Warnings: Some swearing, lots of dialogue

Word Count: 3217

You and Josh continued to talk about all sorts of things. He told you more stories about his childhood and you told him crazy stories about your mom's various antics as a child. Before you knew it, you had to head back to the house so that you could get ready for the rehearsal dinner.

"I didn't realize that we spent so long out there," you said as you and Josh headed back up the path.

"Like I said, time can really slip away from you out there. I mean, my cousins and I would be out there from the moment we woke up until the moment we had to come in for dinner."

You shook your head, "I wish my family had been like that."

"Well, now you get to be a part of my family," he smiled.

"Not technically," you rolled your eyes.

Laura was standing out on the porch as you neared the house. She appeared to be looking out at something over towards the barn, probably monitoring the decorating process from afar. Josh autonomously took hold of your hand.

"There you two are," she smiled as you came into her view. "I was wondering where you two had run off to."

"We just spent some time out by the lake. I wanted to show her where I spent most of my time as a kid."

"So you two had fun then?"

You both nodded.

"Alright, well you two better get ready for the rehearsal dinner. People are going to start showing up at any minute now!"

You and Josh hopped up the steps together, your hands still interlocked. The inside of the house was empty, which was unusual for this time of day.

"How long is it going to take you to get ready?" Josh asked as you climbed the steps.

"Probably an hour or so. I'll have to do my hair, which will take me a little while."

Josh rolled his eyes, although he still remained smiling. You lightly punched him in the arm to show your disapproval.

"If you were a girl, maybe you'd understand," you argued.

"If you were a guy, maybe you'd understand my annoyance," he retorted, causing you to roll your eyes.

Josh pushed the door to his room open and walked inside. He finally dropped your hand, allowing you to get more than a few feet away from him.

"You get ready first," he said. "I'll only need to be in there for about five minutes."

You grabbed your dress and tights from your suitcase and headed into the bathroom. Most of your makeup was already laid out from that morning. Deciding that it would be easier to work from a clean slate, you cleaned up your face so that it was completely free of makeup.

Just over an hour later, you reappeared from the bathroom completely ready to go. Your hair was curled and pulled back into a low bun, your floral dress was on straight, and everything down to your lipstick was perfect. Josh looked up from his phone when he heard the door open. A smile instantly crossed his face.

"You look nice."

"Thanks," you shrugged, although a smile tugged at the corner of your lips.

"Are you all done?" he asked, starting to stand up.

"Have at it," you said, tossing your clothes from the morning back onto your suitcase.

Josh grabbed his clothes and headed into the bathroom. You took a seat at the desk and pulled out your laptop. Even if you didn't have much time to kill, any chance that you got to write you were willing to take.

Right as you were in the middle of a paragraph, Josh once again walked back out of the bathroom, fully ready to go. He was wearing a button-up shirt and nice pants and had even gone so far as to not wear a hat.

"Well don't you clean up nice," you joked.

He rolled his eyes, you knew he wasn't particularly a fan of dressing up nice.

"Do I look ok?" he asked, giving you a spin.

"You look great."

"Awesome," he smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.

"And I look ok too?"

"I can assure you that all of my cousins are going to be very jealous of me tonight," he smiled.

You could feel heat rising to your face. As someone who hadn't been on very many dates in the past year, it was nice to hear that you may actually get some attention.

"So are you ready to go then? Dinner starts in twenty minutes."

You looked over yourself, "Shoes!" you exclaimed, rushing over to your suitcase.

Your boots were sitting at the bottom of all your clothes, so you quickly dug them out and pulled them on.

"Now I'm ready," you smiled.

"Awesome."

Josh slipped an arm around your waist and together you walked out the door and down the stairs. You could already hear the hum of conversation from out on the porch.

"So who exactly is your cousin marrying?" you asked, suddenly realizing that you didn't have a clue who the bride was.

"Her name is Nickie. They met at his work, a graphic design company, and quickly got engaged and all that. I haven't even met the girl."

"And Jeremy, you two are cousins, but through who?"

"Remember Derek?"

"How could I forget?"

Your comment caused Josh to smile, "Anyway, it's his son."

You nodded, "I still don't understand how you keep them straight. Then again, you should see my family," you laughed.

"Well if you ever need a fake boyfriend..."

You rolled your eyes and bumped your shoulder into Josh.

"Josh!" someone called from the yard.

There was a slight increase in volume as people acknowledged Josh. It was almost like he was a celebrity around here. You allowed Josh's arm to guide you as you walked around the yard.

"Tyler!" Josh smiled.

Josh pulled his arm away from your waist so that he could hug Tyler. It always amazed you how happy they were to see each other, no matter how short of a time they had been apart.

"Boo!" someone said, placing their hands on your shoulders. You jumped and quickly turned around to see who had scared you.

"Jen!" you squealed, immediately recognizing your friend.

"Y/N!" she said, matching your excitement.

She pulled you into a hug, "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"

"It's only been a week!" she said.

