LCU, reining bridezilla

LCU, fall semester, 2081

***Very long, but picture-heavy, mostly - it's a wedding, you know ;)

Justin gulps hard and says, "You hired a housekeeper for this tiny apartment?"

Keri says, "Well, yeah! You didn't think I was going to clean it myself!"

"You hired that housekeeper?"

Keri says, "Well, you don't have to stare." But Keri can't help staring either. And it's not that she even likes girls like that, but she has to admit, that's one hell of a bosom!

Justin says, "Can we get you an outfit like that?"

"Come on," Keri says. "Pick up your tongue. We have class. Oh, and I hired a gardener too."

Keri only has two pots of flowers, but you know, she just wanted it to look pretty, and she forgets to water them and would hate for them to die. Maybe only Keri Riley would actually have the front of her apartment professionally landscaped.

As you can see, the other students don't really care. In fact, they're not actually allowed to landscape the fronts of their apartments. But, you know, she is Keri Riley, with her Governor mother, and father who owns half the town - she kind of does as she likes.

Justin just goes along with it. He likes to keep her happy, which is pretty easy to do, as long as she gets everything she wants.

Justin finally got around to taking care of that mountain-man look, even if he did look kind of cute rough around the edges. Keri was right, he can't manage a multi-million dollar corporation looking like a mountain man.

Her parents worried about her being able to keep up her stellar C+ average while trying to plan her wedding. Really, they just want her to finish the degree at this point. Or at least they worry about Justin's grades, but he's always been a hard worker, and he aspires to graduate with honors this year. In fact, if he works really hard, he might just make top honors.

Keri is doing decently this semester too though, since she promised her parents the wedding wouldn't interfere with her school work. But man, this homework sucks. Can't she hire somebody to do this for her?

Keri's gown is going to be one-of-a-kind, and it's not quite finished yet. It will be custom sewn and intricately embroidered in lilac, custom ordered, custom stitched, and never worn by another girl in the world. Her mom and sister come to look at the progress.

Mariah feels a little bit like a grape in her purple bridesmaid dress - a sour grape maybe, because she's been feeling a bit off lately - but she doesn't say anything.

Keri says to her sister, "Do you like it? How does it look? She's going to add some finishing touches still, but what do you think?" Keri doesn't actually let either of them speak, but just goes on. "It could use a little touch of color, I think, and maybe some more cleavage - you know I'm not the prim and proper one, big sis!"

What they were talking about after was inconsequential, but what mattered was, as Keri says, "Look at the size of that rock!!! Are you getting married?"

"Not any time soon!" Mariah says. "God, don't say it so loud, we haven't told anybody yet."

"You guys couldn't wait? How long has it been?"

"Since August."

"August?"

"There's no stopping that boy - he's persistent." Mariah laughs. Keri doesn't.

Keri gets a little bitchy - can she not have just this one moment in the spotlight? She holds herself back, as best she can. She just says, "Well maybe you can hold off until after the wedding. You know, my wedding. You can have your chance later."

"That's why we're not telling anybody," Mariah says.

"Well, good."

"But wait," Keri says. She holds her ring finger out near Mariah's hand. "Is yours bigger than mine?"

***

There's been a bit of an Indian summer this November, and it's strangely warm outside. That's a good thing for having their November wedding, and it's nice that the rain isn't too cold as Justin learns sales for his senior year internship.

Justin is working with Keri's father for his internship, and Bryson has just the job for him. He'll be managing The Sleep Cheap Lodge, in Lakeside Heights.

Bryson says, "Listen, Justin, we're in the hospitality industry here, so we're not really in a place to judge. You're going to meet all kinds of new people. People are going to come in, some of them married, some of them not, some of them married to other people, some of them with guys or girls or cousins, whatever."

Justin says, "Cousins?"

Bryson says, "My point is, what they do in their room is their own business. And as long as they're 18 years old, and have a valid ID, they are welcome here. Of course, we're not in the city either, so we keep up suburban appearances on the outside, like I said, whatever happens in the room stays in the room."

Justin is doing well, for an intern. Bryson is coaching him on his hard sell - which is a little too hard, sometimes.

He's meeting important people, or at least friends and family. He wanted to meet uncle Andy though, because Justin brought home a yoga instructor from Takemizu, for that fitness club he wants to start.

The sales job is actually kind of exhausting, being on his feet all day. By the time he gets home, he just wants to relax, rather than hang out at the clubs like they used to. Maybe it's because he's a senior this year, growing up, being responsible... getting married!

