Humanity 6 "The Change"

Chapter 21

ASHLEY'S POV

"Up, up, up, come on." I hear Elena's voice as she shakes my shoulders. "No time to sleep in. We have a wedding to start planning."

"No." I groan, rolling over in bed and pulling the covers over my head.

"Yes." She argues, ripping the blanket back. "Your baby is due in 8 months, and you're the one that said you wanted to have the wedding first. Let's go."

***

I'm sitting in our dorm room with Bonnie and Elena, looking at a wedding catalog.

I haven't really heard from Damon since our conversation about the cure two nights ago, but we're still engaged. I need to start making arrangements before I go into labor. I have to push all the other thoughts out of my head and focus.

"How about these?" Bonnie asks, pointing to a pair of white shoes on one of the pages.

"No...they're too white. Do people do white shoes with a white dress? I don't even know." I ramble.

"Okay, no to shoes then. Let's look at dresses." Elena suggests, flipping the page.

"I don't wanna look at dresses." I say, shaking my head.

"Why not?" Elena asks.

"Because if I start looking at dresses, that means that this is really happening. I'm really getting married, and when I think about it, I start-"

"Hey, hey." Elena closes the magazine and grabs my shoulders. "Come on. Don't waste the panic right now. You still have time to stress about tiny details. We're not committing to anything yet. We're just looking." She reminds me.

"Ugh, I just wish I could have a drink to calm myself down, but I can't because of this stupid baby." I snap, and Elena and Bonnie both stare at me.

I take a deep breath as I regret those harsh words.

"I didn't mean that." I say softly, and they both nod. "I'm just freaking out a little bit."

Bonnie looks at me with sympathetic eyes as my phone starts ringing. I'm about to grab it, but Elena snatches it before I can.

"Ashley's phone." She answers, staring at me. "Oh, yeah...okay."

I start to panic at Elena's words. "That's not an 'okay' okay. That's a 'there's a problem' okay." I say breathlessly.

"Yeah, thanks anyway." Elena says before hanging up. "That was Danielle. She's booked until next spring." She breaks the news to me hesitantly.

"That's funny because it sounded like you just said that Danielle, aka the last available wedding planner in the state, is booked, which means that there are no more wedding planners that can work with me on such short notice." I say, trying to control my temper.

"Yeah..." Elena admits awkwardly.

"Well, how booked is she? Are you sure she can't fit me in?" I ask.

Elena's about to answer me, when another voice comes from the doorway.

"To be honest, I think maybe this is a good thing." Caroline chimes with a smile as she walks into the room. "Because no matter how good Danielle was, I'm pretty sure I'm better."

I stand from the bed and rush over to her, pulling her into a hug. Elena and Bonnie are quick to join in.

"Caroline, we missed you." I mumble into her shirt.

"I missed me too." She sighs as we all pull away. "Thank you all for bringing me back."

Elena and I nod happily as Caroline looks at Bonnie. They share a moment before embracing tightly. I notice tears in both of their eyes, but Caroline quickly composes herself.