4 Weeks Later…
…
"Alright sweetheart? Take any longer and we're gonna miss the whole ceremony! Won't look good if the Best Man don't show up, will it?" Pete called to the bedroom while he waited on Maisy's soft couch with an equally bored looking Jerry. Seeing as how she had been busy getting ready when he arrived nearly ten minutes ago, he had let himself in using the not-quite hidden key, and by now he was growing restless.
"I'll be out in a minute" Maisy hollered apologetically through the door.
Having always been told that weddings were bad luck when it came to dates, Maisy had been slightly taken aback when Pete asked her to accompany him to his friend Dave's wedding; then again, maybe the rule didn't apply when the man asked. But now as Maisy stood in front of the mirror putting the finishing touches on her ensemble, a rush of anticipation surged through her body as if it were her first date with a boy.
In reality, this was far from it as over the past four weeks Pete and Maisy had gone on a surprising amount of dates for such a short amount of time. He had taken one look at Maisy in the hallway a week after Bovver's advice had gotten into his head and promptly disregarded it as bullshit. After they had the standard dinner and a movie date they did the less romantic "Grading and Chinese take-away at his place" date followed by the "See, I'm not ashamed to be seen with you in public" evening date. Last, but in the realm of things certainly not least, Maisy had met up with Pete and his friends for Dave's engagement party at The Abbey. Subsequent to the preliminary give-her-shit-for-dating-Pete stage everyone had warmed up to her nicely, much to Pete's surprise and delight. After her initial meeting with most of the boys he was a little worried about how she would take it when they were all together and more than a little tipsy, especially after they started laying into her about her red hair- much to the pleasure of Dave's fiancée Michelle, formerly the only "ginger" in their group of friends. However, instead of throwing a fit like some of his past romantic interests were prone to, Maisy merely laughed at their antics, even doling out some of her own light-hearted jabs.
More impressive to Pete was that -by only the truly miraculous grace of God - he had somehow managed to steer Maisy clear of all GSE and firm related talk the entire night. Though she had noticed he seemed slightly worse for the wear after he had gone to a few matches, he had managed to convince her that his injuries were due to playing around with the boys before the game, in turn leading Maisy to tease him for being the clumsiest P.E. teacher in existence. Realizing he now faced another daunting evening of shadowing and buffering, Pete stood up looking for a distraction from his self-imposed fate.
Ambling across the room Pete found himself at what he had dubbed "The Wall of Fame", or the far wall of Maisy's apartment where she had hung pictures. Mostly of the large family she talked about so often, there were still a few others, like Jerry as a newborn puppy, artsy photos of the family house and Maple trees, and a candid portrait of Maisy and her high school best friend Odette sitting on the tail of a pick-up truck. Laying his eyes on his favorite: 4 year-old Maisy grinning at the camera like only little kids can do with her face covered in ice cream, Pete chuckled, his mood quickly souring however as the action pulled at a split on the corner of his mouth. Groaning again as he remembered how much he was holding back from Maisy and how it was likely to implode on him later; he set to pacing the ground in front of the wall.
Maisy on the other hand was having a couple dilemmas of her own, sprouting mostly in her own head as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. It was clear to her that the connection between Pete and herself was very strong and growing stronger still, yet Maisy was unclear as to what that connection was. Were they just seeing each other casually? Were they exclusive? Was he dating other girls? As much as she knew it was way too early in…whatever they had, to be this worried about how they defined themselves, Maisy couldn't help it. Brushing off the thoughts- at least temporarily- Maisy collected her purse, gave herself a final look over and exited the room, only to walk straight into Pete.
"Alright, love?" He muttered gruffly as he drank in the sight of her. He knew birds weren't supposed to wear white to weddings so as not to upstage the bride, but he had a feeling Maisy would be doing that anyways, even if unintentionally. The off the shoulder bandage dress of varying shades balanced perfectly between modest and alluring.
"You look…breathtaking." He mumbled as his hands drifted leisurely from her upper arms down her torso to rest on the flare of her hips.
