a/n: Hi friends! I sincerely apologize for really sucking at updating chapters for this story. I really hope to get better and update for frequently than like every two months. I hate making you guys wait so long. I really appreciate all of you guys who have stuck with me. Thank you all so much!
Thank you Eunice339 for you talented beta work! You are so amazing and I thank you for all your time and effort!
Chapter 16
Four years ago...
"Come on, Tobias! You're walking too slow; we have to see the venue before someone else takes the last spot!" Tobias trails five feet behind Tris as she excitedly skips towards the entrance of Chez.
Their initial plan was to have a small wedding at their local church and then hold an intimate reception at a nearby restaurant, but that all changed when Tris saw a random ad for the Chez wedding venue as she was browsing the Internet. And of course, the bride wants whatever the bride wants.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! But honey, I think you're over-exaggerating. We're just going on a private tour." Tris comes to an abrupt halt then turns and stomps to where Tobias is standing at the moment. Her hand wraps around his wrist before she drags him inside the building. "Oh my! Sheesh, woman!"
They enter the elegant building and there is already a petite woman of approximately forty years of age standing with a clipboard in her left hand at the entrance.
"Hello, you must be Mr. and Ms. Eaton," she says with a wide smile. "My name is Giuliana Handers, I was the one that you spoke to a few weeks ago about the tour." Giuliana holds out her hand to shake. Neither Tris nor Tobias say anything when she calls them Mr. and Ms. Eaton. In fact, when she calls them by Tobias' last name, the two can't help but grin at one another.
"Yes, of course!" Tris replies enthusiastically. "Thank you so much for your time today, we really appreciate it."
"It's my pleasure, thank you for being here today. Well, as you can see, the venue is a blank canvas, making it easy for you to decorate to suit your own personal style, with plain white walls and several large windows that stretch from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Light, transparent curtains cover the windows and there are several decorative pillars dispersed throughout the hall. Towards the side of the first floor is a lovely glass staircase that leads to a small balcony with a complete overhead view of the first floor." Though the floor is completely empty, with no tables or decorations, Tris can already imagine getting married to Tobias in this venue.
"Usually for wedding ceremonies, we'll arrange several rows of chairs for your guests, depending on how many are attending. Since the reception also takes place in this room after the marriage ceremony, we recommend having your photographers take pictures outdoors for about an hour or more. During that time, we will be setting up the reception. Don't worry, our crew is extremely efficient and will get things situated very quickly."
"I love it," Tris says quietly, but loud enough for Tobias to hear.
He looks down and entwines their hands together. "I'm glad, because I really like this place too." Tris looks up at him and smiles incredibly wide.
"Do you have any openings in April?" Tris has always wanted to have a wedding in April, because she loves spring and thinks it's the best time to get married. Not only that, her parents and grandparents on her mother's side were married in April, so she wants to carry on the tradition.
"As a matter of fact, we do. We recently had a cancellation. Apparently the couple had some issues, so they called the wedding off. Sorry, I don't know why I just told you that, but if you're interested you'll need to let me know soon. We tend to get bookings extremely quickly, especially when we happen to get an opening in a fully booked month." Tris looks up at Tobias and he gives her a slight nod.
"We'll take the date."
"Ok, we can talk about prices later on, if that's fine with you. But for now, the scheduled date will be April 12, 2013, are there any conflicts with that date?" Giuliana asks politely.
"I don't believe so," Tris says, looking at Tobias to see if he has any conflict with that date. His bright smile causes her to return the gesture.
"Great!" she smiles. Giuliana writes something down on her clipboard and looks back at the couple. "I will call you tomorrow to finalize the contracts and deposit and then we can start to talk about your plans too. But for now, if you two have any other questions, feel free to ask."
The couple shares another look with one another, communicating with their eyes that neither have any questions.
"No, I think you've answered all of our questions for now. Thank you so much, we really appreciate you taking the time to show us this place today." The two women shake hands.
"Of course! It was a pleasure having you two today, you're such a lovely couple," Giuliana states with a large smile.
"Thank you, again." Tobias nods and shakes her hand as well.
He takes Tris' small hand in his and leads her out of the building. Her bright smile seems to light up his whole world.
"If you keep smiling like that, I'm afraid you're going to break your face or something," he teases.
"Shut up!" She shoves him playfully with her hip. "I'm just...happy." Tris stops walking to look at him. "Everything feels so surreal. I'm seriously living the dream being with you and I couldn't be happier. I'm kind of scared that at any moment I will wake up from this amazing dream. I am so, so in love with you, and words cannot describe how blessed I am to be spending the rest of my life with you."
Tobias' chest constricts almost painfully at her words. Never in his life has he actually felt truly loved. Growing up as a child, both his parents treated him beyond terribly. His mother and father were both drunks. His mother left him when he was only nine-years-old and his father was a complete asshole. However, meeting Tris has probably been the best thing that has ever happened in his life. She makes him feel so loved and happy – something he hasn't felt much in his life.
