If someone had told me a month ago that I'd be living on my own, I would have thought they were crazy.

I had been living in my new apartment now for almost two weeks, and I was in love with it. Every day I woke up early and curled up in my brand new armchair, with a cup of hot coffee, just to watch the sunrise from my corner bay windows. I would watch it move up over the water, casting its rays upon the Manhattan skyline.

My favorite part was when the light would strike the Empire State Building just right, and make it shine like a bright golden statue. I knew it would be a sight I'd never get tired of seeing.

After enjoying the show, I would continue my new morning routine by taking the elevator down to the first floor and hopping on the treadmill or elliptical machine for thirty minutes. I preferred morning workouts, as I was usually the only one in the room. Occasionally there would be one other person in there, but most of the time, it was just me.

Once I finished working out, I'd head back to my apartment on the seventh floor and climb into the shower to get ready for the day. Though, there had been a few nights where Eric would stay over, so on those days, I'd nudge him awake before I got in the shower. Which was his invitation to join me.

Things between him and I still felt weird, at least for me. He was almost overly attentive. He would request to take me to lunch nearly every day or insist on escorting me home from work every evening. Even though my new apartment was in the opposite direction of my old one.

I couldn't tell if he did those things because he didn't trust Ryan, or worse, because he didn't trust me. Or maybe it was because he was honestly trying to live up to his proposal. Whatever the reason was, it was definitely an adjustment. Still, I didn't resist his attempts to try to reconnect with me. I was determined to show him he was who I wanted.

While Sasha was over the moon about not having to mail anything more to the guests, Becca was now royally pissed with me. So much so that it made it difficult for Sasha and me to hang out much. While Sasha supported my decision to stay with Eric, she did mention how Becca also had a valid reason to be as annoyed as she was. She assured me that Becca would get over it and that she'd still be at our wedding to show her support.

Although Sasha still helped me complete some of the remaining wedding tasks, Eric actually stepped up more. He was especially helpful in rebooking the vendors I had initially canceled during that week break we had. He used his family's name and political reputation, to ensure they add our event back into their schedule, and any bookings that replaced ours would be moved or canceled. It was impressive to see how easy it was for him to just take charge and make things happen.

I couldn't believe our wedding was now precisely eight weeks away.

We had almost everything ready, and we'd received everyone's RSVP, and all but ten guests said they'd be there. Which meant our total headcount was going to be 140 people. That also meant it was going to be less than our original count.

When I told my father the final number, I could actually hear him jumping for joy that he was saving some money on the food and beverage costs. My mother suggested they take the savings and use it to upgrade to first class for the flight to and from New York for the wedding. My father only laughed and said he'd consider it. This usually meant no, but he never wanted to directly say no to her.

Work got a lot easier too. Ryan had finally hired a new and very male, assistant, Bruce. I was surprised at first but recalled what Adam had told me. Either way, I was happy that I no longer had to work with Ryan, be alone with him, or even talk to him. Though I was still polite when I had to converse with him. But thankfully, it wasn't that often.

I didn't even have to train Bruce for very long. He came from another architect firm that we partnered with in Chicago, so he was already familiar with Ryan and some of the projects he was working on. This meant I could continue to focus on assisting Adam with completing the preliminary tasks for the private school build, and research information on our next potential client.

With so much going on with mending my relationship with Eric, rebooting the wedding plans, and dealing with work, I had almost forgotten Sasha was planning the bachelorette party. That was until she brought it up while we were at one of my last wedding dress fitting appointments.

The old seamstress had me stand on a podium, in front of a U-shape row of mirrors, wearing my dress. She stood back, with one arm crossed on to the elbow of the other, while the other arm was tilted up, for her head to rest on the palm of her hand.

Her dark, aged eyes, looked me over and shook her head at me. "You loose more weight. I can't take size back up. Da?" The seamstress commented in a thick Russian accent.

I blushed. "I'm sorry, I've been dealing with some... things lately. I didn't mean to lose so much weight."

"Just don't gain back. Da. Can take in easy, but not so much back out," she explained through the sides of her mouth while moving pins to her lips.

"Okay." I nodded. "I won't." As she went to work on marking my dresses with the pins, I turned my attention back to Sasha. She was sitting on a couch near me, flipping through bridal magazines. "So what are you planning for the bachelorette party anyway? Don't forget, my mom and Eric's mom will be there."

Sasha smirked and winked knowingly at me. "Don't worry, it'll be family-friendly. For the first part anyway."

I knew that smirk. Sasha probably had something raunchy planned. She was not one to take on the task of planning a party and not making it one for the books. "Sasha!"

