It's You [H.S.]

6.2 | Back to you

25th September 2016

They are awoken by an insistent knocking on her bedroom door.

"Are you decent?", Mer trills.

"Barely", Eloise croaks.

"You've got three seconds till I'm jumping on the bed... Don't try me!".

Craning her neck towards the door, Eloise flips neatly under Harry's arm, nuzzling into his chest as she tugs the duvet up higher over his waist and anchors it under her arm.

Groaning lowly, he throws his arms up and arches his back; his deep yawn a throaty roar like a supine big cat.

Knowingly jimmying the lock, Mer pokes her head around the door, giggling as she steps into the room, bending to scoop up and fling Eloise's knickers across the room and into her face. "Jesus, you two! Anyone could have come in", she tuts.

Eloise waves her off with a relaxed flick of her wrist, breaking into a grin as she wriggles to sit up slightly against Harry's chest. "Well there's the bride-to-be! Good morning".

"You sleep okay? Oof, I'm a bit hungover... And shit, do we have a busy day! Come down and grab some breakfast. The seamstress has just arrived for the final fittings. Oh, and we're meeting the other girls at that cute nail place in Barnes at 2pm". She's on one, but excited and happy; no trace of bridezilla, as yet.

"Oh, I see how it is!", Harry chuckles wryly. "You girls get your nails done and guzzle champagne whilst Ben will have us hauling crates of booze and glasses down to the marquee?", he sasses.

Eloise reaches up and swats at his chest. "Oh, hush you!" Pointedly squeezing his bulging bicep curled over her head, she adds, "I'm sure you'll manage".

They pause as Ben hollers up the stairs to let Mer know everyone's arrived.

"Go!", Eloise urges her. "Piss off so we can get up and get cracking... We'll be right down".

>

A short while later, they're quickly washed and dressed.

As they hurry down the stairs, both still barefoot, Eloise tucks her white off-the-shoulder tee into her blue boyfriend jeans, and Harry tugs his yellow Gucci jumper down over his black skinnies.

He chuckles at her deep yawn, trying to poke a finger in her mouth as she twists, batting him away. Slinging an arm around her shoulder as they round the bottom of the stairs, he pulls her close and steers her in the direction of the noise from the kitchen.

She slows, tugging his other hand to pull him back before they reach the open doorway, hearing the tail end of Mer's sentence. "...Just try to be cool and don't make a fuss, alright? Give them some peace".

Harry and Eloise look at each other and scrunch their noses fondly. He pecks a kiss to her forehead and squeezes her hand, "Come on".

There's still an awkward lull in conversation as soon as they step into the kitchen, hand in hand. It feels disconcertingly like being animals caged in a zoo sometimes; but at least this seems more like a harmless petting zoo.

It's crowded in the large kitchen. Ben and Mer. Crispin, Lucas, Ollie and his girlfriend, Milly. Mer's parents. And three of the other bridesmaids; her sister Maddie, and Hayley and Laura, who Eloise recognises from their WhatsApp group photos.

It's her dad, Crispin, who quickly breaks the silence. "Lolly!", he cheers. "What time did you get in last night?", he strides over and sweeps her into a tight hug.

After Mer introduces them to everyone, they make coffees and help themselves to breakfast from the spread laid out across the marble island.

Through the sun-strewn kitchen windows, she can see her mum perched up on a ladder threading flowers and foliage through the trellis archway they've built especially by the edge of the patio to mark the temporary pathway down over the lawn to the huge marquee erected down by the riverside. She can see caterers, technicians and gardeners, all buzzing around.