The Wedding Planner

“Finally! Christ. I was beginning to think that the two of you had really hit it off,” Jade exclaimed, waving from the VIP section everyone sat comfortably in. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw some familiar faces in Niall’s group—among a few other famous faces, of course, which I assumed were Jade’s friends. Gigi and Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne, some others who had familiar faces but not familiar enough names.

Jade motioned for Niall to make more room in their booth and Blue motioned for me to slide in first. I let out an annoyed breath of air that was undetectable under the pulsing of the nightclub and squeezed in between the two of them begrudgingly.

We ordered our first round of drinks as Blue introduced me to some of his male model friends, none of whose names I recognized. Were male models even idolized like female models were? Niall was stiff and quiet beside me, not too interested in partaking in the festivities.

“Oh! I love this song. Niall, dance with me,” Jade said, tugging at his arm.

“Not really in the dancin’ mood, Jade.”

“Suit yourself,” Jade rolled her eyes before going off to the dance floor with her friends. Blue eventually went off with his own group of friends and, after the lack of attention he had been showing me all night I wondered if he even remembered that I was here. Not that I was angry about that.

I looked at the crowd in time to see an even more familiar face coming from the dance floor: Harry Styles. He caught my eye as quickly as I caught his and smiled. “Isla!” he exclaimed, sitting beside me. “Niall mentioned something about you coming tonight but I didn’t think you’d show.”

“Yeah. It’s not really my scene.”

“Not really mine either, but Niall extended the invitation and I figured I haven’t been around much,” Harry shrugged, “Been kind of busy with the movie and the new music and stuff. What have you been up to?”

“Yeah, I was wondering what the deal with this was,” I said, reaching up to his hair and shagging it up a bit. “It looks good. It suits you. Looks even better in person. I haven’t been up to much. Nothing interesting. No movies or music.”

“Shots!”

I watched as a platter was placed on the table before everyone. Harry shrugged before taking two and handing me one. I brought the glass under my nose and sniffed it, nearly losing the contents of my stomach right then and there. Patron: Liam Payne’s picked poison, if he were here tonight. Still, I joined the group in slamming our shots back, only cringing a little bit as the tequila ran down my throat.

“What’s going on with Niall?” Harry spoke into my ear over the music.

“Dunno. I just got here a little while ago,” I said, shrugging at him, “Apparently Jade thought it would be a good idea to hook me up with one of her model friends, Blue. I came here with him and have hardly seen him since. That isn’t particularly a bad thing.”

“Ah,” Harry said, “That explains a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isla! Come dance with us!”

I looked by him to see Jade standing in front of the booth, looking more than half in the bag. She yanked me up from my spot and I nearly took Harry out on the way before she led me to the dance floor. I stood as she danced wildly to whatever song was on, unsure of what to do with any of my limbs in this situation.

“I know you know how to dance. You’re just shy,” Jade shouted.

“I don’t want to embarrass myself,” I said.

“Come on,” Jade took my hand, “We’re going to do a few shots.”

“Oh, I already took one with Har—”

“Oh, hush up. It’s Friday night. A few shots won’t kill you.”

I died a little inside when Jade ordered two rounds of shots of Patron.

“You don’t really expect me to drink both of those, do you?” I asked.

“Duh. That’s why I ordered them. Come on. Live a little.”

I picked up my first as she was on her second, slowly knocking them back.

“So. What do you think of Blue?” Jade asked, pushing our empty glasses to the bar’s edge.

“Um. I haven’t really seen much of him, actually.”

Jade talked my ear off for the next ten minutes about Blue as the shots of Patron slowly seeped into my system. Before I knew it we were both out on the dance floor again, dancing ridiculously and drunkenly. Bella, Gigi, and Cara joined us, and I was surprised to find myself drunkenly do-si-doing—if that’s what you would call it—with Cara to horrible, gritty trap music.

The song ended soon enough and Jade offered to buy another round for our small group. I politely refused any more Patron but went up and ordered my own drink, disbanding our group. “I don’t think I’ve seen you drink this much.”

I jumped when his voice sounded from over my bare shoulder.

“Oh—I was coerced into shots,” I explained.

“In need of another dance partner?”

“I thought you weren’t in the dancing mood?”

“Guess it’s contagious,” Niall said. I had no qualms about leaving my half full drink at the bar as he led me out deep onto the dance floor, unsure of exactly how to dance with him. I think the last time I’d danced with a guy was at semi-formal—lo and behold, with Niall—and that meant hands on the shoulders, arms length apart, no kissing or touching.

I placed my hands on his shoulders—imagine my surprise when he pulled me hard against him, his arms wrapped around the small of my back and his hands settling themselves on my hips. The pace of my heart quickened as we danced. This went against all eighth year semi-formal protocol. Jesus, if I moved my knee just slightly to the right I would be able to feel his dick through his pants. I nearly collapsed at the thought and tried to relax as I rested my head on his chest, closing my eyes.

