Chapter 192

"Hey, Paris," Rory greeted her friend, several hours later. Rory had just arrived at the restaurant where everyone was meeting for dinner.

Paris grinned. "Hi, Rory!" she stood up to hug her. It was quite a challenge, given Paris' current condition, but they managed an awkward side hug nevertheless.

"It's great to see you," Rory said, sitting in the empty chair next to Jess. Jess and Paris were the only two there so far. "Where's everyone else?"

"Chris and Hannah should be here any minute. Matt and Jane should be here in like fifteen, he was picking her up at work."

"Got it," Rory nodded. Paris looked distracted, she noticed. "Paris?"

"Huh?"

"…you okay? You were a little zoned out there."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine," Paris said, her face impassive, "I was just lost in a thought."

"Anything interesting?"

"Not in the slightest," Paris said honestly.

"Fair enough," Rory shrugged, "How'd the business stuff go?"

"Well," Paris smiled, "But maybe we should wait for the rest of the guys so everyone gets caught up at the same time?" Jess and Rory nodded.

"That said…I'm really excited to work with you, Paris," Jess smiled at her.

She turned pink. "Thanks, Jess. I'm looking forward to it."

Rory found herself grinning. It was a great thing to see her friend, who had previously been so intense, overbearing, and often dissatisfied, seemingly content and experiencing genuine moments of joy. She looked closely at Paris. Today Paris was wearing an eggplant purple maternity blouse, a pair of black jeans, and some great black leather boots. She was genuinely glowing, and had her hair down, a rarity that was becoming less rare. Rory looked at her closely. The glow was a little bit more prominent than it had been before.

"You seem…happy."

"You've mentioned that a few times recently," Paris smiled, taking a sip of her lemonade. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but I mean…happier than that. Particularly good day or something?"

"…I'm excited about the work thing, I guess" Paris shrugged, "Plus, baby girl is getting closer. I'm over the moon about that."

Rory's senses were flagging that Paris wasn't telling her the whole story. But at the moment, she was too happy for Paris' happiness to be concerned about it. Jess, in spite of his budding friendship with Paris, hadn't noticed anything off at all, really.

"That's really great, Paris," Rory smiled, "How much longer?"

"She's due in 6 weeks. I'm really going to be tempting fate going to your mom's wedding. But I couldn't imagine missing it," Paris said, "Speaking of which, how's the planning going?"

"It's…a lot," Rory answered, making Jess laugh, "We're out of town almost constantly, which is really stressful for both of us with work."

"At least you both have good teams to rely on, right?"

"Yeah," Rory agreed, "If we didn't, it wouldn't be doable in the first place."

"I got lucky with Chris and Matt, but don't tell them I said that."

"…when exactly did you get lucky with my fiance?" Hannah teased, walking up behind Rory suddenly. She earned a huge laugh from Paris and Rory, as well as Matt and Chris, who were right behind her.

"Lovely to see you too, Hannah," Jess grinned, giving her a hug and gesturing the group to their seats, "Matt, speaking of significant others, where's yours?"

"…something came up. I'm sure she'll join us next time," Matt deflected gracefully. Jess nodded, sensing more to the situation but knowing better than to ask.

Hannah smiled at Rory conspiratorally. "Well, at least Paris is here to make sure they don't outnumber us."

"…glad to have a function in all this," Paris joked. Paris met Matt's gaze for a split second before turning back to Rory, her blush barely perceptible and easily camoflauged among the laughter.

"You guys order anything yet?"

"Just drinks. You all should get in on that," Jess said.

"Yeah, make up for my inability to," Paris joked. Chris nodded, raising an imaginary glass.

"Won't be a problem. We have a lot to celebrate tonight."

"…a lot to celebrate?" Matt asked curiously, turning to him.

"Well, our exciting new business endeavor with Paris, of course," Chris said grandiosely.

Matt rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Of course," he agreed.

Chris continued, "But also…Hannah and I have some news, and this time I'll let her be the one to share it. Hannah?"

"We've set a date for the wedding," Hannah said, a grin spreading across her face. Everyone's faces lit up.

"Guys, that's great! Congratulations. When is it?" Rory asked.

"September 15th. So still a while out, but it's a destination thing, so we wanted to make sure we gave you all lots of notice."