"You make me feel so loved, Tris." He pulls her to a more secluded area. "I love you so ridiculously much." There's so much emotion in his voice, Tris notices.
She pulls his face down to her level by his neck and slowly joins her lips with his. His hand releases hers and he cups her face in both of his hands, deepening the kiss even further. Tris suddenly remembers where they are and she reluctantly pulls away from their passionate kiss, but she rests her forehead onto his, breathing heavily.
"I can't get enough of you," Tris whispers quietly. Tobias' lips lift up into a smile.
"Me neither. Come on, I want to take you home and make sweet love to you."
"Mmm...I'd liked that very much," she's says against his lips.
Present day...
The next morning Tris wakes up with a sore neck and stiff back. Her eyes adjust to the bright light coming from the windows. With a groan, she rolls over to reach for her phone. However, she doesn't realize that she's still lying on the couch until she rolls off, landing with a loud thump.
"Goddamn." Her head is pounding and it feels like multiple gongs are clanging in her head. Tris feels around the table to see if she left her glasses anywhere and to her luck, she finds them at the edge of the coffee table. She pushes herself up from the floor and goes to the bathroom to look for medicine to help dull the hangover pain.
There's a small note on her medicine cabinet and she takes it off from where it is sticking to read it:
Had lots of fun last night. Sorry, had to leave early for work. Hope to see you soon! :)
-TE
Memories from last night come rushing in. She recalls a few snippets – a movie together and practically cuddling on her couch until both of them fell asleep beside one another.
A smile makes its way to her face despite the immense pain she is feeling in her head at the moment. A familiar feeling flutters in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that she hasn't experienced in far too long.
After a few moments of silence, she finally sets the note aside and proceeds with her morning routine. She gets ready for work, quickly doing everything necessary in the bathroom and then changing into comfortable attire. Tris puts on a baby blue blouse and black skinny jeans before she lazily throws her hair into a ponytail and grabs her workbag, not even bothering to eat something for breakfast.
The moment she walks out of her door she is blinded by the bright morning sun. The pounding in her head has worsened; it now feels like a person is continuously drumming on a bass drum.
"Oh, my lord," she mutters under her breath. Looking at her watch, she curses due to the fact that she knows she will be scolded the moment she walks into work for being late.
The drive to work seems to take hours with the heavy traffic. Although you wouldn't think such a petite, innocent looking woman would have such a sailor mouth, Tris couldn't help but curse at everyone who annoyed her whilst behind the wheel.
Rushing to the entrance of the tall Sony building, she almost drops all of the papers she is holding. She glances at her watch again and sees that she is almost an hour late to work, so she picks up the pace and runs toward the elevator.
"Sorry! Sorry! Sorryyyy! I forgot to set my alarm clock last night," she exclaims the moment she steps foot on her floor. "But I have all my reports, and Sony Japan just forwarded the presentation of–"
"Ahem!" Her eyes widen at the sound of her boss trying to get her attention.
Her eyes snap upwards to where Edgar is standing with his arms folded in front of his chest. There is a slight smirk on his face as he tries to hold back his smile.
"I don't understand why you are here today. It's your day off," he says it so seriously that Tris almost thinks that he is joking.
"What, what, what? Are you shitting me?" However, based on the look on her boss' face, he is not shitting her. "Oh...well, I have the reports that you asked for," she says as she hands him a large stack of papers in a manila folder.
"Don't you have someplace to be? Don't you remember the reason you asked for the day off in the first place?" Volker's voice gets louder as he walks towards them.
"What are you talking about...oh shit! I totally forgot! Oh God, oh God. She's going to kill me," Tris chants over and over as she remembers that she was supposed to meet Christina at her place. The two of them, plus Will later on, were planning to look at wedding venues. Christina had found a really nice looking place next to a golf course in the suburbs of Chicago. The place is called The Glen Club and has a good reputation for holding beautiful wedding ceremonies.
"Oh, honey, I wish you the best of luck with that one." Volker gives her a look of pity.
"Thanks! Got to go! Bye, Edgar, I promise to be early for the executive meeting tomorrow!" Tris says on the way out.
Tris pulls out her phone the minute she gets back into the car, trying to mentally prepare herself for the wrath that Christina is going to give her.
"Oh hey..."
"Where the hell are you? You're so late. Will is already here – and he wasn't supposed to meet us for an hour after our first appointment!"
"Oh Geez Louise! I am so sorry, Chris. I'm kind of, like, super hung over right now, so I'd really appreciate it if you lowered your voice, just by, like, you know, a little," Tris says massaging her temples.
"La, la, la, la, la, la," Christina sings very loudly. "I better see you within the next half hour or we – or...uh...well...ah, or, or – the point is, get your ass here!" Christina hangs up the phone leaving a guilty Tris in a full parking lot.