His hands slowly began to travel from my hips to the top of my butt and I tensed, thankful the song had ended by this point. I pulled away from him and took a few steps back, racking my mind for something to say. I didn’t know if I was about to pass out because of the alcohol or because of the anxiety. “Thanks for the dance. I’m—um—going to… go.”

I made a beeline for the bathroom doors, nearly jumping once somebody grabbed my shoulder once I was in. I turned to see Bella watching me quizzically with Cara at her side, sipping at her drink as she watched the two of us in amusement.

“What the hell was that?” Bella asked.

“I think that was a toilet flushing—”

“No, that. On the dance floor.”

I felt a lump harden in my throat upon realizing what she was talking about. Jesus Christ. Tonight was the night I got the complete and utter shit kicked out of me. So that was what this was: Bella and Cara were going to jump me in the bathroom for practically dry humping their friend’s fiance. Oh, fuck. This is why I stayed home.

“Look, he asked me to dance. Not the other way around.”

“You two love each other,” Cara said.

“What?” I shouted. “No. What the hell? No!”

“We can see it. You may not think it’s obvious but we can see it,” Bella added.

“No,” I shook my head, “I’m the relationshippy person. Nobody else.”

“I can tell when two people are in love. It’s not rocket science.”

“Even if we were in love with each other, which we aren’t,” I said, pointing a finger between the two drop dead gorgeous women before me. Bella crossed her arms and gave me a pointed look, waiting expectantly to hear my explanation. Cara playfully imitated her stance for emphasis. “He is getting married.”

“Wedding’s still four months away,” Bella said.

“You are not insinuating that I—”

“Oh, yeah. We are.” Cara nodded.

“Okay,” I laughed. “This is a setup. Did she tell you to do this?”

“Christ, get a grip, Isla,” Bella snorted, “I mean, are you that oblivious? Seriously? You’re the best friend. You’re the wedding planner. Christ, you’re like a celebrity in that group. Everyone likes you more than Jade and hardly any of us have met you until tonight. Fuck, she is like a piece of bubblegum that you get stuck on your shoe.”

“Terrible analogy,” Cara commented.

“But she gets my point,” Bella argued.

“I’m not in love with him. I’m not breaking anyone up. I’m here with Blue.”

“Blue doesn’t even like you!” Cara exclaimed, putting her hands up to her temples.

“Kind of rude, Cara,” Bella said, glaring at Cara before looking back at me, “Don’t mind her. She’s British and doesn’t know how to form compassionate sentences. What she means is that Blue is a complete and utter schmuck. He’s an ass and the only thing he knows how to do is have one night stands. He probably thinks that you’re good-looking, but he just wants to hit it and quit it. Come on.”

“Come on what?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.

“You’re the wedding planner.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because a certain Irishman keeps prattling on about his stupid childhood best friend turned wedding planner,” Bella exclaimed exasperatedly, “No offense. You’re not stupid. I like you. But all he does is talk and talk and talk about you whenever I’m around him without Jade. How funny you are. How kind you are. How much you understand him. How much he likes your dog—”

“He talks about Bram?”

“Never shuts up about him. He sounds adorable, by the way.”

“He loves Bram,” I nodded, “Bram is his surrogate puppy—”

“Since Jade won’t let him have one. I know. I’ve heard all about it,” I opened my mouth to say something else but Bella cut me off, “Don’t you see, you idiot? He isn’t in love with Jade. He’s in love with you. You’re everything that she’s not. Everything that he wants.”

“Well, why would he marry her, then? That’s stupid.”

“Maybe he’s too nice of a guy to break it off, Isla,” Cara shrugged.

“So he’s opting to spend the rest of his life in a loveless marriage?”

“You know him better than either of us do,” Bella shrugged, “I’m just playing Cupid here.”

“I need another drink,” I shook my head, turning around. Bella groaned and I put one finger up to silence her. “No more Niall talk. I’m going to go back to trying to find Blue and getting to know him so we can get married and have a bunch of little babies and have a fairytale wedding like Niall said we would. I’m not going to ruin someone’s relationship.”

“Ah, right—the jealous fit he threw in the park earlier. Heard about that, too.”

“Shush!” I exclaimed, quickly walking out of the bathroom as the two girls grinned.

“There you are. Everything alright?” Blue asked, and I was happy to see that he had joined the rest of the table. He put his hand on the small of my back as I sank into the booth beside him. All I had to do was make myself fall in love with him. A few dates and it wouldn’t be hard—he was practically every girl’s dream. And yet here I was, pining over stupid Niall Horan.

“Bella’s in the bathroom puking her brains out. I think she—”

“I’m feeling better now,” Bella smirked at me, sitting back down.

“Something we should bother asking about?” Blue asked.

“Nope,” Bella and I both barked at the same time.

