| Chapter 19: Final Night The next evening… They had a small gathering of family and friends for Laura and Kevin’s rehearsal dinner at Club Passaro, with them decorating it to look small and intimate. The rehearsal was private, with them going over their places and what they were going to say. Now they were doing the traditional gathering afterwards. Kevin stood up and took his glass. Laura followed suit. “May we have your attention please?” The crowd quieted as they turned their attention to Kevin. “On behalf of Laura and myself, we just want to thank you all for coming tonight. The rehearsal went well, so hopefully things will go as smoothly tomorrow.” The crowd laughed as Laura cleared her throat. “Seriously, we just want to thank you all for coming, not just for tonight, but for all of you flying in and being there as Kevin and I begin our lives together.” “And the next one will be a baptism, right guys?” Nick called from his table. “Not for a while Carter!” Kevin called back as the crowd laughed. “But thank you all once again. Let’s continue eating, shall we?” ~*~ “OK you all set?” Lauralee grabbed her bag as she stood up with Alex. “Yup, you?” Alex smiled. “Yeah,” Lauralee put her hand against Alex’s cheek. “Don’t do anything too stupid tonight. We don’t wanna have hangovers tomorrow.” Alex crossed his heart with his finger. “I promise we’ll be good.” He turned to the guys. “Ready to go?” “Yup,” Nick rubbed his hands together. “This is gonna be good.” “Hey just remember me tonight, got it?” Bianca poked him in the ribs. “Sure thing,” Nick said as Elizabeth, Brian, and Howie joined them. “Limos are here,” Elizabeth whispered. “OK, let’s do this,” Howie smiled. The group walked towards Kevin and Laura. “Great rehearsal guys.” “Thanks,” Laura smiled. Laura looked at the group's smirking faces. “What?” “Grab ‘em!” Alex said as the girls grabbed Laura and the guys grabbed Kevin. “What the…” Kevin yelled. “No talking!” Brian smiled as they led Kevin and Laura to the two black limousines outside the club. “We’ll see you later!” Lauralee called to Alex as she went into the limousine and closed the door. “What’s going on?” Laura asked out of breath. Bianca smiled. “Laura, I know it’s hard, but don’t ask questions. You’ll find out soon enough.” “Yeah, you didn’t think we would let you spend your last single day with Kevin would you?” Lauralee laughed. “Ooh, are there gonna be naked men?” Laura laughed. The girls looked at her. “OK, I know, no questions. Alright, let’s go!” ~*~ The girls arrived at their stop as Lauralee, Bianca and Elizabeth got out and helped Laura out. “OK, where are we?” Laura looked around. “Come on Laura, you don’t recognize it?” Bianca smiled. “It looks familiar…” Laura looked around at the row of condominiums. “Wait a minute, is this…” “The good ol’ BSP,” Lauralee finished her sentence. The BSP, or Body Shot Palace as Laura, Lauralee and Veronica had called it, was the place that Lauralee had lived in Florida when she had met Alex four years ago. This was also the place that Kevin had met Laura for the first time. Laura covered her face with her hands “Oh my God! How did you pull this off?” Lauralee walked the girls to the door. “Called in a big favor to the Jessup’s. They said if this was where a true love started, then they were happy to rekindle the memories. “You girls are too much,” Laura had tears in her eyes as they walked in. Laura gasped as she walked in with the girls. The living room looked the same as four years earlier, but it was all lit with candles, throw pillows on the floor, with the coffee table complete with a bottle of champagne and a small cake that simply read: “Congrats Laura!” “Wow,” Laura looked as if she was going to cry. “That’s not all there is,” Elizabeth smirked. “Oh boy, I think I’m gonna enjoy tonight,” Laura said as they all sat on the pillows and Bianca popped open the champagne. She poured it into the four glasses and passed them around. “OK, as if there weren’t anymore toasts going around this week, it’s time for one more,” Lauralee held up her glass and took out a letter as Bianca and Elizabeth stood near her. “We wrote something down so we wouldn’t forget it. Bianca?” Lauralee handed her the paper. “Here goes,” Bianca cleared her throat. “Dear Laura, tomorrow you begin a new journey as you start a new life with Kevin, so we figured to bring you to the place you ended your singlehood.” Elizabeth looked at the paper. “In a way we feel sort of sad because we all have embarked on this wild and crazy journey together, and now you are doing something on your own. You’re no longer ours now.” Lauralee looked at the letter. “But we know there’s a time to grow up, and we feel like you are our sister. We have to let you go in order to start your new life. You can say that we’re your best friends, but that’s not true anymore. Kevin will always be the one that will be most important in your life. But know that we’ll always love you and we wish you the best that life has to offer.” They put the paper down as Laura stood up and hugged the girls. “You’ll never let me go… never.” Elizabeth wiped away tears. “OK, this is a bachelorette party, so let’s play some games!” The girls had sat down and played a raunchy game of Truth or Dare and Skeletons in The Closet, a game in which one of them sat in the middle of a circle and had to answer any question that was asked of them. “OK Lau,” Laura rubbed her hands together as she face Lauralee in the middle of the circle. “Where was the weirdest place you and Alex had sex?” Lauralee cocked her head to the side. Laura laughed. “Oh my God she has to think about it!” Laura fell on the floor. “Alright I know,” Lauralee smirked. “The bathroom at McDonalds.” “What?!” Bianca hooted. “Yup,” Lauralee covered her face with her hands. “Now I know why it’s you and Alex’s favorite place to eat!” Elizabeth gasped. The girls were silenced by a knock at the door. “Who could that be?” Lauralee asked. “I’ll get it. No interruptions at my bachelorette party,” Laura got up and answered the door to a very good looking man with a tank top and overalls. “Can I help you?” “I’m here to fix the sink ma’am. The Jessup’s ordered it.” “At this hour?” Laura said as he walked in. “Hey there is a party in here!” The repairman out his tool belt down. “I know.” The man smiled as Lauralee put on the music. “Surprise Laura!” Lauralee yelled over the music as the man led Laura to a chair and began to strip. Laura laughed uncontrollably as the stripper began to give her a lap dance. “Thank God you’re not in uniform,” Laura said as she looked up at him. ~*~ Lauralee walked into her house quietly as she didn’t want to wake up anyone. She tiptoed upstairs and walked into the bedroom as she saw Alex walking out of the bathroom. “Hey,” Alex walked up to her and gave her a kiss. “Have fun?” “Oh yeah,” Lauralee put her bag down. “Laura loved it. How about you?” “Kevin was surprised alright,” Alex smirked. “As were we.” “Well, we better get to bed,” Lauralee sighed. “The champagne is giving me one hell of a buzz.” “Yup,” Alex said. “Big day tomorrow.” “Absolutely,” Lauralee yawned. “In more ways than one.” Chapter 20 Contents Chapter 18 |