Rays of sun poured in through the windows and illuminated the quaint New York café, the chatter of its occupants filling the room. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, the clinking of glasses on tables held a melodic ring, and the feeling of leftover crusty maple syrup on the table was only slightly off-putting. With the hustle and bustle of city living, two old friends have gotten together to catch up. Courtney sat straight up, only leaning forward slightly to talk to her high school best friend, Bridgette. An air of confidence exuded from Courtney as she proceeded to flaunt her successful career, "Things have been going really well. I've been working with these troubled kids, and you know, juvie when your twelve sucks. I mean, juvie sucks in general, but especially when you're twelve. That's when it happens…"

"When what happens?" Bridgette tilted her head curiously as she brushed a strand of her golden hair behind her ear. Before the lawyer could continue, a waitress stopped by to take their order.

Courtney looked back down at her menu and said, "Oh, I'll have the Cobb Salad but with no cheese, no avocado, and definitely no bacon." After she finished speaking, she firmly slapped the menu shut and gingerly handed it to the young worker who frantically scribbled down her demands.

"And I'll have the Veggie Burger, but with no cheese. Thank you so much," Bridgette smiled up at the girl and handed it back to her once she was finished writing.

"I see you're still committed to fighting against cruelty and unjust slaughter against animals," Courtney forced a smile to her face. Although she respected her friend's lifestyle, she had pressing matters waiting for her at the firm that she had to finish up before the end of the day. She paid no heed to when Bridgette shifted nervously in her chair and gave a small smile.

"Not to mention that livestock production is a major contributor to global warming and only hinders our progress for a more sustainable future. Also—"

"Haha, wow I've missed these talks," Courtney interrupted in order to prevent what was bound to be an in-depth and detailed rant about corporate America and their capitalistic agenda valuing profit over people, animals, and the environment.

Courtney proceeded to space out as she watched Bridgette move her mouth, snapping back into reality every once in a while, to hear snippets of conversation that would momentarily pull her back in. The only thing she could think about was the stack of papers that was neatly organized in her file cabinets, she made a mental checklist of what she had to accomplish, approximately how long each task would take, and how to maximize her work efficiency for each. However, before she could complete this train of thought, she noticed that Bridgette sat up straight and looked at Courtney with the most serious expression she had ever seen. For the normally laid-back surfer, this was something that she never frequently expressed and suddenly she had Courtney's full attention.

"So, I have some important news to share," Bridgette began and clasped her hands together over the table.


Courtney stormed down the street; her black heels clicked loudly with every stomp she took. She whipped out her PDA with such fury that any near passersby visibly tensed and took a slight step away to steer clear of the frustrated woman's warpath. Without hesitating she dialed the first person that came to mind and impatiently waited for her to pick up her call.

On the other side of the country in Los Angeles, California, Gwen woke with a start and looked around the unfamiliar room. She lifted up the cream sheets to her chest and looked down to her right to see a guy with messy black hair and sighed. Her phone began to ring on the bedside table, and she picked it up without even glancing at the caller ID, only one person was capable of such bad timing.

"What are you doing right now?" Courtney hissed as she made her way through a crosswalk, flipping off the car that was honking at her for not waiting for the walk signal. Years of dealing with the sociopathic residents of the city had made her immune to such threats and she could deal out worse than the average New Yorker.

Gwen swung her legs over the side of the bed and grabbed a shirt that was lazily thrown on the floor. She pulled it over her head and slowly began to compile her stuff so she could escape unnoticed before this stranger tried to have a conversation with her. If there's one thing she can't stand, it was her one-night stands attempts to alleviate the awkwardness of the night before when she was perfectly content with just ignoring the whole situation in general. "Uh, just your average Sunday morning."

Courtney scoffed on the other end, "First off, it's not even Sunday. It's Monday, and also it's almost noon there." Before she could continue to berate her friend for her lack of awareness of time, she interjected.

"How do you even know that? It's not like you fucking live here, someone decided to stay stuck in New York," Gwen pulled out a cigarette and searched for a nearby lighter.

