Maia looked at the paper in her hand then turned her eyes to the place on the table where it was supposed to go. It was silly to be so nervous. The worst case scenario here was that nothing would change, right? So what did it hurt to try? She just needed to get a grip.
Forcing her hand forward Maia put down the paper, turned and fled from the room. By the time she left the building Maia was just glad she'd done it. It was out of her hands now and she could relax. Readjusting her bag on her shoulder, Maia headed to the bus stop.
By the time the bus arrived Maia had made a promise to herself that she wouldn't so much as think about it until she came back to work. For now she had the next two days off and she was going to enjoy them, or at least not stress about things beyond her control.
What she did have control over was whether or not she continued to live with bridezilla. Since getting engaged Izzy had become a force of nature. When she wasn't working at Alicante she was on the phone with her mother or some wedding themed store arguing over center pieces or whatever other wedding issue she was having. Maia didn't know how Simon put up with it. Love really must make you blind.
Then again she could hardly talk as she was dating one of the messiest men she knew. Though Jordan was trying to be better. He even put his dishes by the sink now, and kept this laundry off the floor. There was still room for improvement, however, and once they moved out she was going to make sure he knew it. After all, moving out of Izzy and Simon's place meant no more maid, and no more maid meant Jordan would have to learn to clean up after himself like an adult. These Lightwood kids were hella spoiled if you asked her, though despite that they weren't nearly as entitled as her brother. Maybe she was too hard on them, and she had to admit it had been nice having the maid come once a week. Maia hadn't cleaned a toilet since moving in with Izzy!
Reaching her front door, Maia turned the key in the lock and walked inside. The first thing she heard was Izzy's raised voice. Maia could tell at once she was on the phone again with a wedding related problem. She looked around and saw Simon sitting on the couch with his noise canceling headphones on playing a video game. She had to hold back a laugh.
She knew Jordan wasn't home yet since his last class of the day didn't get out for another forty minutes. So far Jordan seemed to be really enjoying the master's program. Even if it meant more debt for him, she was happy he liked it. In theory the more education he got the better paying job he'd be able to get, and his debt wasn't as large as some of her friends. Maia knew Jordan had gotten a few scholarships that had taken some of it off, though he hadn't gotten a full ride. It seemed they reserved those mostly for sports. Despite the fact it had meant four extra years of being beholden to her parents, now that it was over Maia was beyond glad that she'd put up with it. She had her degree and was debt free. Best of all now she never had to suck up to her parents ever again.
The next step in adulting was moving out of the crazy cheap Lightwood apartment before bridezilla actually exploded. The thought made her chuckle.
Taking off her boots, Maia went over to her room to dump her bag by her computer desk. Even though it was March now there was still too much half melted snow on the ground to give up on her waterproof winter boots. Sitting down at her desk Maia opened an internet browser, and got back to the apartment hunt she'd started a few days ago.
She'd been at it well over an hour when she heard the front door open. Jordan was home. Deciding she needed a break anyway, Maia got up off her chair to go and greet him.
"How was class today?" she asked, after giving him a kiss hello.
"Interesting," Jordan replied. "The lecture was on machine learning today."
"Sounds terribly dull," Maia smiled. "But I'm glad you enjoyed it."
Just then a loud exclamation of frustration made its way to their ears. Turning, Maia saw Izzy walk into the room with her ear still glued to her phone.
"When I say I want delphiniums I mean I want delphiniums," Izzy snapped. "Not roses or lilacs or any of those other things you mentioned, and I want them in peach." There was silence for a moment then Izzy spoke again. "I don't care if you don't have time to get them before my wedding date. Every other vendor I've talked to has managed it so you can too." And she hung up the phone.
Maia grabbed Jordan's arm, and was in the process of trying to guide them both away from bridezilla and towards their bedroom's closeable door when she heard her name called.
"Oh good you're both home," bridezilla said walking over. "I need to talk to you."
Maia tried and almost failed to hold back a groan. This couldn't be good.
Turning around as if in search of something, Izzy spotted her finance sitting on the couch. Knowing he couldn't hear a word through those headphones, Izzy threw a pillow at him. Simon made a startled noise, paused his game and took off his headphones then turned to see who had thrown the pillow.
"Lovely," Izzy smiled. "Now you can hear me." She turned back to Maia and Jordan. "Simon and I have something we'd like to ask you."
"Oh right," Simon said as he got up off the couch to stand beside Izzy.
"We probably should have asked you sooner, but I've been so busy planning and with everyone's schedules being what they are and… anyway-"
"What my future wife is trying to say," Simon interrupted her. "We'd love for you two to be our best man and maid of honour."
"What exactly do those jobs entail?" Maia asked.
"Well you'd have to plan my bridal shower and bachelorette party," Izzy explained. "And Jordan will have to plan Simon's bachelor party." She then turned to give Jordan a very pointed look. "And there better not be any strippers."
"Stripper free," Jordan said to Izzy, holding up his right hand as if being sworn into a courtroom. "I promise." Then he reached forward to hug Simon.
Maia wasn't quite so sure she wanted to accept as easily as Jordan had. She knew no matter what Jordan planned, Simon would love it. Izzy on the other hand was a different story.
"I just don't know if I can plan a party that's up to your standard," she admitted.
"Not a problem," Izzy smiled. "You can work with my mom. She knows everything about the wedding, and she knows me."
"Okay, but if I still mess it up do you promise not to disown me as a friend?" Maia asked.
"Of course not," Izzy said with a wave of her hand like she hadn't turned into a terrifying bridezilla for the last month.