"And a week too long, at that."

She leaned in close and lowered her voice, "Tyler clued me in to what's going on with you and Josh. How is that going?"

"Better than expected, I'll tell you all about it later tonight."

"Deal."

"Hey, Josh!" someone else called.

Josh's head swiveled around to see who was calling him. You turned to look and, sure enough, it was his siblings along with some of their cousins. He turned to look at you.

"Do you mind if I...?" he trailed off, pointing over his shoulder.

"Go hang out with your family," you smiled. "I'll survive here with Jenna and Tyler."

"You're the best," he said before jogging across the yard to his family.

"So, what do you think of the family?" Jenna asked.

"There's so many of them," you sighed, "I can hardly keep them all straight, but they're all such lovely people."

"If you think Josh has a big family, you should try going to one of Tyler's family reunions sometime...now that's a huge family."

"Well, if you're ever busy and he needs a fake girlfriend...I have some experience," you laughed.

"You should make business cards," Jenna suggested jokingly. "This is a business that could really take off."

You cringed and shook your head, causing Jenna to laugh.

"What's got you two cracking up?" Tyler asked, suddenly rejoining the conversation.

"Nothing," Jenna smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

People suddenly started to cheer. You tried to peer around the crowd of people standing in the yard, but to no avail. It could only be assumed that Jeremy and his bride-to-be had arrived.

"To the barn!" someone called.

The crowd suddenly started to move. Tyler wrapped an arm around Jenna, who quickly linked her arm with yours so that you wouldn't get lost. That didn't last long though, because Josh suddenly appeared from the crowd and grabbed your hand.

"I'm assuming you're going to stick with Jenna and Tyler?" Josh asked.

"Where are you going?" you asked.

Tyler turned to Josh, "Did you fill her in on anything?" he asked.

"I was planning to do it on the plane, but we both fell asleep, and I couldn't exactly do it in the car with my parents."

"I'm one of Jeremy's groomsmen, so I'll have to go up and sit with the bride and groom. You guys will be with the rest of the family at tables."

"I'll be fine. What exactly do you guys do at your rehearsal dinners?" you asked.

"Basically, they set up a mic and family members take turns telling stories about the bride and groom. Derek cooks up food for everyone and we all get together and have a good laugh. Then the bride and groom thank some people. Once all that is done, everyone splits off into guys and girls and have their parties. That's the Dun family way, at least," Josh explained.

"Sounds fun," you smiled.

You suppressed an audible gasp as you walked into the barn. Lights were strung up along the rafters and tables covered in white tablecloths were arranged periodically. On the far side of the barn was a long table with ten evenly spaced chairs. Jeremy and Nickie were already sat down, completely engrossed in one another.

"I better head up there," Josh stated, letting go of your hand. "I'll see you tonight."

Tyler, Jenna, and you began to scan the room for an empty table.

"There's Abigail and Ashley!" you exclaimed upon seeing Josh's sisters.

"Perfect," Tyler smiled.

The three of you walked up to the table and took a seat next to Abigail. Ashley was also at the table, fiddling with her drink cup.

"You weren't saving seats for anyone, were you?" Jenna asked.

"You, actually," Ashley smiled. "We didn't want you to get stuck at a table with family members you barely knew."

"Thank you," you smiled, it was nice to know that Josh's family was looking out for you.

"Where's Jordan?" Jenna asked.

Abigail nodded up towards the front of the room. He was sat next to Josh at the main table, laughing with one of his cousins.

You made small talk as everyone else filed in and filled the tables. Josh kept winking at you from his spot at the head table, to which you just shook your head and suppressed a laugh.

Once everyone was settled in, Derek walked to the front of the barn and took the mic.

"Alright, everybody. Let's take a moment to settle down."

The conversations around you quickly died out as everyone turned their attention to Derek up on stage. He looked different dressed up all nice.

"Ok, so, welcome to yet another wedding in the Dun family. To those of you who have been here before, welcome back. To new additions to the family, I hope you enjoy your time here. I'm sure y'all know how this works by now, we take turns telling stories and all that jazz. Try to get those embarrassing ones out in the open. While this is all going on, I'll be coming around and taking orders. If you guys get thirsty, we have coolers back there full of stuff to drink, so help yourselves. I'll get us started here," he said before clearing his throat. "Ok, so back when Jeremy was little, about six or seven, we had this giant apple tree out in the backyard that his Mom used to make apple pie."

Jeremy's face went bright red and he buried his face in his arms. A few giggles were heard from people who knew where the story was going.

"Anyway, one day his Mom was out there collecting apples and Jeremy wanted to help, so he pulled up his pants up and went scrambling up the tree. He always loved climbing the trees in the backyard. So he climbs up the tree and is picking all the apples from the top and dropping 'em down to his Mom. I'm out there, reading the paper on the porch when I heard this distant call of 'Daaaaaaad!' I set down my paper and go walking over to the tree and when I look up, Jeremy has gotten his pants stuck on a branch. Of course, Liliana was scared out of her mind, and I had to tell her to watch him while I ran and got the ladder. We finally managed to get him down, but not without ripping his pants, the poor boy. Let's just say, he never climbed that tree again. The apple pie that night was one of the best yet though!"

