Moving stories, again. It's almost four in the morning and I have school. Big oof.

So, half my friends are at State, competing in their academic UIL events. I get to go next year, but I still am upset for now. I have no one and no where to eat lunch, since we all hide in their coach's room at lunch. I will figure it out, though. It's just a day.

I have the final chapter of Missing Piece about halfway done. It's strange to think I'm wrapping it all up, now. I'm almost sad.

Also, hooray! I finally fixed the errors. Only took a year and a half.

Disclaimer: I do not own Every Witch Way.

There were many things Andi could lose and not really miss.

Toolbox: replaceable. Cruz Lightning: She'd live. Phillip: okay well, not him.

But she certainly couldn't lose her best friend. But right now, that's exactly what she was doing. Because what was today?

Emma's wedding day. The day Birdman finally, officially took her away from Andi.

Andi stared into the Church Hall bathroom, blankly. She didn't know why it was called a Church Hall, because it wasn't a Church. But outside of this room was Jemma's wedding reception. The one that she, as the maid of honor, had to give a speech at in less than ten minutes.

And what was more? She'd been in there for thirty, and Emma hadn't come looking for her. She was probably too busy with Jax to even notice her best friend was missing.

Ouch. That thought stung.

But it was true. Andi knew this day was coming, from the first time they smiled at each other during lunch. Jax Novoa was going to sweep Emma off her feet and into a world where Andi went from super awesome best friend to... Andi. Just Andi.

She was married now. Emma was 20, and married, and the happiest Andi had ever seen her. She was selfish for hiding here, in this bathroom, while her best friend was enjoying the happiest day of her life. She was selfish for wishing she'd had just one more year. But, she couldn't help it.

"Andi? You in there?" Her boyfriend knocked on the door, softly. "Hey, your speech is in less than ten minutes! Emma is having a cow out there, and you know how my sister is when she has a cow!"

The guardian sighed, staring at her dress. Teal, with a pink ribbon instead of yellow, because she was the maid of honor. She disliked it, but it was Em's wedding and the other choice was covered in glitter.

"I'm coming." She unlocked the door, thankful that she had refrained from crying. Phillip looked at her curiously when she came out, seeing the look in her eyes.

"Why do you look like your car got painted pink and your grandma died?" Andi looked at him like he was insane, and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Let's just hurry the hell up, before Jax realizes how insane his wife really is." She chuckled, but Phillip knew she was hurting. He would have to ask again, later.

"All right. But only because my sister plus you equals a freaked out me."

She rolled her eyes, and dread piled up. This was it. Go time.

"Come on, come on, where the fuck is she?" Emma growled under her breath, having grabbed her hair so many times she had to have ruined it by then. Thank god pictures were over.

"Em. Emma, calm down. Andi will be here soon. You know your brother is scared of what you'll do if he doesn't bring her." Jax set his hands on her shoulders reassuringly, giving her a smile. But, Emma wasn't having it. Even her husband's undeniable charm couldn't penetrate her anxiousness. This was her wedding, damn it! Andi knew it had to be perfect!

"I'm stressed out. She's been game thirty minutes! Why isn't she here!" It wasn't a question, so much as a stressed shout, of course whispered, so the other guess wouldn't hear. But everyone except Jax's distant relatives, who she just met, knew something was up.

"Jees! Chill the hell out, glitter, I'm here." Emma had never been so happy to see five foot five (she forced Andi into heels) of baby blue fabric and brown hair. Thank the heavens!

"Andi! Where the hell have you been? Do you know where you are?" Emma scolded, walking away from Jax and toward that panting girl. Andi rolled her eyes.

"Em. I may have just done something shitty and walked away, but I'm not an idiot, or a bad best friend. I am well aware that I am at your wedding reception. And I am also aware that you're a perfectionist and just may kill me."

Emma huffed. "Whatever. Just get up there! It's time."

Andi did as she was told, taking a microphone from a stand, and climbed a chair to get a higher view. She could see the decorations, black white and pink, all gorgeous and elegant and so Emma-like.

Taking a deep breath, she panicked. At one point she wrote it all out, and memorized it. Lines about how happy she was for them, a crack about how Phillip really needed to get his act together, and something about how much she loved Emma.

But that all went flying. Because she wasn't happy. And lying on her best friend's wedding would make her the worst friend ever.