Tobias shuts his front door as quietly as possible when he enters his apartment. He tiptoes his way to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, trying to make the least amount of noise while placing the mug ever so gently on the marble countertop.
"Where have you been, my darling?" Zeke's annoying voice, at least that's what Tobias thinks, causes him to freeze.
"No where," he says vaguely. Last night Zeke texted Tobias to ask him if he could crash at his place because he and Uriah had gotten into a silly argument – something along the lines of Uriah meeting a new girl that did not fit very well with Zeke.
"You sure? Because you smell like a girl?" Tobias tilts his head in confusion. "Oh gosh," Zeke slaps his hand to his forehead. "What I mean is that you smell like a certain blonde girl that I know of. Did you do some dirty dancing last night or maybe some cuddling; I think that's what you children call it these days?"
"I don't know what you mean. I just went out."
"Oh, come on, Four. You don't have to lie to me. I will find out one way or another. You do know a certain blonde is very close friends with my brother." Almost too close, Tobias thinks.
"Okay, fine. I went over to her place last night and we watched a movie and fell asleep, that's all that happened," Tobias explains staring at the empty mug. "I swear."
All of the sudden Zeke's demeanor turns serious. "I'm happy that you two are friends again. It's nice knowing that my best friend is happy. I can see the way you've been smiling 24/7, but I do want to say, be careful. Cheating on a person is the lowest of lows. I'm surprised that you even cheated on her seeing as how happy the two of you guys were. I mean, like, that's so out of character, especially for you... Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked. The point is, be careful, Tobias. I care about her like a sister, and after witnessing it the first time, well let's just say: a heartbroken Tris is not a very friendly Tris. So please, don't do anything stupid," he finished his mini speech.
Tobias listens to his friend carefully, and nods his head once Zeke finishes. "I never meant to hurt her. What kills me is that I can barely remember anything from that night! I don't know; it's strange. But I understand. I don't plan on messing this second chance up. I loved her, and I still do. I just hope she can feel the same way about me again." For a second, Tobias feels vulnerable sharing his feelings with his close friend. It's always been hard for him to share his feelings and let them out in the open when his whole life he's had a firm mask in place on his face.
"Time will tell." There's a long thoughtful silence before Zeke blurts out, "you don't think it's possible you were drugged, do you?"
"We have hosted a variety of events since the very beginning. We mainly do weddings, which is the reason you are here, I'm assuming," George, a man in his late fifties, explains. "Usually when a couple gets married here, you also have the option of reserving your own personal hotel room, which would be located at the Chicago North Shore, the building in front of us. If you'll follow me, I will show you the grand ballroom." The three of them – Christina, Will, and Tris – trail behind the man as he leads them to the grand room.
"Whoa," Tris says quietly as they enter the room.
"The ceilings are 23 feet high and distinguished by spectacular floor-to-ceiling windows that give you an amazing view of Lake Michigan," George says in an almost rehearsed manner.
In addition to the deep blue lake, the ballroom overlooks a formal garden. Outside, there is a stone pathway leading to an exquisite golf course, as well.
The three of them have been touring the place for the past half an hour, and so far, they have liked the place.
George continues, reciting everything from their online website, "The Glen Club's White Glove Commitment provides a reception catered to your desires. We are committed to providing impeccable service to you and your guests. If you have dreamed of your wedding day as the pinnacle of elegance and sophistication, The Glen Club is the perfect choice. Our catering department is here to make the planning for your wedding reception seamless, through partnerships with the area's finest wedding consultants, floral designers, photographers, videographers, entertainers, and more. Along with our superb wedding reception services, we can also help with your rehearsal dinner, post-wedding brunch, and overnight accommodations for your guests. Any questions?" Christina raises her hand to ask a question, but George ignores her and continues, "You'll also have access to the award winning, tranquil golf course. It is open from the hours of 8am to 5pm every night–"
Not to be deterred, Christina jumps in with her question before he continues to recite what they already know, "Would you guys allow us to store some items beforehand? For example, can I leave my dress here in a room as well as the flowers, jewelry, and other clothes, like the bridesmaids' dresses and–"
George sighs, "Yes, you can store all of those things in the bridal balcony the night before. Any other questions?"
Tris has to hold back a snarky comment due to George's attitude. "Nope."
"Good, so let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Here is my card. If you want to book an event, you can complete the form online and we will contact you from there. Now if you'll follow me, I will guide you back to the front of the building."
"So…what do you guys think?" Tris pushes her way in between the couple.
Will is the first to speak, "I can see myself getting married here."
"Yeah," Christina breathes, "This place is amazing."
"That's good, that's good. So, do you think you guys are going to book the place?"
The couple shares a look. "Yeah," Christina smiles widely, "I think so."
"I'm so happy," Tris struggles a bit trying to put both arms around her rather tall friends. "My two friends are getting married. Now, all you have to do is give me a little niece," she jokes.
"Already done," the words slip out before Christina can even stop them.
"Wait, what?"