"Some of us were presented with prestigious job opportunities that boosted their political career and gave them the chance of a lifetime," she rolled her eyes at Gwen's half-assed quip before bringing the conversation back to her original point. "Look, you don't even know what my day is turning into right now. I was having lunch with Bridgette and we went to that place where we used to hang out—"

"Fucker!" Gwen shouted, not caring if the bum in the bed woke up. She looked at herself in the mirror and noticed that the shirt she was wearing was a Jack Johnson shirt. Her face contorted into one of disgust and she felt the urge to slap herself in the face as she listened to her friend being confused by her remarks.

"Gwen, I haven't even started the story yet."

"Ugh, no it's not that. I just found out that this guy that I slept with is a complete tool," she brought the cigarette to her mouth in frustration and let out a puff.

Courtney turned a corner and basically checked someone by their shoulders as they stumbled away from the livid woman, her anger still raging throughout her body, "For once, can you stop freaking out about your creepy little life for five seconds? Anyway, I was having lunch with Bridgette."


"My point is, imagine enduring such poor living conditions, being sent to juvie, and being twelve on top of all of that. Having the opportunity to work with such troubled youth allows me to reflect on the fact that we should appreciate what we have. Don't you agree?" Courtney essentially ignored Bridgette's previous statement in favor of returning to a topic she was familiar with.

"Yeah, it really does," Bridgette played along for a moment and smiled. However, she knew that if she didn't get out what she had to say then Courtney may never know that one of the biggest events of Bridgette's life was about to occur.

"So, I have some important news to share," Bridgette knew that this would garner the attention of Courtney the second she fixed her normally crappy posture, "Things between Geoff and I have been getting really serious, and I haven't told anyone but—"

"Bridge, can I say something," she held up a hand to stop her friend from continuing and assumed where the conversation was headed. Bridgette shrugged good-naturedly.


"Oh my God, stop. Just stop, I'm gonna conference in Heather," Gwen's head was spinning from all this information. She began to realize that maybe she was more dazed and hungover than she had assumed and knew that to have any recollection of this she would need a refresher course later. Gwen scrolled through her contacts and clicked despite the complaints of the lawyer.

"Oh, for Christ's sake can you just tell her later?"

"No, this is the longest fucking story ever. There's no way in hell I'm remembering any of this so just hold on," she picked up her black bra from the floor and waited for Heather to join the call.

Meanwhile, Heather stood outside the trendy high-end clothing store next to her close colleague, DJ, and they greeted customers as they entered the store. A woman in her late 40s entered the store with a designer bag and a floral maxi dress to compensate for the sudden appearance of wrinkles on her face. Heather beamed at her before she stepped inside the store, "Welcome to Club Monaco! Oh. My. God. That's like totally cute, we don't have anything that cute in the store."

The woman smiled and thanked her before confidently entering the shop, not noticing the eyeroll that Heather did once she was out of sight. DJ turned to her and genuinely smiled, "Ok, so how about we start folding some stuff?"

Before Heather could respond she felt her phone vibrate and immediately hit accept when she saw it was Gwen, "Sorry, I have to take this. It's work calling."

DJ looked at her in disbelief, "You are at work right now."

"So, what's up?" Heather jumped right into conversation, eager to hear any new gossip or updates from Gwen.

"I don't even know dude. It's like some drama with Bridgette, I think?"

Heather gasped and her eyes widened with delight, "Tell me everything, right now."


"Um, so yeah, I haven't really told anyone—"

"Can I say something?" Courtney interrupted for what seemed like the thousandth time before Bridgette motioned for her to continue, "And I'm only saying this because I hold you in such high-esteem. I consider you to be one of my closest confidants, my best friend, and I truly care about you."

Courtney continued to talk over their food being set down in front of them. Bridgette, who hadn't eaten since the night before, was too hungry to hold back and took a bite out of her meal before trying to lighten the mood, "What do I have something on my face?"

