"Good evening, Princess. Miss Candlehead. Miss Taffyta. Shall I announce you?" Sour Bill drones as the three friends walk down the stairs arm in arm.
"President." Vanellope automatically corrects. "And no. I don't want a big fuss made for me." She continues with a stern nod, knowing full well she didn't really have a choice on the matter.
"You highness, it's tradition." The sour candy insists, though his voice never changed from it's usual monotone.
"…Fine. But don't make a big deal of it." Vanellope says, letting go of Taffyta's hand and waving for them to go on into the ballroom. Giggling with amusement, the two racers slip in through the huge double doors.
Sour Bill follows, waddling in only a few paces before stopping beside the door. He clears his throat and blows a fanfare with a small trumpet, waiting a few moments after until everyone already in the room turns to look at him. "Announcing the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, all hail Princess Vanellope von Schweetz." He intones before stepping aside to allow the doors to swing open and reveal Vanellope.
The ruler smiles and waves to the cheering crowd of racers and candy people before stepping into the room. She by now knew that if nothing else the people would expect a small speech of her, something to get the party started. So she clears her throat and gestures for the roaring crowd to quiet down. "Thank you, thank you all. So. Twenty-one years, and we're still kicking. What a feat!" She cries in a somewhat unorthodox interjection, which only caused the people in the room to laugh quietly amongst themselves. "Yes, well, we owe it all to you people. So, in honor of you, I declare that we get this party started!" She grins as the room cheers once more and the music starts up, the energetic sort of music that all the Sugar Rushers loved. The president smiles and glances around the room once more before slipping into the crowd and joining her two best friends once more. The two racers had met up with Rancis, and as soon as Vanellope joins them he plants a kiss on her head.
"Evening Princess." The peanut-butter cup themed racer teases.
"Butterfingers." Vanellope scoffs but grins up at her boyfriend.
"A truly inspirational speech, your majesty." Taffyta says, wrinkling up her nose teasingly.
"Why thank you, Taffybutt." She shoots back, rolling her eyes.
"You girls all look beautiful." Rancis comments after chuckling softly, smiling around at his three friends.
"I agree." A new voice cuts in. Gloyd steps into the circle and slips an arm around Candlehead, subtly taking her left hand in his and running a finger over her ring. "But you are the most radiant of them all." He continues to his fiancé, smiling down at her lovingly.
The newly engaged racer grins and leans her head against his shoulder. "Thank you, Pumpkin. You look quite dashing yourself." She glances over his outfit, which consisted of an orange dress shirt with black slacks and a black vest over the top.
"Don't I though?" He puffs his chest up and turns his nose up in a simple impression of a snobbish person. The act quickly dropped, however, when Candlehead smacked his arm playfully, eliciting a round of chuckles from the group. Before long their little group of chattering and laughing racers moved to the dance floor. The couples obviously danced with each other, but Taffyta wasn't short of dance moves and easily kept close to their little circle of friends. They bounced back and forth from dancing energetically in the center of the room to chatting around round tables at the outskirts of it. And so the night progressed, with the newly engaged couple easily acting as if tonight was just another party. The small things, however; the stolen glances and knowing smiles, paired with the subtle pressure Gloyd constantly kept on her left hand, suggested otherwise.
At last, about an hour into the party, the time came. Gloyd and Candlehead casually slipped away from the group, under the pretense of getting some drinks, and made their way to the DJ station set up at the far end of the room. Swizzle was running it, playing a constant stream of music and occasionally taking requests from the dancing racers. But as he spotted the couple approaching, he slowly began to lower the volume of the music, allowing the pair to step up next to him as he did so.
Candlehead glanced up at her fiancé, a hint of nervousness beginning to color her features. "Gloyd….?" She started hesitantly, unsure how to express her discomfort.
"Candles?" Gloyd replied simply, though he focused his attention on his love.
"What if… What if they don't approve?" She worried after a moments hesitation.
"What? Why would they-" The pumpkin-themed racer paused and looked hard at her. "Oh, I see." He began after a moment, smirking slightly. He bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. After a moment he pulled away and smiled. "It's fine to be nervous. But don't worry too much. Sugar Rush loves you, and for the most part they tolerate me."
Candlehead smiled ruefully and rolled her eyes. "…You're right."
"Of course I am. This is me we're talking bout." He replied with a cheeky grin, resulting in another playful slap on the arm from his fiancé. He simply chuckled at this before glancing at the Swizzle and winking.
