Stay With Me

I watched Tom and Kayla talk comfortably together for a bit before I looked toward Dougie who was teaching Julie a song on bass. Katie was playing with Nate in the middle of the basement floor and making him giggle joyfully. Harry and I were both sitting on the couch beside each other and Danny was lying across it, his right leg on my lap.

I was so thankful he was wearing socks because I didn’t really get along with feet.

Danny coughed and sniffled, making a sound of discomfort.

I looked at him and rubbed his leg comfortingly.

Poor Danny was sick and the first thing he told me when I first got sick was that he was afraid to get me sick with our wedding less than two months away. I had to tell him that I wouldn’t be sick for months if he did get me sick, so he had nothing to worry about. He didn’t really believe me though.

“You okay?” I asked, tracing the tattoo on his leg.

He sniffled loudly, “Ugh… No.”

I smiled sympathetically, “I’m sorry you’re sick.”

“How do you get a cold in the middle of summer?” Danny asked, his voice sounding funny.

“The change of weather is the most probable reason. Plus you’re a singer and not taking care of yourself can take a toll on you.”

Danny sighed in frustration and covered his eyes with his arm. He started mumbling words under his breath so I wouldn’t hear, but I knew what he was saying.

“Cut it out, Daniel,” I scolded, grabbing his free hand in mine.

“Oh come on. I feel like shi–crap,” Danny corrected himself, remembering that Nathan was in the room.

Without disturbing Harry from his show, I moved so I could lay by Danny, my back to the back of the couch.

I rubbed the center of his chest softly, “You may feel terrible, but you don’t need to use profanity.”

Danny moved his arm so he could stare at me and he opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes looked down toward my pocket.

“I think you’re vibrating,” he said, surprisingly not cracking a smile.

Quickly, I dug my phone out of my pocket and picked it up even though the number was unfamiliar.

“Hello?”

“Hiya! Is this the soon-to-be-Mrs. Sydney?”

“Susan!” I grinned, letting my head fall on Danny’s chest. “Does this phone call mean that the dresses are in?”

“Yes and no,” she answered. “I’ve got your dresses, but I need you here so I can get yours to fit you the right way.”

“Alright. The girls and I will be up there in a few.”

“I’ll see you then. Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and then got off the couch, looking at the girls. “Our dresses are in, so we gotta head over to see how they fit us.”

“Yay!” Katie exclaimed, Julie and Kayla doing the same.

“Do you have to?” Danny asked quietly in a congested voice.

“I’m sorry,” I frowned. “I can’t skip out. We’ll hopefully be back really soon, okay? Tom will take care of you.”

“I’m not kissing anything that hurts,” Tom announced, making us chuckle.

“Just make sure he stays on this couch and get him anything he needs.”

“Got it,” he replied.

“Dougie, you take care of Nathan and Harry, you come with us.”

“Why does Harry get to go?” Dougie whined.

“Because I want him to. You can come with us next time, I promise.”

“Fine,” he pouted, picking up Nate off the floor.

Harry and the girls began rummaging around for their shoes while I kneeled by Danny.

“You’ll be fine, okay?”

Slowly, he nodded and then he stared up at the ceiling.

I gently kissed his forehead, his nose, and his throat knowing that’s what was bothering him; then I kissed his lips, not caring whether I got sick or not.

“You’re gonna get sick,” he pointed out.

“I don’t mind. I’ll eventually get over it,” I smiled, combing his hair a bit. “You just worry about getting better. We’ll be back before you know it and I wanna see you a little better.”

Danny smiled a bit and nodded.

I rubbed his arm before standing up, getting my shoes on and then joining the others.

“We’ll be back soon!” I said as we left, shutting the door behind us.

The five of us got in Harry’s car, buckled ourselves in, and drove into London with excitement.

“This is so weird,” I heard Kayla say from her stall.

“Why? You’re just putting on a dress,” I giggled.

Julie, Katie, and Kayla chose to try on their dresses first, meaning Harry and I were waiting outside the changing rooms.

