The Hustler Wedding [Alex Gaskarth]

Chapter One: The List

     Just as Jack, Rian, and Zack had written an incredibly detailed laundry list while looking for a girlfriend for Alex half a decade before, Alex and I wrote another one, listing everything we wanted in our wedding.

     1. Guests; his family, of course. I had no interest in dealing with mine. All of our friends, which included a couple billion band members on Alex's side, and about a billion affluent business people on mine. We wrote a sub-list of people to invite, and promised we would come back and file it down later.

     2. Cake; lots and lots of it. Alex put down a seven-tier, each tier split in half with two different flavors. I said double chocolate hazelnut. We agreed to come back to that one later, too.

     3. Location; Baltimore. It was the city where the both of us had spent the majority of our lives, and there really was no place like home. Somewhere in the harbor. Or maybe somewhere downtown. Or maybe Towson. We'd get back to that some other time.

     4. Honeymoon; somewhere fun. Alex suggested Ibiza. I said Anchorage. Jack (who Alex was texting) suggested Vegas as a midpoint. After agreeing that we had no idea how Jack passed Geography, we also agreed we would re-visit that at a later time.

     5. Date; sometime really soon. We both wanted a winter wedding, and both thought December would be great. Alex liked the idea of a Christmas Eve wedding, while I favored December twenty-first, the first day of winter. We playfully argued over it and gave each other the silent treatment for a good five minutes, before Alex apologized and initiated makeup sex.

     6. Wedding party; eleven people. Alex wanted Jack as a best man, and Rian, Zack, and Matt as his groomsmen. I wanted Lucy as my maid of honor, and Cass, Tay, Ashlyn, and my old high school friend Francesca as my bridesmaids. It took very little convincing to get Alex to agree to let Delilah, Lucy's little half-sister, to be the flower girl.

     Of course, Alex was beyond excited that we agreed on something, so we went out for Cinnabon and a walk around the mall. Somehow, over the years, it had sort of become "our thing". Maybe it had something to do with the time he embarassed the hell out of me by serenading me with Don't Go Breaking My Heart, back when we were just friends. In the center of a mall. On a Saturday.

     Needless to say, I almost murdered him on the spot, especially when I found out that someone took video of us and posted it on YouTube, and then on Twitter.

     As we wandered, we walked past at least a hundred stores, which Alex paid no attention to. At the end of a branch of hallway, though, he stopped and smiled mischievously. The store we were standing in front of looked kind of like heaven. Not my heaven, but like, the heaven they teach you about in church. Everything was white- the floors, the couches, the flowers, the crystal tiaras- the wedding dresses.

     "Alex! I can't do wedding dresses now! I look like crap, and you're here, and Cinnabon."

     He laughed, and pulled me in to kiss my forehead. "You're not. Not officially, anyways. There's something I have to talk to you about, but I think I'll do it later... it looks like your entourage is here."

     "My wha- Alex!" I said again. Standing almost directly behind me were Lucy, Delilah, and Chessie. 

     "See ya, babe," Alex grinned, pecking me on the lips. "Bye, ladies!" 

     "Later, Alex!" Lucy called back. 

     "Airie!" Chessie squealed, bouncing up to give me a enthusiastic hug. "Let me see the rock! Lucy said it's HUGE!"