It's Really Happening

The next day, both Eris and I were up far too early for any of the boys to be awake which was a rather nice thing. On the one hand, it meant no one would be poking their heads in to bother us for another few hours. Unfortunately, I was more concerned with the other hand, the one that left me with too much time to think.

I was in the same state as my father for the first time in months and I hadn't called him yet. Nor did either of my parents know that Josh and I were engaged. Needless to say, I had a lot of parental obligations that needed taking care of.

"Hey Eris?" I called from my spot on her couch, fully reclined and with no intention of moving for quite a while. Dexter was lying on the floor next to the couch as I scratched his ears.

"Yes, Abby?" she answered from the kitchen.

"Wanna take a road trip?" I heard her feet shuffle to the doorway and I turned my head towards her.

"Where would we be going and for how long?"

"My dad's house, just for the day."

"For what purpose?"

"Uh...because I haven't seen him since Christmas?" Eris rolled her eyes and came forward, now leaning on the couch and staring down at me.

"It wouldn't also be because you still haven't told him you're in California, let alone getting married?" Ouch. She really knew me.

"Maybe." Eris' head fell forward with a light smack and when she stood up straight she had a slight smirk.

"Abby, Abby, Abby. Shouldn't you be asking your fiancé to be going with you?"

"Well yes, but if I ask him, he'll tell the guys and then they'll want to go and that's a whole lot of awkward I don't want to deal with."

"But if you show up with me, sans your fiancé, won't your dad wonder why he didn't come along?" I groaned.

"Probably." I covered my face with my hands and groaned again. "What am I going to do?" Eris came around the side of the couch and moved my feet so she could sit down. Dexter crawled over to Eris and curled up by her feet.

"Why don't you start with calling your dad?" she proposed, sinking further into the couch. "Then we'll tackle the boy situation."

Two hours later, I was in the passenger seat of Eris' car as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Josh was in the seat behind mine, and Alex was in the seat behind Eris. Jack had still been asleep when we dropped by the guys' hotel with Dexter. Zack and Rian, being the saints they are, opted to stay behind to watch Dexter and Jack while Alex decided to come along just because he's difficult.

"So are we going to where you grew up?" Alex asked as he leaned forward, putting himself between Eris and me. I rolled my eyes and put my feet up on the dashboard.

"No. I grew up in New York, Alex. My dad moved here a few years ago."

"Oh." Alex sat back in his seat, waited a few moments, and then came back up. "What about your mom?"

"What about her?"

"Where is she?"

"Back in New York with her boyfriend."

"Oh," he repeated before he leaned back momentarily, coming back almost immediately. "Is she hot like you?"

"Dude! Fiancée!" Josh interjected.

"Dude! Compliment! Chill!"

"When did you become so interested in my past?" I asked, turning around to face Alex.

"What else am I supposed to do on a two hour car ride except be obnoxious?"

"Not be obnoxious," Eris answered. "Or sleep."

"Neither are as fun as what I'm doing now."

"Quit being an ass," Josh piped up. "Oh wait."

"Ha-ha. You're hilarious. Screw guitar, get this guy a weekend at Vegas!"

"Hey, I'll take that."

"Not that kind of weekend, Josh." Eris chuckled.

"Hey Eris, can we pull over for a sec? I need something to drink." She rolled her eyes but stopped at the next exit for me. Josh and I got out of the car, and as soon as I shut the door, Alex jumped into my seat.

"Shotgun!"

"He's something else," I mumbled to myself. Josh overheard me and chuckled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.

When we got back to the car, Josh pulled me into the backseat before I could yell at Alex for stealing my seat.

"Hey! Keep it PG back there!" Eris laughed. "I don't want to have to get a new car."

"No promises," Josh answered with a smirk. I elbowed him as she pulled back out onto the highway. I ended up laying down in the backseat, my head in Josh's lap, because somehow car trips where I'm the passenger always make me sleepy. The others must have thought I had fallen asleep, because suddenly I became the topic of conversation.

