Isobel P.O.V.

Sophie and I were spending the day, doing up all the party favours. She had placed an order for 130 small wedding gift boxes (a little extra just in case), a bulk order of Hershey's kisses and Lindt chocolate balls, ribbon, and specially designed thankyou sticker labels with her wedding date, alongside their names. We had gone to collect some of the things from the store yesterday so it was now time to assemble them all. We also had to cut and fold up all the place cards she got specially printed, and group them in an envelope at the assigned table. We also had to put the table numbers into glass frames. Whew. There was a lot to do.

Lastly, on today's agenda, we had to draw an example of how she would like each table to be set; ie. where she wants the place cards, flowers, party favours etc. Sophie had also gotten a seating chart board printed as well as menu cards. We didn't have to do anything special with that luckily, except drop them off at the boathouse venue for the reception.

"Soph, is it okay if I play some music?" I asked her as we started on the work load before us on the dining table. I would need it to get through the long day. She nodded whilst making up all the frames, as I quickly connected my phone to the bluetooth speakers before playing Trip by Ella Mai. I hummed and bopped my head along to the tune as I sat there cutting and folding the place cards, sticking on a small foiled gold leaf on each one.

"And she sings!" a loud voice bellowed, coming through the front door. Kade had on a backwards cap, a sleeveless workout tee and some shorts, his skin was glistening as if he just had a workout. He was then followed by an equally sweaty Oliver, who was also dressed in workout gear.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring him as I continued to work on the place cards. I'm in focus mode.

"Hey," Sophie leaned up to give Oliver a kiss on the cheek. "Did you double check with the rental company about the chairs and stuff?" she asked.

"Yep. I just confirmed with them that we would need 112 to be exact. White fold out ones, 7 rows and 8 across on both sides of the aisle for the guests. Plus you wanted 14 ribbon sashes right? For the two outside borders of the chairs? They have navy blue, turquoise, royal purple, red, light pink, white, black, gold and silver. And yes, they have the white platform down the aisle to walk on, and a platform across the front for us to stand with the wedding party and officiant."

"Awesome, thanks babe," she nodded. "Hm, could you get the gold?"

"No worries. Oh! I also sent them the layout so they can set it up," Oliver quickly added.

"Perfect."

"I'm gonna have a shower, but after, Kade and I can come down and help you girls with this," he nodded over to our busy work table.

"I love you, you know that," she grinned.

"I love you too," he grinned, quickly kissing her on the forehead before skipping upstairs.

I couldn't help but smile at their sweet interaction, they made a great team. They were so lucky to have found each other as high school sweethearts.

I finally finished up all the place cards, and put them inside the storage crates to be transferred to the boathouse. The boys came down soon after and joined the table.

Kade plopped himself right next to me, then reached out and grabbed one of the sticker sheets. He picked one and slapped it on the giftbox scaffold with a proud grin.

"Kade," I sighed, grabbing it from him to carefully unpeel it. He stuck it on the wrong side. It's gonna be a lonngggg day.

"What?" He asked, "It was totally centred."

"It was wrong. We have a little order chain setup." I said giving him a stern look and gestured to the circle.

"Okay then," he raised his palms out in surrender. "Be my guest miss bossy boots."

"I'm gonna ignore that." I turned my attention to the table. "Sophie will fold the boxes, pass them to Oliver so he can put the chocolate inside, four kisses and two balls- "

"Wash that dirty mouth of yours," Kade scolded playfully.

"And one slap." I turned to him threateningly.

"Ooh where?" he winked slyly.

Oliver shook his head, expecting nothing less from his best friend, as Sophie snorted in amusement.

I dragged my hands over my face and groaned. "Shut up for one sec," I raised my finger against his lips. He puckered his soft lips and pressed a discreet kiss on my finger, spreading an encore of tingles down the raised digit. I whipped my head around to face him. He sat there faking a completely innocent expression. It's going to be a longggg day, I repeat. I drew my hand back away from those Venus flytraps and narrowed my eyes at him before continuing. "Okay soo... once the chocolates are in, I'll tie a ribbon on top to secure it. Then, I guess you can put the thankyou sticker on at the front." I said motioning to each of the different stations. "And stack them in this box here once they're done."

He gave me a salute before we started our little factory line. We were about quarter-way done; 30 or so completed favours all packed up and ready.

"Hurry up slow poke," Kade nudged me on the arm, waiting for the next box.

"I have to tie a bow! All you do is peel and stick." I said, giving him a nudge back in the ribs.

He quickly dodged me with a cocky smirk. "True. Peel, cover and stick it in. Want a demo?"

My mouth dropped at the innuendo. "Honestly I can't with you." I muttered shaking my head.

His body rumbled with laughter. "You make it too easy with the words you say."

"They're innocent words!"

"Depending on how you say them," he shrugged, reaching over to grab a ribbon. "So is that a yes to the demo?" He winked.

"No. And a no to taking over my job as well." I said, moving the remaining ribbons away from him.