"Hi, everyone." She started, pursing her lips. "I'm not much for public speaking, really. Honest to god, I should have chosen not to be maid of honor the moment my best friend told me I'd have to compliment my frenemy during a speech at this damn thing." Everyone chuckled, and Andi felt sweat wet her palms. Cruzes didn't get nervous.

"But I did, because I was being a good friend. And she would have done the same for me. Everyone here today is happy, to the point that I find it ridiculous." She glanced at a now smiling Emma, who had returned to the place she had been standing in with Jax. "But, not all of us are as happy as we should be."

It took strength for her to jump back down. "You see, teenage girls are odd. They act jealous and bitchy sometimes. And well, I'm still nineteen, and my best friend got married. I'm not as happy as I ought to be, and that blows."

Emma was looking at her oddly, a slightly panicked grin on her face. Jax was just studying her.

"Everyone in this room knows why the start of sophomore year was so significant for these two. If you don't, you paid no attention. But it isn't just the day my best friend met the love of her life, for me. It's the day my best friend's life changed forever."

"When I walked through that door with you, Emma, we were fifteen. You were dating the dorky athlete you were living across from, didn't know how to control magic for the life of you, and somehow blushed more often than you still do." At that, as predicted, Em went red and looked at her feet. Jax hadn't reacted much, besides his jaw clenching at Daniel's mention. Of course. Married to her and he still couldn't put up with her having been with someone else.

"And then, your dad called you into the office. And from the moment he dropped that pen, it was game over. Fate was running its course."

She shut her eyes, briefly, and clenched her calves for support. It hurt, but it always helped.

"Because you didn't see it yet, but I did. I saw your eyes light up when he came around or someone said his name. I watched you get more daring, and don't blame the fool moon. I watched you fall in love, real love, before you knew you liked him as anything more than some hot wizard that you were friends with."

Andi felt a small pang of disgust, and looked at a very amused Jax. "Her words, not mine. Personally, I never saw it, and I never will, Birdman."

More laughter rang out, almost calming Andi down. "You say you knew she was yours before anyone. You're not right. Because I knew, before either of you, that it was a matter of time until you were in love. And I fought it with all I had."

She sighed. This was harder than she thought. "I gave you hell for every mistake you made because I knew, in the pit of my stomach, that you had her, hook line and sinker. And I made a promise with her, in freshman year, to fight adulthood with all we had. And the one thing I hate is broken promises."

Emma laughed in embarrassment, burying her face in her hands. "Oh my god! I can not believe you remember that!"

Andi laughed. "I do. I wasn't ready to let that go. There was no part of me the was willing to be replaced by some no good, rebel, bird hating wizard." It was a grumble, but she still refrained from saying "fearing" and replaced it with "hating", to be nice.

Both parts of Jemma rolled their eyes. "But, at some point between him nearly killing Daniel for hurting you at the Never Ending Summer Party, and saving you when you were sent into Zombie Apocalypse 3, I gained respect for him. He meant what he said, about changing, for your sake. And suddenly, I wasn't so angry at him."

It took all she had to do this. God, she despised weakness.

"I hated that. It suddenly wasn't him potentially playing you, and I hated it. Because you were falling for him all over again, and I was powerless. So no, I didn't hate him as badly. I hated the fact that he could make you smile just as much as I could."

Emma gave her a smile of sympathy. "You started to rely on one another. Suddenly, Jax was with you when you were scared of a storm. She stopped needing me for every magic question she ever had. And, I no longer fit the way I once did. He meant more."

There was a moment that Andi knew glitter would object to that, but she silenced her, stepping forward, staring Jax in the eyes. "But that's the way it should be. You should be the one she counts on. And, though it'll never happen, you should be the one with screen shots of her fights with others on your phone. Because you're her husband, and I'm her sister. And this is the way the world goes." Even if she hated it.

"If I had to be here today, Jax, handing over my card as her number one. If I had to be here, letting someone replace me, I'm glad it's you. Because yeah, I loved her first. But you love her more than I ever could, in any way."

He smiled, sincerely. "Thank you, Andi. I'm pretty sure this is the first time you've ever talked to me for over ten minutes without-"

"However!" Here she went. "Let me make this crystal clear. I may be handing her over, but I am still your wife's best friend. And I will still not hesitate to separate you from your testicles via chainsaw if you ever so much as make her think you aren't as in love with her as you should be." There she was.

