Chapter Eleven

Larson turned around in front of the mirror and liked what she saw. She had been to many black tie affairs and had the perfect dress for the occasion. It was simple, which she liked. It was black dress that dropped to her ankles and had one slit to the side in front. The top of the dress reached up around her neck and hung in gathers to reveal a little bit of cleavage, but tastefully so. A simple French twist kept her hair up, with a few tendrils framing her face completing the look.

“Oh L, I love that dress on you.” Mel said in complete awe of her best friend.

Larson turned around, “I love this dress too.” She grinned, “Does everything look alright?”

Mel cocked her head to the side, “Perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing. When’s JC getting here?”

Larson glanced over at the clock, “He should be here any moment now.” There was a knock on their door and she smiled, “See, there he is.” She said and opened the door, but JC wasn’t there, it was her sister who burst into the room brushing by Larson.

“L, you got any of that oil stuff I like? I just ran out and I don’t have time to go to the store. I want to do my skin tonight so that it’s perfect for the wedding.” She didn’t even look up at she walked right into the bathroom to rummage around in Larson’s things.

Larson rolled her eyes, “Yeah, it’s in my travel case.”

“Where? This thing’s completely disorganized! How the hell do you find anything in here?”

“I don’t know Cat, some how I manage.” She said not holding back the sarcasm,

“Look, I don’t see you having a huge wedding with 300 guest happening this weekend. I’m under a lot of stress, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t use that tone of voice with me.” Cat scolded as she came back into the room and stopped dead when she saw her sister, “L, aren’t you a little old to be playing dress up?”

Larson rolled her eyes as there was another knock on her door. Larson ignored her sister’s comment and opened the door to see JC standing there in a very nice Armani black suit. His eyes roamed her body and he grinned as he came back up to her face,

“Damn L, I’m glad I invited you. I’m gonna have the hottest date there. You look amazing.” He took one of her hands and twirled her around.

“Well, I do tend to clean up nicely.” She grinned back at JC.

“I’ll say…oh, here,” He said handing her a single pink rose, “For you my lady.”

“You’re so sweet Jace. Thank you.” She said taking it and smelling it.

“Um, L, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Her sister butted in and Larson resisted the urge to roll her eyes once again.

Larson turned to her sister, “Cat, this is JC.” She turned to JC, “JC, this is my sister, Cat.”

JC took a step towards Cat and held out his hand, “It’s nice to meet you, congratulations on your wedding this weekend.”

“Thank you.” She replied eyeing him wearily and shaking his hand. Cat looked at Larson, “You’re going on a date.” She said rather harshly.

“Cat, it’s a benefit, not a date.”

“I am getting married in less than three days, with three hundred guest coming in from all over the nation, a seven piece band coming in from New York, caterers from the best restaurant in town, my dress hand made by the best seamstress in New York City, and my maid of honor is leaving to go on a date. How selfish can you be? I need you here.” She complained and Larson suppressed a groan,

“Well Cat, here’s what I think. You’re a twenty-nine year old adult, who has managed to put together this whole wedding by yourself, without my help at all.”

“Tell me about it.” She retorted crossing her arms, “I had to do everything by myself, mom didn’t even fly down to help me do ANY of it.”

Larson went over to her sister and took her arm, “And you’ve done a beautiful job, everything’s perfect, you have everything set and ready to go. You don’t need me.”

“But…” Her sister began to protest, but Larson didn’t let her.

“You’ll be fine and if you need anything, Mel’s here to help you out. I’ll be back before you know it and you won’t even realize that I was gone.”

“But…”

Larson ushered her sister over to Mel, “You’re beautiful and have everything under control.”

“I do have everything under control.” She repeated and sat down on the couch with Mel.

Larson leaned over and placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Because this is just one of the many things you’re good at.”

Cat looked up at Larson with a huge grin, “I am good at planning a wedding, I have to say so myself.”

Larson grinned back at her sister, “So good, you should open a business.”

“Well, I don’t know…well maybe.” She said seriously thinking about opening her wedding planning business.

“You don’t need me at all, you’re doing fabulous.” Larson encouraged her sister.

Suddenly her sister looked up at her, “I am doing fabulous.” She waved Larson off, “You go out and have a great time.”

