Love Thy Neighbour *editing*

"Get out!"

Auntie Francis was going into panic mode.

There were flowers lying on every visible surface, and she was screaming about how everything was ruined. In all fairness, it was only her hair that was ruined, not the whole wedding. Served her right for letting mum dye it the night before her big day; had she not see mum’s own hair? I mean, I loved the woman, but it was going to be a cold day in hell the day I let her touch my head.

But, currently, Auntie Francis’ normally pristine golden locks were a dull shade of green, courtesy of the cheapo brand of dye they had bought at the supermarket.

And she was screaming bloody murder.

“My hair’s green!” she shouted at the top of her voice, gazing angrily into the mirror. “It’s green!”

“To be honest,” I said, trying not to smile, “you’ll probably go with the flowers.”

“Yeah,” Niall chuckled. “Their stems.”

“You two; out. Now!” Mum barked, trying to console my completely devastated Aunt. Niall and I made a swift exit, cackling out in the hall as the bathroom door was slammed in our faces. There were literally tears of laughter streaming down my face as I leaned against Niall for support, scared that I would simply fall to the ground in mirth.

“Jesus, she’s touchy,” Niall chuckled. “Are all women like this when they get married?” I shrugged, still trying to shake my giggles.

“I don’t know,” I gasped. Truthfully, I had never really been around women getting married that much. The last wedding I had gone to had been one of mum’s cousins and then- No, sorry, my mistake; that was a funeral… Ah well, same thing.

I walked back into my bedroom and had to stop myself from doing a double-take. Although it had been almost three weeks since Niall and Declan had changed the place into “Baby Heaven”, it still took a moment to get used to.

“Shouldn’t you be helping Declan to get ready?” I asked raising my eyebrow as I sat down on the bed. Niall sat down beside me, lying back onto the mattress.

“He has to have a shower and shove on his suit; not very much I can help him with, t’be honest.” I smiled, shaking my head.

“Well, I need to get ready, Niall,” I announced, getting back up and going over to the wardrobe. He didn’t move. If anything, he sunk down further into the bed, making himself more comfortable.

“I’ve seen it all before, darlin’,” he murmured, closing his eyes.

“That’s not the point!” I challenged, putting a hand to my head. Niall sat up slightly, looking at me.

“Evie, I’m not going to do anything; I’m just bloody shattered.”

“Serves you right for staying out late with Declan then!”

Niall groaned, knowing that he wasn’t going to with this argument. He sighed, getting to his feet and leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. As I watched him go, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My huge stomach bulged prominently over the waistband of my pyjamas, straining the fabric of one of my biggest t-shirts. I felt fat. I felt fat and frumpy and ugly.

It didn’t matter how many times Niall told me otherwise, the fact remained I looked as though I had a giant beach ball shoved up my top.

Sighing, I pulled on my dress, pointedly not looking at the betraying mirror. The wedding was starting at eleven, and it was already quarter past ten. What with the hair fiasco, I couldn’t see us getting to the church until least quarter to twelve. Poor Declan; what was he marrying into?