Emma cringed. The word "testicles" only made it worse. Her face must have been the shade of the wine she was now drinking: dark red.

Jax laughed. "As you shouldn't."

Andi smiled. She didn't understand the physical attraction, but she most definitely understood why Emma had fallen in love with him. When they weren't playing their little game, Jax was actually a pretty good guy, who more than believed the threats to hurt him were validated.

She walked away, toward Emma, and took her wrists, standing closer than she'd been to Jax. "As for you, glitter. When he drives you to the brink of insanity, and he will, more than once." Emma snorted through the teats threatening to spill. "Don't be scared to give me a call, and play 'teen girl fighting adulthood with all she's got'. Even if we're eighty, I expect you to do it.

Emma nodded, and hugged her tightly. "Andi." The tears were starting to fall, and the maid of honor felt her own coming.

"Don't cry, Em. Maddie will kill you if you mess up your makeup." She giggled and let go, blinking the evidence away.

"I love you, sis."

"I love you more. Now." Andi paused, grabbed a glass of wine, and once again mounted the chair. "A toast. To Emma, the only woman on this Earth that could force me into this thing." More people laughed. Andi looked over her shoulder, and Jax have her a kind nod. "And to Jax. The only person I've ever seen put a bigger grin on her face than I can.

The toast portion of the party ended, and Andi slipped outside for air. About five minutes later, footsteps that had to belong to a guy, since no girl there was wearing flats, approached. She laughed humorlessly.

"Phillip, I'm fine! I told you before, I'm not-" She turned, and instead saw Jax standing five feet away. Confusion swept her. "Oh. Hey, Birdman. Shouldn't you be with Em?"

"Shouldn't you?" He countered, arms crossed. She shook her head.

"No. I'm not married to her."

"Ha ha, funny. Still, though. Why are you out here?"

She sighed, and shrugged. "Because, I want to be. Because, deep down, I want to be alone right now. Go back to your wife, Jax. God knows she doesn't need to have a panic attack because we're both gone."

"She knows exactly where I am. And no, she didn't send me." Both those facts surprised Andi. She leaned against her car, the daylight beginning to recede. On the other side of the building was the alter, and the outdoor part where Jemma had gotten married. The shadows cast and the colors were beautiful even to her.

"Oh, then why are you here?" He leaned against the car, next to her.

"Needed a break. I love her to death, but Emma is such a damn perfectionist I needed to step out a moment and let myself breathe. Phillip can suffer for ten minutes." Andi snorted. Poor Phil, always hearing Emma yap. She, him, and Jax were the other three of the four musketeers, and they all knew how bad she was.

"He will kill you."

"Em won't let him." He shrugged. She snorted again.

"No. She's saving your death for the day you really piss her off. Latina women are killers when they're pissed." A smirk crossed her face. He laughed.

"Whatever. Honestly, I'm counting down until this party ends and I actually get to take her home and be alone with my wife. God that sounds odd to call her." He paused to clear his throat, but Andi didn't miss the small smile on his face. "But, um. Who thought family got to have her more than me?"

Andi outwardly shrugged and stared at her feet. However, Andi inwardly chuckled and made a smart ass remark about why he was so excited to be alone with her.

"Deal with it, Birdman. One more hour then she's strictly yours for three weeks." He smiled at me.

"Yeah. I suppose I can deal. Really, though. Why are you here?"

Andi groaned. "I guess I couldn't take the disapproving stares the old people gave me. Either for my hair, my mouth, or my jealousy. You needed a break, and I did too." He nodded, and let it go, turning to face the sunset.

"Jax?"

"Yeah?" He answered.

"How exactly is your wife torturing my boyfriend?" She didn't want to know, the moment he smirked.

"By rubbing it in his squeamish face that he needs to grow up and propose already." I choking on air was a thing, Andi did it right then.

She didn't want to get married for another ten years!

"No thanks!"

He laughed, and a few minutes later a spooked Phillip begged them to come in and save his butt. They did, and a thought crossed Andi's mind.

Maybe adulthood didn't have to go fuck itself. Maybe, life was fun.

And, maybe, alcohol, friends, family, and her boyfriend made up for what still sucked ass.