FIVE | FITTINGS

"Are you inviting Justin to the wedding?"

Third Person POV:

Toni flutters her eyes open to the bright sunlight from outside her window. The alarm blares annoyingly throughout her bedroom. She blinks several times, the sunlight blinding as ever. The small birds chirp outside and she groans into her pillow at the alarm going off so loudly. Her arm reaches over and presses the snooze button, finally shutting it up. She sighs heavily before lifting the soft blanket off of her bare legs, the cool air of the room hitting her warm body. Lifting herself up and off of the bed, her feet make contact with the soft carpet flooring and she curls her toes at the comforting feel.

Her feet drag her to the restroom inside of her bedroom, shutting the door behind her and leaning a hand on the counter. Running a hand through her hair, she twists the knob of the shower to the warm water and let's it run into the tub as she gets undressed. She steps into the shower after fully unclothing herself and begins lathering her body and hair with the respected products.

After correctly washing herself off, she turns off the shower head and grabs a towel off of the rack behind the doorway and wraps it around herself. She walks over to the sink and looks at her face in the mirror, rubbing her cheeks and grabbing the face cleansing wash and squirting some onto her hand. She smooths it out on her face, making sure to rub it over ever small space of skin and washes it off with the running water. She grabs the hand towel and dries off all of the water, grabbing her toothbrush and brushing her teeth. She finishes that and rinses out all of the toothpaste, exiting the restroom.

Going to her dresser to get the lotion, she hears a knock on her door and pauses her movements.

"Who?"

"Lauren Peterson." A quirky, mid toned voice says from outside Toni's door. She smiles and shakes her head, putting the lotion bottle down on the dresser again. She walks over to her door and unlocks it, swinging it open to reveal Lauren with a blue and white lace crop top, some white jeans, and a pair of blue heels.

"Well, you look nice." Toni laughs, gesturing for her to come in. Lauren smiles brightly, walking inside the creme colored room and plopping herself down onto the bed.

"Thank you ma'am. But you'll be looking even better in your wedding dress." She says, wiggling her eyebrows while propping herself up on her elbows.

A knot forms in her stomach and she gulps, "Right. The fitting's are today."

"Oh, don't sound too excited now." Lauren laughs, sitting up now and placing her hands in her lap while watching Toni walk to her dresser and squirt the lotion in her palm. She rubs the liquid product on her legs up and down, her legs feeling smooth since she'd shaved them.

"What? Oh, sorry."

"It's alright. Don't apologize. Just get ready so we can go." She says softly, smiling and laying back on the bed. Pulling out her phone, she unlocks it and goes to her messages. She smiles at something someone had sent her and begins typing.

"What has you all happy?"

"Nothing. Donny is uh- coming for the fitting to try on his tux." She says, slouching over in place and rubbing her leg.

"That's great." She smiles, her stomach bubbling with a small bit of excitement to have her sister and her best friend preparing themselves and their dates for Toni's... big day.

"Yeah," Lauren says, crossing one leg over the other and chewing on her bottom lip, "So, Noah's getting fitted for his tux today and I bet he'll look handsome." She murmurs, even though Noah had asked her to tell Toni he'll be visiting family personally.

"He will." Toni agrees, finishing off her outfit with some Victoria's Secret perfume. She sees that she's almost running out and frowns since that was her favorite one. She pushes the thought aside, telling herself she'll get more soon before she decides to let her curls bounce free and begins applying some lipstick.

"Are you inviting Justin to the wedding?"

At this, Toni whirls around to face Lauren and accidentally swipes the applicator across her face, the lipstick product making a crooked line on her cheek. She sighs and turns back around, grabbing a makeup wipe and rubbing the lipstick off of her skin.

"No, I'm not." She says to Lauren with her head bowed down and her voice coming out mumbled. She folds up the used makeup wipe and throws it in the trash.

"Why?"

"I- because I don't know him like that." She stutters. Lie. She takes a pearl earring and removing the earring back. Pushing the needle through her ear piercing, she reattaches the earring back and does the same for the other one. She hardly ever stutters, and it's sketchy when she does.

"Really?" She laughs, poking her tongue out against the inside of her cheek and nodding her head slowly, "Alright. I'll meet you downstairs. Come down when you're ready to go."

