Chapter Three
Harry had flown back to London two weeks ago. One Direction was now on tour, which meant our communication was nearly nonexistent. My mom had managed to get a day off work and decided we should go to Huntsville to meet with a popular wedding planner. I didn't think hiring one was necessary, but my mom was crazily stressed whilst planning her own wedding. Katie tagged along with us. She had nothing better to do.
We arrived at the small brick building after a thirty-minute drive. Getting out of the off-white Escalade I adjusted my purple maxi dress before walking inside. A smiling Hispanic woman greeted us. She stuck her hand out and introduced herself as Rosa Martinez. We each introduced ourselves before Rosa led us to her office telling her assistant to hold all of her calls.
"What date are you hoping for? I can have this put together by the end of August if you want a summer wedding." Rosa questioned as she took a seat in the black leather office chair. My mom and I took seats in the black plastic chairs on the other side of her desk and Katie in the lone chair against the wall.
"We're actually hoping for October fourteenth. He's busy with work all summer." I answered.
Rosa pouted, "Can he not take a week off?"
"He could try, but there would be a lot of angry fans," I answered with a snort. Katie laughed as well.
"She's engaged to a singer," my mom explained sounding annoyed.
Rosa's face lightened, "Anyone that I know?'
"Harry Styles from One Direction," I answered proudly.
Katie snorted, "She's so conceited about that." She was halfway right.
"My daughter loves him," Rosa gushed turning a silver picture frame to face us. In the picture was an elementary school aged girl wearing a One Direction shirt outside of an arena. "My husband and I bought her tickets for their tour."
"Which show?" I asked automatically smiling at the picture.
"The Los Angeles show August tenth. We'll be there visiting family." Rosa answered with a smile.
"Uh oh," Katie murmured as my eyes widened.
"Harry won't be here for your birthday dinner?" my mom asked sounding as shocked as I was.
"Apparently not," I answered pulling my cell phone out of my purse.
Katie shook her head, "Oh dear God that poor boy."
Me: So LA August 10?
Harry: Oh I was going to tell you love. We just found out ourselves.
Me: Okay, but what about my birthday?
Harry: I promise to make it up to you, but I have to go rehearse.
Me: Talk to you later?
Harry: I hope.
I stared at the text message with a small pout. Dating a member of a music sensation was hard. Granted I hadn't realized completely what I had signed up for when we made things official on my birthday last year, but his fame had already driven us apart once and we made a pact that it wouldn't happen again. Yet not being able to see all summer was not something I was looking forward to. The tour wouldn't end until September, which meant that Harry would be back just in time to say I do.
After our meeting with Rosa, Katie and I left Mom at home to go meet Shavonne and Sofia for lunch at Panera. I spotted them along some other friends at the longest table in the bakery.
"You're late," Shavonne informed me as I sat down my black designer bag which I splurged on during a shopping trip.
I shrugged, "We got held up at the planners. Hey Sofa." I smiled at my charismatic friend.
Sofia stood to hug me, "Hey."
"Have y'all ordered already," Katie asked. Bryn (my glasses wearing, brunette, professional fangirl, and aspiring singer friend) nodded in response to her question. Katie nodded and headed towards the counter. I followed her after a few more greetings.
"Justice how is the planning going?" Suzanna the not so ideal preacher's kid asked.
I wobbled my head slightly, "Technically I haven't started."
"Well when you do don't forget that the role of Maid of Honor goes to me," Shavonne commented.
"No," Sofia shook her head, "I deserve that title."
"What about me?" Katie piped in.
"You're new to the group," Bryn reminded her. We all nodded in agreement.
Katie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but I'm responsible for getting Harry and Justice together."
"I thought he nearly knocked her down at the airport," Suzanna commented in confusion. Her button nose scrunched up.
"He did, but she wouldn't have been there if I hadn't dragged her to London."
"She has a point," I agreed absentmindedly. Several glares turned my way. "What if we draw numbers? The two with the numbers closet to the one in my head wins."
"I'll be the referee," Suzanna volunteered. Reluctantly Sofia, Shavonne, and Katie agreed. In the end Katie and Sofia won by picking three and five with my number being four.
We finished up lunch and decided to go to Target. It was kind of our thing. As we entered the store I spotted Deondre. Choosing to ignore his existence, I continued talking to my friends as we walked towards the electronics section at the back of the store, but he spotted me as well.
"Hey," he said jogging to catch up with me.
I smiled politely," Hi." All of my friends knew him, except Katie who had heard many stories.
"We'll meet you there," Sofia informed me as they walked off. I shot daggers at their backs with my eyes.
"What are you doing later today?" he asked as I tried to walk off.
"Going bowling," I answered immediately.
"Can I come?"
I sighed, "Sure." Getting rid of him was obviously going to take some work.
That night I was at the local bowling alley along with Katie, Sofia, Shavonne, Taylor (my horse riding friend from a small town called Moulton), Tevin (my tall and lanky African American buddy who wore glasses), Chris Hulsey (the obnoxious one), and surprisingly Deondre.