"Where are you doing it?" Paris asked.

"London," Chris said, his smile spreading even wider. Jess' eyebrows raised.

"Holy shit, Chris."

"I know," he smiled, "We're gonna keep it really small, but yeah. We've both been once and each loved it, and we'd always wanted to go together…we thought it would be pretty unforgettable."

"It will be," Jess smiled, still a bit dazed, "I guess I've got to get a passport."

"You don't have a passport?" Paris asked. Jess shook his head.

"Never needed one," he shrugged. Rory squeezed his hand under the table.

"So how small are we talking?" Matt asked.

"Well…we're telling you guys first for a reason," Hannah answered, "Which is really that…well…this is kind of awkward."

"Only because you pointed out it's awkward," Jess joked. Hannah narrowed her eyes and he laughed. "Fine, fine. Continue."

"As I was saying…um…Chris?"

Chris smiled reassuringly, taking her hand. "Why don't I go first? Matt, Jess…will you bozos be my groomsmen? We're not doing any of that best man shit, and it'll just be you guys. My family's all old," Chris said jokingly.

"We'd be honored," Jess smiled, clasping Chris on the shoulder.

Matt smiled very genuinely. "Damn straight. We may be bozos, but we're your bozos."

Chris laughed, giving Matt a hug.

Hannah took a deep breath. "Well, that kind of sets me up perfectly. Rory…I'd love to have you stand up for me."

"I'd be honored," Rory smiled. Then, to Rory's surprise, Hannah turned to Paris.

"Paris…well…"

"It's okay, it doesn't have…"

"Will you just shut up and let me talk?" Hannah said teasingly. Paris smirked and nodded, miming locking her lips with a key. "As I was…attempting to say…look, I know we haven't known each other very long, so this might be awkward. But I've never really had a lot of close friends who were women. And I just…I felt like we clicked pretty quickly, and…wow, I'm not making this any less awkward. Would you maybe want to stand up for me too?"

"Really?" Paris asked, stunned. A small smile was playing on Jess' face. An unreadable expression was playing on Matt's.

"Really. Is that a yes?"

"…of course it is. I'd love to," Paris said, regaining her composure. She hugged Hannah tightly. Her eyes were watering a tiny bit, though that was only noticed by one person. When they pulled apart, Hannah smiled.

"Thanks for not thinking I'm weird."

"Technically, I never said that," Paris teased, making Hannah laugh, "Plus, if you're not a little weird, we can't be friends, and that would be really awkward now with your wedding photos."

"What about Jane?" Rory asked. Jess, Paris and the others turned to Hannah curiously. She sighed.

"Well this is actually awkward," she admitted, looking at Matt in a pained way, "It's just…"

"You said London? She can't go, so don't worry about it," Matt interrupted. Chris raised his eyebrows.

"Why not?"

"She has a fear of flying," Matt said, "No desire to travel really, especially overseas."

"Didn't you all just go to New York?" Chris asked, confused.

"I drove," Rory said. Hannah looked at Matt carefully.

"Matt, I'm…"

"Seriously. It's a nonissue. I'm so happy for you guys," Matt smiled. After a pause, he opened his arms and pulled Hannah into a hug. Chris raised his eyebrows and shared a look with Jess. Matt wasn't usually very physically demonstrative, and also didn't tend to go out of his way to make things easy for or comfort people. It wasn't clear what had gotten into him, but they certainly weren't complaining.

"Well then, it's settled," Chris smiled, "We've got our wedding party right here. And in a little more than six months, we'll all be in London."

"Well, should we do Guiness to celebrate?" "Sure!" "I'm in!" "Why not?"

Paris looked down at her phone, which had just vibrated, and then looked at the menu. "…I'll do that elderflower mocktail they have. Turns out I can still get in on the British shenanigans."

"Excellent!" Chris said cheerfully.

"And you'll be even more able to when we're in London," Hannah reminded Paris, making her smile. Paris looked down and typed something into her phone. When she looked up, she found Matt looking at her. They shared a glance for a moment, and he gave her a small smile before he looked away.

Paris turned to Rory. "Getting sick of having me around so much yet?" she teased.

"I'll let you know in September," Rory joked, grinning at her friend.