~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Of Corporate Scandals

Chapter 8. Wedding Dates

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Annabeth set the bowl of chips and dip down on the table and placed the drinks on the counter. "Thals, is this enough food?" She asked, surveying the snacks.

Thalia entered the kitchen dressed in her usual attire; black skinny jeans, combat boots, and a concert T-shirt (this time from The Dirty Projectors 2009 World Tour). She had reapplied her heavy eye-liner and glitter hair gel. "Yeah, that's fine. Rayne ordered sushi."

Annabeth scoffed and glared, "You could've told me that before I baked a freaking cake."

Thalia grinned, "Whoops. Guess I forgot."

"So it's just a few people right?" Annabeth clarified once more, pulling her blonde hair out of her ponytail and re-doing it in a neater fashion.

Thalia nodded, "Yeah, just Rayne and her friends."

Annabeth nodded. Some might think it strange that a pair of roommates didn't know each other's friends. For others, it would be, but not for Thalia, with her black fringe and spike chokers, and Annabeth, with her blonde curls and cardigans. The two friends tended to run in different circles. Yes, they went to the same college, but Thalia hung out with the feminist rally planners, Indie concert band tourists, and the Save the World environmentalist groups while Annabeth stayed with her study groups and book clubs. Their friendship was an anomaly in the stereotypical clique theory.

Annabeth had only met Rayne on a few occasions when she had taken Thalia to the doctor when she was sick. She knew that they had met through Rayne's older brother at the summer camp they used to go to and she had graduated early and somehow got her medical degree before thirty, but that was pretty much it.

Thalia continued, "They should be here any minute."

Just as she said that the buzzer rang and Thalia pressed the button, "Come on up, Rayne!"

A few minutes later their doorbell rang and Thalia opened the door to a pretty, Asian woman carrying a bunch of balloons bearing wedding slogans and bridal bells, "I brought decorations!"

Thalia said, "Hi, Rayne." She took the supplies placed it on the kitchen counter, "You remember Annabeth, don't you?"

Rayne smiled, "Of course I do! She held your hair back when you barfed all over my clinic when you had swine flu."

Thalia's cheeks colored, "Right." She grumbled.

Annabeth waved, "Hello."

Rayne pulled her into a friendly hug, "Thank you so much for letting me have the bridal shower here. My sister-in-law got a reservation somewhere downtown, but they overbooked."

Annabeth nodded, "Oh, no. It's fine. It's no problem at all."

Rayne Songli struck Annabeth as one of those overly-friendly people that everyone liked. She had strong features and long, dark hair. She was almost an entire head shorter than Annabeth and petite.

"Thalia, Darci and Dusk should be here soon," Rayne said, sitting down on the couch.

Soon a woman who looked slightly older than Rayne with long, black hair followed by a girl who looked like a younger version of Rayne arrived. The former, Annabeth learned, was Rayne's sister-in-law, Dusk Solace. She was married to her older brother Will. She looked strongly of Italian descent and was seven months pregnant. The latter was Rayne's younger sister Darci. The rest of the bridal party, Rayne explained, had either dropped out or had former engagements to attend to.

After getting acquainted and settling down, Dusk lowering herself onto the couch with some difficulty with her pregnancy bulge in the way (She was pregnant with her and Will's second child), the girls talked and got to know each other.

The shower was quite pleasant with laughter and, somewhere along the course of the night, Thalia breaking out a bottle of tequila – which only three of the five girls were able to drink, Darci too young and Dusk too pregnant.

The evening ended with everyone leaving on a happy note. Annabeth realized she did quite like her roommate's friends even if Rayne did have a major case of Bridezilla.

Over the next few days, they kept in touch and Annabeth was invited to come to the final dress fitting.

The store was a high-end shop in the heart of SoHo. The entire place was filled with mannequins in dresses of all shapes and kinds and black-attired clerks running around with measuring tape and piles of lace in their hands.