"You clean up pretty well, yourself." She said focusing on flattening his collar in an attempt to ignore how she was just as affected by him in his deep navy blue suit as he was by her.
"Well, we should be off then." Pete suggested pulling himself out his Maisy-induced fog.
"Yeah." Maisy agreed. Moving to grab her coat off the arm of the couch she bent down to lay a kiss on Jerry's head, "Be a good boy." She charged him.
"He will, we talked it over, didn't we pal?" Pete said giving the normally aloof dog a rub on the head which the young pup leaned into.
"Ugh, you two are nauseating." Maisy scoffed, allowing a thin line of jealousy into her voice, "Maybe if Dave chickens out, you two can get hitched." She mocked as she walked out of the apartment. Pete laughed as he followed Maisy out the door,
"You're just jealous of our love!"
…
"Ok so I've got to go help the boys, but Stacy said she'd sit with you, she doesn't know many these people either." Pete informed her as they approached the church. Though few other guests were there, the bridal party had been instructed to be at the church early in order to avoid as many hiccups as possible.
"I'll be fine!" She assured him as they stepped through the church doors. Though the church was decorated beautifully, the first thing to catch their eyes was not the flower arrangements but the groom nervously pacing in the back corner. "Looks like you've got work to do." Maisy laughed sending him off with a kiss on the cheek. Spotting Ike's girlfriend sitting in the pews Maisy made her way over to sit with the pretty blonde.
"Hey Stacy." Greeted Maisy, feeling a bit shy. She had only met the woman once before at Dave and Michelle's party at the Abbey.
"Hey Maisy! Beautiful day for wedding, isn't it?" Stacy replied with a kind smile.
"Yeah, it's gorgeous out." Maisy agreed, noticing more guests beginning to file into the church. "It doesn't seem that anyone really explained the role of 'usher' to Ned or Keith, though." Maisy laughed pointing to the two guys who stood in the entryway by the doors to the church, letting the guests walk past without saying a word.
"Not likely." Stacy laughed taking in the sight of the men. "It's so odd to see them looking so…clean." Stacy said making Maisy laugh, "I'm so used to seeing them after matches, bleeding from some fight they had and chanting GSE." She continued shaking her head.
"GSE?" Maisy questioned, still getting used to the unique words in British English.
"The firm." Stacy said, looking at Maisy curiously as she assumed Maisy already knew of it and had somehow merely forgotten. "How those boys can do that week after week, I'll never know. I think I'm rather glad that Ike doesn't tell me much of it. I'm not sure I'd be able to stomach it all that well." She turned towards Maisy as if asking her opinion on the matter.
"I agree." Maisy said, figuring it to be the safest answer. Spying the groomsmen lining up by the doors with their female counterparts, Maisy turned around to look for Pete. Noticing her, Pete gave a sly wink.
"They really do look handsome all dressed up, don't they?" Stacy murmured while making googley eyes with Ike who as a groomsman was standing in the back of the church with Pete and Swill, the third groomsman.
"Yes they do." Maisy replied, though she hadn't noticed any of the others to be certain.
…
"Bruv, that was the worst bloody toast I've ever heard! Don't you make a living jabbering all day long? I was expecting so much more." Dave exclaimed as they grabbed their drinks from the bar in the banquet hall.
"What're you on about? That speech will go down in infamy! Our children will learn it and recite it every year on Christmas Eve." Pete laughed as he clasped his friend around the shoulder. "So how's it feel? Any buyer's remorse?" He said jokingly, watching his friend ogle his new wife while she schmoozed with guests.
"Nah, bruv, I'm alright." Dave smirked, still watching his bride. "How 'bout you? Miss Maisy treating you alright? I'll break her fingers if she tries anything." Dave said, earning a laugh from Pete.
"Nah, bruv, I'm alright." Pete repeated as he scanned the large room for his date. Finding her surrounded by the rest of the boys he let out curse, only imagining what kind of horrible stories, true and untrue, they were telling her.