“It’s just weird knowing Harry is out there with you.”

Harry and I grinned at each other.

“At least Harry’s not Tom!” I sang.

I was met with silence and giggles from Julie and Katie.

“You alive in there, Kayla?” I snickered.

“You’re a poop nugget,” she replied, causing all of us to laugh.

“So you do fancy Tom?” Harry asked with an enormous grin.

“No! Quit picking on me!” she whined, answering very quickly.

We obeyed and finally all three girls come out of the stalls, Susan instantly bustling over.

“Oh my! You three look gorgeous!” she exclaimed. “It looks like they fit all of you very well.”

“You guys do look great,” I smiled. “How do they feel?”

“Pretty good actually,” Julie smiled, twirling around.

“I feel like I need to pull it up constantly, but it’s amazing,” Kayla grinned, pulling the dress up.

Katie looked down at hers and played with the skirt part of it. “Mine fits great.”

“You look fit,” Harry commented, making all three girls blush.

I nodded, “I agree with Harry. The three of you look sexy.”

Susan chuckled and then came to Kayla. “Do you want to fix this at all, or will you be okay?”

“No matter what, I’ll have the same issues, so it’s fine.”

“Fantastic. You three were easy! Now it’s time for the bride.”

Reluctantly, I took my dress with me into an empty stall while my friends went back to their own stalls and changed out of their outfits.

After getting out of my street clothes, I carefully put my white dress on and zipped it up.

I looked at myself in the mirror, covering my collarbone with my hand, and blushed brightly.

“Are you done yet?” Katie asked.

Silently, I walked out of the stall and stood in front of my friends.

They all grinned and their eyes glittered.

“Now I’m jealous that Dan gets to take that off you,” Harry stated casually.

Susan covered her mouth and snorted, seeing my neck and face turn and even brighter red.

“Oh my,” she giggled.

Julie whopped Harry upside the head, “That’s not the point of the dress.”

“What?! I was just being honest!”

“Maybe a little too honest,” Kayla giggled. “You really look beautiful, Syd.”

“I agree,” Katie grinned and then frowned. “Now I need that mental image Harry gave us out of my head.”

“You didn’t have to think about it!” I squeaked in embarrassment.

Susan laughed as she came to my side. “Is there anything you want changed? It looks like it fits you right.”

“Um,” I looked down, “Maybe it should be shortened a little so I don’t trip over it and could the sleeves go down to just above my wrist?”

“Okay, we can do that. Stand still, please.”

I obeyed and let Susan pin up the hem of the dress as well as measure how much more would need to be added to the sleeves.

“What kind of things do you want on the front of the dress up here?” Susan asked, waving a hand over my torso area. “Lace? Sparkles? White beads?”

“What do you guys think?” I asked the girls.

“I like the way it is now, but maybe you should add something around your waist, like a ribbon or something to show your curves,” Julie replied.

“What curves?” I snickered, receiving disapproving looks. “I’m kidding.”

“I’ll be back,” Susan smiled and then scurried away.

Blushing again, I looked down at the dress and studied how it fell on me. “Are you sure Danny will like this dress?”

Harry crossed his arms and smirked. “He’ll like the dress and everything it.”

That time Julie and Kayla smacked him.

“Danny will love it,” Katie grinned.

I studied the small beads lining the collar of the dress to hide my red face just as Susan came back with a large ribbon of what looked to be satin.

“Perfect!” Julie cheered upon seeing what was brought out.

Robotically, I lifted my arms and let Susan tie it around my waist.

“That helps a lot,” Kayla nodded in approval.

“Fantastic!” Susan grinned. “Is there anything else?”

I studded the dress some more and finally shook my head. “I think it’s fine other than the sleeves and length.”

“Alright!” You can go ahead and get changed, but be careful of the pins.”

I nodded and timidly went back into my stall. I looked at myself in the mirror for a little bit, in wonder of what Danny would think, until I came back to reality.

Everything suddenly seemed a little more nerve-wracking than before.