riley

Brooke eyed her for a moment, the frantic way she flicked through the pages and the stressed out look on her face. “relax, Riles, all of this forehead scrunching is bound to give you wrinkles. which is the last thing you need on your wedding day.” still strange words to be saying, feeling like it wouldn’t be a reality until she was watching her best friend walk down the aisle. lifting a few of the napkins in front of her the blonde found what she was looking for, handing it over to Riley between her fingers. “what else is on your masterlist for today?”

“Okay, girl, you need to find your zen.” he stated,  placing a hand on her shoulder. “Otherwise, you’re going to burn out. So, how about this, and don’t tell anyone I’m actually being nice- but I’ll give you my opinion on the flowers and help with anything else you need, and then I’m buying you an iced coffee to chill that pretty head down. And maybe something chocolately also, because chocolate helps, right?” he couldn’t, or wouldn’t stand having someone stress out around him. It ruined his vibe and for once, he was having a rather okay day. 

Toni grinned. Riley was still the sweetest person she’d ever known and appreciated her friendship. “You think so?” She asked somewhat rhetorically. “Honestly… Happy feels really good. I haven’t been this happy in a while.” She mused. “So, how’s all the wedding planning going?” 

Noah: I think that's the first time you've ever sworn over text. I'm impressed.

Noah: I'm just following your every order. As it should be. And yes, I do think we can.

Noah: Then take the planner with you. We can at least plan whilst relaxing in a warm bath with roses and candles and a place to ourselves without parents and family baring down on us. As for Riloah, I will super glue that flower to the collar if I have too. And the collar also.

Riley:..I am sorry, I am just very tired.

Riley: Oh shush. You had great ideas too!

Noah: So you know that I love you, like a hell of a lot. More than I love my Friday 13th poster collection AND LOTR figurine collection.

Noah: And that I appreciate everything you're doing and your amazing planning which I'm in awe in constantly.

Noah: How do you feel taking ONE night off and coming away with me? Nowhere big, I just found this super cute hotel a few towns out. You've been working so hard and I know our friends have things planned for a stag and hen do- but I'd love just to take you away for a night to relax. Before all the crazy starts up.

Riley: More than your collections??? Holy shit, am I that special? :p I love you a whole lot too.

Riley: Oh shush. We're doing this together. Are-are you sure we can take a night off?

He wasn’t entirely sure he’d be the best person to advise on floral arrangements, especially with his own views towards marriage. But Riley looked like she needed help and he couldn’t imagine planning a wedding at their age would be easy. “I mean, I’ll certainly try and help- is there a certain theme we’re going for or?” 

Sheri offered an easy-going smile back to the girl, laughing softly. “Girl, I still cannot believe you’re getting married already!” she shook her head, giggling. “Not that it’s too surprising. You and Noah are, like, the sweetest lovebirds around this place. Makes me think maybe it isn’t totally impossible that I’ll find that for myself one of these days.” Hopping up from her seat, she changed position to sit with Riley, looking down at the wedding binder. “Nothing,” she waved a dismissive hand. “This shift is just boring as hell.” Her eyes searched the binder for a second before glancing back up at Riley with a grin. “I gotta know, though - you picked out a dress yet?”

Toni finally did it. She finally saved up enough money to purchase the camera she needed for her photography classes at Highsmith. Even though she’d been frugal with her money throughout the school year, it was paying off because she was going to have the camera and its lenses without feeling like she was going to be destitute that summer. Money was a difficult thing for her to come by, but all of the extra shifts and extra savings were worth it. 

She was seated in the Brew sipping on her iced coffee as she scrolled through the tech specs on her laptop. This was Toni’s form of “nerding out” and she was enjoying herself. She was so immersed in what she was doing that she couldn’t hear what the person was saying next to her. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. What was that?” 

It had been a slow shift at the Brew for Sheri. Which wasn’t so bad for some, but it tended to drive her crazy when almost nobody came through the coffee shop. Which was why, as she saw the back of a very familar head, she grinned and creeped up behind them, leaning down to whisper a ‘hey’ into their ear only for them to jump in response. “Oh, damn,” she started with a laugh, moving around them to sit down across from them instead. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I mean, I did, but not that much,” she giggled. “What’s up?”

“So no pressure then.” he murmured, with a laugh. It was true, their ideals for a wedding wasn’t overly grandiose. The budget given between her parents and his mom was limited enough as it was, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have some things to make the day extraordinarily special. It was friends and family mostly, although the guest list had extended over the coming months and a large collection of students were also in attendance. “I mean, I know I’m not the most able or smooth when it comes to dancing but we have three weeks to put something awesome together. I’d like to show you off as much as possible because I’m still wondering just why you were crazy enough to agree to marrying me.”

‘no preassure. just look at me and think that’s only the two of us in the world.’ she advises him like this because this is how she’s been going on for the past months; whenever nervous or unsure, she’d look at noah and he made her think everything will be okay and even if they won’t, he will be there for her.usually, she would argue that thought- because she hated it when he put her like she was above his scale. but, today was prom. they won king and quene- so, she needed to show him some encourangement.’yeah, i am crazy.’ she agreed with a hum.’crazy in love with you and so excited to be able to call you my husband.’

“guess that means we just got lucky.” something Betty didn’t say all the time throughout high school, although as she had gotten older she had at least begun to see the wisdom of her mother’s ways. some of them, at least. others seemed just as insane as they had always been. “but thank you, that’s what I was going for,” she admitted, breathing a bit of a sigh of relief. “I think there are only so many ways you can say graduation, and new beginning, but here we are. kind of crazy, right?” she laughed a bit, realizing that she probably would have been more surprised if Riley didn’t cry, by the other girl’s admission.

It was a genre he wasn’t experienced in, pure romance. Like a duck out of water, it was up to Riley to lead him through this experience. Although he had no genuine desire to be prom king, the idea that people had voted for them anyway was humbling and if anything, slightly worrying. Would this turn out some horror-esque ending? A horrible prank. “As long as it doesn’t end up as a modern age remake of Carrie, I’m happy to live this movie with you.” he joked, arms wrapping around to settle at the small of her back as they began to gently sway. “Do we consider this a rehearsal for our actual wedding dance-?” he asked, knowing that after tonight they would be thrown back into the deep end in finalising things for their impending nuptials. “Because I feel we can pull something spectacular out of the bag.”