"Look guys like Geoff, big party guys, they hate making a commitment. And if he doesn't want to settle down with you or be with you it's because he's unprincipled and incorrigible. Not because your…"

"Vegan?" she offered with a grin on her face, not able to hide the glint of joy in her eyes.


"I mean, she's our best friend. She has a strong track record in activism and a well-adjusted solid moral compass," Courtney highlighted Bridgette's positive traits in spite of the fact that she was still burning with anger and was ready to implode if she didn't get this story off of her chest.

Heather rolled her eyes at the latter statement, "Correction: for the most part she has a good moral compass. Do you remember sophomore year? All the guys used to call her Frosted Tits after she basically made out with a pole in the dead of winter."

"Dude, everyone called her Frosted Tits. I mean, behind her back of course, and you know that it was Al's fault he was such a douche," Gwen was feeling generous enough to semi-defend Bridgette's actions knowing that Heather would pretend to not know who Alejandro is.


"We've been best friends since we were little girls Bridge. At summer camp, remember? The old days of Wawanakwa? And you deserve to be with someone who wants to shout it from the rooftops and form a lifelong commitment with you," Courtney showed one of her few smiles to Bridgette, mainly to interject her own opinion into her best friend's life.

Bridgette let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and suddenly she appeared as radiant as the sun, "I know. Which is why I can't keep this a secret anymore," it was now Courtney's turn to tilt her head in confusion as she anxiously awaited the big reveal. The suspense ate away at her mind until Bridgette finally opened her mouth again and Courtney felt like she was sucker punched in the stomach, "Geoff asked me to marry him!"


Gwen and Heather spoke in synch, "That's insane." Although Gwen sounded monotonous as she kept occasionally zoning out while getting dressed in her own clothes. Heather sounded more emotionally invested in the whole situation and her jaw managed to slightly drop at the shocking revelation.

After finally wrapping up the life-altering story she huffed in annoyance, "Ok, back me up here. We can all come to the consensus that I was going to be the first one to get married, right?"

"Yeah, and I looked him up on Google a few months back and he's surprisingly charming, rich, and handsome, like it's alarming," Gwen managed to finish putting on her clothes and slung her purse over her shoulder.

"I want to date a guy who actually has a steady job for once," Heather makes a passive aggressive comment about her catastrophic love life.

Courtney stops outside of the firm she works out and stands with her back to the building, "You're aware that we're all going to have to be in this wedding, right?"

"Silver lining: We get to throw a killer bachelorette party. We get to dress up and look hot. It's gonna be like prom," Heather allows a small smirk to grace her lips as she recalls the intense afterparty that followed that fateful night.

"Pass, I don't need to parade around all dressed up with a bunch of people that I used to know and no longer care about," Gwen combed through her hair with her fingers. Although she didn't really place too much emphasis on looks, she didn't want to look homeless in case she ran into anyone of any importance or saw someone that could qualify as a future fling.

Without even a second thought, Courtney immediately knew how to bait her friend into attending the wedding, "Trent's going to be there."

"I'll probably go," the goth didn't miss a beat once that information was revealed.

Knowing that she could no longer put off her paperwork and cases, Courtney sighed as she checked her watch, "I've got to get to work."

"Shit, yeah I'm probably fired by now," Gwen made her way to the exit without sparing another look at the man in the bed.

"I have to finish up this pro bono case. And talk to these juvie delinquents and try to get their asses out of trouble.

Each of the girls spoke in harmony as they said their signature goodbye, "Love you B's!" All of them hung up their phones, and PDA, as they continued to go about their day unaware of the events that would soon alter the course of life as they knew it.


A/N:

Hey guys! So this is my first story and it all started because I've been on a big TDI kick since quarantine started and I was just hit with inspiration. This story is loosely based off of the move "Bachelorette" because the characters fit really well with the story, but it won't be exactly the same. There will be different dialogues, descriptions, character traits, but the storyline and timeline overall will be a bit similar. I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave feedback, have a good day!