“No, she will not.” Stacey broke our hug and frowned. “It’s not just about her schedule, you know. I can’t exactly afford her. Neither can Nick,” she added when he cleared his throat.
“It’s already paid for,” I announced. “Zayden said he is grateful for you for helping with our relationship – first with convincing me it was a good idea to go out with him, then with helping with the ring – that it’s the least he could do. And for loving me or something.”
“Yeah, cause that last part is real hard to do,” Stacey quipped and rolled her eyes. “So we definitely need to be rewarded for it.”
“Shut up, Stace.” I giggled. “But seriously, Zayden is happy to do this, so please just accept it, okay? This way we both get to have our dream weddings.”
After another few protests, Stacy finally came around. “Okay,” she said. “Fine. We will accept, but what can we do for him in return, though? I don’t have anything!”
“Cookies,” I said brightly. “I bet you a million dollars – shit, I shouldn’t use such exaggerations anymore, should I? – okay, okay, I just bet you some love that Zayden has never had chocolate chip cookies that are as perfect as yours. Make him an enormous batch as a thank you, and I will take it with me when I move there tomorrow—”
“When you what?” Nick chimed in, looking rather disappointed. “Tomorrow?”
Shit. That was not how I was planning to break the news about my sudden departure at all. They were supposed to have been a few beers in, first of all.
“Okay guys, I know I talked about moving out soon, but even I had no idea it would be this soon. But given that I am getting married in three weeks, it only makes sense that I live with him for a little bit before becoming his wife, you know?” I couldn’t hide the annoying grin from my face as I said this.
“Aria.” Stacey shook her head. “We love you and you know that. We would keep you with us forever if we could. You don’t have to pretend that this is something you’re doing out of necessity. You can’t wait to start living with Zayden, it’s all over your face. And the important part is I am fucking ecstatic for you…”
I mock frowned. “So you’re not going to miss me? Why aren’t you more upset by this?”
“You’re an idiot.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course I am heartbroken. We are,” she added, as Nick sat in the corner. “This is bittersweet. I couldn’t be happier for you, Aria. You have met the man of your dreams who makes you ridiculously happy and would literally do anything in the world for you. Heck, he is going out of his way for your friends he barely knows, even! And you’re so in love it’s hilarious and adorable. So what I am getting at, I guess, is when should we start helping you pack?”
Those words brought unexpected tears to my eyes and before I knew it, Stacey and I were both bawling our eyes out and hugging each other.
“Wow, I sure feel the love,” Nick said sarcastically, so I went over and hugged him, too.
These were seriously the two best people I had ever met in my life. Th
e last few years living with them had been something out of a sitcom on TV. I couldn’t believe that the time had come for me to move on. It was almost as though we were adults now. I was ready for that.
“It’s the end of an era,” Nick said, holding Stacey’s hand while we hugged.
Better words had not been invented to describe this situation.
Hours later, as we packed away my life, I was still explaining the mechanics of the wedding to them.
“So we will all fly over to New York that Friday and the wedding is on Sunday. Zayden is paying for our tickets, business class—”
Stacey gasped again. I was starting to get used to that as the background noise to my life.
“No!”
“Yes,” I said cheerfully. “I’ve never been in business class, either. But I hear there is champagne. We will find out sooner or later. And that is just the beginning of it. He is putting us all up in fancy five-star hotels right in Midtown where all the action is supposed to happen. All my life I have dreamed of going to Times Square, and now I will be staying so close to it while I prepare for my wedding at The Plaza. It’s insane is what it is.”
“Oh God, Aria, this is going to be like one of those weddings in the movies where you just have to think for a second if anyone in the world can afford such a thing. Now you can!”
“No, I can’t. Zayden can though, and he wants to, so why should I complain? Although, he did force a pretty heavy promotion on me so who knows, soon enough, maybe I would be able to afford such things myself?”
Stacey covered her face and fell flat on my bed. “I can’t anymore, Aria. Too much big news. Congratulations on the promotion. Although I should have seen that one coming a long time ago. You’re brilliant and Zayden knows this, so he would have offered you the promotion even if you guys were never romantically involved.”
“That’s what he said, too.” I frowned, being unable to fathom why everyone thought I was so smart. I should just be grateful for the opportunity, but it was difficult to believe that I had made it this far on talent alone.
“Give yourself more credit, Aria! You’re the best student in our year. The only time you got an A-minus you crawled into bed and cried for two days straight. If it wasn’t Zayden, some other big shot at some other bank would be eager to take you.”
“Fine, fine,” I said reluctantly. “I earned the promotion or whatever. I still need to graduate from college, you know?”
“Yeah, how do you plan to do that with the demands of your new job and planning your wedding?”