"What about December?"
"No way!"
"Why not?"
"It's going to be cold. I don't to wear a coat, and I'm sure it'll rain"
"We live in London, it always rains Maddie" Peter laughed.
"But it's more likely to rain in December"
"November?"
"It'll be cold too. Moreover, it's too soon"
"We'd still have a few months to organize everything... Wait, I have a better idea! Let's do it on Halloween, the guests will be disguised. I will be a zombie, and you will be an annoying zombie" he joked.
"It's not funny. I want everything to be perfect"
"What about 14th February?"
"Saint Valentine's day? You're so cheesy, darling"
"Whay about 14th March?" he suggested.
"It'll rain"
"How do you even know?"
"I just know" I shrugged my shoulders.
"What if we decide the date later and we start planning the guests' list?"
"Alright"
"My best men will be Nate and Andrew"
"Who the hell is Andrew?"
"My cousin Andrew, you know, the one who used to go to school with us"
"No way"
"Why not?"
"He's an idiot. He think he knows more than anyone, and he thinks he's smarter than all of us"
"Maddie, he's smarter than all of us. He's one of the most important scientists in the UK nowadays"
"So...? He's still an idiot?"
"Are you going to complain about everything?"
"Yup, that's my job"
"We should leave the guests' lists then and focus on something else. Let's see what you think about these places I've seen for the celebration"
I looked at my watch, it was getting late.
"Hmm you're going to kill me babe, but I actually have to go. I'm meeting someone in ten"
"Who?"
"Francesca"
"Niall's girlfriend?"
"She's his ex now, but yeah, that one"
"I thought he was going to ask her to marry him"
"Yep, but I guess they changed their minds"
"Why are you even meeting her? You've never been friends or anything"
"She's a model and she's going to take me to some shops so I can find the perfect wedding dress"
"Wow, you're finally excited about something related to the wedding!"
"Nah, I'm actually excited to find the song for our first dance, remember?" I smiled.
"That's true, I forgot"
"Anyways, I'm leaving, Pete. See ya later, love you!"
I kissed him, took my purse and got out of his office, waving Nate goodbye, who was working on his own office. I drove to the shop where I was meeting her and I went in, where I saw her looking at some dresses.
"Hey Francesca!"
"Oh, hi Maddie! How are you?"
"I'm fine, thanks. Sorry I had to bother you with the dress thing, but Leigh is out of town and my sister doesn't live in London, and she's busy with her kids"
"Oh, don't worry! I am actually so excited you called me. I couldn't wait for one of my friends to get married so I could come with her to buy the dress"
"Truth is you and I aren't really friends, so I was a little worried you wouldn't want to come"
"We can still be! And no offence, but I don't think that gay friend of yours knows much about wedding dressed"
"Nah, Alan has already read like every single wedding dresses magazine out there"
"He seems nice"
"He's one of the best friends I could ever have, to be honest"
"Save that for the wedding speech, now let's make you try on some dresses!"
Francesca chose like fifty dresses and I had to try them all on, but none of them seemed appropiate. One made me look too big, another one too tiny, another one was too shiny, another one had no shine... After three hours of being in the store, we decided to leave without buying anything and go to a café.
"I never thought choosing a wedding dress would be this tiring" I said leaving my café latte on the table while sitting on a chair.
"I guess I won't know anytime soon"
"I wanted to talk to you about that"
"About what?"
"Niall"
"So you already know we broke up"
"Yeah, he told me everything. And I think you're wrong, Niall and I don't feel anything for each other anymore"
"You're not even believing what you're saying, Maddie" I looked at her confused "Look, I don't know if you still feel something for him, but I'm sure he's still in love with you"
"That's ridiculous. It's been years since we broke up"
"Have you ever noticed the way he looks at you? He's never looked at me like that. You haven't seen him talking about you, always with admiration and love. You haven't seen him bumping into an old photo of you two, or some present you gave to him. He would always tell me the story behind everything. He was always so excited, even if I had heard the story a hundred times before"
"Francesca, I..."
"You don't even have to say you're sorry. I was more like a best friend to him than a girlfriend" she interrupted me "And I know you're glad to hear all of this, I know that the fact that he's not over you makes you happy"
"It's crazy to think he still have feelings for me, we barely know each other anymore"
"Maybe he doesn't know you that well anymore, but he's still in love with the idea of the old Maddie, the Maddie he dated"
"C'mon Francesca, you have to get back with him. I'm sure you can get through this, you love each other"
"He doesn't love me in that way. He still has to find the one for him, in case he hasn't found her yet" she said raising her eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"You have to promise me one thing"
"Tell me"
"Promise me you'll only marry Peter if you're completely sure of it. Neither Niall or you deserve to be with the wrong person. Maybe Peter and you are meant to be, but think about it please. I don't want you to make a mistake just because you don't want to go slow or because you're scared of losing someone who loves you"
Scared. Niall had said the same thing just a week before that. Sometimes we make decisions because we're scared. However, I still wasn't sure why Francesca was giving it that huge amount of thought. I loved Peter. I wanted to marry Peter. I couldn't let a few conversations with Niall and Francesca change my mind. I couldn't let them make me lose him. He was the man I had always dreamed of. He cared about me, he looked after me. That was the real important thing, not what other people thought about a relationship that had died three years before.
"What do you say?" She asked.
"I've got to go. It's been a great day Francesca, thanks for everything. I'll see you soon"
I got out of that café as fast as I could. Why was everyone trying to make me doubt about my feelings for Peter? Maybe we couldn't decide together a date for the wedding, or the guests' list, or the perfect place, but who cares about that? I wanted a good marriage not a good wedding. That's why I didn't understand Peter's obsession with having the longest guests' list in London, or celebrating it in the biggest place in the world. He wanted everything to be huge, while I just wanted something simple, in my hometown, Bolton, with our friends and our families. That was it.
When I arrived home, I saw him lying on the sofa, which surprised me, because he was supposed to be at the office.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I just had a great idea and I couldn't wait to tell you"
He stood up. Maybe he had realised that the best thing would be having something simple.
"We're going to get married in Bahamas babe!"
So I guess Bahamas was as simple as it would get with Petter.