"Your loss," he said snatching an untied box from the pile. "And please, I can do better."

"Bet you can't." I shook my head.

"Bet I can." He mocked in a high pitched voice.

I snorted as I kept tying bows. Only 100 more to go, I chanted in my head.

Only, 100.

"Why is it upside down?" I pointed to one of his finished creations.

"It likes to be what it wants to be, okay?" he huffed, defending his bow skills. He was in deep concentration as his larger fingers made it difficult to thread the ribbon through the holes.

"Your bows look like shit." I sniggered.

"You look like shit," he rolled his eyes.

"That was a crappy comeback." I guffawed loudly at my ingenious pun.

"Oh what's that? You like turds and cum on your back? I'll keep that in mind. I mean we all have our kinks."

"Whitley!!!!" I shouted. "Gross, too far." I shuddered as he doubled over with laughter.

"Yeah my bad," he chuckled heartily, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Please children. The parents are going to take a relaxing break now, so keep it down will you?" Sophie said, grabbing Oliver by the arm as they stood up giving us a tiresome gaze.

"Do you think I should get them a walking cane and a knitting kit for their wedding gift?" Kade whispered over to me conspiratorially.

I chuckled. "It'll probably come in to use soon enough." I continued to tie the remaining boxes that Olphie had done up so far. "So what did you actually get them?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

"I bought Ollie a pair of cuff links, earrings for Soph, then I paid for their honeymoon flights," he said, continuing to peel off the stickers. "First class," he added with a wink.

I stopped and stared, analysing the man sitting beside me. "Wow...that's really generous of you Kade." I said, impressed. The devil does have a giving heart somewhere deep inside.

He shrugged casually as if it was nothing. "What did you get them?"

"I commissioned an artist to draw a couple of personalised art prints for them, an animated sketch to imitate them as a disney prince and princess, and some other stuff. I'm also getting them framed, it should be here in the mail soon, actually. Then I got them the whole Mr. & Mrs. linens and stuff, y'know towels, robes and pillows."

"Oh sick, that'd be nice," he nodded. "Very... domestic. I wouldn't have thought of that."

"Yeah, feminine mind, I guess..." nodding in agreement at the homey things I had bought them. "Oh and I also got Soph her crystal headpiece and Oliver some tickets to see the New York Giants, plus cologne," I laughed, embarrassed by the end part. I kinda sucked at getting men's presents.

"Nah, that's cool," he nodded with a laugh. "He would like that."

We eventually finished off all the party favours that afternoon, mind you, in between taking a couple of well-deserved breaks.

~

The next day, Sophie and I tackled a bunch of phone calls to make sure that the celebrant/officiant, photographer, videographer, limo, DJ, makeup + hair stylists and photobooth rental were 100% confirmed, and they each knew the times and locations for the big day.

I opened my laptop to see if there were any emails to respond to. Luckily, nothing had come through from Red magazine yet that required my dire attention. Everything must be going okay down there.

I opened another email about the macramé fringe I ordered for the arch, confirming it would arrive a few days before the wedding. I also ordered a cute welcome sign with a gold frame, white background, and gold lettering that was propped up on a wooden easel. I had also called the florist again to ask if we could get a small arrangement to decorate the board. Sophie loved the idea and it wasn't too expensive, so I went ahead and paid for it.

After I was finished with calls and emails, I decided to get a start on making Sophie and Oliver a slideshow. I might have to get their siblings to get me some more exclusive baby and growing up pics.

My phone ringtone went off as I was browsing through my hard drive full of images. I quickly grabbed my phone off the nightstand before answering.

"Hey Tobias!" I greeted him cheerfully. This was a nice unexpected surprise.

"Hey Is! How are you?" he replied, always in a happy tone.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Awesome, I heard you've been back in Newport for a couple of days, do you wanna catch up before the wedding?"

"Yeah of course! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry Tobias, I've been so busy with the planning, I would've reached out to you sooner! You're living here now right? All finished with vet school as well?" I closed my laptop and leaned back against the headboard to give him my full attention. It totally slipped my mind, and I've been here for like four days.

"It's okay. And yeah I am, thank god."

I chuckled, remembering how many times we complained on the phone to each other about college. He had it way tougher than I did.

"That's amazing. Congratulations!"

"Thanks Is! And you? Still at Red?"

"Sure am."

He was always there for me to bitch when I was an intern and an assistant at Red. You needed to be tough to get through the fast, hard-hitting pace of all the big, important people there. Tobias went off to study at Princeton, whilst I was at NYU. We had visited each other a couple of times since he was only an hour away, but we mostly chatted on the occasion through calls and text because of our busy lives.

"That's good! So are you free for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I should be!"

"Okay sweet, still like pasta?" he asked, knowingly amused.

"Love pasta," I chuckled.

He laughed. "Mamma Luisa's at 7pm? Do you need a ride?"

"No, it's okay I can meet you there!"

"Okay, see you tomorrow Is!"

"Bye Tobias," I hung up with a big smile. Always such a sweetheart.