•••
"Now introducing for the first time - Mr and Mrs Barton!"
I laughed at Dalia's little announcement before entering the small room. We all sat down for dinner, polite chatter and banter being thrown around the whole time.
After deserts were all finished, Nat stood up to make a speech.
"Hi, I'm Natasha and I'm Clint's best woman. I've got a speech I know he'll hate so this is gonna be fun"
Clint rolled his eyes and slammed his head into the table, groaning unhappily.
"When I first met Clint I wasn't in a good place in my life, I was almost at the end of my tether, but he found me and pulled me back. He got me a job and told me that 'we're all living on borrowed time, so be smart and do something with it'. I owe him a lot for that and I'm sure he knows it. We were both extremely closed off people, and that all changed when Miss Mannings showed up." Nat grinned, sending me a wink, "I suddenly started to realise that Clint would slip out of work during his lunch break, and come back with a takeout coffee cup. I always thought this was weird considering we had plenty of machines in the building, ones which he had been using for years before I showed up. I eventually found out it's because a certain barista had caught his eye. Now, Clint isn't exactly a good flirt. When I forced him to take me to meet Grace, he introduced me as his partner which she understandably took as girlfriend, so I had to sort that mess out. It seems to have worked though"
"Thanks again" I laughed, whilst Clint protested something along the lines of 'I am a good flirt!'
"It wasn't until this one conversation I had with Clint a few months in to your relationship when I realised how serious his feelings for you were, Grace. It was during one of our jobs that he had turned to me and with full sincerity said 'I'm scared'. I looked at him like he was crazy, because I've never known Clint to be scared of anything. So I asked him what was wrong and he said 'I couldn't sleep last night because I'm so used to having her next to me'. At first I was like, okay I guess that's normal but then I realised that he had been sleeping. Sleep has evaded him for a long time since I knew him, and the fact that he was so comfortable around you after such a short period of time was astounding to me. I know it's a small thing, but to have him be reliant on your comfort for something as simple as sleep was when I knew he had it bad"
"Nat" Clint groaners, burying his head into my shoulder.
"There there" I laughed, patting his head softly.
"I watched as his affections for you grew, and I knew when you showed me that pregnancy test that this relationship was going to last. I know this is dragging on now so I'll wrap it up, but Grace I just wanted to thank you for making my best friend happy"
I pulled her into a tearful hug, muttering my thanks before sitting back down.
"My turn!" Dalia shouted, leaping up from her seat, an evil grin on her face.
"Oh no" I whispered, this time burying my face in Clint's neck.
"I've known Grace here since we were babies, and I know so much dirt that I could put in here, but I won't do that to her today.
Let's start with childhood shall we"
"Oh please no" I protested, only to be hushed by Clint who listened on eagerly.
"My first chosen memory of Grace was in 5th grade when we decided it would be fun to loosen all the toilet seats in the teacher's bathrooms. As I was the smaller one, Grace had to keep watch whilst I ran outside and shimmied my way in through the window so I could unlock the door from the inside. Everything was going fine until a teacher arrived to use the loo. Grace got startled by this and told the teacher that Mr Holt was in the bathroom at the time. What she didn't realise is that Mr Holt had left the school 2 years earlier, and we inevitably got caught."
Clint chuckled, his fingers trailing over my hands absentmindedly.
"What's my second favourite memory you ask? Why, that has to be the time she ever got drunk. We were 16 and I had stolen some beers from the fridge for us to try whilst we stayed over my place and had a movie night. Long story short Grace had an emotional meltdown over the Little Mermaid, which lasted well over an hour, because she was upset that the crab was being chased by an angry chef"
"Now that's adorable" Clint teased, poking my cheek playfully
"Shove off" I groaned smiling, swatting his hand away.
"And my final memory I have for you is a soppy one. When I had broken up with my first boyfriend I remember I was so upset. I'd called Grace on her foster home's landline, and the next thing you know, she's on my porch with a tub of ice cream, tissues and a pillow with a shitty drawing of my exboyfriend on it. So, as any teen going through a breakup, I drowned myself in icecream whilst crying. I took the occasional break to beat up the pillow, and all the while Grace sat there and listened to me, hugging me when needed. That was when I knew we were going to be friends for the rest of our lives"
I blew her a kiss and Dalia pretended to catch it.
"This brings me on to you, Mr Barton. Grace has never been one for relationships, so when you walked in to the coffee shop that day and she got the look, I was bloody surprised. But seeing you two together is so natural, thank you for loving her as much as I do, and with that baby on the way you better get your loving in now because once it comes yo-"
"Okay that's enough" Lewis said, pulling Dalia back into her seat.
I guffawed in my seat, leaning over to give her a grateful hug.
"I love you"
"Love you too"