Wedding Planning 101

Chapter Four

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Chapter 4: Contract

So something happened. Something big. Something so life-changing, it makes you wonder if you can bring yourself to ever get out of bed again. But you do, why? Because that's life. And as a wise person once said if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. In other words make the most of a bad situation, and that's exactly what Alicia is trying to do doing. Except she can't for the life of her get out of bed.

Everybody has those days where reality hits you with the power of a freight truck. That one moment where the hot water doesn't make a bit of difference. All you can do is sit down in your bathtub and have long hard cry, and try try to convince yourself they're in a better place. But you don't care because in that split second you would do anything for it just to be like old times, have them by your side once again.

"Al, i bought some ice cream yesterday. Its cookies and cream, your favorite" Quinn says in a singsong voice. One might ask, what does a roommate buy for their best friend who has lost someone dear to their heart. "I'm sorry for your loss" card too formal for a person that might as well be her blood sister. the old 'he's looking down on you from heaven' quote too sappy. Quinn decided to play it safe and go with the "my boyfriend just broke up with me" starter pack. Ice cream and Netflix.

"I feel sick Quinn, I can't" Alicia turns her body away, pulling the covers up to her chin. Quinn huffs, then walks to the door frame, and pinches the bridge of her nose before turning back. She yanks the covers off Alicia's tank top and booty short clad body, exposing her to the harsh bitter air. Alicia groans loudly, and throws a death glare worthy of turning Quinn into a smoldering pile of ash.

"What!" Alicia shouts, beyond annoyed. Quinn laughs and clap her hands together not unlike a seal. Alisha furrows her eyebrows together, as she was expecting a "get out of bed" or "stop feeling sorry for yourself" order.

"That's the first emotion I've seen you convey in three days that isn't sadness/anger" She continues to giggle, watching the reaction on Alicia's face as she realizes the little trick that has been played on her.

"Yanno you've got work in exactly 14 hours and 30 minutes" Quinn remarks, after a brief glance at her watch and some mental math.

"Shit, I forgot Meghan assigned me the job of drawing up the new contract, its going to take ages to type up all the terms and conditions. Ugh." Alicia pupils dilate with fear before swinging her legs out from the bed and setting them firmly on the ground.

"Well you best get busy then" Quinn turns to walk out the door with a triumphant smirk plastered on her features.

"Oh and I lied you've got ten hours and..." She peeks at her watch.

"19 minutes" Before walking out, smiling evilly. Alicia lets out a shriek that is way too loud for that hour, but at this point she is beyond caring.

---

Umph. She drops into her black swivel chair with a little more force then needed, resulting in a little spillage of the black coffee she just brewed. A notepad, pen, the old contract,the mug of coffee and of course the keyboard for the computer all lay equally spread out on her desk. She begins by typing all the long and boring legal bits from the old contract, her fingers moving swiftly, taking 20 second breaks to crack her knuckles and sip from the steaming hot cup. When that part has been dealt with, she moves on to brainstorm the actual part the customer, or at least a representative for them, reads. It's hard to find the perfect balance between witty yet just serious. It takes a lot of crossing out, scribbling and head scratching but it comes out just as she would've hoped, perfect. It goes a bit like this.

Dear customer,

Thank you very much for choosing Meghan Littlewood's 'Tis the season for a wedding' wedding planning service. We sincerely pledge to give you a album worthy wedding, from the flipping open of the engagement ring box to the opening of the honeymoon suite.

The rest of this booklet is the terms and conditions, please take a read to understand the quality of respect we hold for both employees and clients.

*Terms and conditions*

The final step, is to sign along the dotted line and you've signed yourself to your dream wedding.

Congratulations from all the staff at 'Tis the season for a wedding'

~Meghan Littlewood, Manager of 'Tis the season for a wedding'

It is completely faultless, just the right amount of humor and charm to draw the client in but the business part is also tackled in a classy way. She saves it to avoid typing everything up again when the current one expires, again.

Although it was a time consuming task, she found it core cleansing like a detox from all the toxic events in the past week. It's 3am and, although Alisha has done nothing but sleep for the past three days, when it comes to the actual time to sleep, it just won't come. Maybe coffee a couple of hours before you go to bed isn't such a great idea.

She paces around the kitchen contemplating another cup of coffee but deciding against it, grabbing an apple instead. Quinn hit the hay hours ago, so she's left to entertain herself, except there's nothing to watch on TV. So she decides to take a little stroll.
All she grabs is her keys, phone and a coat before stepping into the crisp January night. It's a little bit chilly, but nothing too extreme. There's one place on Alicia's mind and it's a place she's been avoiding since day one.

Alicia cautiously climbs over the locked gate, careful not to catch her pajamas bottoms on the pointy spikes. Her nimble limbs allow her to jump gracefully off the gate, and land on her two feet, just like a cat. Alicia shines the flashlight on her phone, and walks to the index book, she scans through for the name and number she's looking for. She speed walks to it, the grim, somber aura surrounding everything the last thing on her mind. She crouches down after reaching her destination.

Brandon Victor Hayden

Loving father, brother and grandfather.

You'll live forever in our hearts daddy - Victoria Hayden.

"Dad" Alisha strokes the fresh soil with her fingers, not even caring about getting her bottoms dirty.

"I made a contract today!" She puts a smile on her face but the tears are already threatening to spill.

"Tomorrow I'm starting back at work, so we'll see how that goes" She chuckles lightly, the tears flowing freely now. Alisha scoots closer the grave where her father lays, she rests her head on the cool marble gravestone, and shuts her eyes for a few seconds.

---

"Wake up Alisha" Somebody jiggles her shoulder, but Alicia shakes them off.

"No dad it's Saturday" She mumbles still asleep. Quinn finally gets her to wake up by dragging her to her feet, that's when she sees her settings. A graveyard with the early morning sun filtering through, her best friend standing in front of her in her frog jammies with no makeup on. Which is saying something, because Quinn would never go outside without the bare minimum of concealer, mascara, blush and tinted lip balm on.

"How'd you find me?" She says groggily rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Easy. I thought where would I go at in the middle of the night, if my dad just passed away, and well here you are" She chuckles dryly while gesturing to the half lit cemetery. After a few seconds of silence Quinn locks arms with Alicia and guides her to the exit, where Alicia finds that Quinn woke up the caretaker (who has a house near the burial ground) to open the gate for her. Instead of climbing over like she did. I guess opposites attract.