“I will.” Larson kissed her sister on the cheek, “Have a good night, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got everything under control.” She declared causing an even bigger grin from Larson as she backed away from the girls.

“Okay Cat. Bye Mel.” Larson waved to her best friend before grabbing her purse and leaving the hotel room with JC.

“Wow, so that’s your sister.” JC said as they quickly walked down the hall,

“Yeah, that’s her in all her shinning glory.” Larson joked,

JC looked over at her, “You are nothing like her. How are you two even related?”

Larson hopped up on her tip toes and kissed JC on the cheek, “Thank you.”

He grinned, “For what? It’s kind of obvious.”

“You’d be surprised who doesn’t really think so. Sorry she was so rude to you, because you know she is getting married this weekend, in front of three hundred guests…”

“And a seven piece band coming from New York.” JC added,

“Don’t forget the caterer from the best restaurant in Jacksonville.”

He smiled down at her, “And that dress made by the best seamstress in New York City.”

“HAND made dress.” Larson giggled and shook her head, “You liked how she fit that all in there, huh?”

“Quite impressive.” He laughed, “But what was better was how you handled her. THAT, was impressive.” He smirked, “That was like a Jedi mind trick or something.”

“Well, you know the Jedi mind trick only works on weak minds.” She joked,

“Ah, the force is strong with you.”

“It’s taken many years of training.” She teased back feeling instantly relieved that she was getting away for the night.

“Lllllllllllllll!” A little boy yelled as he ran down the hall and slammed into her legs.

“PJ!” She exclaimed happily, “You little bugger!” She swung him up into her arms and tickled his stomach making him giggle, “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

PJ raised his shoulders as only a four year could do, “Don’t know.” He smiled an innocent smile that made Larson laugh,

“I see. Where’s your daddy?” She asked and kissed his cheek,

“He’s right here.” A young looking man who was slightly out of breath came around the corner of the hotel hallway. JC could instantly see the resemblance between the three.

Larson looked up at the man, “Hey Pete, lost someone?”

The man was taken back at the sight of Larson, “L! Hey! I almost didn’t recognize you! You look awesome!”

“Thank you.” She grinned and saw Pete’s gaze fall to JC, “Pete, this is my friend JC.” She turned to JC, “Jace, this is my cousin Pete and his son PJ.”

The men shook hands and exchanged cordialities. Pete glanced over the two, “And where are we off to tonight?”

Larson smirked at his obvious intentions with that question, “We’re off to a benefit in Orlando.”

Pete frowned slightly, “Orlando? That’s like two hours away.”

“Hence why we’re leaving now.” Larson replied,

“No!” PJ protested, “You can’t leave! You promised to stay!”

Larson turned to the four year old in her arms, “I’m coming back sweetie.”

“You said that you would play games with me and Hallie.”

“I said that I would play games with you tomorrow night. Cat’s here, you can play games with her.”

“No.” PJ made a face, “She talks too much.”

Larson barely suppressed her giggle, “She does, doesn’t she? Well I promise that I will play games with you TOMORROW night, okay?”

“You’re coming back, right?” PJ asked,

“Yes.” She smiled and handed him over to his father with a peck on the cheek. “And here.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her school ID tag. “I’m going to ask you to take care of something that’s very important to me. I can’t go home without it, so I have to come back to get it, okay? Can you take super extra good care of this?” She asked holding out her ID tag to PJ.

PJ took the ID tag in his hands, “Uh huh, I’ll take real good care of it.”

“I know you will.” She looked up at Pete, “I won’t be back tonight. I’m staying at JC’s in his GUEST room.”

Pete feigned innocence, “Did I say anything?”

“No, but I know you were thinking about it and plus you’ll be seeing my dad tonight and I don’t want any false rumors going around.”

Pete grinned at her, “Okay honey. Have a good time.”

Larson kissed both of the boys on the cheek, “I will, good night you two.”

Pete looked to JC, “It was nice to meet you, take care of Larson or you’ll have a lot of angry men to deal with. Big, BURLEY, angry men.”