***

Third Person POV:

Justin shuts the door of the passenger side door of the Mercedes Benz, gazing over at the very distinguished looking building. Ryan locks the door with his set of keys and walks over to stand directly next to Justin, slipping his phone into his pocket and sighing.

"Alright. Here we are. Let's go inside, it's freaking cold out here." Ryan chuckles, pushing Justin's shoulder and jogging up the first few steps in his thick coat for this weather. Justin follows after him, looking behind him to see the thick fog overlapping the horizon. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and sighs before turning back around and walking up the few steps to the entrance of the building. Ryan holds the door open for him and he nods his head as a thank you and walks inside.

The rooms decorated nicely, the organization of all the black and white tuxes placed neatly on the rack for easy access. The women's wedding dresses are displayed on each side of him, the expensive fabric cascading down the wall with a gleam of exceptionalism. The diamonds adorning the bright, white dresses shines brilliantly as Justin and Ryan walk down the isle. The irony of that.

"Gentlemen!" A quirky, high pitched tone says from behind them. Justin sees it to be a short, poised man with measuring tape in one hand and the other at his side, leaning all his weight on his right foot, "If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Peterson said that one man would be trying on the suit for the groom. Who will it be?"

"That's him, sir." Ryan says, grinning and rubbing his chin as a small snicker leaves his lips. Justin gives him a disappointed look, shaking his head slightly and blinking his eyes once. Ryan mouthes a what? and creases his eyebrows, quirking up the corner of his lips.

"Great. You're coming with me. You!" He says alertedly, pointing at Ryan with a confused look, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I, my good man," Ryan pauses, popping his collar with a grin on his lips, "Am Mr. Bieber's best friend."

The man manages a fake smile and smacks his lips together before he slings the measuring tape over his shoulder and holds it there, "Well, best friend, will you be attending the wedding?"

"I have yet to receive an invitation, sir." Ryan says subtly, looking the man dead in the eye and standing tall and broad.

"I'm taking that as a no, then." He says, whipping around in place and flicking a finger in his direction, motioning for them to follow him. Ryan huffs out a breath of slight irritation, Justin shaking his head and following the man. He feels Ryan following after him and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"I'll be having you try on a tux also," He trails off, looking through all the tags on the tuxes and humming quietly to himself before finding the correct one and taking it off the rack. He goes over and holds the tux up against Ryan's chest and Ryan stands still, "Ah yes, you're the same size as the best man. How convenient for me. He had a prior engagement with the Mr. West as well, something about going to invite family personally." He scoffs, shaking his head in dismissal, puffing out a breath, and taking the tux away from Ryan's frame, only to give it back to him and shooing him off.

"Go on, the fitting rooms are down the hall."

The man then turns back to the racks and takes a special, clean tux off of the rack and handing it to Justin. The man smiles happily, telling Justin to go ahead and follow Ryan down the hall. Justin obliges and walks to the rooms, seeing an empty one and going inside, undressing himself to try on the very expensive tuxedo.

***

Third Person POV:

"Toni, you'll look amazing!" Kayla exclaims, smiling brightly at her good friend, pulling on the door handle when they arrive at the fitting place, and holding open the door for Toni, Audrey, and Lauren. They all thank her and Kayla walks in lastly, her eyes immediately gazing in amazement at all the beautiful wedding dresses.

"Oh lord, I'm in heaven." Kayla breathes out, turning in a circle to look at every single dress that's hung on the racks neatly. She gasps sharply at one dress in particular and runs over to it, taking the fabric in between her fingers and feeling how silky smooth it is. Toni, Audrey, and Lauren's laughs blend together at Kayla's excitement and Kayla blushes profusely, muttering an I'm sorry and going over to them.

Toni shakes her head and chuckles slightly, a short, perky man approaching the women and smiling happily, the keys jingling on his hemline. He stares astounded at Toni, from the frame of her body and her beautiful face, that seems to mesmerize him for a moment.

"Ms. Jones, a pleasure." He greets, holding out a hand for her to take. She smiles a toothless smile, feeling her face heat up, and slides her hand into his palm, shaking it lightly.

