Small kisses on my bare shoulder cause me wrap the pillow under me tighter. The kisses move up my neck and warm breath tickles my ear.
"Teagan," He sings musically in my ear. "Time to wake up."
I groan as my eyes flutter open and I look up to see Theo leaning over me. "But I like it here." I complain.
"Today is your engagement party." Theo reminds me as he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.
"My engagement party? You mean our engagement party." I correct him as I roll over in bed so I'm facing the ceiling. "I just graduated college last week, can't a girl appreciate sleeping in late with her fiancé?"
Theo smirks. "Nope." He then grabs my arms and pulls me up. "Especially when you're marrying me. Everyone wants to know who you are, where you came from, where you live-"
I laugh as I shove his shoulder. "I get it. The only benefit to marrying you is that I get to live in this big ass house."
Theo gasps. "Teagan. Are you only marrying me for my money?"
"Obviously." I say like it's a well known fact. "That's why I just told you before we were married, because then you can call off the wedding- oh wait, that doesn't make much sense now does it. But you know, the press seem to have figured out before you did-"
Theo slides his hand across my cheek and tangles it into my hair. He kisses me softly and I lean into him on instinct.
"Does it bother you?" Theo asks, face still close to mine. "That people think you are only marrying me for the money? Because it sure as hell bothers me."
I smile as I gently push him so his back in on the bed and I'm on top of him. I lean down and kiss him softly then slowly begin to kiss him passionately. I break the kiss and sit up far enough so I can look down at him. "I don't care what they think. I care about what you think."
Theo opens his mouth to respond to me, but my phone rings and snaps us back to reality.
"Ah, there is goes again. That's why I woke you up." Theo sits up and gives me one last quick kiss before hopping off the bed. "Julia and Erin have been calling you all morning. Apparently engagement parties are a big deal."
"Especially when I'm engaged to you." I retort, referring to his comment from earlier.
****
"We have been trying to call you all morning." Erin sighs as she runs up to me.
I appointed Erin as my maid of honor, but I almost had forgotten about her bossy nature. Granted, that's exactly what I needed when it came to a maid of honor, but I still wanted alone time in the mornings with my groom to be.
I look around the bar we rented out for the party. Technically Erin found it and I just gave her the okay, but I really didn't want that big of an engagement party. I heard they were supposed to be small, but like Theo said when you marry him nothing can be small. All I really cared about was Theo, but this gave Erin something to do. Lately she has been trying to find a job as a preschool teacher, but it was proving to be hard to find work around here. I told her maybe she should look somewhere other than New York, but Erin loved it here. She also liked being close to me.
"There you are." I hear Julia's frustraited tone from all the way across the room. I wondered why these two were the only bridesmaids here. I'm not a complete loner, I made some close friends in college. It was hard to find them too, considering Harvard law students were extrememly stuck up. They had a right to be, but I didn't want to hang around those kind of people. They say you are who you keep close.
"Good morning to you too, Julia." I smile and she raises an eyebrow.
"You mean good afternoon. It's twelve in the afternoon and your party is in-"
"Nine hours." I say to make a point, but Julia ignored it.
"Were you having shower sex?"
My cheeks grow incredibly red and I catch a couple people that were setting up the party look over at us.
"Julia!" I snap, but she only shrugs.
"Listen, if I was marrying someone who looked like Theo, I would have hot shower sex too. But I would do it on a morning where I didn't have to be anywhere."
"Why do I even need to be here anyway?" I ask. "I usually leave all the planning up to you guys."
"Exactly the problem." Erin says. "Julia and I know exactly who are going to be here tonight while you... Have no idea. Did you know someone from People magazine is going to be here? No. I bet you didn't."
"Did you also know the president is going to be here?"
"The president?!" I practically scream.
Julia starts to laugh. "I was only kidding. The president has more important things to do than to go to a millionaire's engagement party. But that doesn't mean people don't want your story. You have to be careful what you tell them."
"Why? I have nothing to hide."
"They twist your words around." Erin explains.
"Okay, alright." I sigh. "What else?"
"I'll go over the list with you." Erin says. "Julia, can you-"
"Take care of the staff?" Julia calls as she walks away. "Already on it!"
Erin plops down in a seat on the bar. I sit right next to her and watch as she skims over her clipboard. "Well," She says. "You already know Kat and Axel are coming and of course you know Sebastian is coming." Erin goes to say another name but pauses. It didn't take a genius to know which name she could have a hard time seeing.
"Are you okay with Oliver being here, Erin? You haven't seen him since..." I trail off.