So he and Keri spend a lot of nights in, learning to cook together or cuddling outside under the stars. Justin is on a bit of a stargazing kick lately, which he must have picked up in Takemizu last year. He teaches her all the constellations he studied while he was abroad.

Justin isn't the only smart one this semester though. We would like to point out that not only did Keri keep her grades up while planning her wedding, but for the first time in as long as they can remember, she actually made the honor roll!


Report Cards for 2081, Fall
Justin, senior, economics: A+
Keri, sophomore (2nd half), economics A+

***

It's the morning of their wedding, and Justin wants to do one last thing before they head off to pick up their marriage license and become man and wife - that is, he wants to show off his moves! You know, you can't take things too seriously.

He doesn't know how fancy his vows will be, since he's never really been the type for finding the right words. But he promises he'll never be boring.

"Hey you," she says as they leave the apartment.

"Hey what?" he says. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," she says. "I just wanted to say, we're getting married in four hours."

Even Keri Riley has to go in person to pick up her wedding license.

And the clerk has to ask seemingly silly questions, like, "Are you first cousins or any closer relation?"

Keri says, "Is she serious?"

Justin says, "Seriously, I guess some people are into that kind of thing."

The wedding was supposed to happen in October, but there were delays. Bryson didn't have to do this, but he's always been a sucker for his baby girls, and he hopes this is something that only happens once. Riley Hall hasn't been made over since his father owned it, so he gives it a major overhaul. Actually, he knocks the damn thing down and rebuilds it up from the ground. Everything is hand-picked, custom ordered when needed. He spent three weeks searching for just the perfect flowers Keri wanted.

He's decided to drop budget weddings altogether and focus on the upmarket wedding crowd. There will be two options available, the Cliff Garden Wedding runs $7000, and the more lavish Lilac Winter Wedding for $10,000, custom made for his baby girl, who really likes the color purple lately. Prices do not include dinner, but do include fully staffed hall rental, one night in the honeymoon suite, with catered breakfast for the couple.

The hall will also still be rented by the night, for proms or family occasions at $300 per person. Fully staffed, but food not included. The honeymoon suite runs $2000 per night, and the smaller luxury suite is $1200.

Mariah and Keri spend the afternoon in the bridal suite getting ready. Mariah says, "Come on, don't be too uptight, you want to have fun tonight. Are you nervous about fulfilling your marital duties?"

That's the funniest thing Keri's heard all night!

And then Keri brings up the engagement again. Mariah says, "Don't bring that up again now, not today, please. I just can't handle that today."

Keri says, "You can't handle it today? Did you forget what day this is?"

"I'm ending this conversation," Mariah says.

Men have different ways of getting ready for the big day, and since Keri has the bridal suite occupied, Bryson lends out his office so that Justin can take a prenuptial nap.

Keri comes downstairs as the guests start to fill into the hall. Chandler says, "Sorry if this looks weird. It was all I could find at Goodwill."

Justin is inside waiting. His best man is Corbin, his yoga instructor and new friend, because his actual "best man" is a woman and Stephanie doesn't like crowds. Justin says, "I should be the one nervous here."

Corbin says, "Yeah, it's just a lot of people!"

Jane says to Chandler, "Keri was your first? You didn't tell me she was your first, and now we're at her wedding. Isn't this weird?"

He says, "No, it's not weird, we're just friends now and I love you, baby."

Stephanie and Jeremiah make it back from Three Lakes for the wedding, just like Justin and Keri made them promise. Stephanie says to Jeremiah, "I always thought he was with Mariah."

Jeremiah says, "No, not Mariah, I don't think. Unless it was casual." He nudges Chandler in the ribs and says, "Psst, hey Chandler, did you ever hook up with Mariah?"

Chandler laughs. "Mariah doesn't hook-up," he says. "That girl damn near needs an engagement ring before she'll put out!"

So with all the talk of who's hooked up with whom, nobody notices Keri's grand appearance except for Stephanie. But Keri is beaming anyway, for a moment at least.

And then she says, "Dad, why is nobody looking???"

He says, "Just keep walking, honey, you look beautiful."

"And what is Amelia WEARING?" she says. "Is that white? Is she wearing white at my wedding???"

"No," Bryson says. "Gold, I think. Definitely gold."

They might have had their differences in the past, but Keri knows her father isn't a bad man. She says, "Thanks, Daddy, everything's perfect."

Now Justin is the nervous one, and he says, "Oh crap, I think I forgot my lines."

Corbin says, "I do - that's the important part."

The ceremony starts.

