Wait For It (Sequel to Challenge Accepted)

Chapter Sixteen: Alright and Ladies Night

~~~Barney~~~

"You're ready to marry Barney?"

"Yeah...Yeah, I think so." That was the confirmation. It was time to run 'The Lauren'. This was going to be known as the worlds longest, most elaborate marriage proposal.

Step One: Admit to yourself that you are irretrievably in love with this girl, and swallow all of you fear of commitment.

Step Two: Agree that marriage isn't the right idea for you two, locking the door at any future of getting married.

Step three: Lauren suggests a break to figure out what we want.

The first three steps are done, far ahead of schedule.

Onto Step Four.

~~~Lauren~~~

Things were...ok. Things weren't at all awkward with Barney, we were friends for the moment. Everything was alright.

"Hey, so I hear Marshall has to work late on Friday, and since you're single now, you know what that means. Ladies' night."

"Oh, actually one of the teachers at my school, Jillian, is having a birthday party." Lily told her.

"Oh. Ok."

"What?"

"It's just, I've never even heard of this Jillian person before, and suddenly she's like your best friend. You can't shut up about her." Robin pointed out.

"Don't be jealous. We hang out all the time."

"Yeah, but Marshall or Barney's always there. We don't get a lot of quality time to talk, just the three of us."

"She has a point." I told Lily.

"That's not true."

"I just wish we could have some girl time. I mean, I love Marshall and Barney, but they're always talk-blocking me." Robin said.

"So you two, come out with me a Jillian then."

"Ok. But I don't wanna stay out too late because..." Marshall slid into the booth next to Lily and Ted pulled up a chair. "Remember that thing last month after I went to the place? Well, you-know-who said it's fine, but she gave me some stuff."

"You still got that yeast infection, huh?" Marshall asked. Robin sighed.

"Girls night?" I asked.

"Yeah, for sure."

"Marshall. I want you to enjoy this moment." Barney said, sitting down.

"What moment?"

"The last moment of you and I being even slightly in competition for the title of Ted's best friend."

"Marshall's my best friend."

"Exactly, it's a tie." Barney agreed. "But all of that is about to change. Ted, am I correct that you are an architect?"

"My best friend would really know that, but go on." Ted told him.

"And what are you currently designing?"

"Actually, we're renovating the New York public Library."

"Wow, Ted, that's huge!" Robin praised.

"No, not the New York Public Library. It's the new public library in York, North Dakota." He corrected. "Their books are in two sections...fishin' and non-fishin'."

"Then I think you are really gonna like what happened at work today. They decided to move forward with plans for Goliath national Bank's downtown headquarters."