The little baby who she'd once given birth to had grown up so fast. The days of diaper changing and sleepless nights feeding her little bundle of joy were long gone. Her first born, now 25 years of age was preparing for a brand new chapter in her life as Virginia wiped a tear from the corner of her eye seeing Katie standing there in her fluffy white dress. The little girl who she'd once known had now made a full transformation and grown into a beautiful, angelic looking young woman.
"Oh my darling, you look so gorgeous! James won't be able to keep his eyes off you." Virginia exclaimed quickly trying to wipe the little tear that had escaped from her eye before her daughter could see. However, she hadn't managed to do it quick enough as Katie already had her arms wrapped around her mother's body whispering in her ear "Awwww mum...please don't cry."
Shaking her head, Virginia laughed as she held on to her daughter's petite body. "I can't help it Katie. I'm just so proud of what you've become." She instantly replied never wanting to let her go. But today was her big day, today was the day that she'd be letting her daughter go to be with the man she loved. Katie's very own fairytale that Virginia never quite managed to get. And to say the least, Virginia was more than happy for her. Over the moon.
As a mother to three kids now, life for Virginia hadn't been the easiest after graduating from Jameson but she'd still managed. There was Katie, of course, her first born child to an unknown father after she'd fallen pregnant in high school. Then came her son Aiden just when Virginia had finally thought she'd be able to settle down, 10 years younger than her first born child. That wasn't the case however when his father had walked out of their life after finding out that she was pregnant. Of course, that had left Virginia distraught but somehow, 15 year old Katie had someone managed to be the light at the end of the tunnel that had helped Virginia pick up the pieces again. Another 2 years later and Virginia had found happiness again with another man, Christopher, who'd proven to love both of the brunette's kids like his own, and of course, a couple of years later the two love birds had married and added a 3rd addition to their little family-- Leighton. Their beautiful 6 year old daughter who was the flower girl at her big sister's wedding.
Right on cue as Virginia and her daughter unraveled from their hug the rest of their family came running through the doors of the little room where they were getting ready. And in that moment, Virginia could've sworn the whole room had grown into a flurry of excited joy and laughter as the 5 of them stood, everyone cooing over Katie proudly.
Moments later, with her veil on and a bouquet of stunning white lilies in her hand Katie was ready. Ready to get married as Virginia couldn't help herself from tearing up again before the wedding had even started. Before they'd even left to go to the chapel. Immediately noticing, her husband stood by her side with a proud smile on his face as he squeezed Virginia's hand, little Leighton wrapped up in his arms. It was obvious, by the glint in his eyes that although he may not have been Katie or Aiden's biological father he was proud of them and loved them as their own.
"Oh god, I just can't believe this is it. My babies all grown up." Virginia shook her head happily, unable to keep her eyes off her daughter and laughter once again filled the room.
"Well, what are we waiting for standing here? We've got a wedding to attend!" Christopher announced as the excitement grew and Katie linked arms with her mother, ready to begin her journey down the aisle.
California Dreamin' || Shelby & Alexis || Summer 2018
It'd been eight hours since they left North Carolina. Six of which were spent on a plane, flying across the country, and another two spent trying to figure out the nonsense of hotel rooms, schedules and whatever other stupid crap the team had to know for this week-long stay at Pepperdine University. It was summer, which meant longer stays in better places than they got during the school semester, and Shelby loved it.
They checked in and then had half an hour to get ready to head over to the fields for practice. It'd be a light one, but Shelby was still dreading it a little. He stepped off the bus, sucker in his mouth and cap pulled down low. The entire team could recognize a cheer camp when they heard one, cheerleaders were in no shortage at Duke. A couple of the guys were dating girls on the squads there, anyway, and so they'd all heard about the cheer camp going on at the college they were playing at. Shelby lifted his baseball cap off his head and ran a hand through his hair, glancing around at the girls in the area. He grinned as his teammate slapped his shoulder, but it froze almost immediately as he noticed a familiar face at the top of some stunt. "Holy shit," he whispered, pushing his sunglasses up and letting his bag of gear slide off his shoulder.
Burke was nervous. He'd never known nerves quite like these, not even when he first started doing commissioned work for people across the country. These days, his sculptures were everywhere. Well, they were on both coasts and scattered between, but they weren't "everywhere" or anything. But here he stood, elbows on the bar that had been tucked away in one of the rooms of Aspect Ratio, the art gallery that he was using for his first real show. It wasn't an exhibit, he'd done plenty of those, picking a handful of pieces to show off in a room or row all together. This was different. He was selling the pieces, all twenty four of them, and they were going to the highest bidder at the end of the night. It felt cheap and like he was selling his soul, but he'd been so overwhelmed with preparing that he didn't feel much of anything.
"Thanks," he said to the bartender as he knocked back the shot she'd handed him. She was talking, politely, about how the artists were always really nervous, but things always turned out. Burke hated her polite conversation, and he was in no mood to tolerate it simply because he had to. Shoving a ten into her tip jar, Burke turned and scanned the room, carefully avoiding the eyes of his parents who were still extremely unsure of how to handle this entire thing. They'd never taken him seriously when it came to art, but he'd somehow made a living thus far, so they felt obligated to come to his show knowing full-well that it meant he'd be rolling in money by the end of the night. There was probably pride or something there, Burke didn't care either way.
He smiled at Frankie, heading her direction. She was talking to Mel and Casey, who had thankfully agreed to come tonight despite how busy they were with twin daughters and Mel being an E.R. doctor or whatever it was she called herself. She saved lives, Burke knew that, but right now he needed something more real. He flexed his fingers into straight lines as he dipped down and slid his hand into Frankie's, holding her hand and hoping she didn't make fun of the nervous twitching his kept doing. "I think it's officially started. Nobody's here, which is really an excellent sign." Burke's sarcasm had never faded much, but he didn't mind.
Hopping into his blue jeep Beau slipped on his sunglasses and blasted his music. He had to admit that it was pretty strange being home. Sure he hadn't gone very far, he hadn't even left the state, but he found himself always staying at school for one thing or another.
The wheels of his jeep squealed as he pulled into the parking lot. It felt like ha hadn't even left Jameson. He climbed out of the jeep donning a bright red Bulldogs shirt and khaki shorts. Perfect Georgia weather, he even kept his sunglasses on to hide the sleepiness and the mild hangover on this Saturday morning.
Beau looked down at the list of items his Mom had left him as he walked through the aisles of the Piggly Wiggly. "I don't even understand why we need half of this stuff." He reached up and scratched his head. "And there is no way I'm buying.." Beau looked around before saying the word under his breath. "tampons."