"When did you know, Josh?" Eris asked.

"Know what?"

"Know that you wanted to marry Abby." I heard Josh chuckle and felt him run his fingers through my hair lovingly, making me even more comfortable.

"About a year ago."

"How did you know?" Alex asked.

"It wasn't anything big, just one day when we were along together it came to me. It made sense. There's no one else I want to be with for the rest of my life. She's the one." Both Eris and Alex said 'aww!' and I had to keep myself from laughing at Eris' comment.

"Gaskarth, did you really just say 'aww'?"

"As if you're really surprised. You know damn well I'm a romantic."

"Uh huh. You big softie."

"Oh blow it out your ass."

When we finally made it to my dad's house, we were all very glad to get out of the car. Despite the fact that both Alex and Josh should be used to close quarters for long periods of time, Eris and I were definitely not. The less time spent with Alex in such a small space, the better.

"How's this going to work?" Eris asked as soon as we parked in the driveway.

"What do you mean?" I answered, sitting up towards the front.

"Well...it's going to be sort of awkward for me and Alex to be in there. I mean, your dad's never even met Alex before."

"Parents love me," Alex scoffed.

"That's not my point," Eris replied, rolling her eyes. "The point is, this is Abby and Josh's moment and I don't want to spoil it by being here."

"You're not going to spoil it!" I assured her. "Just come in, and you can give Alex a tour of the house while Josh and I tell my dad about...our engagement."

"All right," Eris sighed. "Don't get any ideas, Gaskarth."

Just as I expected, my dad was very gracious in welcoming the four of us inside. Explaining what exactly Alex was doing here was interesting, since none of us had a decent reason. After a few moments of awkward silence, I piped up with the real reason we had shown up.

"Dad, Josh and I have something to tell you."

"And that's our cue! Come on, Gaskarth." Eris yanked Alex out of the room, making my dad raise an eyebrow and probably become a little suspicious.

"Abby, what's going on?"

"Umm...well...you see, the thing is-" I stammered.

"I've asked Abby to marry me," Josh interjected. It was a bit surprising, since he was normally pretty quiet when it came to these sorts of things.

"Congratulations!" he said after a moment or two, immediately pulling me into a hug. "Have you told your mother?"

"Not yet," I admitted with a laugh. "I wanted to tell you first."

"Well you should call her! Right now!" My dad laughed and I went to get the phone as he and Josh shook hands. As I dialed her number I listened to their conversation.

"It's a big relief, knowing you're okay with it," Josh chuckled.

"Oh, of course! You know, I always liked you." I rolled my eyes at my dad's comment. My mother's reaction was a little more hysterical but congratulatory nevertheless. Unlike my dad, she immediately began asking questions like where, when, and who was invited. Obviously this was incredibly overwhelming and I ended up throwing the phone to my dad to calm her down.

"Everything okay?" Josh asked as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Yeah, it was just a lot to deal with." I laughed nervously. "Have you thought about it?"

"About the wedding?" I nodded. "Not...really...should I?"

"Well, we should talk about it."

"Then let's talk about it." Josh sat down, pulling me onto his lap.

"Right now?"

"Is there a better time?" I sighed.

"I don't know...it's a lot to plan."

"I know," Josh kissed me lightly, "but we have plenty of time. We haven't made any permanent plans."

"We haven't made any plans."

"We will, don't worry." He hugged me tightly and I relaxed a little.

"Safe to come back in?" Eris asked as she and Alex poked their heads around the corner. I laughed and nodded.

"My dad's on the phone with my mom right now."

"Did you tell your parents, Joshua?" Eris asked as she sat down in the chair next to him.

"I did! Pretty much right after I popped the question."

"Well good for you! You could learn something from your fiancé, you know." Eris smirked. I rolled my eyes just as my dad hung up the phone and clapped his hands together.

"So! Are you staying for dinner?"

