Such a Surreal Place

*The next morning*

“Ash! Your invitation people just called saying that they’ve just sent out your wedding invitations!” Mel shouted down the corridor of the stadium to me. We were all there, organizing some stuff for tonight’s show.

“Thank you!” I called back as I flicked through the A7X diary. I had to call a few more arenas for the band, and then I could focus on wedding stuff. After I’d booked those arenas, I called Brian over to me and he made himself comfortable next to me.

“So, what are we doing today?” he questioned eagerly, ready to make important decisions about our wedding.

“Flowers? Food? Wine? Our cake? I don’t really know...” I answered, sighing.

“The venue said they’ll take care of all that. We get there a few days before hand, then we sort that out, remember? They only need a day’s notice for that, apparently,” he said, soothing me as I started freaking out.

“There’s just so much to do!” I said while frowning.

“It’s okay... Calm down, babe,” he said, putting his arm across my shoulders and rubbing my arm gently. “Where would you like to start? The rehearsal date? The music? Photographer? Rings? The legal documents? Honeymoon?”

“Bri, you’re not helping,” I admitted as my mind raced even faster than it was before.

“Sorry. So, where would you like to start?” he asked again and I raised my eyebrows at him.

“You pick,” I answered and he nodded.

“We should go shopping for our wedding rings then,” he said and I agreed. We were in New York... “But I get to bring Jimmy, Zacky and Matt, okay?”

“Why?”

“So I buy something reasonable,” he replied, standing up.

“Fine, but Mel’s coming too,” I said and he nodded.

“Fine. But I’m paying,” he declared, and I knew I had no hope of changing his mind at the moment.

*At the jewellery store*

We had searched through what seemed like every single ring in the store. Brian hadn’t found ‘the one’ yet, and he wasn’t leaving until he had. Jimmy had fallen asleep (no joke), Matt was busy texting Val, and Zacky and Mel were starting to play around with each other (they were over the whole wedding thing anyway). I suggested to Syn that we should leave, try a different store, but he was being damn stubborn.

“Okay, well we have only a few more wedding rings left, and they’re the most expensive,” the shop owner said and Brian nodded. “Are you interested?”

“Yes,” Brian answered as I was about to say no.

“I’ll be back then,” the shop assistant said, walking away. A few minutes later, he returned with a locked briefcase. He secretly put in the code and then opened the briefcase. “These are the 5 sets of wedding rings that are the most expensive in the store. See one you like?” I looked over them and picked the last set on the right. So did Brian.

“The one on the right,” we both said at the same time. We glanced at each other with a sly grin. We were so in sync now.

“Well that one has to be a winner,” the assistant said, taking out both the male and female rings. He passed them over to Brian who fiddled with them in his hands. “They’re the cheapest out of the briefcase.”

“What do you think?” he asked, passing them to me. Firstly, I looked at the female wedding ring closer. It had a large square diamond on top (way larger than my engagement ring’s) and had two smaller ones on each side. It was made out of gold, which I liked because so many people were getting silver ones these days, and Brian and I both wanted to be different. The male ring was all plain, except for on the top, where it had three small square diamonds embedded into it. “I like my bling.” I smiled up at him.

“I really like them,” I said with a nod to the assistant.

“Can you get engravings on them?” Brian questioned the assistant and he nodded.

“It will cost extra of course. What were you thinking of? The more letters, the more it costs,” he replied.

“Well, I had a few ideas-” Brian started.

“Since when? You never told me,” I interrupted and he gave a weak smile.

“Uh... Was a surprise?” he made up on the spot.

“Yeah... Right... What are your ideas?” I asked him as I handed the two rings back to the assistant.

“Um...Well... I was thinking... Either something like ‘Today, Tomorrow, Forever’ or just ‘I Love You’ or even something funny like ‘Ashleigh or Brian’s Property 07-20-08’,” he told me and I laughed at the last one. I put my arms around his waist, linking my fingers on the other side of him. “What do you think?” He gave me an uncertain smile, hoping I liked his ideas.

“I like all 3 of them,” I answered and his smile got bigger. “Zacky? What do you think?”

“About what?” he asked, turning around. He and Mel had their arms around each other and were away looking at other items of jewellery. I told him not to worry, and then asked for Matt’s opinion.

“’I Love You’ is sweet,” Matt said. “But I also like the ‘Today, Tomorrow, Forever’ one.”

“Jimmy?” Brian asked, poking his arm. Jimmy woke up and Brian asked him again, giving him the choices.

“Oh, definitely the last one, it’s funny,” he said sleepily, making it one vote for each option.

“You guys aren’t much help...” Brian muttered, looking down at his legs.

“How about we go with the Property one?” I asked him gently. “I think it’s great. It’ll always make me smile.” I gave him a small smile and he looked up at me.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” I said, then turned to the assistant and told him what engraving we were going with.

“I’ll go give him our details and pay,” Brian said to me. “Can you get everyone else out of here? They seem super bored.” I got everyone out and Mel and Zacky got into a taxi straight away, glad that they could leave to do something else. The other 2 offered to wait for me and Brian, so I went back inside to get Brian. I saw him standing at the counter with an unfamiliar credit card out, obviously ready to pay for our wedding rings.

“Where are you sending them to?” I asked Brian as I came up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist again. We were always on the move, so we couldn’t get them delivered to us.

“My dad. He’s in California and I majorly trust him with our rings,” he said and he lifted his card up to swipe it. I quickly grabbed his hand. “What?”

“How much is it all together? Rings, engravings, postage...?” I questioned and he paused.

“It doesn’t matter babe,” he told me, but I didn’t let go of his hand. That answer wasn’t satisfactory for me. “Remember when I proposed to you? How I actually told you that your ring isn’t that great because I was saving up for our wedding rings?” That must be what that credit card is for – his special savings account.

“Bri, it’s a beautiful ring. I don’t care how much it cost you. Just tell me the price of these rings, please?” I asked, but he shook his head. “You really don’t have to spend so much on me!” I let go of his hand, hoping he’d give in to me. But he didn’t. He swiped his card and put the pin in. He then had to sign a few documents and then we could leave. Our rings were going to arrive at Brian Haner Sr.’s house in roughly a week. We walked out of the shop, hand in hand, even though I was slightly annoyed at him. Outside, Brian tried to put his arm around my waist, but I moved away. I wasn’t in the mood.

“Ashleigh?” he questioned, confused and cautious. “What’s wrong?”

“I can tell you spent far too much on me just then. We’re about to get married! You’re meant to be able to tell me anything and everything!” I said as we kept on walking, looking for Matt and Jimmy.

“I wanna spoil you while I can!” he countered as we spotted them further down the street doing some window shopping. “Look, you’re the queen of my heart. You deserve a spectacular wedding ring, alright?” He had said that so sweetly and sincerely that I could feel my heart getting light.

“You mean so much to me, Brian,” I said as Matt flagged down a taxi for us.

“And you mean more to me, Ashleigh,” he said, putting his arm around my waist. This time, I let him, and in return, he gave me a kiss and a large grin.