Short Kings Anthem

Part 13

The sun was beating down and there was not a cloud in the sky, it was a perfect day for a wedding. Simon and Talia were due to become husband and wife within the next two hours and people were getting ready to leave the villa and make their way to the venue.

"Jesus Christ you look amazing," Chris whispered looking Lauren up and down, taking in every inch of her. The way the olive dress clung onto every single curve of her body like it was moulded just to her shape. How her silver shoes gave her legs height and definition he hadn't seen on her before. How she had styled her curly hair so it sat together in one long wave on the right side of her, held in place with a silver clip. If she were in red she would have been cosplaying Jessica rabbit.

"It's not too much?" Lauren asked smoothing down her dress.

"It's a Youtuber wedding, you'll be fine, you look amazing," Chris smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"So do you, love the suit,"

"You're the same height as me in those shoes," Chris grumbled and Lauren giggled.

"Come on love birds, the cars are arriving," Theo said knocking on the door, he had his eyes squinted a little with his hand in front of it just so he didn't see anything he wasn't supposed to.

The wedding was beautiful, as it was expected to be. In order to avoid any leaks to the press or social media no phones were allowed in the ceremony or reception, the other upside to this was all the photos were now by the professional photographers so they all came out beautifully.

"Did you two want a picture?" The photographer asked Lauren and Chris who were having a very cosy conversation at the table, hands entwined. They looked at the other person for a moment to garner their approval before nodding and standing up. They approved the picture of them standing side by side, Chris's arm round Lauren's back and them smiling at the camera. There was also a more candid shot of them dancing, screaming the lyrics toThe Pretender by the Foo Fighters in each others faces.

"I think we need to get that one framed," Chris said to Lauren when the photos were released to the group chat. It was three weeks after Simon and Talia's wedding and two days before they were due to go on holiday.

"You strike me as a photo in a frame person," Lauren commented. Chris came over to Lauren's flat nine times out of ten so she hadn't spent a lot of time at Chris's place, when she was there she did notice a lot of artwork and some photos, she felt quite tingly at the thought of one of her being added to the collection.

"I just think they're nice," he shrugged. Football shirts, signed memorabilia, photos, the all looked better in a frame.

"Is there anything you need from your place?" Lauren asked since the last time they took a flight and Chris has stayed with Lauren, he forgot his spare camera batteries.

"I don't think so," Chris replied looking at his bags, visibly remembering every item he placed in them.

"Why do we never spend much time over there?" Lauren asked genuinely, placing her more expensive and special make up in a clear bag as she always took it on as cabin luggage.

"It's the place I moved into after Shan and I split up, it was more of a I need to move and I need to move quickly situation so I'm not that bothered about the place," Chris said earnestly Lauren nodded indicating she understood.

"It's just because this is where I lived with Tom so some guys might have found that a little weird."

"Is it weird to you?" Chris sat down next to Lauren on the bed and placed a hand on her thigh.

"No. I'll move eventually. Before Tom and I split up we were looking at buying a house just outside the city, proper looking into it and looking at houses and everything. It's something I'd still quite like to do, maybe next year." As Lauren spoke she suddenly got an image in her head of her and Chris being shown a kitchen, she had only been dating this boy for a couple of months so couldn't believe she was thinking of that already. As she mentally told herself to slow down Chris spoke again.

"Could you show me the kind of thing you were looking at?" Lauren's hear swelled at Chris's question. They they spent the next hour going through Right Move with Lauren showing Chris the type of things she was looking for, Chris then doing the same. They spent a little time looking at big mansions neither of them wanted to live in but by the end they had narrowed their search down to two areas, and had complied a list of things they were and were not prepared to compromise on.

Later that evening Chris had gone out to collect dinner when Lauren who was on the sofa heard a knock at the door. Due to the knocks being loud and and clunky sounding she assumed it was Harry, more over because she had given Chris her key to get back in.

"Hey," Lauren smiled and cocked her head to the side, gesturing that it was okay for Harry to come in.

"Hey I've just come to collect that light before you go away?" Harry asked scratching his neck slightly. He still felt very awkward about telling Freezy and how that whole situation unfolded, despite Lauren assuring him it was water under the bridge now.

"Sure it's in the office, don't tell me you're actually filming a video!" Lauren joked her face full of shock. Harry loosened up a little and gave a little chuckle.

"Thinking about it, thanks." Harry then made his way to the office and collected the light, on doing so noticing Lauren's computer screen open with the Right Move website on it.

"Where are you moving to?" Harry asked as he made his way back into the living room.

"Nowhere," Lauren gave Harry a suspicious look, what was he talking about?

"Surbiton according to your computer screen," Harry protruded his bottom lip in the way he was very well known for.

"Oh that! Chris and I were just looking, nothing serious. I told him Tom and I were going to buy a house and we just kind of started looking around just, you know scrolling through online." While she did see her and Chris eventually doing it together she knew it was still too soon to put the wheels in the motion.

"And you rolled your eyes at me at Simon and Talia's wedding when I said you were next. After Vik obviously."

"That's because you were being an idiot. We've only been together a couple of months, marriage is crazy talk!"

"You mark my words, here on this day June 15th 2023 at 6.37pm. In exactly one year from now you and Chris will be married with a kid on the way." Harry's arm movements started to go wild, even with the phone in one hand to check the date and time and the light in the other.

"You're crazy." Lauren shook her head, feeling lucky Chris also wasn't here to witness the conversation.

"Na, na I bet my life on it my friend. Where is the boy anyway?" Harry asked surprised not to see him.

"Just picking up some food."

"In that case I'll leave you to it. Just don't get knocked up tonight, you need to wait at least three months for me to be right."

"Why are we friends?" Lauren mused out loud as she showed Harry to the door.

"Parklife and psychedelics," Harry replied with brutal honesty.

"Point, anyway see you," Lauren laughed as Harry made his way out of her flat and to the lift. Lauren thought a little about what Harry had said, he was wrong. Sure they had been looking at houses earlier but that was just a bit of fun. They hadn't told each other they loved each other so they weren't moving that quickly. Lauren wasn't sure she was in love with him yet. Sure he made her feel like no one else had before, she hated being apart from him for more than a day and her heart genuinely ached when they weren't together but that didn't mean she was madly in love with him yet, right?