I'd Rather Have the Candy Ring

Dedicated to nightdrives bc she wrote one of my favorite books on here aaaaand this is my entry in her one shot contest XD even though I'm about an hour past the dead line but who cares! I just wanted her to see it.

But and before we start, I need to introduce a few new characters.

Ariel - 6 1/2: the leader of the Lerman kids

Marie - 6 1/4: the evil genius

Wesley - 5: the reasonable one

Zen - 2: future president

Now then, let's get started XD

- I'd Rather Have the Candy Ring -

"It had been seven years since the Lerman girls had come up with the ludicrous plan to kidnap potential boyfriends for each of themselves. Seasons had come and gone but the bonds the girls had made with those boys never even faded. In fact, they had bloomed into something beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the love Gabriel had been harboring for Aria all those years." Evie brought her clasped hands up against her cheek and sighed dreamily. "And now the wedding I've been planning since the birth of its ship is underway, and I couldn't be happier."

Several moments of silence passed before Evie felt a tap on her shoulder. She smiled lovingly at her date. "Yes my little Graham cracker?"

Graham had never really liked being called that, being as how kids used to tease him with the name growing up. But then a certain little Asian beauty walked into Starbucks during his shift, and when it comes from her lips, he can't help but smile at it.

"Eve, do you really think that's, um," he milled his words over to find the right one before continuing to whisper, "appropriate for the kids?" The couple looked at the four youngsters sitting in a line on the stone bench in front of them, eyes either wide or squinting up at their aunt and uncle in puzzlement.

"Why wouldn't it be?" She asked him.

He gave her a pointed look and mouthed kidnapping.

"Oh!" Evie waved it off, chuckling. "Don't worry, they're all too young to know what that means."

"Uh-huh, just be glad that Marie didn't hear you." Graham nodded towards the lone child at a bench further down the terrace with her nose deep in a book, emerald eyes wide and curious as she read. It was adorable how much she resembled Charlotte at that age. She's going to be just like her mother, Evie thought.

"Hey!" Evie felt a tug on the skirt of her cream-colored bridesmaids dress and looked down. It was Ariel, the oldest of the bunch. The six-year old gazed up at her aunt with Gabriel's adorable eyes and one of Aria's infamous expressions. "Auntie, are we still havin' a wedding or what?"

Graham bent down to pick her up while Evie laughed. "Yes my little mermaid, just be patient. These things take time, and you know how your Aunt Dory gets when she's nervous."

The little girl sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Good point."

+•+•+

Dorothea Lerman - soon to be Keller - stood with her hands on the dresser in her suite as she tried to take deep breaths, but they all just came out in desperate pants. To say she was nervous right now would be the understatement of the century. The girl was so scared she felt like she might pee on the next person who tried to talk to her.

There was a knock on the door. "It's open," she called.

There were footsteps on the carpeted floor before two calloused, familiar hands came from behind and placed themselves on her shoulders, rubbing them gently. He bent to kiss the side of her neck, knowing it always gets a reaction out of her. "Better?"