by Lauren Price
Alec cocks an eyebrow at my reaction, smiling smugly. “Riley, don’t pretend you don’t want to be my wife one day. It’ll probably happen whether you like it or not.” His confidence is amusing, and I let a chuckle escape my lips as he holds his chin proudly high.
“You stole my bra, and now you want to steal my last name away? Don’t you think you’re being a little greedy, Alec Wilde?” I frown. “You never did tell me where you stashed away my best Mickey Mouse bra.”
“If I tell you, you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone.” He gazes steadily into my eyes, and his finger rises up to press down on my bottom lip. “This is my darkest secret.”
I watch wide-eyed as he glances either way to check who’s watching us. He’s actually going to tell me. I feel a buzz of excitement deep in my gut, and I lean closer for him to whisper to me. His breath tickles my earlobe, and he brushes away the wisps of hair tucked behind my ear, which causes me to shiver. I can’t be sure whether he’s teasing me or not. I never really am when it comes to him.
“Don’t tell a soul,” he whispers, “but I hid your bra . . . in my boxers.”
I jolt backwards.
“What!” My eyes ping open even wider, and I nervously glance down at his lower half.
Please tell me he’s joking.
Alec takes one look at my horrified face and bursts into laughter – making it very evident that he was stringing me along. It reminds me of when I was doing a similar thing the day after I drew on his face. Speaking of which, I still haven’t uploaded that photo . . . Maybe I could do it on his birthday. That would be a cool little surprise, wouldn’t it? At the moment, my profile photo is a selfie of the two of us. I didn’t upload it. Heck, I hate that photo, because it reminds me of how particularly ordinary I look next to Alec. However, Alec stole my phone a couple of months back. He uploaded that photo, making me look like the world’s clingiest girlfriend, and then proceeded to upload a picture of Mickey Mouse as his profile picture.
Needless to say, it didn’t get as many likes as his last shirtless picture, but he found it pretty hilarious. Grasshole.
“You actually believed me.” Alec sobers up from his chuckles, letting out an almost pained gasp for oxygen. “You actually believed me. What kind of person do you take me for, Greene? I’m not that disgusting.” He wrinkles his nose, and in synchronisation, his fingers grab my bra straps and ping them. I’m pretty sure it’s not just me; don’t all girls find that incredibly irritating. I scowl up at him.
“Where did you hide it Alec? If you don’t tell me, I might just have to upload the boxer story . . .”
Alec’s laughter disappears instantly. He edges towards me, a malicious smirk tugging up at those beautiful sculpted lips of his.
“Are you threatening me, Riley Jessica Greene?”
“Possibly.”
“What are you going to do? Try and blind me with body spray again?”
Ah, now that’s a good story. I nod happily, and his gaze narrows.
“I hid the bra –”
“Hey, guys!” Joe interrupts, and I look to the left to see his arm is casually slung round Natasha’s shoulders and she’s grinning like a cat who got the cream.
Most of the people have exited the room now, leaving us and a few others behind. We should probably start heading next door for the party, but dammit! I was so close to knowing the location of the place I searched for so hard. Where did he hide my bra? He’s never even joked about telling me before, so this is exciting.
“We should probably get moving.” Natasha smiles. “C’mon. Let’s head off. Chase and Dylan are already over there.”
Since Dylan and Violet started dating, he has returned to his old self. He’s charming, sensitive and logical. Recently, I’ve encouraged him to ditch some of the clubs he doesn’t want to attend anymore and catch up on his sleep for once. He used to put way too much pressure on himself for the sake of his reputation, and as Alec stated that one time – reputations really don’t matter. I can be the spokesperson for that lesson.
We’re on the brink of senior year now and thinking about college. Everybody plans to go to different colleges, and it breaks my heart to think that I may be separating from all of my friends in just a year’s time. However, it means that I’m a million times more excited to spend time with them during senior year. The way I look at it, this is a chance for a fresh start after Kaitlin, Toby, Tiana and all of last year’s events, and I plan to make the absolute most of it before college starts. I know I’ll have finals, and I know I have college applications to worry about, but I have Alec by my side for both. This year better be kick-ass.
Okay, I’m going to stop now before I puke at the cheesiness.
“Riley.” My thoughts are interrupted as Alec tugs at my arm, willing me towards the door where Joe and Natasha are waiting for us. “C’mon, daydreamer, we need to go to the party.”
“Right.” I nod. “The party. Let’s go.”
“Riley!” Fiona greets me, a grin spreading across her face. Her hand is locked into both of Marie’s, her eyebrow piercing glinting. “You didn’t trip down the aisle!”
