looked through the pictures she had uploaded, he became concerned once more. Her style was more ... rustic than his. The guest list seemed to range about eighty people tops, he saw lots of barns and park venues, colorful wildflowers in buckets, hand-made presents, and quirky wedding photos. It didn't bode well for the elegant high-class wedding he had in mind. Thorne rubbed his eyes, but try as he might, when he looked at the pictures, no idea seemed compatible with his own. Even worse, it was clear now that Kai's friend would be thoroughly overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the wedding.

He checked the "About" page next, which listed all of the girl's experiences and her business degree, along with a personal account of herself and her career, but Thorne didn't give it more than a superficial glance. It was a bit too much of the typical "life-long dream" and "helping bring your vision to life" phrases anyway. It unfortunately had no picture of her. Depending on how she looked, Thorne would recommend she add one. Their business was all about the right presentation and that extended to the wedding consultants too. And Thorne should know—he had spent a small fortune on his business portrait.

Thorne didn't like admitting it, but he was now more nervous than before. It seemed likely that he and this girl would clash and he could only hope that Kai and Cinder would see that his ideas were much more suited for the wedding they had in mind. He would then proceed as he usually did and go from there. He had always worked on his own and this time would be no different.

Thorne was just about to take the last sip of his coffee when he heard the doorbell ring. He wasn't expecting anyone, so when he passed the mirror in the hallway, Thorne checked his appearance just in case. As he opened the door with his usual flourish, he saw Cinder was standing in front of him ... carrying a big box of what must have been - he looked closer - twenty more boxes of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

He raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Aren't you a bit too old to be a Girl Scout?"

Cinder pursed her lips. "Ha-ha. Very funny."

"No, not at all. But you should wear one of those uniforms. In fact, one of my girlfriends owned one and we had this game where I had to get quite creative to pay for her cookies a—"

"—aaand that's too much information," Cinder interrupted him quickly with a scrunched-up face, opting instead to walk around Thorne and into his apartment. Heading straight into his living room, she placed the heavy box on the followed her but opted to stand at the doorway, hands in his pockets.

"I don't want them." Thorne jutted his chin at the box.

At that, Cinder deflated a bit. "But they're your favorite."

"That was before you used them to blackmail me. Now they're blackmail cookies."

"We never blackmailed you." She considered. "We just used them to persuade you. Therefore, these are persuasion cookies." She gave him a proud, toothy grin.

Thorne raised his eyebrows. That was hardly any better. She wanted something. Again. "And you want to persuade me to ...?" He left the sentence hanging between them. He had known Cinder for years now and she hardly ever asked him, or anyone, for anything - nevermind bribed them with cookies. This was new and he wasn't sure he liked it.

Cinder started wringing her hands, a sure sign that she was nervous. "I have to ask you for a big favor. And when I say big, I mean huge."

No surprise there.

"Okay, you know that Kai has this really important fundraiser today, right?"

"Right."

"And you know that I have to get to my first dress fitting today. And then I'll have to accompany Kai to his fundraiser."

Thorne nodded. "Okay."

Encouraged, Cinder took a huge breath before she lunged into an explanation. "Cress was supposed to arrive already. But instead, her flight got rerouted and she will be stuck at some other airport ... and we don't have time to get her."

Figured. "And you want me to get her?"

Cinder nodded. "It's really the only way. She got stranded and has no other way to get here until tomorrow. There is no other flight."

There was more to it, he just knew it. "Where is she, then? Long Beach?"

An embarrassed shake of her head.

"Ontario?"

Another shake.

"Santa Barbara? Palm Springs?"

Three shakes. What the - where had the girl landed?

Thorne took a moment to smile encouragingly but even he could feel how forced it was. "Cinder ... where do I have to pick her up?"

Cinder didn't answer right away but when she did, it came out in a quick jumble of words. "Inyokern Airport."

"What? Cinder, that's three hours from here. I'll be driving back and forth for the rest of the day."

"I know." Before he could answer, Cinder took one of the cookie boxes, opened it and waved it in front of him. "I'm soooo sorry to ask this of you. I know it's a huge favor. Gigantic. But she was already redirected twice and now she's stranded in Inyokern." She took a cookie for herself when he didn't. "Kai was really excited to welcome her at the airport. And he would go himself but, you know, the fundraiser."

Problem after problem. That's not how Thorne liked his women at all. "Why can't she drive here herself?"

"She offered but Kai doesn't feel comfortable that she would drive after being awake for so many hours. And you know how those multi-layover flights are. She offered to sleep at a hotel but I thought I should ask you first."

Pinching his eyes shut, Thorne considered Cinder's predicament. The problem was, they were already behind schedule. If she waited for another flight, they would fall behind even further. He sighed.

"Are you asking me as my friend or are you asking me as the bride?"

"What?"

"Are you asking me as my friend or are you asking me as the bride?" he repeated.

Cinder's face scrunched together in thought, as if she had to figure out the answer to a complicated math problem. "As ... my friend?"

Thorne made a buzzer sound like in game show if the answer was wrong. "Try again."

Now she looked confused. "As the bride then?"

