The Arrangement

Chapter 10- The Rehearsal Dinner

Kirsten's POV

"Why are you on the couch?" The sound of my mothers's voice wakes me up.

God my head hurts. Too much alcohol last night.

"Ummm....I wasn't comfortable in my bed. I couldn't sleep so I came in here and then ended up falling asleep." I lie.

She looks at me skeptically like she doesn't believe me for a minute before deciding not to argue with me.

"Well wake up, and go get cleaned up. We have a lot of people coming over this evening for the rehearsal dinner so the house needs to be tidy." She says as she cleans around me.

I just huff quietly annoyed and head to my room. I find Callen sleeping peacefully on the floor.

Why didn't he sleep in my bed?

He looks absolutely gorgeous laying there shirtless. His muscles on display.

God I want to touch them!

Stop it Kirsten. Remember he rejected you?

That thought pisses me off. I walk passed him "accidentally" stepping on his hand.

"Ouch!" He yells jumping up.

"Oops. Sorry." I say sarcastically.

He glares at me. Then he looks at me remorsefully I guess remembering how he treated me last night.

"Look Kirsten....." he begins.

"Honestly, just save it. I am fine. This is just a simple arrangement between two strangers. Nothing more or less." I tell him nonchalantly.

"Right. Ok." He says before leaving the room abruptly to go to the bathroom slamming the door in the process. After a few minutes I hear the shower turn on.

Good. Fine. Wash your fine ass and big....gah...I have got to stop.

I get dressed and head downstairs to help my mother. She bosses me around and I run around helping her do the tasks that she asks. Callen comes out from the shower and sits on the couch making conversation with my dad. All the while Callen and I ignore each other.

After a while mom notices and asks me, "Did you two have a fight? I sense some tension."

She at-least asks me quietly so that the men can't hear us in the other room.

"No....it's just complicated." I give her a vague answer.

"Well just remember men are just like big babies and most of them are extremely stubborn. He'll forgive you for whatever you did eventually." She says assuming it was my fault.

"Why do you assume it's my fault?" I ask annoyed that she continues to doubt me.

"Well I just thought..." she begins.

"Well you thought wrong mom." I tell her exasperated.

We end the conversation there and continue to prepare for the rehearsal. The day goes by quickly and it's time to get dressed to head to the wedding venue for the rehearsal and then we will come back to the house for dinner afterwards.

I dress in a simple dress and I actually put some effort in my appearance for a change. I do this mainly to keep my mother off my back and to look nice for my sister. Callen gets ready in the bathroom and when he comes out my jaw drops.

He looks amazing.

He's dressed in a nice suit jacket and tie with dress pants that accentuate his muscular legs and ass.

"You like what you see?" He asks with a cocky grin.

"Ehh...you look ok." I say acting indifferent to him.

"Well you look absolutely stunning. I won't be able to take my eyes off of you all night. While people will be looking at the bride, you will have all my attention." He says to me huskily.

I blush red as a tomato.

"Thanks." I reply simply as I grin slightly.

Still mad at him for last night, but he is scoring back points. Honestly I shouldn't be mad at him because this is just an arrangement between two people. A transaction. No romance which I made clear in the very beginning. So why do I let him get to me so much?

Because he's sweet and hot and you wanna jump his bones.

Shut up subconscious. No one asked you!

The rehearsal itself was pretty boring other than my little cousin which is the flower girl, dropping her basket on the ground in the middle of the aisle while she runs out of the chapel saying she had to poop. We all got a big chuckle out of that.

Afterwards, we all head back to the house for dinner. Our family and the grooms immediate family all gather. Mom had the food catered. They put large canopies with tables up in the back yard. It was a really nice set-up. The evening was going great. Everyone was getting along and things were going smoothly. Callen and I were back to talking like before and I was genuinely enjoying myself.

"I see you two made up. Did you apologize like I told you to?" My mom asks as she catches me in the kitchen getting a drink.

"Actually mom, like I said it wasn't my fault only. It was mutual so we both apologized." I tell her.

"Mmmmm. Ok." She says sounding unconvinced.

"Why do you do that mom? Why don't you ever believe me?" I ask her honestly.

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that you don't have the greatest track record with guys. Remember Ethan from high school? Such a great guy and you just dumped him for no good reason. Then every time I would try to set you up with people you would shoot me down. I just feel like you always have to find an issue with these guys so you can stay alone and unhappy." She says to me.

God she doesn't get me at all!! She has no clue. Now I am livid.

"Mother you have no clue. You have never taken the time to actually get to know me and what I like or the type of person I want to be with." I say angry at her assumptions.

"Well I like Callen. He seems like a great guy. Just don't mess this one up. He could be the one. You aren't getting any younger my dear." She says.

"Ahhh!" My subconscious screams.

"I need to go to the restroom." I lie needing to get away from this conversation.

I run upstairs wiping a frustrated tear from my eye and while I am not watching where I am going, I collide with a hard object. I look up to see Callen staring back at me .

"You look upset. Are you ok?" He asks me.

"Yeah. I just need to go for a walk and get some fresh air. You wanna join me?" I ask him.

"Sure. Let's go." He says and we head out the door together.