There was laughter in the crowd as Derek walked offstage, leaving the mic open for anyone to take. Patrick, Jeremy's brother, was quick to get up to the front of the stage, much to Jeremy's apparent dismay.

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Abigail whispered.

"Can I have a soda?" you asked.

"I'll have one too," Jenna added.

Tyler just shook his head. Abigail gave you a thumbs up and made her way between the tables to where the coolers were sitting. Patrick tapped the mic a few times.

"Ok, here's a good story," he smiled. "Back during Jeremy's first year of college, way before he met Nickie here, he and I were always on the lookout for women. Now, me being a junior in college by this point, I thought I was all cool so I showed up at Jeremy's dorm one night like, 'Bro, I know this awesome bar with a ton of chicks that we can get into,' and Jeremy is all like, 'Yeah, man. Let's do it'. So we get all ready to go and head out to this little bar on the edge of town. Naturally, this place is swimming with girls who are a bit tipsy. I turn to Jeremy and am like, 'Ok, dude. I bet you ten bucks you can't get at least five of these girls' numbers within the hour.' He gets all pumped up and slicks his hair back and walks up to the first girl and I kid you not, this is what he says: 'Hey girl, are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see.' He literally pulled out the oldest line in the book, and he hasn't had a single drink at this point. You can only imagine how things went from there, but he did manage to get himself five numbers in the hour. Best ten dollars I ever spent," he finished before setting the mic down.

Jeremy grabbed the mic that was sitting in front of him, "I still have those numbers too," he laughed, which gained him a smack in the arm from Nickie.

Once again, there was a roar of laughter just as Abigail reappeared with our drinks. She set down two drinks for her and Ashley, and the sodas for you and Jenna.

"You didn't tell us you were bringing back so much! We could have helped!" Jenna said.

Abigail waved her off, "I was fine, honestly."

Once again there was the sound of someone clearing their throat in the mic. You looked up to see Josh standing at the front of the stage.

"This is going to be great," Ashley smiled, turning to us. "Josh is the king of stories."

"Bad pickup lines are hard to follow, I have to admit," Josh started, "but for this story we're going to have to go back in time a bit. As many of you know, as kids we all went down to the lake a lot. We would get absolutely filthy and rough house and just generally be quite rowdy children, but one day stands out in my mind. All of the cousins were hanging out in the lake, playing with this rubber ball that Jordan had won at the fair the week before."

"Woo!" Jordan cheered from behind him, causing Josh to smile.

"And so we're all in the lake, throwing this thing around and playing keepaway. Suddenly, Jeremy has the ball and Ricky is coming for him, and we all know how scary Ricky is when he's in the middle. He will take you down. So in his panic, Jeremy lobs it straight into the trees. Of course, we're all yelling at him and telling him to go get it, so he climbs out of the water and disappears behind the trees. We're all waiting for him to come back and the game to continue, when we hear this yell from in the trees. Jeremy suddenly comes sprinting back out from the forest, wearing what looks like black pants. We all start yelling at him and asking what's going on and where is the ball and all that crap. But all he does is yells, 'Ants!' and takes off at a sprint down the path. Naturally, all of us get out of the water and start running after him. All the parents are sitting outside, and when they see all of us suddenly sprinting back, they all start to get up. Jeremy goes running in there and points at his legs all frantically, which upon all of us looking at him closer, are covered completely in ants. So Uncle Derek goes and grabs the hose and starts spraying off his legs and these ants go flying everywhere. All the kids were laughing their asses off, meanwhile Jeremy is freaking out as these ants go pouring off of him. We never did get that ball back," Josh sighed, shaking his head.

Not even you could stop yourself from laughing at that one. Next to you, Abigail, Ashley, and Tyler were all doubled over with laughter at the memory. Jeremy had gone bright red by this point from so much embarrassment.

"Alright, guys. What are you wanting for dinner?" Derek asked, suddenly appearing.

"What are the options?" Tyler asked.

"Cheeseburger, hamburger, or hot dog," he explained.

The five of you gave him your order, which he wrote down before moving on to the next table. On the stage, one of Nickie's relatives had taken the stage.

There was the sound of footsteps behind you which you dismissed as a passerby until Josh suddenly appeared between you and Jenna. He bent down so that he was slightly below eye level.

"How'd I do?" he asked.

"Amazing, one of the best stories so far," you smiled.

"That was gold, Josh! Great choice," Ashley commented.

Abigail and Tyler nodded in agreement.

"Awesome. I was really nervous that only the cousins would find it funny."

"No, it was great," you reassured him. "Everyone was loving it."

"Ok, well I just wanted to check in. I better head back up there," he said before giving you a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Ok, I'll see you later."