The DJ smiled and nodded before turning a dial on his equipment, fading out the music slowly. Then, with a flourish, he picked up a microphone and began speaking into it with an air of smooth confidence that only years of DJing could bring. "Alright, Sugar Rushers. We're gonna bring back the beat in just a moment, but first, we have a very important announcement to make."
Even as he spoke, the many racers in the hall had begun to turn to the raised platform, whispering curiously to each other. Even the president herself was confused as she mentally went through anything important that would have to be announced at a party. She, naturally, could think of nothing, serving to further increase her confusion. The only people in the room who seemed to know what was going on was Taffyta and Rancis, who watched with broad smiles as Swizzle passed the microphone over to the young man standing next to him. Gloyd paused uncertainly for a moment before holding up the mic and wrapping his arm around his girl, who in turn leaned into him and pressed a hand to his chest.
"Hey!" Gloyd started, immediately grimacing at how lame that sounded. Clearing his throat, he continued nervously. "We won't take up too much of your time, but Candlehead and I thought you should know something." He paused once more, taking a deep breath before announcing confidently, "Candles and I are getting married."
Silence. Then, an instant later, the ballroom erupted into cheers and excited chattering. The couple smiled broadly as they took in the excitement for a few moments, but then they stepped down the stage and welcomed the flood of friends who came to congratulate them. The music quickly started once more, but it took a good twenty minutes before anyone stepped out onto the dance floor again. They were all too busy surrounding Gloyd and Candlehead, asking questions, expressing congratulations, and begging to see the ring. The couple happily complied to every such demand, though they made certain to keep their arms wrapped about each other.
At last they were left alone, only to be surrounded once more by their group of close friends. Rancis and Taffyta, naturally, were calm and collected, but Vanellope was absolutely bouncing up and down as she bombarded the couple with questions. "How long have you been engaged? Where'd you get the ring? How come Rancis and Taffyta and Swizzle all knew about this? Why didn't you tell me?" And on and on until Taffyta literally had to cover her friend's mouth to stop the barrage of questions.
"What is this, an interrogation?" The lollipop loving racer barked playfully as she held the president's mouth closed. This, of course, resulted in a round of laughter from the ring of friends.
"We would have told you sooner, Van." Candlehead said, smiling ruefully. "But you really can't keep a secret." She finished with an amused smile.
Vanellope frowned through Taffyta's hand before pushing it away impatiently and crossing her arms. "Of course I can…" She muttered with a grumpy frown, though she knew that she wasn't fooling anyone. Another round of chuckles ensued.
"Sorry Van." The newly engaged racer said simply, though a very unapologetic smile was stretched across her face, ruining the effect.
"Well." The president began after a moment. "You have succeeded in uprooting the entire party and switching it's focal point from our anniversary to your engagement. Do you think we could ever get back to the simple party?" She finished with a snarky smirk.
"Nope!" Gloyd quipped with false cheerfulness. He then proceeded to bend down and plant a long kiss on the lips of his already blushing bride, causing her to turn red right up to her roots. When he finally pulled away again, Vanellope was glaring at him with an air of annoyance about her. Candlehead breathed a shuddery breath and fanned her face rapidly as her fiancé grinned cheekily. "Really, you walked right into that one."
"I did not." Vanellope scoffed with an annoyed frown, though everyone knew her annoyance was just her snarky attitude peeking through.
"Are you jealous, Van?" Rancis asked suddenly, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her up to him.
Now it was the president's turn to go beet red, as she spluttered out an embarrassed protest. "O-of course not!"
The peanut-butter cup themed racer laughed happily before planting a kiss on his girlfriend's head and smiling. "Joking, of course, your majesty."
"You better be…" She grumbled murderously, though she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as her boyfriend bestowed upon her another kiss, this time on her lips.
"Alright, alright, enough with all the sap!" Taffyta interjected, waving her arms about in an attempt to express her annoyance. "We get it, you're all fluffy lovebirds, can we please just get back to the party?"
"Oh, yes please! The night is still young and I still want to dance!" Vanellope laughed happily as she threw up an excited fist, resulting in yet another wave of laughter from her friends. Without a moment's hesitation, the group hurried to the dance floor, quickly falling back into their pattern of chatting and laughing. Thus the party continued, lasting long into the night, far past when most of the arcade had turned in for a nightly reset. But now, the whole of Sugar Rush knew that they had a wedding to plan, and they knew it would be big.