When it's just after nine, I grab my water bottle and keys, and walk up the street to the gym. Rose is standing outside waiting for me, tapping away on her phone.

"You look tired," she says, smiling at my scowl.

"Gee, thanks. Edward woke me up early."

"Ew, why?" she asks. I smile slightly, ignoring her question. "Are we doing a class today or just our own thing?"

"Maybe our own thing so we can talk." I walk behind her through the sliding doors. "I don't feel like getting reprimanded by Kate this morning for not shutting up," I say quietly.

"Morning, Kate!" Rose pipes in, waving at her from behind the front desk.

"Ladies! Are we here for the Burn Your Buns class?"

"Not today. We're just gonna take it easy," I say, scanning my card.

Kate laughs. Her hair is pulled back so tight, I wince.

"Taking it easy doesn't earn you a behind like mine!" she reminds us, actually turning around to flex her cheeks.

"Maybe another time," Rose offers as we hustle past the desk.

Once we round the corner, we die laughing before getting settled and finding two empty ellipticals near each other.

"What'd you do last night?" Rose asks.

"We were at the rehearsal dinner." I smile to myself again. Edward and I got a little toasted and once we were home, we kissed our way into the apartment, not bothering to pull apart as he started taking off my clothes. We might've had sex on the kitchen table. Which is why we ate at the bar this morning.

"Oh yeah. How was that?"

"It was perfect, of course. Alice and Jasper are wonderful together, and his entire family is just… yeah. They're beautiful and perfect. It would be annoying if they weren't all so nice."

"Tell me about it. I stalked Alice on Instagram the other day, after you tagged her in a photo, and I nearly croaked. Also there was some guy in the picture… big guy… who was that?"

I think back, then nod. "Oh! Emmett. Their cousin. Yeah, he's cool too. Less perfect, but what can ya do?"

Rose snorts. "When does the wedding start?"

"Later this evening. But I'm supposed to be there around 3."

She bounces up and down on the machine, looking over at me. "Why so early?"

"Family photos apparently."

She whistles. "Boy's got it so bad for you."

I smile, refraining from rolling my eyes. "I mean, I do too."

"He really is great." She pauses, giving me a look. "A little too great?"

"Being a good guy isn't suspicious."

"Don't you sometimes worry that you'll find some fatal flaw and everything will be ruined?"

I laugh. "You're very doom and gloom today, aren't you?"

She shrugs, pulling her eyes away. "My date with Royce sucked last night. It's, like, we'll go out and he'll be so into me, then get a couple drinks in him and his eye starts to wander."

I shake my head. "Dump his ass, Rose. He's such a creep."

She nods, not looking entirely convinced. "I dunno. Sometimes I feel like I am being paranoid though. I haven't really caught him doing anything."

Rose met Royce a little more than a year ago. They never made anything official, I think mostly because Royce wanted to keep his options open. Six months into whatever they were doing, I was out and saw Royce with another woman. It was innocent enough, I guess, in the sense that I didn't see them kiss or touch, but they were very close. When I told Rose, she confronted him and he completely blew the entire thing off, even telling her that I was a paranoid friend and not to listen to me. She's been wary of him since, and I wish she'd move on. Easier said than done, I guess.

I pull the elastic out of my long hair and pull it back up into a bun, knowing it's only to fall out again in minutes.

"You don't have to have caught him doing anything. Vibes are enough, right? If something is off, well… fuck him."

"That's the problem. The sex is so good."

I pretend to gag. "Jesus. I didn't mean in the literal sense. Gonna make me lose my breakfast."

Rose laughs, swigging from her water bottle. "Sorry I was trying to freak you out with Edward. You know I'm just busting your balls. He's perfect."

"He's not perfect." But he really is perfect for me. I don't say this though because Rose is down about Royce, and I don't want to rub it in.

"So—family photos?" she asks, smiling. "That's a big deal."

"Is it?" I try to ignore the nervous flutter in my stomach.

"Yeah. He's basically saying he's gonna marry you."

"How do you propose that?"

"His sister will have these photos forever. You don't just throw any ole person you're dating into photos if there's a chance you might break up. That's huge."

"Well, obviously no one ever thinks they're gonna break up with someone, right? It's not like he would've been like 'hey, I know we're doing really great right now but we might break up in a year or two, so maybe don't be in the photos.'"

She thinks about this. "No, more like it would be Alice's job to shut it down and keep you out of them. Yet she's not. Which is a good sign." I can't contain my smile, but then she adds, "Unless they put you on the end. The easier to crop you out, my dear, if y'all do eventually break up."

I flip her off. "Real cute."

"Either way, this means he's more or less told his family how serious he is about you."

"Of course we're serious about each other. We live together."

She claps giddily. "I'm definitely gonna be your maid of honor."

"You're getting ahead of yourself… even if he did say he already bought a ring."

Rose's jaw drops. "What?"

I wave her off, wondering if I shouldn't have said anything. "Don't. He's joking! He always says that. It's like, our thing."

"He jokes that he's gonna propose?" she asks, confused.

"Not like, 'I'm gonna propose, just kidding, ha ha.' More like… I dunno. I can't explain it without you freaking out."

She pauses her machine, eyes still wide. "You just told me he bought a ring! How am I not supposed to freak out? How are you not freaking out?"

"He didn't actually buy a ring, Rose. He just said he did. To rile me up or something."

"Well, how do you know he's not telling the truth?"

"I don't, I guess?"

I slow my movements until I've stopped the machine, watching Rose's face carefully.

"You need to snoop," she says decidedly.

"No!"

"Then I'll snoop for you."

I give her a look, but secretly appreciate her offer. "Not gonna happen. No snooping."

"Why not? We need to make sure if he did get you a ring that it's your style." She pauses, then scoffs. "I'm mildly offended he didn't come to me for advice on what you might want."

I start the machine again, upping the resistance. "That's probably because there is no ring."

"Still. God, you need to start doing your nails like every week. Just in case."

"I'm not gonna snoop, and I don't really have time to get my nails done that often."

Rose swigs some more water, ponytail bobbing as she tilts her head back. "You might wanna start. Dude's totally gonna propose."

You guys! I'm so happy y'all are enjoying this. Updates will be pretty random but, since the chapters are shorter, will be frequent. Thanks for reading!