JC smiled at the man and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, “Don’t worry, I’ll take super extra good care of her.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Peter replied

Larson pushed Pete down the hall, “Stop.” She laughed as she took JC’s arm and walked down the hallway towards the elevators, “Good night.” She waved to the boys and they waved back,

“Good night.” They said before disappearing behind one of the many doors in the hallway.

JC smiled at Larson, “Your cousin? It felt more like your older brother.”

“I told you we were close.” She smiled back at him as they got on the elevators, “He’s actually my second cousin, you know, my father’s cousin.”

“You guys could be brother and sister.”

She laughed, “I know, he’s a great guy. All the guys in my family are great, well the ones that are related by blood are.” She clarified, “I’ve got some choice uncles that I could do without.”

“Fish man?”

“Definitely fish man.” She nodded and the elevator opened into the parking garage where there was a limo waiting for them. She looked at him, “A limo?”

JC led her over to the limo with a shrug, “It’s a two hour ride, it’ll be more comfortable.”

The driver got out of the limo and moved over to the door, to open it for them. She leaned into him, “I have to confess that I’ve never ridden in a limo before.”

JC was slightly shocked, “Never?”

Larson grinned even wider, “No, the first time was going to be this weekend with my sister’s wedding.”

“Good thing I decided to take a limo. I wouldn’t want your first time in a limo to be traumatizing.” He teased,

“Seven girls, with poofy dresses, drinking in a limo with an anal retentive bride. Yeah, it’s probably going to be traumatizing.” She joked as JC helped her into the limo, “Thank you.”

He slipped in after her and the driver shut the door behind him. They were alone in the back of the limo as the partition had already been put up. JC turned to Larson, “So how is it that you’ve never ridden in a limo before?”

Larson shrugged, “I’ve only been in two weddings before this and one did carriages and the other did old fashion cars. For my prom I went on a tour bus-”

“A tour bus?”

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun. For my senior ball-”

“Senior ball?” JC asked confused about what she was talking about.

“We had two separate proms in my high school. Juniors had the prom and the seniors had a ball.”

Recognition came over JC, “Oh okay. People don’t really do that in Florida.”

“It’s a staple in the Albany region. So yeah, my ball we decided to take a hummer.”

JC smirked, “A hummer to your prom?”

“It was not my choice, but it was kind of cool.” She grinned, “So I’m a limo virgin.”

“Well, not any more.” He grinned and leaned in to her, “I’m glad I could be your first.”

She grinned back, “Me too.”

He chuckled and leaned back in his seat, “Do you want a drink?”

“Of what?” She said looking around the limo.

“I think there’s champagne.” He reached forward and opened the little fridge.

“That’s so cool. I want one of those put into my car!” She exclaimed as JC pulled out the bottle of champagne.

“Where would you put it in that mess you call a car?” He teased as he poured them both a glass,

“My car is NOT that messy…considering Mel just cleaned it out.” She smirked and he handed her a glass, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He smiled, “It’s a good thing Mel cleaned it out, it was getting close to being a hazard.”

“It was not.” She laughed and held up her glass to him, “What should we toast to?”

“Definitely to you losing your virginity.”

“Okay.” She laughed even more and clinked glasses with him. “To losing my virginity.” She laughed before she could even take a drink, “Man, that’s the last thing I thought I would be toasting to with you.” She took a quick sip, “Mmm, I love champagne.”

“You should, it’s good champagne.” Suddenly JC looked around, “Did you bring your over night bag?”

Larson groaned, “No, I didn’t.” She sighed, “See what my family does to me, they make me go crazy and forget things.”

“It’s okay L. You can borrow clothes at my place and anything else you need and if I don’t have it, we’ll stop on the way home and get it.” JC shrugged solving her dilemma easily.

Larson sighed contently, glad that JC was able to go with the flow. “Okay, sounds good. Sorry about being such a ditz.”

JC smiled at her apology, it wasn’t needed, everyone was allowed to be forgetful from time to time. “I said it was fine.”

“Okay then.” She grinned and leaned back in her seat to enjoy the rest of her champagne.

---

They got to the benefit and Larson stayed on JC’s arm the entire night, barely leaving his side. It was exactly what she needed to get away from her family. She was SO glad that he had invited her to be his date. It was amazing how things worked out for them like this. They always seemed to be in the same place at the same time. It was if some cosmic force was willing them to be together…

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