When I Met Her....

Getting Ready

*LAUREL'S PARTY DRESS IN THE MEDIA*

Getting Ready!

Laurel's POV

"Is the music playlist in place?" Steph asks as she scurries through the house on a party planning rampage.

"Yes, it is." Shelby, her assistant answers, hurrying behind her with a clipboard and a pen above her ear.

I watch as Steph and Shelby zoom through the house, checking on this, finalizing that. And no matter how hard I try Steph will not allow me to help with anything. There's 2 days until the party, and the rest of today until my birthday. I'm not all that excited but Steph is. She's taking me shopping tomorrow which is why she insists on almost everything being ready today.

I sigh as I get up from my seat at the island and follow to where I saw Steph and Shelby disappear. Steph is surrounded by men and women with clipboards and cellphones and earpieces each of them fighting to get her attention so she can accept or decline whatever it is they're proposing. I frown. She's putting way too much on herself, and it doesnt help that her hired assistant is as lost as can be. She's looking around nervously, like she doesn't know what to do.

I push through the small crowd of people to get to Steph.

"I can take some people over here." I say, pulling a pen from my pocket.

"Laurel." Steph says, touching my elbow to pull me back.

"No." I say firmly, "Let me help."

Steph sighs then nods, giving me the ok.

"Okay." I say clasping my hands together, "Come on someone."

A woman in a apron walks up to me with a folded up menu in her hand.

"The finger foods you wanted were never specified." The woman says in a quiet voice.

"Alright then. I'll take care of that right now." I smile politely at her.

She hands me the menus and I scan over the finger foods from all the different places. I recognize the Subway menu and immedialy check next to the box with the mini subway sandwiches. I check a few more things before handing the menu back to the woman.

"Thank you." She says before walking away.

I turn away from where she stood and back to where all the people were, just in time to see Steph sway slightly to the right before falling onto one of our small glass tables with pictures frames on it. Steph reaches out her hand to catch herself and knocks down a frame, shattering the glass. I gasp and run over to her.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?"I ask, tenderly placing my hands around her shoulder, lifting her back to her feet.

"I'm fine. I just tripped." She smiles weakly, brushing a piece of stray from her face.

"No you didn't." I frowned at her. "You need a break."

"Laurel, really, I'm fine." Steph insists.

I ignore her and lead her into the living room. I gently sit her down on the couch before I sit next to her, with her back facing the crowd so she won't get tempted to go back to work before I'm willing to let her. Shelby rushes into the room coming up to Steph. No doubt to drag her back in to the overwhelming environment I just pulled her out of. I glare at her over Steph's shoulder and it sends her back to where she came from.

"You're doing too much." I say to Steph.

"I'm not. I'm just trying to get things done." Steph sighs.