Rushing to go outside to meet the girls, I run through the hallway and down to the elevator like a mad woman as I do my best to not make us late for our bridesmaid dress fittings. It's still strange to me seeing Madison married and now Kinsley and Lucas will be tying the knot in no time at all. Since when did we grow up? I still feel like the same eighteen year old girl I was when I first met almost all of them. Just with a little more life experience under her belt.

The small, yet classy bridal shop we pull up to is the same one we all gathered at to help Kinsley choose her wedding dress a few months ago. She truly looked like a princess that day in the ballgown style white wedding dress decorated with a multitude of beads and sparkling crystals and a cathedral length veil. Lucas is going to flip when he sees her walk down that aisle.

"What do you think? Does it make my ass look huge?" I come out of the fancy dressing room sporting a floor length blush colored satin bridesmaids dress with a sweetheart neckline. The mermaid style wasn't something I'd normally go for, but it's something I'll just have to get used to.

The wedding seems to be coming up faster and faster and while everything seems to be going smoothly, the entire bridal party agrees to try to make today as enjoyable for Kinsley as possible and to not discuss anything sad or mention anything that has pissed us off lately.

However, I honestly can't think of anything but happy moments for me personally. My new adventure with Ethan has me feeling  like I'm on cloud nine and work is going very well. His realtor friend is actively searching for a few different possible locations for me to finally be able to open up my art gallery and all of my friends are happy in their own lives. Seriously, what more could I ask for in this moment in time?

It's been a couple of weeks now since our friends found out about us actively pursuing getting to know each other on a romantic level. Even though they've all remained respectful and haven't been pushing the issue to make it official, they all find little subtle ways to bring him up or let me know how cute we are together so that the idea stays fresh on my mind. On many occasions, they would bring up the fact that Ethan wouldn't even try dating anyone else until I came along as if I didn't already know that piece of information.

I honestly don't feel hesitant to make it official anymore. If things are going so great, why not?

"Oh wow, Ava! You look amazing!" Kinsley claps happily with a brightly lit smile as she sits back on the equally fancy white couch fit for a bride while sipping on a glass of champagne.

"Girl, I'm so jealous of your ass, it's not even funny." Emma walks over wearing an identical version of the same dress.

"I swear I've gained weight since I've gotten married." Madison adds as she does a three-sixty in the mirror while she stands on the other side of me. "Could I get this in a bigger size?" She asks the attendant who simply nods and walks away to grab another dress for her.

Megan walks back out of her dressing room and joins us in front of the three multi-angled mirrors and smacks my ass, "No wonder Ethan waited for you."

"Shut up!" I giggle and look myself up and down. It is classy and sexy at the same time. I just hope I don't get bloated because all of that would definitely be seen. Maybe I could just get some Spanx just in case.

The lobby door to this upscale bridal boutique chimes once again signaling that there are some more visitors arriving in the bridal shop. Saturdays and Sundays seem to be their most busiest times and since we all wanted to be here together, all of us girls have had our Saturday afternoon appointment booked for months now. Kinsley didn't even know what bridesmaids dresses she wanted until a few weeks ago when she group texted us photos asking for us to pick out of two shades of pink that honestly looked the exact same to me but one was apparently blush while the other was petal. I guess that's the kind of thing that make these brides begin to act crazy.

"Well, hello my beautiful bride!" Lucas almost sings as soon as he walks over to where we are in the back and sees Kinsley sitting pretty in her all white strapless bodycon dress.

The two of them cutely kiss and make us all teasingly roll our eyes as we grab the shoes we need to try on with our dresses. Pairs of sparkling silver heels adorn our feet and shine through the slit running up our right legs. I have to give it to Kinsley, when she has a vision, she can certainly pull it all together.

"Ugh, I think I need a smaller size in these." I say as I turn to the side and see all of the excess shoe I have underneath my foot. "I'll be right back."

With bare feet, I stroll around the corner to the plethora of shoes neatly placed upon a wall full of shelves. Spotting the same style, I scan the boxes with my finger until I land on a size seven. To avoid busting my ass and being embarrassed, I sit down like a lady would in a dress like this and slip them on to each foot before tightening the strap around my ankles. The smaller sized shoes already feel much better than the first pair since they're not putting uneven pressure on my feet.

"I think these fit okay, what do you-" I stop in my tracks as I round the corner and see Ethan standing there.

He's holding on to an iced coffee with his mouth hanging open the moment he spots me and his eyes widening as they roam my body. I can feel my cheeks heating up to a pink hue that surely competes with this dress the longer he gapes at me.

"You two are so cute. I can't even handle it." Kinsley smiles at both of us while watching our interaction as if we were putting on some kind of show just for her.

"You look...um, you look...uh..." The words die on Ethan's tongue.

