The Best Man's Speech

17: Morning Rush Hours

A/N: Sorry for not publishing in so long, I have been busy on holiday with homework and work and having a great time. So here is the missed update. And no, you will not be getting another update for my lateness. Sorry, hope you enjoy this chapter.

✵ LYRA ✵

I waited, rather anxiously, for my sister to appear. She was five minutes late for our shopping spree for cake and her bachelorette party which was to happen the night before the rehearsal dinner... basically tomorrow. So this was our last day together, without anyone and any commitment known as marriage getting in the way.

I managed to get the day off from James... while he was making breakfast for me, which was yummy. It wasn't like we had anything scheduled for today at all - literally... which meant that we had to rush out of the office since we weren't meant to be in there. So, while the bride and her maid of honour chose to roam the city for final checking to make sure that everything we requested for was in place, the groom and his best man left to check on the venue and guest list... and security - where they were meant to meet Mike for any assistance or enquiries.

"Finally." I groaned, standing up from my chair before walking towards my sister to pull her into a squishy embrace. I let go of her after a good one minute of holding her close to me.

"Nice outfit." Meia complimented, looking at me from head to toe. I watched her scan the light pink dress I wore, which came with a brown belt that was tied around my waist. "Twirl for me." She demanded, holding my hand as if to guide me twirl. I obeyed and spun a little as she watched intently, before smiling at me.

"You look stunning yourself." I smiled, watching her perform a sly curtsy in front of me as she showed off her slender figure and feminine formality. I stared at the beautiful combination of black blazer, cream dress, and a pair of black tights and heels. Her hair was let down in delicately perfect curls, while her hand wore a thin watch and carried a black strapless purse.

"Why are you dressed so formally?" I asked, looking away from her outfit and to her face.

"Because I just got out of a breakfast with Nathan's family... and our mother decided to attend it with dad." She whined, making me laugh as I could guess how stern mother was to force her into a completely formal outfit... three days before her wedding.

"You do realise that we have terrible timing for all of this, right?" I chuckled, referring to the fact that we still had to buy the cake and our dresses for the bachlorette party. She laughed with me, while nodding hysterically, after wrapping her arm around mine and walking with me.

"You guys didn't choose the cake yet?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "Mom wanted to but failed to and said I'd have to come back with you... and make you select one from the few very good ones that we had picked out on." I nodded, wondering why mom would ever let me choose the wedding cake, instead of the usual doing everything in her power to avoid my intrusion.

"Any ideas where the boys are going for the bachelor party?" I asked her.

"No. I just know that Derin will be chaperoning us there and then abandoning us to tend to his wife." She smirked as she spoke. I chuckled, knowing too well what he and his wife had planned for that night.

"We're here." My sister called out, walking into the cake shop with me by her side. I followed her as she lead me through the shop. I stopped moving the second I saw a five-layered cake that was coated in white cream icing, with pale flowers attached to it. I was admiring its beauty when the sound of my sister calling out my name started to ring in my head "Lyra!"

I turned to face her with my eyes opened wide with shock, "There's a cake here that I want you to try."

"Have you seen this one?" I asked her, pointing at the cake I was staring at.

"Is that new?" Meia asked the baker who stood in front of her, before following her over to where I stood.

"It is. I had finished it last night." She answered, smiling away proudly at her delicate masterpiece. 

"Can we taste it?" I asked her, before watching her nod and pull out a cupcake that was of the same design as the cake.

"It took me a while to make and I decided not to cut the cake to let people try, but instead hand them cupcakes of the same flavour and design." She sweetly smiled, looking at us. I took the cupcake she offered and halved it with Meia. "Mmm." We both sounded as we ate the mini-cakes, each of us fighting the urge to shove the whole thing down our throats like the improper ladies we really were.

"This tastes much better than the other ones we had selected the other day." Meia proudly whispered to me, "Well spotted."

"Plus it matches your wedding dress and the theme Michael and I selected for you." I smiled as I pulled out my phone to take a picture of it and send it to my twin, to show him the final decision on the cake.

"Thank you." She gratefully said, holding my shoulder as she smiled to me.

"Mike approves." I chuckled before smiling back at her. Looking back at the baker, I spoke, "We would like to buy this cake. It's for her wedding." I smiled, pointing at my sister.

The baker nodded and moved towards the till. I followed her, leaving my sister to wander around the room and look at the cakes by herself. "Since you guys have bought it in the first 4 hours that it has been on display for, you get it for a fifty percent discount." I gawked at her words, "No. It's okay. We'll pay for the full price."

"No sweetie. Trust me, you don't want to pay for the full price. Your mother told me about the wedding cake needing to be delivered by tomorrow, and kept safe in a fridge for more than twenty four hours, all of that will make up more than twice the original cost of this delicacy." She warned me happily, before finally deciding that we should only pay 50% of the original price of the cake, alongside delivery and staff to store it and put it together into one piece.