"Okay, then I'd be honoured," Maia answered, knowing for a fact that she would live to regret this decision. Izzy made a happy squeal sound, and threw herself into Maia's arms. Maia had no option but to accept the hug unless she wanted to be knocked over.
Even when the hug ended, Izzy still looked giddy with excitement. She clapped her hands together and exclaimed that she needed to book a dress fitting for all the girls. It sounded like she'd already roped Clary into being a bridesmaid.
"And then a girl from work, and maybe I'll even ask Paige," Izzy was saying as if to herself. "That should fill in the ranks nicely." Then she turned to Simon. "And you have to match my numbers. We can't be uneven."
"I can do that," Simon replied. Then Izzy ran off, likely to get back on the phone to book dress fittings.
"And to think she thought she wanted to elope," Simon sniggered. "I knew she didn't. She's totally loving this."
"So what you're saying is that you had the chance to get this over with quickly and elope, but you chose to put yourself through bridezilla?" Jordan asked skeptically.
"Basically yes," Simon replied. "I knew it would make her happy. I think she only wanted to elope because she thought I'd change my mind."
"You haven't said 'I do' yet," Jordan reminded him. "You could still change your mind and escape this chaos. She did throw a pillow at you."
But Simon just smiled as he looked at his finances retreating back. "Yeah, but look at how happy she is," he said with that dopey look on his face of a man totally in love.
"Is that what I look like when I space out at you?" Jordan whispered to Maia.
"Yep," she chuckled. "Sometimes it's even dopeyer."
"Yikes!" Jordan said, but Maia just laughed.
"It's a lot less annoying when it's directed at you instead of someone else," she told him. Then she reminded him that they had apartments to look for, and these crazy kids didn't need an audience. He agreed easily and together they snuck off to their bedroom.
"Oh, and by the way, if we ever get married we are eloping," Maia told him firmly. "If I turn into that please shoot me."
"Good to know," Jordan smiled at her.
Once they managed to make it to their bedroom and close the door on the crazy couple they went back to apartment hunting. Maia had just found a promising option when Jordan suddenly changed the topic.
"Oh I just remembered," Jordan said. "How did handing in your resume for that management position at work go?"
"Well I put it in the pile," Maia replied sheepishly. "And then I kinda ran away."
"Smooth," Jordan chuckled at her.
"Even if I have the degree, I'm kinda young to be a manager," Maia reminded him. "I am sure many more experienced candidates are applying."
"Still it's good you applied," Jordan told her with a smile. "It shows initiative. If you can get some management experience even at the grocery store it will help you get more management experience later on."
"Urg don't remind me," Maia whined. "I probably won't get it."
"Still I'm proud of you," Jordan told her.
"Don't know why," Maia shrugged off the compliment. "I mean you've applied for way more jobs than me, and you are still working at Tim Hortans even with all your classes."
"But I'm going to quit Tims just as soon as one of those other jobs hires me," Jordan reminded her. "And you work full time while I'm just part time and in school. It all evens out."
"If you say so," Maia replied, though she was still skeptical.
"Back to the matter at hand," Jordan said, turning his attention once more to her computer screen. "So you like this one then?"
"Well it's close enough to the school for you to get to classes, and it's on a bus route to the grocery store," Maia began. "The price is just a bit more than I'd like. I was getting so used to being able to save money."
"We could wait to see if you get the management position, and I get an IT job," Jordan offered.
Just then they heard Izzy's raised voice echo throughout the apartment. From the sounds of it something else had gone wrong with the flowers.
"Nah," they both said together.
"It's time to move," Maia said. "And technically we can afford this plan now just not with any room to spare."
"Which means no more winter wonderland trips," Jordan reminded her.
"But also no roommates," Maia said grinning. "We could walk about naked any time we wanted."
"If we close the windows first," Jordan reminded her. "Winter wonderland didn't have neighbours, but apartments do."
"Good point," Maia laughed.
Only 5 more chapters till the big 200 guys! I sometimes can't believe how LONG I've been writing this story. When I published chapter one of R&S my life was in no way recognizable to how it is today. Literally everything has changed! I've gone from a 23yrs old in a bad relationship with a shit job who was using obsessive writing to escape life TO a 29yrs old who is happily married to a wonderful man with a great job and expecting a baby.
Speaking of the baby, he is due any day now and I highly doubt I'll have the energy to write for a while. I thought I'd get more writing done while pregnant but it turns out that makes you tired too. Who knew? Anyway I promise to get back to this story eventually. Just not sure on the timeline yet. Newborn feeding schedules are definitely more chaotic than Maia's life no matter what I named the chapter. lol.
Sneak Peek Chapter 196
"Meow, meow," Chairman said as he rubbed up against Alec's leg.
"Yes yes I know you want treats," Alec told the cat.
"Meeooow," Casby chipped in. His meow's sounded different these days. The vet said it was because Catsby was going deaf in his old age. Thanks to Catsby's losing weight the vet had put him on high calorie food while Chairmen seemed to be getting chubbier by the day. This had resulted in each cat getting a different diet which meant locking Chairmen up in the bedroom when Catsby was fed. Chairman Meow loved Catsby's high calorie food more than anything he was ever served and would push and shove Catsby out of the way to get it.
"Don't look so excited Chairmen," Alec continued talking to the needy felines. "Just because you're getting a snack doesn't mean it's gonna be the one you want."
"Meow," Chairmen disagreed.
To avoid having to separate them again in the afternoon for snack time, they usually only put out low calorie dental treats. It helped keep their teeth clean and prevented Alec from dealing with an annoyed cat all afternoon.