You Got Me Poppin Champagne

ERIN'S POV

"I know the guy in charge of that business, he's a total sweetheart-"

"But the cost? How expensive is he?" I asked, not letting Cassadee finish.

Everyone in Allie and Jack's front room rolled their eyes. Sam, Allie, Cass, Isobel and I were still trying to figure out a venue after two hours. "Erin, you know Alex doesn't mind about the cost. He already told me to make sure you get whatever you wanted," Isobel reminded me.

I frowned at her. "But it's so wrong. I feel so bad, Alex already spent so much on me and my job can't exactly balance us out, I just feel really guilty. He's doing too much. The bride is supposed to pay for the wedding."

Isobel shook her head at me. "No, the brides FAMILY is supposed to pay for the wedding, and you've said it yourself, we're the closest thing you have to family. So that means if Alex wants to pay, he can and will. Enough said. He wants to give you the best he can, it's his wedding too, just let him pay."

I sighed in defeat. They were never going to let me pay for anything, not that I could really afford it. And I worried that Alex couldn't either, but he insisted that he had the money because he was a sexy rockstar and bitches love him...his words, not mine.

"Well if you think all this is too extravagant, why don't you have the reception outside, like Rian and Cass did?" Sam suggested.

"I don't know, I'd feel like I was copying Cass..."

Cassadee rolled her eyes. "For fuck sake I'm not the first girl who had a reception outside and won't be the last, just donut already!"

"But it's winter! It'll be so cold!" I protested.

"Then we're back to this place. Come on, it's beautiful and it has everything you want! And they're gonna take a late booking!" Allie pleaded once more, consistent with arguments protruding from the surrounding females.

I took a look at the venue again. It was an old mansion that oozed pure elegance, in Illinois, where we were having the wedding. It was beautiful. And inside the space looked big enough for the amount of people we were inviting. It would also be where Alex and I would be staying for the night, seen as it was a hotel too. Then we were going on a twelve hour car ride to get back to Baltimore, making an overnight stop so Alex wouldn't be driving for so long. It seemed kind of romantic, even if it wasn't the honeymoon every girl dreamed about, it was the honeymoon I dreamed about. Because it would be with him, it would be with Alex even though it was only two nights. He had promised we would go away some other time in the summer as a belated honeymoon, but it would be more of a family holiday...family. Oh god. 

"Alright, Cass, make the call," I told her with a small smile. They all smiled brightly at me and went rushing about in excitement getting the final touches organised. I bit my lip and sat back, allowing them to get lost in the details of a seemingly fairy tale wedding.

It was everything I had ever wanted, I knew that. And Alex wanted it too, apparently. I just couldn't believe how lucky I was to finally find someone who could hold me at night, pull me into their masculine embrace and allow me to lose myself in that comfort, that safety, that security..:that love. I had been craving it for so long, for someone I could just be with. But it didn't quite feel real to me, not yet anyway. I mean, it didn't feel real for the reasons that were maybe not so obvious. We hadn't fought, not really, not as a couple. And while we kinda pretty much had a simple kind of relationship that people, even fans, told me they were jealous of, I was jealous of them. Because they had the tough times which they had gotten through, Alex and I hadn't had that. We hadn't had the big fight that was supposed to test a relationship. I wanted to have it just so I knew that we would be okay. This isn't like in the movie Big Fish where the guy knows he'll survive the forest because the witch told him how he would die and that wasn't it. But maybe he didn't have to know, maybe he just had to believe he would survive and that kept him going. He wouldn't accept any other fate.

I hoped to god Alex and I would pull through this.

A cry from Jasey pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked behind me at the couch she was currently napping on. Well, now her eyes were wide open and starting to tear. I got up from my sitting position on the floor with the other girls Anne sat beside her, pulling her into me as she melted in my arms.

"What is it sweetheart?" I asked her as I stroked her hair.

"Dadda," was all she said. I had to mask the instant pain I felt as I rocked my toddler back and forth.

"Ou sweetie, daddy's coming back real soon, okay? Just another week and he'll be home, it was just a bad dream, that's all," I said, trying to soothe her. She didn't say anything else, she just sniffled and cried a little more. She probably didn't even understand what I was saying really, I mean she was only seventeen months old. "Daddy's coming back," I repeated, softly, not sure if I was trying to convince myself or her. 

As soon as I had got her quiet, Allie's son started crying from somewhere in the room, and she rushed to tend to him. Allie came back with her four month old baby and sat on the couch with me, a bottle held firmly in place as the child guzzled the milk. Allie peeped out from my arms, eyes a little red and stared in wonder at the little boy. I wondered if they would be friends when they were older. It would be nice, if they were. Her first friend could be the son of her fathers best friend. I had no doubt they would look out for each other. But I guess it depends, you never know what the future has in store for you. I mean, who'd have thought that I would be engaged to my idol? The one who had saved me from so much pain. It was out of this world.

"Oh guys, while I remember, Jack and I are changing Max's name," Allie said brightly.

"Huh? What?" was pretty much the same response she got out of all of us. However Isobel was quite authoritative.

"No, Allie, you can't change a baby's name once it's born! Max is on the birth certificate!" she protested.

Allie looked a little embarrassed. "Well actually, we still haven't gotten round to that...the nurse we see for his check ups keep saying it, but we just somehow always manage to let it slip our minds..."

"Slip your minds? It slipped your mind to get your baby registered?" Cass asked laughing as Sam joined in.

"Eh, we've been busy," Allie replied nonchalantly.

"And knowing you two, we all know what that means..." Sam trailed off, rolling her eyes but the proceeding to waggle her eyebrows.

"Sam! Not in front of the children!" Isobel scolded, but it was easy to tell she wasn't entirely serious.

Allie rolled her eyes. "Oh whatever guys, but anyway, the baby name change, we decided he's gonna be called Shane!"

"How'd you come up with that name?" Cass asked.

"It was in some vampire book Jack reads, and don't ask me why he reads teenage vampire books in female perspectives, because I really don't understand it myself, but Jack said he really liked the name and I said if we ever had another son we should call him Shane and Jack just decided we would change this baby's name, in case we had a girl next. So yeah...Max is now Shane...we might have Max as a middle name...I don't know, Shane Maxwell Barakat? How's it sound?"

Of course no one wanted to call her out on the Maxwell part, so we just kind of left it and told her we loved it. Although to he fair, the name Shane was pretty awesome. 

Shortly after that we all decided to call it a day and headed home, we'd gotten everything sorted somehow, which I was incredibly grateful for. No more wedding planning for me. I would just be able to enjoy the wait now and pray to god nothing went wrong. 

I settled Jasey on the floor with the dogs as I went to get her some rusks to dip in milk for her to try and eat seen as she had a few more teeth now. When I came back she was fighting for dominance over her favourite blanket. It was a Peter Pan one that Alex had bought her when we went on a day trip together to Disney world and she'd almost ran out of the store with it, without us paying. Which gave me a heart attack because I'd literally out her down for a second and she was off. I didn't even know toddlers could walk as well as she had...apparently despite her being premature she was still advanced.

"Bas," I said sternly at the small dog who immediately looked up at me, giving me those puppy dog eyes that he was too old for. I sighed and eased myself on the floor next to Jasey, who instantly crawled over in search of something familiar and hugged me as best she could with my bump in the way. I patted the floor for Sebastian to come towards me and petted him with my free hand, letting him know I wasn't mad. Peyton curled up on Jasey's other side, and it must have been quite the family picture.

"Alright guys, looks like it's just us and a DVD tonight. Who wants to watch He's Just Not That Into You?" Sometimes you just needed cheese to take your mind off the world.