“Are you sure you don’t want to just drop me off? Mom and Arissa can take me home.”
“There is no way I’m letting you out of my sight. I’ve been waiting to see you all day.”
Mom, Arissa, and Hunter are waiting for us when we arrive at the boutique.
“This is highly unusual,” the stiff-coiffed woman at the bridal boutique protests, keeping her eyes on Jason and Hunter.
“We can take our business elsewhere,” I say, spinning around.
“No!” She collects herself in a beat. “I just said it is highly unusual. We don’t have any grooms, or men for that matter, coming in here with the brides.”
“Well, get used to it,” Arissa tells her brusquely.
“Ms. Stiffy,” I whisper to Arissa. She snorts, despite her attempt to remain composed.
Ms. Stiffy leads us to a dressing area with copious seating for large bridal parties and a wall with angled mirrors. A stand takes up space in front of the mirrors and two large dressing rooms are built into the side wall.
I tell her what I like in dress styles and my size, then she leaves the room for a few minutes. She returns with a tray holding a teapot and teacups on saucers.
“I’ll be right back with some dresses for you to try on.”
Mom pours tea for all of us. Jason crosses his legs and holds his cup with a raised pinky while Hunter slurps his tea. Ms. Stiffy returns with a rack of gowns amidst uproarious laughter.
The rack is full of Vera Wang, Oleg Cassini, Monique Lhuillier, and Jessica McClintock. I decide which ones I want to try on. Ms. Stiffy hangs the first in one of the dressing rooms and the rest on another rack in the dressing area, carting away the cast-offs.
One by one, I don the dresses and Jason takes pictures of me on his phone. I stand in front of the mirror in the last dress — a monstrosity of tulle, organza, and lace. It looked better on the rack.
“Any of them call to you?” Mom asks.
“Not really.”
“I pull more out for you,” Ms. Stiffy offers.
“Thank you, but I think we’re all a little hungry,” I respond. “Help me out of this, Riss?” I ask, stepping off the stand.
She follows me into the dressing room. “Dad’s in charge of dinner. What do you think will be waiting for us when we get home?” she asks, unbuttoning the back.
I glance at her over my shoulder and smirk.
“Pizza!” we chorus.
Jason holds my hand as we walk back to the cars and Hunter walks on the other side of me.
“Are you coming with us or are you going home?” I ask Jason.
“I should spend—” He stops himself. “Mom’s working. I’ll go home with you. I won’t stay long, though. I need to pack.”
“Mom!” I call to her and Arissa.
She turns around. “Yes, sweetie?”
“Is it okay if Jason joins us for dinner?”
“Sure. I’ll call Dad and let him know. Hunter, would you like to join us?”
“I’d love to,” he answers.
“What’s for dinner?” Jason asks.
I snicker. “Riss and I are betting on pizza.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
Jason and I reach campus mid-morning and unload his car. His roommates are still asleep, so we leave everything in the living room and head out for our appointments.
After seeing four apartments, we review our choices over lunch.
“I like the one on Levering Avenue,” I say, then bite into my ham sandwich.
“The studio? It’s a bit small, Parker.”
“How much room do we need? Right now, we’d only be consolidating what we have in our rooms at home. Besides, it’s the closest to campus. I can walk to your games.” I smile.
“You’re right,” he concedes. “But you’re not walking to the games alone in the dark. You’ll use my car. I can walk to school and you can use the car for work.”
“Only if I can’t find anything nearby. It’s your car.”
He takes my hand. “It’s going to be your car too. That kind of thing happens when you get married, remember?”
“True.” I’m still getting used to the idea of ours. It might be easier once we have an apartment to call our own. “Hey, I forgot to ask before. Do your roommates know I’m spending the night?”
“Yeah. I called them the other day to make sure they were okay with it.”
His roommates are out when we return to the dorm, so we take advantage of the quiet and work on the application for the apartment.
“We’re baaaaaack!” one of them calls out, throwing