Fixer Upper (gxg)

Chapter 24

"Can I offer either of you a drink before takeoff?" The flight attendant had a professional smile on her face, as she stopped by Carlie and me in the first class cabin on the flight to Nashville. It didn't hurt that the drinks were free in first class, so we could indulge a little on the way to the wedding.

I wouldn't say that the last two months had flown by, but it was close to it. If time flies when you're having fun, then the days have moved pretty quickly since our Napa weekend. We'd done a little shopping for wedding outfits, with Carlie getting a deep blue off the shoulder dress that had a slit up her thigh that I knew my hand would find when we were dancing. I went with a slightly darker color pantsuit, almost a midnight blue, that Carlie had said looked dashing, so I thought we'd make a good looking couple.

"Would you like anything, peaches?" I asked my lovely girlfriend. She'd spent every weekend with me at the house, with quite a few of her comfy clothes having already migrated over to the guest room that would be hers soon. Not that she'd use it for more than an office, as I was hoping she'd spend all of the nights with me. We'd held true to our talk up in Napa, and most of our weekends consisted of less expensive options, like pizza and movie nights, or going to try different types of ethnic foods that Carlie hadn't sampled, and tons of sex. Like, mind blowing sex that made me glad that my room was on the other side of the house from my parents.

Nothing had changed at all about my thoughts for her, my feelings had only grown stronger. Strong enough that I had every intention of telling her that I loved her sometime this week.

"Oh! A drink? Ummm... A vodka cranberry please." She was so happy to be flying that her mood was contagious, and I just squeezed her thigh, making her jump.

"I'll have a whiskey on the rocks please."

"Perfect. I'll have those right up for you."

"We're having champagne when we get there, just so you know," I told her. "One to have a toast for us all being together, because I can't wait for you to meet Demi and Zee, and two so that we can celebrate you graduating and selling your book." Technically, the graduation ceremony hadn't happened yet, but my mom had already told her that she'd passed all the classes she needed to graduate, so it counted. As for the book, it wasn't quite done yet, since it was being edited, but my mom's publishing friend had already bought the publishing rights, and Carlie was over the moon about it. It was a nice advance, $75k, and then royalties which could be huge if it took off.

That would be pretty amazing if it happened. Carlie was obviously thrilled about it all and already had several more ideas for more books. Did I already hint that I would help her map out the smuttier scenes by performing them with her? Of course! Anything to help my lovely peach out in the name of literary science, right?

"I like the sound of that. I can't wait to meet them since you've spoken so highly of them. Do you really think they'll like me?" She didn't sound too nervous, which was good, because Demi was a true sweetheart of a person, and Zee was too from everything that I'd heard and seen.

"Absolutely. She's going to love you, and Zee is great too. She's a little younger than you are and just graduated herself. Oh! I guess this is a double graduation ceremony, now that I think about it." I leaned over, pressing a soft kiss on her temple. "Trust me, this will be an amazing trip. Tori and Clayton are nice too, though we won't know anyone else at the wedding, so we'll stick together."

"I'm glad to be meeting Demi. I know she's your best friend. Do you have other friends?"

"Not really. I have a lot of work acquaintances, but not close friends, no." While we were still super close, I hadn't made too much of an issue about her past in Fresno. I knew things were bad there with her family, but maybe asking about friends would get her into a conversation where things were happier. "How about you? Is there anyone I need to get approval from?"