"You best get over there, mate!" Dave said with a goodhearted shove as he also spotted Maisy.
"…and fucking Swill- Swill! - was a groomsman and I'm not! In what world does that sound just to you?" Ned was exclaiming as Pete approached the group. Maisy tried not to startle as he laid a gentle hand on the small of her back when coming to stand beside her, but failed causing a flash of pride to come over Pete's face.
"What's he crying about now?" Dave asked Maisy as he too ambled over.
"If I got all of that correctly, Ned is feeling affronted that he wasn't invited to be part of the Bridal Party, even though Ike, Swill, and Pete were." Maisy explained trying to contain her amusement.
"Fuck off- what do you call an Usher?" Dave cried with mirth, unlike Maisy harboring no concern for his friend's feelings.
"Mate, you should be glad he didn't make you ring bearer, short as you are!" Swill chided, causing the others to fall into a fit of laughter.
"Well I still would've like to have felt included- that's all I'm saying." Ned insisted with an indignant shrug.
"Have you no idea what an usher is?" Dave exclaimed with delight, enjoying his friend's stubborn idiocy, "The only one who wasn't in the wedding was Bovver, and that was at his request." Dave said nodding to the slightly underdressed man.
"Thank fuck for small mercies, eh?" Bovver sniffed, "Lucky I showed up at all, and on a match day no less." If truth be told, Maisy hadn't even noticed him in the church during the ceremony and had only spotted him once they arrived at the banquet hall; then again she hadn't been actively searching for him either. Noticing the tension that slowly encircled the group at Bovver's words, Maisy tried to lighten the mood by asking Pete to dance with her when the DJ announced next would be a slow song.
"Ha! Sorry love, I don't dance." He said dismissively with a self-deprecating smirk.
"Oh you'll be alright, sweetheart." Ike ribbed giving Pete a pat on the back.
"Come on, please?" Maisy pleaded with wide eyes, tugging on his hand with both of hers and saw his resolve waver.
Caving with a sigh, he handed his drink to Swill and turned reluctantly towards Maisy, "Come on then, let's get this over with." He grumbled following Maisy to the dance floor as the gentle plucking intro to The Mama's and The Papa's rendition of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" started. Clasping one of her small hands in his, he used his other to draw her close and began slowly swaying back and forth in a small circle.
"Sorry I'm not much of dancer." He apologized softly.
Maisy shook her head, looking into his cloudy blue eyes as the music began to swell, "No, this is perfect." She murmured gently. Taking a small step towards him to put her between his feet, Maisy tentatively laid her head on his chest, relaxing as he tightened the hold he had around her waist, hugging her closer to him.
Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, Pete could smell the sweet lavender shampoo scent he had come to associate with her wafting up like a soft caress to his cheek. Letting out a sigh of content, Maisy adjusted her head on his chest and tucked their clasped hands underneath her chin, her other hand clinging gently to his lapel beneath her shoulder. In that instant Pete was infinitely thankful he had ultimately caved to Maisy because he knew he could die where he stood and it would be enough for him: the feeling of her warm, soft and curled against his chest was enough in that moment to make him believe that he had lived a long and full life.
All too soon the song began to wind down and meld into the next up tempo song in the queue. Stepping back Maisy gave a bashful smile, feeling a blush race up her neck and warm her ears when Pete righted the hair that had gone awry as she laid her head on his chest. Taking a deep breath she seemed to awake from the near trance-like state she had entered swaying to the music and listening to the steady galumph of Pete's heartbeat beneath her ear.
"I'm…going to get myself something to drink." Maisy said excusing herself to the bar area leaving each of them to wonder why she was seemingly running away.
Finding herself in line at the bar behind two women chatting loudly, and perhaps drunkenly, Maisy couldn't help but overhear the tail of their conversation.
"He's lucky he found her, is all I'm saying." The older woman on the left said with a seemingly disappointed shake of her head. "My poor sister was wondering who would ever marry a hoodlum like him. She says the girl's not too smart, but then, none of them are these days." Maisy internally balked at the woman's boorish description of the bride at her own wedding.