Annabeth had come straight from work and arrived just in time to see Rayne wearing her elegant wedding gown that was a flurry of lace and satin. It, thankfully, fit her perfectly. With the wedding only a mere few weeks away, a total size change would be disastrous. Annabeth sat in a comfy, white arm chair with the other women as they watched the saleswoman measure Rayne's waist.

The bride stepped back into the changing room to dress back into her normal clothes.

Just then, a little girl of about five pranced into the room followed by man who must have been her father.

"Mommy!" The little girl squealed, running over to them and launching herself at Dusk, her blonde pigtails flying.

Dusk laughed, "Annabeth, this is my daughter, Hikari. Kari, this is Thalia's friend Annabeth."

Hikari stared up at her, "Hi."

Annabeth smiled, "Hi, there."

Dusk continued, "And this is my husband, Will. He's Darci and Rayne's older brother."

Will grinned, "Hey, nice to meet you." He checked his watch, "I got to run. I'll pick you guys up later."

After bidding him goodbye, he left.

Darci said to Annabeth, "Hikari is the flower girl. She's here to try on her dress, too."

Annabeth nodded, pondering a thought, "Darci?"

"Hmm?" The young, teenager asked.

"Just stop me if I'm prying," Annabeth continued, "but you, and Rayne are Asian, as well as your other brother."

"Yes?"

"But Will is…"

"-Blonde." Darci finished for her with a slight giggled.

Annabeth nodded, "Yes…Um how-?"

Darci said, "Our dad had him with his high school sweetheart before he had Rayne, Itami, and I, but when our mum died he remarried to Will's mum."

"Oh," Annabeth said, thinking that their family tree could've been a soap opera.

The saleswoman walked back into their viewing area, "Alright, ladies, time to try on the rest of the dresses."

A few moments later, Dusk, Thalia, Darci, and Hikari were all standing in front of a three-sided mirror while Annabeth looked at them, adding 'oohs' and 'ahs' at the correct moments.

The dresses were very beautiful; a pale-pink, knee-length gown made of the same lace that made up Rayne's gown. They had elegant, Grecian-style, one-shoulder straps with thin metallic, silver belts on the waist. Hikari's flower girl dress was similar in color, but was made of a light satin with puffy sleeves and a white and silver, flowered sash.

"Wow," Annabeth admired, "You guys look beautiful."

Hikari pouted, "No! I don't wanna wear a dress!"

Dusk sighed, "Hikari, please. It's Aunty Rae's special day. Do it for her."

Hikari just pouted some more, Thalia sharing her expression of disgust. "Urgh. Why did Rayne have to choose pink?"

Dusk's dress had to be let out a few inches more. Over the past few weeks her baby bump had gotten larger and the dress was very shapely.

Annabeth wondered out loud, "I wonder what's taking Ra-"

Rayne burst out of the dressing room in near hysterics, "This is a disaster!" She cried.

Everyone turned to her.

Thalia asked, "What's wrong?"

Rayne collapsed in the arm chair beside Annabeth. She was devoid of her wedding dress, but with the veil still pinned up in her curls, "Isobel bailed!"

A gasp sounded through Darci and Dusk.

Thalia raised her eyebrow, "What do you mean Izzy bailed?"

Annabeth knew from listening to their conversation that Isobel, or Izzy as they called her, was Rayne's fourth bridesmaid. It was just then that she noticed an extra rose colored, bridesmaid dress hanging up, untouched.

Rayne cried "I mean she eloped with some guy and moved to Japan! My wedding is ruined! Who's going to walk down the aisle with Nico's best man?"

Dusk soothed, trying to calm her sister-in-law down, "Breathe, sweetie. Calm down."

"How can I calm down when my wedding is ruined?" Rayne exclaimed.

Thalia suggested, frantically before Rayne could freak out again, "Replace Isobel!"

Rayne's head shot up, "Replace her?"

Darci agreed, "Yeah! Find someone who fits Isobel's dress."

Rayne was slowly coming to her senses, "Yes, replace her." She pondered it, tapping her chin with her manicured index finger.

"Annabeth!" Rayne squealed, hopping up and ran over to her.

"Yeah?" Annabeth asked, slightly shocked at the bride's outburst and wee bit scared.