"The word you're looking for is beautiful." Justin leans over in a hushed tone to help him out.

"Stunning." Ethan finishes. "You look stunning."

All of the girls swoon over his word of choice and his adorably awestruck facial expression. Bashfully lowering my head as I nibble on my lower lip, I run my hands over my dress to smooth it out as if it even had any wrinkles to begin with.

Madison walks over to me and places her hand on my back, giving me a slight nudge in his direction, "The words you're looking for are thank you." She whispers to me.

"Thank you." I repeat as I step closer to him, stopping just a foot in front of him.

"I, uh, coffee...I coffee for you. I brought you coffee." He sounds like a teenage boy seeing their crush in the hallway at school.

"Thank you." I smile up at him. "I just need to change first."

I turn around and start to walk towards the dressing rooms when I hear him mumble goddamn under his breath. What girl wouldn't want that kind of reaction from the man they're currently dating? Having originally questioned if this dress made me look bad, I now don't even want to take it off. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd buy another one just to wear around the house.

When I come back out in the casual summer dress I wore here, Ethan immediately stops conversing with everyone to smile over at me. He begins to walk in my direction, completely abandoning whatever they were talking about as if he didn't have any other choice in the matter. Handing me over the coffee, he leans down and sweetly kisses the top of my cheekbone, "I figured you needed coffee after last night. Neither one of us slept much."

His words make my face redden and a giggle escape me as he presses one more chaste kiss on my forehead. We didn't even have sex last night. We just stayed up most of the night talking about anything and everything, but the way he said it made me feel naughty. There's no doubt he knows what he's doing to me. Over five years of holding everything back, of course he's going to put it all out there.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I smile up at him as I sip through the straw of the caffeinated liquid gold, silently gawking over his masculine yet soft beauty.

"The other guys were coming to see their wife or girlfriends and I figured I'd come see mine." He says with a subtle smile. My drinking is put on pause as I hear what he says. His? His...girlfriend? Is that what I am? Are we? Since Ethan can read me like an open book, he realizes what he had just said and his eyes widen a bit before he sticks his hands in his pockets and lowers his gaze to the ground. "I mean...uh...shit." He sighs out when he doesn't know what exactly to say.

With him being a lawyer and just incredibly smart to boot, it's always so adorable to me how he can never seem to formulate what he really wants to say around me. I don't know how I ended up having this effect on him, but it's kind of...exhilarating.

"You want to be my boyfriend? Officially?" I sweetly smirk while lifting his chin so that he can look back at me.

"I always have." He tucks his lips in his mouth.

My thumb runs over one of his dimples while I look into those dark chocolate irises. I can almost hear his heart pounding out of his chest the longer I take to say anything and even though he lets a small smile spread, his eyes tell me that he's worried. He may be a few years older than me and much taller, but his current doe eyes make him seem more like an innocent child.

It's not like I don't already know so much about him or like we need to get through the what's your favorite color stage. I already know his family and friends and his annoying little habits and quirks and he already knows mine. Yet, we're still attracted to one another and want to spend most of our time together.

"I think I'd be okay with that." I finally say with a smile and he doesn't even try to conceal his sigh of relief.

Wrapping me up in his arms, he picks me up off of the floor in pure happiness and I do everything I can to not drop the drink still being grasped in my right hand as I giggle out at all of his little kisses. I see everyone looking at us either with a smile or with a confused expression at his sudden burst of joy, but I don't even care. His happiness is so contagious that it's hard not to want to make him feel like this all of the time.

Placing me back on my feet, he cups my face and kisses me passionately in front of everyone to see. The teasing oohing and aahing of our closest friends make us both laugh, snapping us out of our little bubble.

"Does this mean you two are finally together together?" Emma asks with a hopeful smile. Out of everyone, she'd have to be the biggest hopeless romantic in the group. Always hoping to find the love of her life and see her friends and family find theirs.

"Yeah, we are." My smile increases as I'm pulled back into Ethan's arms.

"I'm so freaking happy for you two!" Kinsley bounces in her seat. "Two of my best friends together at last. And right before our wedding! How cute!"

"Mmhmm. So...yeah, we need to go." Ethan grabs both of my hands and starts to pull me away while walking backwards and smiling from ear to ear.

"Where are you guys going?" Emma innocently asks.

"Emma!" Everyone reprimands her in damn near unison and her face lights up as it registers as to why he's whisking me away.

"Wait! What about my dress?" I laugh as I'm playfully being pulled towards the exit.

I'm supposed to be purchasing my bridesmaids dress today so that I can begin alterations on it. As cute as he is and as happy as we both are, I still have responsibilities and I won't be letting Kinsley and Lucas down during this time in their lives.

"I've got it. Pay me back Monday morning." Madison chuckles with a knowing look and a wave goodbye.