All's Fair in Love and Las Vegas

Chapter Ninety-Two

        From the depths of sleep, I could hear my phone ringing. I didn't really want to answer it, but I figured I should at least check who it was. Groggy, I managed to read Kylie's name. It used to be that she called at any hour, but now she only called if it was absolutely important.

        "Hello?" I asked sleepily.

        "Oh my gosh, Jackie," Kylie cried, sniffling. "Clay proposed."

        "He did?" I asked, barely remembering to pretend I hadn't known. "Did you say yes?"

        "Yes, I said yes!" she sobbed. "I'm marrying him, Jackie!"

        "Congratulations!" I said, mustering up as much excitement as I could at one in the morning.

        I could hear Clay talking in the background, on the phone with someone else, and my heart thudded. Was he talking to Grayson? Or maybe his dad. Or maybe even Tay. It probably wasn't Grayson, actually.

        I tuned back into Kylie, who was still crying. "Kylie, are you okay?" I asked gently.

        "He was just so sweet about it," she blubbered. "He said how much he loves me and that I'm his forever and..." she trailed off in more tears before continuing. "It was just so nice."

        "That's great," I said, smiling to myself. She sounded so happy.

        "Jackie, I'm getting married!" she sobbed, sounding like another wave of emotion had hit her. "I can't believe it!"

        "I can't believe it either!" I laughed.

        Clay bounced into the conversation, yelling, "Jackie, she said yes!"

        I flinched momentarily before saying, "Congratulations, Clay."

        "Wait, you knew?" Kylie broke in tearfully.

        "Maybe," I admitted.

        "You jerk," she sniffled. "I love you."

        "I love you too. Now I really, really want to celebrate with you guys, but I have to get up in four hours," I said wearily.

        "Right, duh," she said guiltily. "I'll let you go back to bed. Night."

        "Night Jackie," Clay chimed in.

        I bid them goodbye and hung up, almost immediately going back into hibernation. As much as I loved my best friend's engagement, I did need sleep to function.

        The next day, Clay and Kylie invited both Nina and I out to dinner. Nina and I drove together, both of us gushing about the recent events. 

        "Their wedding is going to be so romantic," she squealed as we walked inside. "I'm sure they'll do something unique and awesome."

        "Me too. There they are," I said, nodding at their table. Clay and Kylie waved enthusiastically, beckoning us over. I couldn't help but smile at the way they were absolutely glowing.

        There were many hugs, and Kylie showed us her ring, even though I'd already seen it. As we sat back down, I noticed a few, small details. How Clay kept one protective hand on her waist. How she slightly leaned into his shoulder. It was...sweet, which wasn't in my normal vocabulary for defining Clay and Kylie.

        "I want to ask you guys to be my bridesmaids," Kylie said once we'd ordered. "If you're free, that is."

        "Depends," Nina said, faking reluctance. "Of course, we'd never have other plans for your wedding!"

        "When is it?" I asked, even though I'd obviously be available.

        "The sixth," Clay chimed in.

        There were a lot of sixthes in the year. "Of?" I asked patiently. Clay might be super smart, but sometimes he's just not.

        "March," Kylie said. "Like, the sixth that's coming up?"

        "You guys are going to pull off a wedding in three weeks?" Nina asked, sounding both impressed and horrified.

        "Why not?" Kylie countered. "We want to get married, and it's not like we'll be having something massive. We know where we're having it, we don't need to reserve anything."

        "How will you find a dress that fast?" I asked

        Clay smirked. "You guys seem to forget that I'm a millionaire. Any dress Kylie wants, she can have it hand-made in a matter of two weeks, for the right price."

        "Whoa," Nina said, sounding slightly jealous. "That's awesome."

        "Yeah. So the wedding is in a few weeks," Kylie said cheerfully. "We're going to have it on Virginia Beach."

        "Is it warm enough for that?" I asked skeptically.

        "It's going to be twenty-four degrees that day," Clay said excitedly. His fiancée whispered something in his ear and he corrected himself: "Seventy-five degrees."

        "Isn't it perfect?" Kylie said, beaming.

        Truthfully, I couldn't see anything wrong with it. Why not get married in a great big rush if you could? For Clay and Kylie, it made perfect sense, too. Their lives were one great big rush all of the time, constantly running towards the next great thing. I kind of admired it, even though I knew some people viewed it as reckless. 

        "It is perfect," I said. "You need us to plan anything?"

        "We actually already planned most of it," Clay admitted, sounding semi-guilty. "It took us all of an hour this morning. Ordered decorations, a dress, booked the beach, all of it."

        "Wow. I feel left out," Nina joked.

        Kylie swatted her arm. "You know I need you guys to have the best wedding ever. Even if you didn't help plan it."

        "Any other bridesmaids?" I asked, knowing that Clay had probably asked Grayson and Tay.

       "Nope, just my two besties," she said cheerfully.

        Nina shot a quick glance at me before asking, "What about your side, Clay?"

        "Just my brother and Tay," he confirmed. 

        There was a bit more wedding talk, about things they'd picked out and what kind of cake there would be, but truthfully, I was a bit zoned out. While Kylie's wedding would be magical, I only hoped it would be magical enough. I wanted it to go perfectly, to be the best day a girl could hope for. I'd had two weddings myself, and both of them had been absolute disasters.

        "Jackie, you with us?" Kylie asked.

        I couldn't let anything go wrong. I smiled and said, "Of course." Feeling that I had zoned out and not contributed much to the conversation, I asked, "Are you doing a bachelorette party?"

        She hesitated. "There's not really time..."

        "Of course there is time, Ky, you must have one," Nina jumped in. "Jackie and I will plan it all, you just show up looking cute with a suitcase."

        "It's only a few weeks away, you're sure?" she pressed.

        "We insist," I said firmly.

        Clay kissed her cheek. "It kind of sounds like they're kidnapping you, but for some reason I'm on their side. You should do it, Kylie."

        "Okay, we can have a party," she said, smiling even through her reluctance. "Just let me know when."

       Nina squealed, saying, "It'll be amazing. Jackie, we'll work on that tonight?"

        I nodded, taking a sip of my water. Kylie was still smiling, but truthfully, I didn't think she would ever stop smiling. Especially not with the way Clay kept looking at her like she was brighter than all the stars in the sky. 

        My best friend deserved happiness.