"You be my bridesmaid!" Rayne squealed, excitedly.

"What?" Annabeth scoffed, "Me?"

Rayne rolled her eyes, grabbing her hands, "Yes you! We're friends and I've spent a lot of my wedding experiences with you already. So why not?"

Annabeth eyed the dress warily, "Um, I guess I can try it on."

Thalia grinned at Annabeth obvious discomfort, "This day just keeps getting better."

Darci took the fourth bridesmaid's dress off the hook and handed it to her, "Try it on and see if Izzy's dress will fit you!"

Annabeth sighed, taking it and going into the dressing room.

After peeling off her jeans and cardigan, Annabeth slipped on the dress over her head. Annabeth was anything, but a girly girl and the last time she had worn a dress was her Senior Prom. Even then she hadn't been excited about the thought of wearing anything other than that. The closest thing to extremely feminine clothes she wore these days were the pencil skirts and blouses of required work attire.

The dress was actually quite flattering on her. The palest of pinks looked quite compatible with her tan complexion and the bodice hugged her curves in just the right ways as well the elegant one-shoulder. The bottom of the dress swished around prettily at her knee.

Thalia chucked silver, strappy heels under the door, "Put these on and come out already!"

Annabeth took off her penny loafers and exchanged them for the stilettos. She opened the door and tugged nervously at the hem, "Does it look alright? Is it too tight around the waist?"

Rayne gasped, "It looks perfect! Oh, it's wonderful. She even has the same shoes size as Isobel!"

Hikari grinned, "Mama, she looks pretty."

Dusk smiled, knowingly, "Yes, she does."

Annabeth's cheeks colored, "You think so?"

Everyone nodded and agreed.

Rayne walked over to her, "Ok bridesmaid number four. This means you need to be trained." That set Bridezilla on a rampage of when to go shopping with them, the bachelorette parties, the dinner rehearsal, and a boat load of all the other events she needed to attend to now.

Annabeth sighed; she was beginning to regret this.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Friday September 29th, Nine o'clock at night, Two days before the wedding

"Surprise!" Percy said, parking the car.

Nico opened his eyes and saw the flashing, neon sign of a bar. He groaned, "Aw, come on, guys! I told you no bachelor party!"

Itami chuckled from the back seat, "Dude, we know, but we didn't listen."

Luke nodded, agreeing, "Lighten up, Nico, Thalia is throwing Rayne a bachelorette party."

Will said, "Hey, at least we didn't take you to a strip club."

Percy chuckled, "I still think we should have gone to one."

Nico rolled his eyes, "Shut up, come on let's go." He climbed out of the passenger side followed by Percy and his other groomsmen."

After a several rounds of shots and numerous pitchers of beer, they weren't even slightly buzzed.

Nico let out a large belch.

Percy downed another shot, "Hey, Nico. I won't be able to make the dress rehearsal tomorrow. I have a meeting."

Nico said, "Hey, no problem. I'm pretty sure Rayne had you run over the protocol way to many times."

Percy chuckled after eyeing some single women on the dance floor, "Are you sure about going through with this, Nico? After Sunday, no more bar hopping."

Nico punched him in the arm, "Yes, I'm sure. I love Rayne."

Will said, "Yeah, Perce, you're the only single one now."

Percy thought about; it was true. Will was already married with a daughter and one on the way, Luke was about to propose to Thalia, Itami had a serious girlfriend and a son, Nico was getting hitched in two days, and Percy was…alone.

Percy groaned, "How the hell did that happen?"

Itami scoffed sarcastically, "Oh, I don't know. You have one-night stands every weekend?"

Percy sighed, "Oh, stop, I'm about to get a 'girlfriend.'"

Nico raised his eyes, "Oh, really? Who is she?"

"Well, I sort of have to date her," Percy said, "Her names Calypso. My dad needs me to get to know her for some contract."

Itami said, "Oh, that sucks."

Percy nodded, "Yeah. I don't even like her. There's someone else."

A/N: (Revised April 2022) Noooo not my OCs making an appearance. I cringe.