"Not to mention the lad invited all his hooligan firm friends." The graying woman to the right added with an all encompassing wave towards the hall, peaking Maisy's attention as she heard that word for the second time, "I'm surprised they haven't burned the building down yet, especially with that Dunham boy here, the way he riles them all up." Maisy leaned in closer so as to hear better just as the bartend asked their order, forcing Maisy to make a mental note to ask Pete about it later.
…
"I think we all need to appreciate women more." Swill stated out of the blue to the utter confusion of his friends some hours later. The night had past slowly, the number of guests slowly dwindling until few were left. Dave and his new bride, Michelle had come to join the boys and their dates at their designated table, which some of the non-affiliated guests had taken to discreetly calling "Hooligan Isle".
"What are you jabbering about now?" Keith asked passing on the bottle of wine he had lifted from the catering crew before they left.
"I mean look at them," Swill said gesturing to the females sitting around the table, "You don't just wake up looking like that. They put effort into it. Then look at us fat fucks." He said hopelessly as he motioned to his friends and himself.
"Speak for yourself." Pete insisted taking a swig from the wine bottle before offering it to Maisy who had pulled her chair close to his so she could curl into his side. Declining she passed the bottle to Stacy who was seated to her left.
"I'm being serious!" Swill maintained, "It can't be easy being one of them! I'm just saying we should appreciate their struggle a bit more!"
"Who are you, fucking Oprah?" Dave wondered with a loud laugh, adjusting his new bride's legs which were strewn across his lap.
"You seriously let this idiot be a groomsman?!" Ned suddenly cried opening another can of worms, and soon the boys were all clamoring trying to one-up each other with the best jibe.
With a sleepy smile, Maisy leaned further into Pete, happy to sit and listen to their jesting. Her first weeks in London had been rather lonely but the more time she spent with Pete, and his friends for that matter, the more she felt at home in the foreign city.
"Oi, love, you awake?" Pete asked softly giving her a jostle. "You about ready to take off?"
"If you want." Maisy answered stifling a yawn as she sat up. Giving her a light chuckle Pete handed Maisy her discarded pink pumps before they began making the rounds. After congratulating the happy couple they made their way hand in hand to the parking lot, strolling contently through the more or less empty rows until they reached Pete's car. Leaning over her open door as she buckled herself in, Pete gazed at Maisy appreciatively. Something had shifted between them after their dance, as if swaying together had somehow twisted and aligned their thoughts and feelings into complete understanding. Things were changing between them and they could feel it.
"You looked beautiful tonight, Maisy." He said earnestly, causing a slow blush to glow along the tops of Maisy's cheeks.
Climbing into the driver's seat, Pete pulled the little car out of the parking space, then rested his hand on Maisy's knee, rubbing it lightly the short drive from the banquet hall to her flat, save for when he needed to shift gears. Smoothly pulling in against the curb outside her apartment building, Maisy hadn't even realized where they were until Pete cleared his throat, jesting.
"Want to come up for some tea or coffee or something?" Maisy asked feeling a second wind, even though the clock on the dash said it was well into the next morning.
"Yeah, that'd be good." Pete replied against his better judgment knowing it would be all that much harder to leave the longer he spent with her but not able to refuse her. Following her up the narrow staircase he tried not the breath too deeply for fear that if he smelled her sweet lavender scent, he would lose all sense and pull her into his arms where they stood. Standing behind her, he fought instinct as she struggled to open the lock. Then the lock clicked open and she glanced back at him over her shoulder, an intoxicatingly saccharine smile gracing her rosy lips and all semblance of control broke within him.
Fiercely grabbing her around the waist Pete pulled her in the apartment as soon as he got the door open, attacking her neck with his lips as they stumbled into the living room. With Pete's hands exploring her back and hips, Maisy grazed her hands up his chest and over his shoulders and in a move bold for her, slipped his blazer down his arms. Gazing down at her Pete smirked at the bashful expression crossing over Maisy's face. He led her to the couch and laid himself above her, her form fitting dress rising up her legs as he maneuvered one of his own between them. Maisy's fingers moved on their own accord migrating from his shoulders around to his neck to play with his tie and collar. Her breath coming in fast pants, Pete was pleased with himself for being able to affect the always-in-control Maisy so much. Caressing her face Pete leaned down and landed a hard kiss on her lips, allowing his body to fully rest on hers showing her just how much she affected him.