"Oh, it's all mine." Toni says in return, slipping her hand back out of his and holding it at her side.

"I'm glad you're here. Let me get your dress from the back." He says happily, turning around and beginning to walk away. He turns back around swiftly when Audrey speaks up.

"It's not one of these?" Audrey asks curiously, gesturing all around her to the numerous dresses up for everyone to admire.

"Oh honey, no. These are just display dresses. The real magic is in the back." He says proudly, flicking a finger in his direction for the girls to follow. He walks down the hall to a big back room, where dresses hang on racks for the owners to come and take for their special days. Kayla remains at the man's heels, excited beyond belief. He opens another door and there hangs a covered dress. The man takes it off the rack and hands it to Toni. She takes it in her hands and feels her stomach twist.

"Go on dear, try it on. The fitting rooms are down the hall. Your friends may go with you."

Toni looks to Audrey, Kayla, and Lauren, smiling halfheartedly as they all gleam with excitement for her. She turns around and begins walking to the fitting room, closing the door behind her.

***

Third Person's POV:

Toni walks out of the fitting room, the white dress hugging her tightly around her abdomen, but not tight enough to make her uncomfortable. The white fabric falls down around her legs, the embroidered diamonds shining in the light. She takes a look at herself in the mirror right outside her dressing room, to see how her figure looks in the dress, smiling at herself in content.

Justin looks over the man that's adjusting his tie, into the mirror to see himself in the white, long sleeve button up, a woman helping him fix his sleeves. He raises an eyebrow curtly before the man steps away from him.

"Cindy, the jacket."

A blonde haired woman takes the blazer jacket from a hanger and slips it up Justin's arms, and over his shoulders. He shrugs it on, fixing his collar and buttoning it up. The man gestures for Justin to walk out into the main room and take a look at himself in the mirror, him obliging and walking out in his dress shoes.

It's then when it happens.

Toni enters the room as well, Lauren and Audrey holding the back of her dress and following behind her. She looks up from her feet, seeing someone she didn't expect to see in a black tux, with his hair nicely gelled back and a look of professionalism lacing his figure. Her heart stops beating for a moment, and a surprised look overcomes her. The hand that had touched his at the engagement dinner begins to tingle, something that always seems to happen when she sees him. Her knees almost give way, and she has to control herself so she doesn't fall.

Ryan nudges Justin's arm and he turns around at the signal, seeing Toni standing there with her chocolate brown eyes staring right into his. She's wearing a white wedding dress, that hugs her curves perfectly, her hair done up into a bun, small baby curls falling here and there. She looks beautiful in the wedding dress, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Justin, I didn't know--"

"Hi Toni," He begins, taking one step forward and feeling his stomach becoming heavier the closer he gets. She looks at him as he comes closer, feeling her face heat up with nervousness. He licks his pink lips, taking her hand in his. She gasps sharply, his hand sending a spark of electricity all throughout her body down to her toes, a shiver going down her spine. He feels a shock in his chest, which is an equivalent to what they both feel inside.

He'd done it to assure his feelings were right, and that it wasn't just an illusion to him, but real, legitimate, feelings that weren't fake, but very much real, as he could feel deep inside of him. And evidently, she'd felt it also, from the way her mouth hangs open and her eyes twinkle with delight.

He just needed to make sure.

And now he knows, he's well assured.

What he feels for her, is more than what you feel when you get a puppy for Christmas, or when you get a dessert at your favorite ice cream joint, it's what you feel when you feel the same in someone as you feel in yourself. Someone who's felt what it's like to love and lose someone, a person who's so close to your heart, that it's dangerous, impactful towards your health and stability. Her brother Marcus, his wife Sheila.

It's the feel of empathy, and it's strong in the both of them.

"You look beautiful."

"And you look very handsome."

To see her in that dress, and for her to see him in that tux, as if they were bride and groom, is strong as ever. She feels self assured as well, knowing that what she feels for him isn't the same as what she feels for Noah, it's way stronger.

And that terrifies her.

***

A/N

HI. HELLO.

AHHH, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

MY CHILDREN. 😭

I WAS FANGIRLING TOO HARD, I'M SHAKING.

but thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed. 💗