"No, no, no." I chanted as the ball I was using rolled into the gutter. I turned from the lane to face my friends. "That's the second time in a row." It was unlimited game night and we had started our first game.
"Third time is the charm," Chris said sympathetically as Shavonne took her turn. I looked for a place to sit and pursed my lips when I realized the only available sit was beside Deondre. I shot Taylor a glare as I sat. She smiled apologetically, but didn't offer up her seat. It was awkward enough having him here, but sitting by him was a whole new level.
"Hey Justice look," Bryn gasped pointing to the projector screen hanging on the wall of the bowling lanes. One Direction's Kiss You music video was playing. I nodded and continued to scroll on my cellphone. "Did I miss something?" Bryn asked at my lack of enthusiasm.
"She's mad because he won't be here for her birthday," Katie explained.
"Selfish," Shavonne commented as Sofia took her turn.
My mouth popped open in shock, "It's not just my birthday. It also marks the day when we made things official."
Taylor shook her head, "I always thought you would end up with an athlete. Not some white guy who sings." Deondre chuckled and scooted closer to me. I guess he thought that she meant him. I stood angled myself so that I was facing Chris who was sitting on my left.
We continued to bowl. I came in last the first game. The second game I was almost the winner until Deondre got a strike in the last frame pushing me down to second place. By the third game I was hungry and it was late.
"Low key I could go for some Waffle House," Shavonne announced subtly as we stood by the shelf housing the bowling balls. I nodded in agreement.
As if she had heard us, Sofia asked if we all wanted to go to the Waffle House after this game. Everyone agreed, including Deondre unfortunately.
"Damn I can't get rid of him," I muttered.
"You know you don't want to," Taylor teased coming to stand by us. I rolled my eyes at her. "Let's be honest, if his ex wasn't a psycho you two wouldn't have broken up."
"More like if he wasn't a liar and his ex wasn't a psycho." I corrected her as my cell phone lit up. It was sitting on the sit I had once been occupying. I stepped forward, but Deondre had already grabbed it. He must have been stupid because he answered my phone. I snatched it away from him with a look of disgust, "Hello?"
"Justice?" Harry asked sounding confused.
"Yeah," I answered trying to walk away from all of the noise. "How did you know I was up?" It was almost three o'clock in the morning here.
"I saw your tweet. Who answered your phone?"
I rolled my eyes, "Uh no one important. How's the tour going?"
"Good," he answered slowly. "We're leave for the States in two weeks."
"Great," I said actually meaning it. If we were in the same country it would make communication a lot easier.
"We're about to go," Deondre informed me violating my personal space. I nodded at him, stepped back, and continued listening to Harry. Why hadn't he walked off already?
"…so now Louis has a large bruise on his forehead." Harry finished his story as I walked towards the exit.
"How did he get the bruise?" I asked. All I could remember from his story was that Zayn and Louis snuck to the roof of their hotel and Paul was looking for them for hours, but found them when there were pounding on the door trying to get back inside.
"When Paul opened the door he was standing behind it."
I shook my head, "You guys are weird." Katie looked at me curiously and I shook my head as we got in my car. "I met with a wedding planner today."
"How was it?"
"Informative," I sighed. "Apparently Fall weddings aren't too common."
"I'm sorry love. You know if we didn't have to tour we could have any day this summer."
"Yeah I know, but I'm driving so I'll talk to you later." We ended the conversation. My driving skills weren't perfect and adding a distraction would endanger lives.
"So why was your ex all over you?" Katie asked. I could tell she had been thinking it over for some time.
I shrugged, "No idea." It was true.
The next day I woke up in the afternoon to find Deondre in my house. He claimed that he came over to hang with my brothers, but I didn't believe it.
"You have mail on the kitchen table," Tyrique, my tall, skinny, and athletic brother, informed me as he searched for his basketball in the closet under the stairs. I walked into the kitchen and picked the small and thin package off of the table. I opened it curiously seeing as how I hadn't ordered anything. Inside were two tickets to Switzerland along with backstage passes to a certain concert. I squealed excitedly and rushed upstairs to retrieve my cell phone.
Katie answered on the first ring sounding groggy, "Hello?"
"Guess who has two tickets to Switzerland," I said in a singsong voice.
"No way," she could be heard sitting up.
I nodded as if she could see me, "Yep. We leave Wednesday." I informed her as I walked back down the stairs.
"You have the best fiancé in the world."
"He is pretty great. Talk to you later." I ended the call and pulled up my SMS app.
"Switzerland?" Deondre questioned. "You balling now, ain't you?"
Caleb, my other younger brother, chuckled, "Naw she got a baller."
"Oh she gold digging," Deondre chuckled as well. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Simple-minded people would never get far.
Me: OMG! Two tickets you are the best. I can't wait to see you J
Harry: Did they arrive already?
Me: Yep. See you in a little over 48 hours.