WHEN THE RAIN STOPS- Scrutinized [TANNER x LUNA] 2 IN 1

SIDE STORY PT. SEVENTY ONE

|LUNA|

I woke up to a pile wedding dress magazines in front of me and Tanner at my feet. On the phone with an unknown person. "Mhm, but I would like to get a look around before we actually make the move though. Is tomorrow good? Great. See you then." He hung up and started writing things down on a scrap piece of paper. "What was that?" I asked, sitting up next to him. "wedding preparations, we need to start planning. The wedding will be in 2 weeks." "What? Why? What's with the sudden rush?" "BECAUSE."

I went silent, stunned Tanner had yelled at me out of the blue. He sighed and rubbed his headache. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to yell. I'm just stressed." I hesitantly got closer to him. Putting my arms around his shoulders before leaning my head down. "Why are you stressed? Caramia." He leaned onto my head as he put his hand on mine. "Vincent." "What about him?" "H-he called me ." I sat up. "What? How?" "With your phone. Before he destroyed it. That's why you couldn't find it earlier." I slowly took a seat next to him. Trying to take it in without panicking. "What'd he say?" "Hm?" "What'd he say to make you reschedule our fall wedding to two weeks from now?" He stayed quiet. "Tanner." Still silence.

"He... uh..." he exhaled and recollected his thoughts. Opening them with controlled anger in his glare. "There were two men watching us, in the woods, that night." I furrowed my brows. "What are you talking about?" "Patrick's wedding." My eyes widened. "Vincent was watching the man and the man was watching us. That bastard could've killed us then and there, like the classic horror trope he is, but instead, he chose to wait til now." I quivered an exhale. "So you want to get married just in case.." "yeah.." I put my head in my hands and leaned back on the couch. I never thought this is how my big day would be planned but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. "Then let's get married." "?" "Cmon!" I said while standing up and yanking at his arm. "Let's go! Let's elope! It'll be romantic either way!" "What? No!" "What do you mean no? Cmon! We gotta-." "No Luna." "Oh plea-." "I SAID NO LUNA!"

I stopped, was he mad at me? "What do you mean you don't want to? Do.. you not want to marry me?.." "It's not that! I don't want to get married to you on a whim. I wanted this day to be special! But fucking Vincent can't- ughhh." He wasn't mad, he was frustrated. He was overwhelmed and overworked. I could tell by his stimming, cursing and lack of usual diction. I let him sit down and went into the kitchen to grab the chocolate ice cream we had left over. "Hey." I said while offering up the spoon and tub. He looked up while I sat down next to him. "I know this isn't ideal and scary, but I'm here to help. We can still have the wedding we've always wanted, we just need to speed up the process a little, ok?" He glared at the ice cream. "Tanner?" He threw his head up towards me and pounced. I yelped as he put himself on top of me and placed his head near my ear. "Don't scream.." he whispered to me. "I don't know if he's here.." I looked around the room, out of breath from the startle. "We're not gonna plan this in a week. We're gonna survive. You hear me? We can't die. Not now." He started kissing my neck slowly. I could feel the mints in his pocket expand. "Tanner, You're-." "I was on the phone with the real-estate agent a minute ago and she told me my family has a house a little far from the city. Remote. Nice. We'll have guards, rooms. And best of all." He leaned in. "It'll keep us safe from Vincent. Now, kick me off and act flustered." "Wh-?" Out of no where I felt his hand trace up to my boob. Not rough, but not calm either. Like he was anxiously eager. I kicked his chest off as he chuckled. "Awe, did you get embarrassed Enigma?" He said out loud for the unwanted spectator; I nodded. "Heh, yeah, I guess it's just a little too early for that. Heh-he.." He hummed. "Hmm, well then, you can help with the catering and seating chart." He gestured towards the pile next to the ice cream. "And while you start on that, I'm gonna eat some of this delicious ice cream." He brought the tub close as I started my search. Looking at the reviews online, seeing if any illnesses came out of the restaurant, bad customer service, etc. And that's when I landed on Cohros Italian catering service. No illnesses, no bad reviews, and good customer service? Uh, yes please.