Letting out a pleased-sounding gasp, Maisy suddenly leaned up and gently pushed on his shoulders. Sitting up she pulled her dress back down over her thighs and turned to Pete with stunned eyes.
"Are you alright?" Pete panted confused, as from his vantage point things were going swimmingly.
"Yeah, it's just…" Maisy abruptly felt a wave of awkwardness and self-consciousness wash over her, "That was getting pretty heavy, pretty quick. A nice heavy!" She amended quickly not wanting Pete to think she hadn't been enjoying his touch.
"But…" Pete offered knowing there was a "but" coming.
"But, I mean, I'm not a prude or anything," She laughed slightly toying with his wide open collar, "but I mean we, we're…I'm not…ugh, I don't know how to say this" Maisy groaned, biting her lip in thought as Pete sat more comfortably on the couch.
"Go on." He said encouragingly with the barest hint of a smile.
"I'm not easy!" Maisy said quickly knowing no other way to frame it. Pete's eyes widened as he looked at Maisy with a mixture of shock and amusement.
"You having a bubble, love?" He laughed easily. Giving a short laugh she continued,
"I just mean, I'm not…you know…easy. I mean we're not even…"She gestured uneasily between them.
"What?" Pete asked bemused. Summoning courage Maisy took a deep breath,
"Are we together?" She asked bluntly, once again not knowing another way to phrase it.
"Oh…You mean like together together. Like a relationship?" Pete asked with a bit more surprise than Maisy was comfortable with. Dredging up the last ounces of courage she continued,
"Yeah, committed and monogamous and all that…" She tapered off, looking at Pete with a bit of anxiety as he scrunched his brow in thought. It had been a while since Pete had thought of the word "committed" and especially "monogamous" as they applied to a romantic relationship. While he wasn't sleeping his way through London, he certainly hadn't been in that sort of relationship since before college.
"I mean, we've been on some really great dates and we spend all our free time together and every time I see you my heart skips and I have to hold myself back because all I want to do is throw myself at you and from where that was just heading, I'd wager you feel about the same" Maisy nervously chuckled the words flowed from her noncompliant mouth.
Looking towards Maisy, he saw her tapping her teeth, staring at him with wide anxious eyes and the same feeling that he felt while they danced came over him again. She was so utterly amazing in his eyes, and even thought they had only known each other for a little less than two months, he was drawn to her like no one else before. Her tenderness, the way she could be the most breathtaking sight he had ever seen and completely unsure of herself at the same time, the way her eyes bore straight through him like they could see every thought and fear he'd ever had.
Swelling with a sudden sureness Pete turned towards Maisy, "Let's do it." He said soundly.
"Really?" Maisy questioned, clearly not expecting that response. "Just so we're clear: committed and monogamous, you're sure you want to do that?"
"For you, yeah." Seeing the specks of doubt still lingering in her eyes, Pete moved to crouch in front of her. "All that stuff you feel, I feel that too. I want to be yours and I want you to be mine. No one else's." He said staring her dead in the eyes, surprising himself by just how pleasant the Neanderthal phrase felt as it rolled off his tongue.
Maisy slinked off the couch to kneel in front of him, clasping her arms around his neck, kissing him with everything thing she had.
Momentarily, she pulled back and looked at him through squinted eyes, "This won't get you into my pants any quicker, you know?"
Laughing he pulled her back for a kiss,
"But you're not wearing any pants, love."
A/N: Hey everyone! So I was unhappy with how I ended this chapter originally because I felt like it led to situations that were out of character for my original character lol. This is basically the same except I've done a bit of editing, adding a bit here, shaving a bit there.