Loving Him (Ashton Irwin a.u.)

Chapter 18

Although I was still anxious about the girl in the picture in Ashton's room and his relationship with Aiden my boyfriend and I were on as good terms as ever at this point. We had been on several dates in the last two weeks and had even tried out some of the 'things' I gave Ashton for Christmas. I won't give details - that's exclusive - but let's just say we were all kinds of close since trying them out. And if you're wondering, yes, Ashton was incredible.

Right now I was out with Lexi, her sister, Jade and Rosie - her bridesmaids - shopping for dresses. At the same time Luke, Ashton, Michael, Calum and Luke's two brothers (one of which was getting ordained to marry Luke and Lexi himself) were getting tuxes tailored. We weren't going anywhere particularly extravagant or expensive because Luke and Lexi had decided they didn't want a materialistic wedding. But Lexi wanted matching dresses for us four bridesmaids and a toned-down version of a wedding gown. She was hoping to find a simple gown within her price range that wasn't too exquisite but still looked the part.

The first boutique we went to that day was a private company, not a chain, so the prices were typically going to be a bit lower. We booked a session with the stylist, who was very welcoming when we arrived.

"Hi," Lexi said when she walked in, followed by her posse. "I've got an appointment under Farr for a dress fitting."

"Miss Farr, hello!" the woman (probably in her mid 20s) enthused as she held out a hand to Lexi. "Is there anything I get for you to drink? Tea or coffee? Champagne?"

We all got settled down with the drinks of our choice, setting down our bags on the sofas. Lexi immediately started looking through the racks of dresses, contemplating colours and shapes and materials. "My fiancée and I haven't picked a colour scheme so the dresses can be anything and we'll work off of that," she alerted the clerk.

"Alright, that means this is probably going to take a little while longer, but you also have more to choose from."

Lexi pulled out a few hideous dressed from the rack and sowed them to the bridesmaids and we all fake-gagged, making her laugh as she nodded in agreement and replaced them where she found them.

This process continued for an hour or two before there were five dresses all of different colours and styles that the five of us collectively agreed were the nicest ones. The first of the five was a dirty beige-cream colour. The front crossed over to create a deep V-neck, and the back was very low. It had a thick light blue ribbon around the waist that tied in a large bow at the back. I wasn't sure about it because backless dresses always made me nervous. Usually backless dresses meant no bra and that was just uncomfortable.

Dress number two was a much more wearable number. It was a light pink colour consistently and had a thinner pearl-white band that wrapped around the waist, and also tied in a bow in the front. It was strapless and fitted around the bust and looked as though it wouldn't fall down too much. It was my favourite dress of them all.

The other three dresses were similar, in blue and purple and plain white, though I for one didn't like them as much, and I think Lexi agreed. She asked the store clerk to bring each of us bridesmaids the second dress in our size for us to try on. Mine fitted perfectly, and I felt it suited me well, too, but the bustier of the bridesmaids - namely Jade and Lexi's sister Jen - found that the dresses didn't hang so nicely. The two girls couldn't even pull the dresses up over their boobs.

Having concluded that we weren't satisfied with the dresses at that boutique we decided it was time for lunch, and went back into town. The five of us settled down in a pizzeria, ordered drinks, and got to talking.