bubblegum bitch

   “Hey” Matt smiled carrying a bag of their favorite sweets, he hugged her back before finding a good spot and laying next to her, “I know, it’s crazy. even after the fact that Ev and i did elope” he replied with a smile on his face, “so look what i brought. What will go better with watching friends than with our favorite sweets”

“I knew it!” The blonde exclaimed, nearly yelling in his ear. “I knew it! I knew you two got married!” Happiness flooded the blonde’s face before she hit his arm playfully. “You made me plan this perfect wedding just to go and elope before it!?” She was just teasing him, she was so happy it was official. “Let me see your new ID! With your new name.” Naomi requested as she dug into the bag of snacks.

She was in bed sitting against the wall when she heard her cousin come in her apartment. “I’m in here,” she called, although he already knew that. As much as she loved Romeo and Evan, it was so nice to have a night with just her and Matt, like old times. “Hi Matty,” she smiled, getting up on her knees on the bed to reach up and give him a hug. Afterwards she pulled Matt down on the bed with her, going back to the episode of Friends she was watching. “Do you realize this is the first night in weeks I haven’t done anything wedding related? Fuck, Matty...you’re getting married next weekend. Where has time gone? We were teenagers yesterday.” ( @mattowens )

Matt: Yup.

Matt: It's great to see Romeo and Evan so close. I have no doubt that they will have a strong relationship like me, SJ and you have

Matt: Its a painting. I have been working on for months and i already have the wedding night hotel and every set

Naomi: Oh, for sure. They’ll be like we were and still are. De Luca relationships are stronger than anything else in the world. The shit we’ve made it through proves it.

Matt: We are good Mio

Matt: The boys are sleeping. Playing at the park took a lot out of them. Am working on a surprise for Ev

Naomi: That’s good to hear!

Naomi: Hey Matty :)

  Matt was never worried or scared, he knew that his family will welcome Ev with welcome arms. Plus he knew that Ev will have people that will love and support him and Evan. Matt held his hand tighter, he was glad Everett invited his father because he did not want Everett to have any regrets. “It’s okay” he said softly looking at Everett. 

“As far as a seating chart, people can sit where they want, right? We agree on that? Pick a row, not a side.” Naomi asked, looking from Matt’s eyes to Everett’s. She had been planning this wedding with every ounce of energy she had and she wanted it to be perfect. “And Ev...I’m not trying to be a pain in your ass...but you still haven’t picked a best man, and the last fitting is this week.” 

Everett nodded, letting out a sigh. He never wanted a wedding...a ceremony. He just wanted to be married to Matt, and legally he already was. Now he could endure the wedding part of it because it was what Matthew wanted. “Yeah, sounds good.” He nodded as far as the seating chart went. “Well..I don’t know what to tell you...I don’t have any family I could ask. My dad...he won’t be here in time to rehearse for the wedding if I were to have it be him. So...I don’t know what to tell you.” He was embarrassed he didn’t have any friends, but he wouldn’t let it show.

   Matt held his husband’s hands tighter as he used his thumb to make a circular monition on the others hands. Matt was still silent a bit as he listened to both Naomi and his husband talk. “Ya…I have not really seem them since i found they are my siblings” he replied with a soft sigh, “we know. Evan Romeo love spending the night at your place” he added in a soft voice. “Am so sorry handsome” he said feeling the sadness that is husband was sad, Matt got up a bit giving Ev a kiss on the cheek before laying back down on his husbands laps. “I wish i can make the sadness and hurt go away””

“If you want, Everett...I could call her.” Naomi offered, reaching for the man’s hand. “The De Luca’s are known for having a certain...charm. You should know, Matt’s worked on you.” When she first met Everett, to be frank, he scared the hell out of her. What he did for a living...he wasn’t a bad guy, but it was intense. However, as she got to know him, he was easily becoming family to her. “Maybe...hearing from me, her hearing how badly you want her there...it could be worth a shot.” The blonde shrugged, giving Everett a sympathetic smile. “Back to RSVPS...Nonna and Nonno are coming.” She referred to their grandparents on the De Luca side. “They fly in from Italy a few days before...it’s all taken care of.” She paused nervously, slowly gaining confidence to bring up personal things to Everett. “Mr. Stone said he’s coming...he was very sweet when I spoke to him over the phone.” With a warm smile, she squeezed Everett’s hand again before looking to Matt. All she knew was Everett’s relationship with his dad was rough, and his mother had died when Everett was 14.