Keri is trying not notice how put-off Mariah looks, how she shifts her weight from foot to foot, breathing in deep like she's trying to stave off throwing up. Can nobody pull themselves together for her wedding? Her one big day???

But she does manage to forget, because he's forgotten as he slides a wedding ring onto her finger, and that's all that matters to her. The rest of the room could just fall away for all she cares.

He looks so happy. And he is! Justin didn't forget a single one of his lines.

Congratulations Mr. Kim and Mrs. Riley-Kim. Of course Keri will be hyphenating her name, just exactly the way she wants it to be.

Sophie Phoenix is an old friend of Madison's and she caters the wedding, and Bryson pays her generously. Sophie hires her granddaughter, Summer and her boyfriend, Tyler, who is eighteen now and old enough to bartend. They even manage to do some work, though they mostly just follow each other around all night. Summer says, "Good job on that sink! Nice and shiny!"

Piper wasn't invited to the wedding - she doesn't even know Justin or Keri. But Sophie needed some help carrying the food in, and since she doesn't know if Hayden will ever bite the bullet and take that next step, she just likes to wedding crash. She does this sometimes, just sneaks in and tries to blend in with all the family friends nobody recognizes anyway. Everyone is usually too drunk to care. And she drinks the free beer, and wonders if this will ever happen for her or not...

Madison says, "Amelia, honey, that's quite a dress!"

Chandler agrees. And Jeremiah adds, "She looks like a movie star!"

"They're engaged, you know," Keri says in full-on snark to her new husband. "Right before our wedding, they go and get engaged!"

Justin says, "Don't be spiteful. Let's just have a good time."

She wasn't trying to be spiteful, and she knows she should just let it drop. She'll get over it eventually, but she honestly didn't mean for Mariah to hear her. She didn't even know Mariah was sitting there behind them.

Micah doesn't know what brings him to sit alone in an empty wedding hall. Except maybe the way the setting sunlight spills into the room through tall windows. It's a nice place to be for thinking. It's just a nice place to be, in general.

Mariah finds him there. He says, "You still want to marry me? We could just do it right here."

She says, "I can't get married in my sister's hall. He built this hall just for her, just look at all the purple."

"That's a lot of purple. Since when is Keri so crazy about purple?"

Mariah says, "Micah, what are we going to do?"

She isn't talking about the color purple, or weddings even. But he knows what she is talking about. "What is there to do at this point?" he says. "I guess we're having a baby, right?"

It hits her in waves, the crying. She's been doing this since they found out, three days ago exactly.

They're so screwed, Bella had that much right. And the fool that Bella is, she doesn't even know the half of it. She can't even comprehend how huge this is yet. Bella is three weeks postpartum now, and already had to sit out this wedding. Does she even understand everything they'll have to sit out? They're too young for this! And Bella is two years older than them! Bella is just fooling herself if she thinks she and Cameron will raise that baby in her tiny apartment, the same tiny floorplan Mariah and Micah have. Mariah isn't ready for this, and she isn't trying to fool herself! They only just graduated, just six months ago! She just got her adorable little apartment! She just started her graduate work!

"We'll be okay," Micah says. He promises her this, he promises her all kinds of things, just like he promised her a long and casual engagement. It wasn't supposed to work out this way.

She pushes away from him. "Of course you would say that," she says. "You always think everything is going to be okay. This changes everything, do you get that? This is huge!"

He says, "I know what this is."

"And it doesn't phase you? Are you going to stay home with the baby? No, let me guess, you just started your career."

"We can get help," he says.

"You mean I can hire help."

"No, I don't mean that."

"This phases me, Micah. You're crazy, the way you talk about babies all the time, it's like you wanted this!"

"I didn't want this yet!" he says. "And the pills are kind of your department, so don't get mad at me about it."

Having said everything they needed to say, having gotten it all out, they sit down. But no, there's one more thing.

"But we're keeping it, right?" he says. "You don't want to, you know, get rid of it, do you?"

She doesn't answer.

He says, "Mariah?"

She says, "I don't know what I want."

It hits her again, another wave. And they don't even hear Keri come into the room behind them.

And when Keri finally says, softly, "Hey guys," Mariah gets up and runs out.

Keri sits down next to him and just stares. It makes him so nervous he starts to smile, even though he's not amused in the least. He doesn't know why that happens.

Her voice is stern when she says, "What did you do to my sister?"

He says, "Hmmm, I think maybe she should tell you that one herself."

