Girl Next Door

Spring/Summer 2017

"I said one example," Zoey grumbled. Max just laughed.

"How can I give one when there are so many?" Max grinned at her. "I can keep going if you'd like."

"No that's okay," Zoey sighed. "I concede defeat."

"Excellent!" Max chuckled, reaching out to wrap his arms around his fiancee. "What's my prize?"

"Being relied on more," Zoey said, narrowing her eyes.

"Deal," Max laughed. Then he leaned in and kissed her.

"So what's for dinner oh useful one?" Zoey asked.

"Whatever Zoey's heart desires," Max replied, with as much over the top romantic drama he could muster.

"With that attitude I'll order pizza," Zory scoffed.

"How about stir fry?" Max laughed. Zoey seemed fine with that so Max got to cooking.

Later as they were eating, Zoey's phone went off. Rather than a phone call, it seemed to be an alarm, because seconds later she reacted.

"Oh shit I forgot to send the photographer a deposit," Zoey groaned. She jumped up, as she added. "And we'll lose the date if we delay even another day!"

"I already paid the photographer," Max said grinning.

"See this is what I meant," Zoey sighed as she sat back down again. "Too reliable."

"It's it a groom's job to make the wedding planning process as easy as possible?" Max asked.

"I thought it was the bride's job to make everything as complicated and crazy as possible?" Zoey replied, with a laugh.

"I like mine better," Max grinned.

"So I take it this means you called the cake lady too?" Zoey asked next. "And the flower shop wanted fabric samples."

"Done and done," Max smiled at her. "Who said planning a wedding had to be hard?"

"With you around it's certainly not," Zoey laughed. "Still expensive though."

"True," Max agreed. "But worth it."

"I don't know," Zoey said, but she was smiling. "The more bills we get the more I think eloping would have been cheaper."

Max feigned an expression of horror. "And disappoint poor Maggie who's spent all year landscaping her yard for you!"

"Yeah yeah I know," Zoey chuckled. "So movie tonight?"

"As if you need to ask," Max scoffed, before walking over to their rather substantial dvd collection.

Even with the wedding only months away there wasn't a whole lot left to do. Choosing a venue had been easy, since Maggie wanted nothing more than to decorate her yard for the occasion. The caterers were all organized and the guests all invited. They were planning a small wedding, which Zoey liked the price of and Max liked the intimacy of. It was still sometimes a wonder to him how many things they'd agreed on for the wedding. He heard most couples fought over venues or setting a date or even something as simple as the menu, but he and Zoey hadn't really needed to. Each was more than willing to relinquire power over what the other truly wanted and everything since had been an easy compromise.

Time has a funny way of both slowly down and speeding up when something you are really looking forward to approaches. The weather warmed as the days passed and spring turned to summer.

The morning of July 17th 2017 dawned warm and bright. Max spent the morning in a state of excitement since he'd been unable to sleep in. He knew the girls were all in hair and make up till noon, but the guys had only been asked to put on suits. Max smiled as he remembered Zoey complaining about the unevenness of this just last week.