"Since that night at the hospital. I know." Erin says quietly. "I'll be fine." She shakes her shoulders. "This night isn't even about me. It's about you two. So stop worrying about me. Oliver is just another guy I used to date."
She's right, but he also just happened to be one of the richest men in America.
****
"I really wish I would have gone without the heels." I sigh as I rest my arm on Theo's shoulder. It was only an hour into this party and I felt like my feet were going to fall off.
"I'm sure if you take them off no one will judge you." Theo chuckles as he slips an arm around my waist, attempting to support some of my weight.
"Your big scary colleagues are here though. And I can just read the magazine headline now: Millionaire's fiancé attends her own party barefoot."
"Teagan," Theo whispers in my ear. "You are fine. I thought you said you only cared about what I thought about you?"
"That's still true, but that doesn't mean I will shoot down a lie if it is presented to me." I argue.
"Theodore." I register this as Oliver's voice and look up to see him approaching us. "Congratulations, even though I probably said that plenty of times." He laughs.
"Hey there." I grin. "Happy you could make it."
"I wouldn't miss it." Oliver smiles and directs his attention over to Theo. "You look very happy. I'm glad."
"Who wouldn't be? I'm marrying Teagan Carter." Theo grins as I roll my eyes.
"You're already stuck with me, no need to try and flatter me." I say to him.
"You won't be stuck with me until you walk down that aisle. Then I can stop trying so hard." He smiles down at me.
"Theo!" My mom rushes over to us and throws her arms around him. "I have some ideas about the wedding."
"Mom." I groan but Theo only laughs.
"It's alright. I'd be delighted to hear what you have to say about our wedding, Mrs. Carter."
My mom had already looped her arm through his. "I told you to call me Shannon, dear." And then they were gone.
"I swear my mother is trying to steal my fiancé." I laugh as I look back over to Oliver. I wasn't the least bit surprised to see he had his attention focused on something else. Erin looked stunning tonight, but I had no reason to doubt that was on purpose. But Erin also carried herself in a different way, in a more confident way. I knew Oliver had to notice.
"You talk to her big guy." I pat his back. "It's not like we can talk to each other and pretend your attention isn't somewhere else entirely."
Oliver looks down at me with a frown. "I apologize, Teagan. I didn't mean to be rude."
"Oliver." I try and say sternly. We all grew up since high school. Even though I liked to pretend I was mature, I was anything but. "Go talk to her."
Oliver takes a deep breath before approaching her. Erin seemed to sense his presence because she finally looks at him. What they once shared seem to all flow back into them both, because Oliver slows down slightly and Erin's eyes slightly widen.
"There she is." Sebastian walks over to me and wraps me in a big hug. "Congrats rookie."
"Stop calling me rookie." I try to say in an annoyed tone, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face.
"Your training starts in a few months." He pulls back and pats the top of my head like I'm five years old. "You ready?"
"Nope." I say in an uplifting tone. "But I'm still looking forward to it." Sebastian gives me a warm smile.
Sebastian told Theo and Oliver about who he really was the night Theo proposed. At first, Theo was mad at me from keeping this from him, but eventually he understood it wasn't my business to tell.
"Hottie." Julia saunters over to us and wraps her arms around Sebastian's forearm. "Where have you been? You're avoiding me." She squints her eyes up at him. "Are you breaking up with me?"
I can't help but laugh as I watch Sebastian's face heats up. Julia was pressing her cleavage up against his arm on purpose, and all three of us knew it. He was about the same age as Oliver, so it didn't take much time to get used to both of them in a relationship. They were exact opposites- but that's what made them so compatible with each other.
"Why would I break up with you, love?"
Julia sighs as she begins to drag him away. "Sorry Teagan, but he just called me love in that sexy British accent of his and that's a huge turn on for me."
Sebastian is about to protest, probably because he figured it was rude. I was completely okay with it. I wave them a goodbye to silent his protests.
"I'm going to admit." Theo comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. "I was relieved when those two started dating. You and Sebastian spend a lot of time together."
"So what? I can't see anyone else because I have my Theodore glasses on." I smirk as I rest against his chest.
"You should keep those on." Theo says pointedly. "They look fantastic on you."
I lean up and kiss his cheek. "I know. Why do you think I wear them?"
I look around the room and see new friends and old. People typically say you don't keep in touch with your high school friends, nonetheless marry them. But as I watch Oliver and Erin share a dance together, you can practically see the sparks flying around them. Even if I hadn't stayed at Julia's apartment during the beginning of my college career, we would still be close.
Because I recently found out that friends who try and bust the other's boyfriend for statutory rape are the kind that stay together.
****
[A/N]
Thanks so much for reading! Make sure to stick around for new stories I'll create. I love you all!