Next thing I knew, we had been coerced into staying the night. This meant that one, Eris and I would be sharing a room; two, I had no idea where Josh and Alex would sleep; and three, the guys back in the city had to stay at Eris' for the night since their hotel wouldn't allow Dexter to stay in the room.

"Did you call Rian?" Eris asked as she sat down on her bed.

"Yeah. He said Zack would stay at your place with Dexter." I sighed and sat down on the bed across from hers. "We'll have to repay them somehow."

"We'll buy Rian some new drumsticks," Eris proposed.

"Sounds good," I laughed. "I'll leave Zack's payback to you." Eris grinned devilishly as the two of us laid down.

"How long before the boys sneak in?" she asked.

"I don't know. Think they will?"

"Probably. Although there's no way Gaskarth is sleeping in this bed." I chuckled and rolled over onto my stomach.

"I'm nervous."

"What do you have to be nervous about now? You told your parents! Hard part's over!"

"Yeah...but there's so much to plan. I'm afraid that it'll all go over my head." Eris smiled and patted my hand.

"I'll be with you every step of the way."

"What if it goes over both of our heads?"

"Then we call in reinforcements!" Eris laughed. "Hmm...maybe we should do that sooner rather than later."

"Why's that?"

"Think about it. I'm pretty sure once we get into the heavy duty planning the boys won't want any part." I groaned and buried my head in a pillow.

"Stupid boys. Why did I agree to this?"

"Because you're in love. And love makes you do stupid things."

"It really does." I sighed. "So. Backup?"

"Who do you have in mind?" I thought for a moment and someone instantly popped into my head.

"I'll call her in the morning," I said with a grin.

Getting out of my dad's house the next morning was a bit of a hassle. While I love my dad dearly with all my heart, he has a tendency of making me feel guilty without meaning to. I would've liked to stay longer and have some more time with him but the fact of the matter was that the four of us had places to be and people to take care of.

"Thanks again Mr. Abby's Dad!" Eris called as we exited out the back door towards the driveway. I said my last goodbyes and gave him a hug before following suit and closing the door behind me.

It wasn't until we were outside of his town that I remembered I was supposed to call someone.

"Dammit where is my phone!" I cried as I searched through my bag. Getting fed up with it all, I dumped the contents onto the seat and finally found it. "Ha!"

"Why do you need your phone?" Josh asked.

"Reinforcements," Eris answered with a smirk in the rearview mirror.

"Hush, it's ringing!"

"Hellooo?"

"You! Pack your bags immediately!"

"Uhh...and why should I do that?"

"Because I need you to come out to California like, yesterday."

"Didn't we have this conversation before? With what money?!" She laughed.

"Oh come on, Tiffany. Just get a one-way ticket and we'll worry about the rest later. Please??"

"Fine! You crazy woman! I'll see what's available and I'll call you back later. And then I demand details!"

"Perfect. Love you!"

"Love you too, crazy." I smiled as I hung up the phone. Josh stared at me as I piled all of my things back into my bag.

"Tiffany? As in..."

"Yes, Josh. I only know one Tiffany."

"I've met my fair share of Tiffany's," Alex remarked.

"No one wants to hear about them," Eris cut in. "For all we know, they were all strippers."

"It is a very popular stripper name," I added.

"You would know," Josh mumbled.

"Excuse me!" I elbowed Josh and he wrapped his arms around me, laughing as he did so.

"Anyway! Who's this Tiffany and is she hot?" Alex asked.

"Yes she's hot. And she's out of your league," Eris snickered. "She has her eyes set on someone much better than you."

"Ouch, Eris. That hurt." Alex scoffed. "Besides, who's better than me?"

"Rian," Eris and I said together.

"Burn," Josh laughed.

"Well fuck all of you." Alex slumped down in his seat and Eris patted his knee.

"Don't worry, Alex. You and Tiffany will get along just fine."

"You still didn't answer my question! Who is this chick?" Eris looked back at me and I shrugged.

"Well," she began, "there's not really a good way to describe her. I think you'll just have to wait until she shows up."