Keri finds Mariah out on the gazebo. Their dad is out there with her. Maybe Keri won't bother them. She doesn't need to be doing damage control on her wedding day. There are a million instances like this, where she could intervene or not, where she could get angry or not. And on this special day that will never happen again, Keri doesn't want to fight with her sister.

Even if she wants to know what's wrong, why Mariah couldn't even break a smile for her on the most important day of her life? But whatever is wrong with her sister will still be wrong after the honeymoon. Right now, Keri feels it in her, bubbling up, a tantrum, a spoiled little hissy-fit, but she's reining down her inner bridezilla because she doesn't want to spoil this night. For her new husband at least. He deserves that much.

Micah says, "I didn't mean you should talk to her now. Go back to your wedding, Keri."

Keri shivers as the last beams of sunlight fall from her shoulders, leaving nothing but twilight as the sun sinks below the lake. "She's saying her feet are swollen, her shoes hurt?"

"She's okay," Micah says. "She's fine. Don't worry, I'm going to take care of her whether she wants me to or not."

Keri goes back to her wedding, having missed more of it than she should have. Justin will forgive her, though, and she'll let the rest of them worry about Mariah because this night just happens once, and she wants to enjoy it.

And Keri isn't even embarrassed at who knows what kind of dance her parents are doing!

And Mariah is okay, or at least will be. She wants to eat alone. She doesn't want to talk to him right now - she's not saying forever, but just for now. She wants to think. She says her feet hurt. He offered to rub them for her, but she said no.

Micah just wonders when he'll have his soul buddy back.

Justin and Keri say goodbye to their guests, and some of them have a very long plane flight home.

They were so happy to see Stephanie and Jeremiah again, and they're sad to see them go so soon. Jeremiah says, "Bella Bradshaw had a baby??? I should say I saw that coming, but wow!"

Keri says, "How do you like it there? Will you ever be back? When did you cut your hair? It's adorable!" There's just too much to catch up on and not enough time.

Keri says, and she speaks for her husband too, "We miss you guys so much!"

After Justin and Keri head up to the bridal suite, and most of their guests have cleared out, Amelia sits down with a handsome stranger to have what's left of dinner.

He isn't a stranger, exactly, since they both know the same people. But there's something even more familiar about him that she can't quite place.

She wouldn't remember him. She was too wrapped up in Alon Hutchins the last time they met. And since she wanted to be unrecognizable, Corbin certainly doesn't recognize that this is the same little girl with the golden-red hair, the color of sunrise, or that he taught her tai chi five years ago. But there's a powerful attraction - that much they know. He mentions that he teaches yoga, and Amelia loves the serene physicality about him. And maybe there's also the dress. God save the men of Lakeside Heights from that dress! God save Amelia from that dress!!!

Because that dress is getting her into all sorts of things she's never experienced before!

This maybe isn't as bad as they think, except the bathroom part of it. These are really clean bathrooms at least. And they aren't actually strangers, even if they don't realize that yet.

Amelia says, "I've never done this before, I mean, in a bathroom. What's your name again?"

"I didn't tell you yet," he says. "It's Corbin."

"Thanks," she says. "I feel a little less dirty knowing your name. I'm Amelia."

"Listen," she says. "I just got out of a relationship and I'm not looking for anything. We don't need to see each other again or anything. I don't even need your phone number." She cuts her hands through the air to make her point good and clear. But then Amelia remembers that her dad's been talking about some "Corbin" lately.

"Wait, Corbin?" she says. "That sounds familiar. Do you know Andy Bradshaw?"

"Yeah," he says. "I kind of work for him."

"Well, that's going to be awkward," she says.

Upstairs in the honeymoon suite, Justin is exhausted, but you know, there are marital duties to attend to. Exhaustion is just the start of it though. He's just scored himself one of the most high-maintenance women in the world, and hopefully he's up for the challenge.

***

notes: what good are weddings if you can't hook-up with random strangers in the bathroom? ;)Surprise, Mariah and Micah are knocked up! This was a surprise for me too! This is absolutely not what I had planned for them. I didn't even know it until I went into their building for Bella's pregnancy and the scanner popped up Mariah's preggo token. So we're still in the shock phase right now, shock, anger, and OMG!!!...

Both mother of the bride and of the groom are wearing All About Style.

This is Keri's wedding gown, in theory. I don't make clothes in any real way, but I can photoshop a little. So because it wasn't made for YA, so I edited it myself, laying the texture over a Maxis mesh, and editing a few details in, so it really is custom made, never worn by another girl in the world - she had to pay extra for it too, of course ;)