“Tell me about it,” I agree with a laugh. “It’s a freaking miracle!”
Since Fiona arrived back in Lindale and started living with Alec’s family again, everything has kind of changed for the better. She got a job as a firefighter, as Alec told me, and by the sounds of it she’s the happiest woman in the world. I’m not sure whether she experienced any emotional trauma from her time as a soldier, and Alec doesn’t know either, but she seems happy enough from day to day so we both just leave it be. When Fiona and I first met, we started really well, and I’m happy to say that I’m a close friend of hers and Marie’s now. That means that Fiona is well aware of how unbalanced and clumsy I am. It’s been a kind of inside joke between us that I was going to trip down the aisle.
“Hey, Fiona,” Alec greets from beside me, squeezing my hand. “Did I ever tell you about the time that Riley tripped over a –”
“Let’s go,” I hiss to Alec, interrupting him, before turning to Fiona with a courteous smile.
“Congratulations. You and Marie are made for each other.”
I don’t even give her a chance to do anything other than smile before I pull Alec away to our designated seats. The country club is decorated slightly differently to when I last saw it. The tables and chairs in front of the bar have been grouped together to form a collective horseshoe shape facing the stairs. The dance floor has been cleared, and everything is decorated with white ribbons and fairy lights. In the dim lighting, it looks even more beautiful than when I last came here.
The tables are dressed with fresh white tablecloths, and orchids – matching the bouquets that the bridal team carried. My place is sandwiched between Natasha and Alec, who has taken his position next to Fiona. A little further along, I can see my mom and Jack climbing into their own seats, and even further still are Dylan, Chase and Joe. They look especially awkward in their tuxes, sipping from champagne glasses. On every plate is a fortune cookie. I think that’s an amazing idea for a wedding favour – it’s so different to the usual ones.
I turn to Alec, gesturing down at the fortune cookie. “Are you breaking yours now?”
Alec frowns and picks his up to shake it. As if, somehow, that will give him the answer. What an idiot. “Yeah, why not?”
I pick mine up and break it, revealing a thin strip of white paper.
How can you have a beautiful ending without making beautiful mistakes?
Alec frowns at the words, before turning to look at me. “This is a beautiful beginning, not an ending.”
Unable to think of anything to say, I lean forward and kiss him lightly on the lips.
Alec smiles and breaks open his own fortune.
Your fortune is as sweet as a cookie.
“Huh,” I say. “That’s a cute one.”
“Do you want to know where I hid your bra?”
I come to attention immed
iately, head snapping round to look at Alec. I nod eagerly.
“I hid it in the bottom of your wardrobe.”
“What?” I ask. “My wardrobe!”
“It’s the one place you didn’t think to look – in your own bedroom.” Alec smirks.
“But what about when you first stole it? You ran out of my bedroom and into yours,” I frown, remembering. “It must have been in your bedroom then. When did you put it back into mine?”
“After I’d stolen it,” Alec tells me, “I hid it under my mattress, but I knew you’d try to find it at some point or other, so I waited for you to leave your bedroom the day after. You, your mom and your brother were coming over to meet us. Then I slipped in and chucked it at the back of your wardrobe, where you wouldn’t think to look. All I had to do then was to get back into my own house and act surprised to see you.” He shrugs. “It’s actually quite worrying how you didn’t find it in the space of four months.”
Hey, in my defence, my wardrobe is a mess. The flooring of it is covered with shoes and boxes of games from my childhood – it’s no wonder I haven’t seen my Mickey Mouse bra in there.
“I can’t believe this!” I look up at him, and he smirks infuriatingly back down at me, taking a sip from a glass of champagne. My fists clench in frustration.
That damned bra was in my wardrobe the entire time and I didn’t know about it? How stupid is he making me look?
Alec wriggles his eyebrows playfully.
The food is going to be served soon. Marie and Fiona are taking their designated seats at the heads of the table.
“I don’t believe it!” I slap him on the shoulder “You – you son of a barnacle!”
“You love me really.” Alec leans slightly closer. “More than Minnie loves Mickey.”
He’s got me there.
A bad boy stole my bra, and I couldn’t be more thankful.
Alec freaking Wilde, you manipulative grasshole.
Lauren Price was born in Coventry in 1999 and remembers spending her childhood with her nose in a book or creating short stories. In her teens she first posted her writing on the online platform Wattpad and soon gained a devoted fanbase for her funny, playful and, in Lauren’s own words, “frankly quite weird creative voice” – she enjoys bringing a smile to her readers’ faces! Lauren likes to draw, watch films, travel and hang out with friends and family. As a self-confessed book lover, she intends to study English at university.