Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 116: Goddamn

A/N: For a long time, my planning document for this fic said that I wouldn't actually write their wedding into the fic. Instead... it became four entire chapters itself. I'll post one per day for the next four days, so, happy Milkshake Hearts wedding week!

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"Goddamn it is my wedding day," Courtney mumbles to herself, not able to stop the smile spreading across her face as she looks in the bathroom mirror, having just finished her usual morning shower. She would be embarrassed she's talking to herself and smiling so much at nothing, but – fuck it. It's her wedding day.

She gets to have her morning shower alone, but she is very quickly whisked into the rest of her day surrounded by everyone else. They use her Dad's house as a base for the bridal party up until they'll all travel to the venue, and it causes the house to be a flurry of activity through the morning. Her professional glam team does her bridesmaids' hair and makeup first, and through the day Kari, Courtney's Mum, and Dianne all pop by to have their own looks done, too.

Amongst all the chaos, though, Courtney finds herself a reluctant but consistent focal point. Her bridesmaids crowd around her through the over-hour-long process of doing her hair, the hair stylist in her glam squad giving her gentle waves before using a collection of leaf-motif pins to hold it in place, leaning into the plant-heavy aesthetic they'd gone for.

A platter of cocktail party-style finger food appears on Roger's dining table – they had transformed much of the main space in his house into their styling studio for the day – amongst assortments of makeup and accessories, somewhere around midday.

"Make sure you eat, bridal party – and definitely you, Courtney – or you'll end up hungry, it'll be dinner before you get a chance to eat again," Courtney's mother warns them all, having just finished having her own makeup done by the glam team.

"Of course – and you look so good, Joanne!" Rachel enthuses, moving over to greet her given she'd been off organising something in another room and hadn't had a chance to say hello yet.

"Lunch before makeup, yeah, Courtney?" the makeup artist from her glam team suggests, and Courtney gladly moves herself out of the chair she'd been sitting in for much of the morning to wander over and join the growing crowd around the table.

The simmering anxiety in the back of her mind is easy to ignore when she's surrounded by women hyping her up constantly, and she's quietly glad – her appetite hadn't let her eat much breakfast that morning, but she manages to actually eat lunch as she laughs and talks with all her bridesmaids, Kari, and her mother.

Her makeup takes as long as her hair did, but it feels like it passes in an instant, and soon Courtney finds herself sliding into a car – she knows it's someone in the wedding party's, she isn't entirely sure who – with Kari by her side to head to the venue.

Courtney hums in appreciation at the decoration in the entrance courtyard when they step into the venue, soft twinkling lights having been added amongst the existing planting. She tries to get a peek into some of the other spaces when she steps inside, but Jessie is there – with Kari's help – to quickly direct the bridal party upstairs and into their suite and tell them they have to stay upstairs until further notice, given the grooms' party will be arriving soon.

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Shayne's morning has a slower start. He's buzzing with excitement, but there's not quite as much time required to get all the boys ready for the wedding, so he has a few hours to himself after he wakes. He chooses to tidy up the house, knowing they'll appreciate it when they return from their honeymoon to a neat, fresh house (or the same after the wedding tonight). He's just finished changing the sheets on their bed when the doorbell rings – a much nicer tone than when they'd first moved in, thanks to Courtney's rapid replacement of it – and he races down the stairs to open the door.