In that moment, Everett truly realized how much Naomi was willing to do for him when they hadn’t known each other very long. Apparently the De Luca’s didn’t fuck around when it came to family, and he was marrying into a family where he and his children would always be welcome. “No, Mio, it’s okay.” it was the first time Everett had used her nickname. “I appreciate it...but part of me gets why she doesn’t want to come.” Everett squeezed Naomi’s hand back, leaning against his husband’s side as they all laid in different positions on Naomi’s bed. His eyes shot up as she mentioned his father. “Yeah...he said he’d come.” Everett nodded, he had told Matt the night before. “I’m sure he did.” He said bitterly under his breath as Naomi said Vaughn - Everett’s father - sounded nice. “He’s good at acting like he’s nice. But I haven’t seen him in...five years. Yeah, it was at Evie’s funeral.” His heart broke as he said those words, but his face remained emotionless. 

“My goodness! Unboxing while pregnant is a chore. Thank God I do yoga.” She said, having grabbed her tea.

“Trying to decorate the house in time for Christmas and I can’t even find my boxes for those!” She laughed, sipping her tea, free hand on her now large belly.

“You’re not supposed to be lifting heavy things while you’re pregnant!” Naomi didn’t mean to yell, but she was so protective over Ro and her unborn niece already. “The doctor said you need to rest, Ro...which means leaving the unpacking to us.” She chuckled, meaning herself, Sawyer and Matt.  “Can you believe this could be her first Christmas? What if we got that lucky?” Rosina’s due date was just after Christmas, but she knew Amber could come early. “You know the VanSanten/De Lucas go hard as far as decorating...why don’t I take a break from wedding planning to help you out?” The blonde walked closer to Rosina, leaning down as she placed her hands on the brunette’s lower abdomen. “Hi baby Amber...it’s your aunt Nomi.” She smiled, using one of the nicknames her cousins (who she called her siblings) had given her. Nomi, Mio, Omi...but she’d let the baby call her what she wanted. Right now, as Romeo got to the speaking age, he called Naomi “Zia Nomi or Tante Nomi because her name was too hard to say at age two, and what they said before depended on the language he was speaking in that moment. Naomi hoped Amber would grow up speaking as many languages as her family did.  She looked at her best friend hesitantly while unpacking a box filled with Christmas ornaments. “I’m so jealous, Ro...that you found the love of your life. Well, you’d already found him. You’ve known him forever. Here I am, twenty one with only one serious relationship that I blew...I can’t get a date because I push people away too easily. I never thought I wanted to be a mom...but I see you doing it, and how in love you and Sawyer are...and I just get jealous.” The blonde admitted hesitantly but harshly. “You have it all...the love of your life and you are about to have a baby. You have this huge lovely house. You’re both going to be kick ass lawyers while raising her...and I’m just...me.”

   “Nothing much, was just drafting some emails to send tomorrow and then watch some netflix before getting the boys to bed” he replied smiling as he used his hand to rub Ev’s hand, “I have not seem Andrew and Alannah in forever but i did talk to them a few days ago” he added smiling happy that they were coming. 

   Matt went silent when Naomi mention Ellie, he looked at his husband with a surprise for a moment, “I..did not know you invited her handsome” he said in a soft voice and a sigh, Matt was not mad or anything but he was just not expecting it. Matt could also hear the sadness in his husband voice as he moved closer to Ev and placed his head on his lap holding his hand. 

“You’re taking off of work, right? The both of you?” Naomi asked, raising an eyebrow as she gave Everett a look. She knew what he really did, that he was an Op. The two of them had grown extremely close, and it was because of Matt. But Everett was also going to be her brother in law in her eyes. “If you guys ever want me to put them to bed, just bring them over and I’ll do it. So you can be alone. You know that.” She offered with a smile, looking back and forth between the two of them. “I haven’t seen them since the funeral.” Naomi murmured just below a whisper, as the wedding got closer, she wished for nothing more than for Amber to be able to see Matty get married. “Oh, but aunt Delia said Alannah can be the flower girl, so there’s another thing off of the list.” You could tell she was exhausted, she was planning this whole wedding by herself and studying for Winter exams. She had no makeup on, but she knew the boys didn’t care. The blonde put her long curly hair up into a pony tail before crossing the flower girl search off of her list.M