“Then I for one am not going to ask,” Harry said.

“—I want to stay here. I was fine with Miranda!”

“I think it’s time we get you home. Guys, we’re going to head out,” I watched as Niall led a hammered Jade out of the club after saying goodbyes, suddenly feeling defeated again. I ordered one more round of shots for everyone at the table and we slugged them all back before settling into another conversation. Blue had taken off to the dance floor once more and it didn’t take me long to spot him dancing with another girl. I met eyes with Cara and she pursed her lips at me as if to say ‘see, I told you’. He never returned back to the booth that night and I wrote him off easily. Slowly everybody parted ways—Bella with Cara and Gigi, but not before programming her number into my phone and texting herself so she would have mine—then Niall’s friends. I was done in by this time and, after realizing that Blue had ditched me and was my ride home, Harry led me out to his car and got me into the passenger seat.



“You’re okay,” Harry murmured, holding my hair back with one hand and rubbing my back with the other as I hurled into the toilet bowl. I complained about how I didn’t feel well and how I was going to die in between sobs. Harry tried to stifle his laughter behind me. “That’s what Patron will do to you. What were you thinking?”

“I think I’m overdosing…”

“I think you’re just a little drunk is all.”

I put all of my weight on Harry as I leaned back, barely reacting as he fell back slightly into the bathroom counter with a light ‘oof’. He wrapped his arms around the front of me lightly as I sobbed unabashedly, regretting all the times I’d taken advantage of being sober.

“You’re going to be okay, Isla,” Harry spoke, trying to remain serious as laughter threatened to break through his voice. I cried harder at this and he moved to rub my shoulders. “Are you that drunk, love? Good God. You just need to sleep it off.”

“Why are you laughing at me?”

“I’m not. I’m not, I promise.”

“I need to shower,” I sniveled.

“I think that’s the last thing that you need right now.”

“I smell. Please let me take a shower,” I sobbed.

“Christ. Okay.” Harry mumbled, moving to lift me up from the floor. “Hey, you need to cooperate with me. Stop going deadweight. Ready? One… two…” I moaned in response as he finally got me onto the toilet lid and sighed. “You can hardly hold your head up.”

“Just put me on the floor of the shower. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Come on. Arms up. Arms up, Isla.”

“Are you taking my dress off?”

“Yes. It’s covered in throw up.”

“I don’t even have a bra on, Harry!” I yelled.

“For the love of—I won’t look.”

“Well, you can’t not.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. This isn’t exactly the first time I’ve had to clean puke off of you. Do you remember your twenty-first birthday?” Harry cupped my face when I continued to protest. “I. I’ve known you for years. I’m your closest friend next to Niall. If I was going to try something with you, I would have tried it by now.”

“I know that. I still don’t want you to see my—” I squealed when Harry pulled my dress over my head, moving to cover my chest as quickly as I possibly could in my inebriated state. I opened my mouth to protest but Harry began to clean me up with a warm washcloth.

“Holy hell, Isla,” Harry mumbled, putting the washcloth under the faucet to rinse it off, “I’m going to bloody throw up. You know, as much as I love you, and would do this for you any time, and have before and probably will continue to until the day you die, I am not the person who should be doing this right now.”

“Niall should be, huh?” I mumbled, frowning as tears began to sting my eyes.

“If he had any morsel of sense in his brain,” Harry mumbled, moving my arms away slightly to gain better access and rolling his eyes at my concern, “Head up, love. I’m almost done. You’ve got it all in your hair, too.”

“I’m fine. I’ll wash it in the morning,” I sniveled.

“No—come on. Head in the sink. I’ll do it.”

I did as told, frowning as Harry wet my hair with the warm faucet water and began to shampoo my hair. “Harry? What do you think would happen if I texted Niall right now and told him that I loved him? Or what if I sent a text to Jade and told her to fuck off?”

“Ah, ah, ah! Keep your head in the sink!” Harry exclaimed, quickly putting my head back down as I lifted it up to look at him. “I don’t think that would be the best idea, I. You need to tell him, but not shit ass drunk. And you can’t tell his fiancee to fuck off.”



I sat on my bed in my fuzzy pink bathrobe, closing my eyes as Harry brushed the snarls from my hair. I let out a yawn as he placed the hairbrush on my nightstand, content with my freshly cleaned hair and my freshly brushed teeth—all thanks to Harry, my personal caretaker. I let out a comfortable sigh after falling back, my head landing in his lap and once again causing him to emit another ‘oof’ sound. He didn’t bother moving me though—he was probably just happy that I was finally almost out.

“Thank you, Harry,” I murmured.

“No need to thank me,” Harry yawned as he draped his arm over my shoulder.

“No, really. You’re so nice.”

“Thank you. Now get some sleep.”

“I wish I was in love with you instead of Niall.”

A small silence ensued before he sighed. “Goodnight, Isla.”