CHANGES 𓇽 R. CAMERON

forty five

I held my hand out to the man, which he took it, "Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir."

"Well I'm going head on out for the night, but it was good to meet with you both." He smiled at Hallie, "And you will be hearing from me in a couple of weeks."

She nodded, "I'm looking forward to it, thank you. Have a good night."

I watched the man walk away and put my eyes back on Hallie, who looked dumbfounded.

"You okay?"

She shook her head, "Yeah, this just feels so surreal. Let's get out of here, yeah?"

"Okay, yeah."

'Getting out of here' turned into celebratory drinks with our friends, not that anyone was complaining. I think we all needed a relief, because everyone was officially done with school. Now that Hallie and Kate had finished up with this showcase, the next step was graduation, so of course that was a good enough reason to get some alcohol in our system.

I put my hand on the small of Hallie's back as I followed her into the bar, with our friends tailing behind us, and we quickly found a tabletop to get comfortable around. I watched my girl take a seat, before I did the same and Logan came to the other side of me. Tom sat next to Logan, with Emma right across from him, and Maggie, Kate and Cody settled in next to Emma.

After we all received our drink orders, Emma was the first to open her mouth, "Okay before I get to the planning, I just want to congratulate you both on tonight, the pieces were beautiful, as always, and I couldn't be prouder."

Hallie and Kate both smiled as the others washed them with praise, including myself, and when everyone calmed down, Emma spoke up again, "Real talk though, we've got some shit to think about girls, so Rafe, switch with me."

I laughed, and got up from my seat to slide in next to Cody on the opposite side of the table, while Emma took my spot next to Hallie.

"So you ready for Vegas Tom?" Logan quickly brought up first.

"Wait are you guy seriously taking me to Vegas?"

Cody gave him a look, "Dude are you kidding? Of course we're going to fucking Vegas."

"Gotta have one last hurrah before you get tied down for life man." I added, not thinking much about that one.

Tom scoffed, "Coming from you Cameron?"

The others just busted out in laugher at Tom's comment and I did too, realizing how that backfired on me.

"For real though, you better not get us into any trouble okay?" He lowered his voice, "Emma will kill me."

"Relax dude, we're just gonna play some poker, drink some beer, and maybe dance with some strippers, no biggie?" Logan said as he threw an arm around Tom.

I was definitely in for a wild weekend.

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Hallie's POV:

"Miami?" Emma asked in total horror.

"Yeah, duh?"

I laughed, "Mags and I already picked out everything we're doing and Kate found us a great place to stay. It's gonna be great Em."

She groaned, "I thought we were just gonna spend the weekend in Hilton Head or something, drink wine."

"Um hell no?" Kate scoffed, "Emma this is our last moment together as non-married women, it's gotta be big."

"Exactly, after you, it's Hallie and then probably Kate, lord knows if I'll even be there." Maggie added.

"Oh hush Mags, you will. Just gotta keep looking." I returned.

"Just promise me you guys won't let me get arrested. Usually it's me that has to mediate so." Emma sighed.

I put my arm around her, "I promise you won't get arrested, but I can't make that promise for any of us."

Everyone giggled at my words, just as the boys also erupted into a giggle fit, and we all shared glances at each other as if we were in high school again.

I picked up my glass and took a long drink, before turning back to Emma, "Seriously though, it'll be fun.  I promise.  The boys are going to Vegas anyways-"

"What?!"

She turned her attention to the Logan and the others, "You're taking Tom to Vegas!?"

I watched Cody and Rafe's eyes go wide at Emma's sudden outburst and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes Emma, but we've got it under control okay?" Logan tried to reassure her.

She put her head into her hands, "This is gonna be so bad."

I grabbed her arm, "Just trust us, it's gonna be fun."

"Okay." She sighed.

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okay so the next few chaps are gonna be leading up with tom and emma's wedding, and then we'll get to rafe and hallie obviously haha

super excited to share these next ones, it's gonna be crazy!

to everyone here though, i just wanted to thank you for all the interest, it means so much!

love you all!