Until You Met Me

“You know, you’re lucky I answered” Molly quipped as plopped down onto her sofa, cradling her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she slipped her feet into a pair of shoes. She had been expecting the call. Since Gerard had departed for a preseason tour a little over a week previous, he had called at the same time every day, and whilst the conversations were often mundane, merely the two of them catching up on what had happened in the previous twenty four hours, she had started to look forwards to them. She didn’t quite know when it had happened. Gerard had always been high up on the list of people she liked to talk to, but she didn’t quite know when he’d gone from a person that she liked to talk to to the first person she’d choose to talk to.

“Oh?” Gerard chirped “Interrupting something, am I?” he added.

Molly rolled her eyes, taking the phone back into her hand. “You know I have plans to meet my mother and Pop for dinner” she quipped, feigning annoyance.

“That’s tonight?” Gerard played along “So, I shouldn’t send any incriminating texts I had planned? Just in case your mother picks up your phone again” he added, the smirk practically audible in his voice.

“I don’t think there’s anything you can tell her that she doesn’t already know” Molly countered “I mean, I think she might be onto us being a couple” she added.

Gerard let out a laugh, something that made Molly smile to herself. “You think she’s noticed?” he teased.

“I think the engagement ring I am wearing might have given us away” Molly quipped, gently pushing the ring around her finger with a fond smile on her face.

“I think we gave ourselves away long before that” Gerard replied fondly.

Molly let out a contented sigh, letting a beat of quiet pass between the two of them, before Gerard spoke up again. “Are you going to talk about the wedding?” he asked.

“Probably” Molly confirmed “I mean, there’s not a lot to talk about, but I think I am ready to start talking about it seriously. Is that alright?” she asked.

It wasn’t something that they had talked a lot about. After Gerard had proposed, both he and Molly had agreed that they wanted to wait a while, to enjoy being newly engaged for a while, before they started to think seriously about making wedding plans, but after a few weeks, it was a conversation that Molly was ready to start having. She knew that they weren’t in any rush, and she wasn’t trying to hurry anything along, but part of her was excited by the prospect of talking about the wedding, even if it was still a long way ahead of them. Now that the notion that they were engaged had settled in, she was excited to think about what came next.

“Why are you asking me?” Gerard asked.

“Because I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself” Molly replied “You wanted to hold off for a while, too, and I want to make sure that you’re ready to talk about it before I give my mother the green light. I don’t want her scaring you off” she added, her voice growing playful.

Gerard scoffed. “I survived our first couples’ dinner with her and your papa” he quipped “I am not going anywhere” he added.

“Gerard” Molly complained.

“I want to talk about it” Gerard said “If you’re ready, I am, too. Just...Don’t let Julia plan the whole thing and spring it on me when I get home. That’s all I ask” he added.

Molly laughed. “I promise” she quipped before she heard the doorbell “That’s her. I’ve got to go. I love you, and I miss you” she added.

“I love you, too” Gerard's voice was fond and warm “Only a few more days until I get home” he added.

“I can’t wait” Molly cooed before she ended the call and moved towards the door, opening it to Julia who greeted her with a warm smile.

“Ready?” Julia asked.

Molly nodded. “Ready” she confirmed.

~#~
“Pop, how did you and Felipe go about starting to plan a wedding?”

Poppy, who had been surveying the dessert menu, blinked a couple of times before she glanced over at Molly, finding her staring back at her, a nervous smile playing on her lips. She had been quiet. Since the three of them had sat down to dinner, Molly had been content to let the conversation flow around her, chiming in only when she thought that it was necessary, and it meant that the question had come out of nowhere, drawing the surprised looks of her mother and sister. She had tried to think of a way to be subtle about it, to slide the topic into the conversation naturally, but every time she had found a window, she had backed out again, leading to the rather blunt way she had asked.

“What?” Poppy asked.

Molly shrugged, fiddling with the napkin in her lap. “Gerard and I are starting to think about planning the wedding” she admitted “And honestly? I don’t think either of us really knows where to start. I helped Sofia with her wedding, but it was mostly just dress fittings and helping with seating charts, so I was hoping you had some advice” she added.

“You’re making plans?” Julia pressed, her voice caught between awed and excited.

“We’re thinking about it” Molly clarified.

“It’s still exciting” Julia cooed “My little girl is getting married” she added.

Molly ducked her head, trying, and failing, to hide her shy smile and pink cheeks. “Eventually, yeah” she quipped.

“A wedding planner” Poppy quipped.

“Huh?” Molly asked.

“Pick a professional wedding planner” Poppy clarified “Friends and family are great, but they will get carried away, and they might see everything through rose tinted glasses. Take mama, for example. How do you think she is going to react when she sees you in a wedding dress, any wedding dress, for the first time?” she asked.

Molly’s lips quirked upwards slightly. “She’s going to cry, isn’t she?” she asked.

“Absolutely” Julia quipped.

“A wedding planner is really important” Poppy mused “I can give you the number of the one Felipe and I used. She was really good. The other thing I will say is that you will probably disagree, so compromising is really important. You just have to talk, which, given your fiancé is Gerard, I don’t see being a problem. Does he ever actually stop talking?” she prodded teasingly.

Molly smiled back, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

“Enough teasing” Julia quipped, lifting her wine glass “I’d like to make a toast. To Molly and her, hopefully soon, husband-to-be. Let the wedding planning commence” she added.

Molly and Poppy tapped their glasses to hers. “I can’t wait to start” Molly cooed.