Everett nodded at Naomi’s question. “Yeah, they said I could have a week. That’s all they could give me with this case I’m working,” he sighed, running a hand through his think dark brown hair. Naomi made a nervous face as Matt said he didn’t know Ellie had been invited. She didn’t ask questions, she just sent invitations to the contacts they’d each given her. “I didn’t tell you because I knew she wouldn’t come.” Everett said bluntly but there was still the tone of sadness in his voice. “I don’t know if it’d be too hard for her or what...but part of me just wanted to believe the girl who was once my best friend was still in there.” Now he didn’t have one. He had Matt, Naomi and SJ, but they were all family. Ellie was someone who’d known him since he was in diapers. “I’m willing to bet you can go ahead and count on her not coming, Mio.” Everett said softly to Naomi - using his nickname for her that had only started as they recently got close - placing his hand on her thigh as his other hand was holding Matt’s. “I guess I understand why she doesn’t want to see me.” But it doesn’t hurt any less, he thought.

   Matthew quickly got dressed before he and Ev and the boys headed to Naomi’s place, Matt walked him after knocking to see his favorite cousin who seemed to be going over last minute details, as the wedding day got closer and closer, Matt was excited and also nervous. He has already married Ev but he could not help it and he had written his vows and everything. Matt placed Romeo and Evan in the spare bedroom with their toys, leaving the door open as he walked into his cousin’s bed before laying on the bed with a smile on his face, “what’s up Naomi?” he said smiling, “i can’t believe that the wedding is in less than a week” 

“Hi boys,” Naomi smiled as Evan and Romeo walked past to go to the guest bedroom. Once Matt and Everett were in here room, she smiled when Matt laid beside her, gesturing for Everett to sit at the end of the bed. “Nothing much...doing last minute things for the wedding. What’ve you two been up two?” She asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked back and forth between Matt and Everett. As she flipped to the list that was in her notebook, she laid it in between the three of them. “These are the RSVPs for the wedding so far...Aunt Delia and her husband are coming, so are Andrew and Alannah.” A small smile appeared on her face, it was bittersweet to see them when they resembled Amber so much. 

“Everett, I haven’t heard back from Ellie. This was the right address, correct?” She asked, handing Everett the one she had. He was quiet, avoiding his husband’s eyes for a minute as he nodded. “Yeah, that’s the last address I have for her,” Everett nodded. "I mean...it’s been five years since I’ve seen her.” This was the exact reason he hadn’t told Matt he invited Ellie. He had a feeling in his chest that she wouldn’t come, and now it was out that he’d invited her. “I pretty much expected she wouldn’t come...thought it was worth a shot,” he murmured, slight sadness in his voice. Ellie once truly had been his best friend in the whole world. 

   “Hey, i remember you and i can see you have the famous blond hair just like your cousin” he replied with a smile, “you can go ahead and Sawyer is one of my very good friends” he added smiling.

“You do?” She asked, smirking at him. Naomi was a lot of things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. You knew when she was flirting with you - she was such a flirt in general. “Ah, the famous De Luca blonde hair,” she chuckled, nodding her hair. “Yep. I have it, we all do except for my cousin Matt. But he has the blue eyes, those are another one of our trademarks.” Naomi teased, smoothing over her dress after she sat next to Dustin. “SJ is pretty great,” she nodded. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Matt: ...I can see the stubborn traits of the De Luca

Matt: Don't worry, it's not going to be all full blown De Luca Wedding. It's going to be small

Matt: Right now, i can't think of having another kid and i am happy with having two wonderful boys.

Everett: Is your entire family this stubborn? Hey, at least I fit right in.

Everett: Yeah guys, no big weddings happening in my lifetime. If it was up to me, Matt and I would've eloped already. I don't even want a wedding. (Except the one your planning is great, Naomi.)

Everett: Let's focus on SJ's baby before you guys expect another one from us.

Naomi: Yes, our entire family is this stubborn. Always has been.

Naomi: You'll love it, Ev. I promise...I can almost guarantee you'll be glad you had a wedding.