He nodded. "Good. This is your crazy-bride pass. Every bride gets one because every bride has this one moment where she goes batshit crazy. At that moment, everyone drops what they're doing for you. Most women use the crazy-bride pass if their wedding gown wasn't altered correctly or when the horses of the carriage get sick or whatever. But it's for one time only, and at that time you'll get everything you want. You want to cash it in now? Should I really get Kai's friend from an airport even though you could use the crazy-bride pass for something else later on?"

Just as he thought, Cinder looked seriously tempted to leave Kai's friend remain stranded in whatever desert was nearest. Moments like this showed that Cinder would fit right into Kai's world of politics, maybe more so than maybe even Kai himself. But then she shook her head and Thorne knew he was done.

This was going to be a long day.

Inyokern Airport must have been the saddest excuse of an airport Thorne had ever seen. He hadn't expected palm trees and red carpets but the whole compound was small and shabby. Thorne felt a wave of pity for the stranded girl as he wouldn't want to be stuck here for another day either.

Then he remembered that she hadn't returned any of the calls or messages he had left her in the last twenty minutes and she wasn't waiting by the parking lot either. He would now have to go look for her inside. Thorne tried to be annoyed but he was glad that he could stretch his legs after being cramped in the car for the last few hours. And he could grab a coffee, too.

Entering the terminal, Thorne quickly found his way into the waiting area. It hardly looked any better than the rest. It was a bare, dim room with a few benches and a vending machine in one corner. When Thorne looked around, there was no sight of a woman that fit the description Cinder had given him. He saw a group of seniors milling around, a businessman working on his laptop, and a small family with toddlers whose hands and mouths were sticky with chocolate and who seemed quite content smearing the brown goop on each other while their parents were on their smartphones.

Thorne made sure to stay clear of them.

He wanted to check his phone again when he noticed a small lump slouched on one of the benches. Thorne made his way there and saw what he assumed was Crescent Darnel, deep in sleep. Small enough to squeeze herself into one of the benches, she lay with her knees drawn up to her chin, using a travel bag as a make-shift pillow. Her shoes must have fallen off and were scattered around. Her hair was a wild, tumbling mess and obviously in need of a few good brush strokes. What her hair didn't hide showed glimpses of smeared mascara and a few scattered freckles. Her mouth was slightly agape, breathing out the tiniest of snores. Thorne wasn't impressed. At least she wasn't drooling, but it still wasn't a lovely sight.

Carefully, he reached down and gently shook her shoulder. When she didn't even stir, he shook her harder. And harder. It was only when he poked her side that she woke with a start, rolling over and landing on the floor with a loud thump.

"Wha-?" She looked around, still dazed from sleep as Thorne helped her back to her seat with a muttered apology.

And if Thorne had thought she looked a bit unkempt before, she now looked positively dishevelled. Huge chunks of hair were sticking up from the static and the rest was plastered across her face. The left side of her face was sporting some dents from the seams and buttons of the travel bag. She rubbed the last remains of sleep from her eyes before they widened almost comically.

"Oh, it's you."

"The one and only." He flashed her one of his most charming grins. "Don't tell me you were expecting another handsome guy with such dreamy blue eyes?"

Instead of blushing as was duly expected of her, she looked almost unhappy. "You're already here." Her hands flew to her head, trying to smooth down some strands - although with little success. "And I look like a mess."

Thorne agreed with that excellent assessment but he didn't miss a beat to say, "Nah. Adorably sleepy, more like it." He looked around while she slipped on her shoes, hopping around a bit clumsily. "Tell you what, why don't you freshen up a bit and I'll wait here with some coffee?" He smiled encouragingly at her, pleased when she accepted his offer with a nod. No one could argue that he wasn't a perfect gentleman.

Buying two cups of simple black coffee, he precariously balanced them and a few creamer portions and sugar cubes back to their seats. He placed one styrofoam cup on the small surface next to her suitcase, taking sips from his own while he waited for her. The introduction hadn't gone at all like he'd expected. They hadn't even formally introduced each other. But then again, he thought smugly, at least he had made a good, professional impression.

When Cress came back, Thorne was surprised to see that she had cleaned up nicely. Her hair no longer looked like a breeding spot for birds but was twisted in an intricate braid, and her face was freshly scrubbed. Her clothes were still wrinkled and there was the faintest hint of dents on her cheek, too. Nonetheless, he mentally upgraded her from semi-cute to cute.

"I'm so sorry I didn't meet you at the entrance. I must have slept through your messages," she said with a sheepish expression, waving her phone around. "And thank you for driving all the way here to get me. I wouldn't have asked. But there was no rental car left and the next flight was tomorrow afternoon. So Kai told me—"

"—and Kai was right," Thorne interrupted her ramble. "We'll get back tonight, you'll get your sleep, and then we can start with the planning tomorrow. Sound good?"

She nodded shyly. "Sounds perfect actually."

"Good. Then it's time for proper introductions." He reached for her hand. "It's nice meeting you, Crescent. I've heard a lot about you."

"Just Cress, please," she said and shook his hand.

Thorne nodded and with practiced flourish, he brushed a light kiss against her knuckles. "Carswell Thorne. Wedding consultant extraordinaire," he added with a wink.

And finally, there was the expected blush.

A/N: So, our two wedding planners finally meet. We'll see how it goes from here. Thanks for reading and (hopefully) reviewing and a big 'thank you' to lovelunarchron who is kind and patient enough to beta for me. :)