"What? I was just thinking we'd spend the day at a spa."

I looked at her through the mirrors. "Really?"

"Then, after we ditched the mom's, I was thinking about taking us all to this new club in town. It's a gay club, too, so you won't have to worry about guys hitting on you the week before your wedding."

The flashbacks of Ryan looking at me in the club, after I caught him kissing Natasha, crossed my mind as she said that. "Oh," I said, shooing the thoughts away. "Does it have drag shows?" I asked, actually getting excited at the idea.

"I heard they have one of the best actually. Apparently, one of them was even on RuPaul's Drag Race!"

"Oh, I love that show! I've literally watched every episode of every season. I wonder if I'd recognize them in person?" I was getting excited at the thought now.

"Well, how about we go check it out tonight?"

"I have dinner plans with Eric tonight. And don't you have plans with Becca too?"

"Let's bring them with us! We all haven't hung out together since..." Sasha stopped herself realizing the last time we'd all hung out was the same night, Eric and my relationship were "tested."

I smiled back at Sasha through the mirror. I didn't realize I shifted slightly and ended up getting pricked in the ankle. "Ouch!"

The seamstress glared up at me, past her magnified glasses. "No, fidget! Almost done, da."

I nodded and wanted to rub my ankle to soothe it, but didn't dare move, as I was instructed. "Let's do it."

Sasha beamed at me and didn't hesitate to quickly grab her phone to send a text to Eric and Becca about their Saturday night plans changing.

******

Who knew that the one thing that would bring the four of us back together, aside from our wedding, was a night at a gay club? We all loved techno music, and we all loved drag shows. Which was one of the reasons we had taken that trip to Brazil all those years ago. They had an unbelievable techno music festival and we just had to go.

While it didn't take much to convince Eric to change our Saturday night plans, it took Sasha a little longer to persuade Becca, but not by much. But that was only because Becca wasn't sure if she was ready to see Eric and me together again. She was afraid she was going to yell at the both of us if she got too drunk and cause unnecessary drama. Sasha said she'd make sure that didn't happen and that we all wanted to have a good night on the town, like we used to during our college years.

We all agreed to meet up at the club. Eric still wanted us to have our dinner date as planned, first. I thought it was a good idea, since we didn't want to go clubbing on an empty stomach. Instead of going to the original restaurant we had initially agreed upon, we decided to go to another that was closer to the club.

Eric insisted on picking me up on the way to the restaurant, but since it was in between the two of us, in Brooklyn, I told him it wouldn't make sense, and that I'd just meet him outside the restaurant. He reluctantly agreed.

I decided to straighten my hair as straight as it would go, then clipped the sides to the back with a big barrette. I thought it looked like the best style to go with the garnet and gold ombre sequin mini-dress. The fabric hugged tightly against my slight curves in all the right places, and the deep V-neck accentuated my neckline and collarbone. My look was complete with a pair of simple black pointed, high-heeled ankle boots and sheer tights to keep my legs warm.

Since it was mid-March, the weather was somewhat unpredictable. Throughout the day, it was in the high sixties, but now that the sun was down, it dropped to the mid-forties. It wasn't cold enough for my thick coat, so I selected my lighter, tan trench coat.

Eric was waiting outside the restaurant by the time I arrived. I was only fifteen minutes late, which was a record for me. Especially when I had to groom myself for clubbing. Even though he couldn't see my outfit, he still whistled at me as I crossed the street and walked up to him. I couldn't help but blush and kiss him thankfully on the lips.

"If you look this good with the coat on, I can't wait to see what you've got hidden underneath." He kissed me again before opening the door to the restaurant.

The sign at the entrance told us to seat ourselves, so we selected the last available table by the window. I glanced around at the tables to see what others were eating to see if anything inspired me. I spotted a man, eating a juicy cheeseburger, and instantly knew I wanted one.

"Hey, folks! What can I get ya' to drink?" The server greeted us as she snapped a piece of gum. I was shocked she could chew gum while working, but the place wasn't fancy by any means, so the management probably wasn't too strict on server etiquette either.

"Hi there." Eric looked at her name tag. "Brenda. I'll just take a Bud Light, please." Then he looked at me. "Do you want one too?"

I nodded and smiled at Brenda.

"Draft or bottle, Hun?" She snapped her gum again.

"Draft," Eric and I said together.

Brenda turned and made her way back behind the counter to get our beers. I grabbed the laminated menu from the condiment holder by us, skimming over the items, even though I already knew that I wanted a cheeseburger.

"What are you thinking of getting?" I asked Eric.

"Food." He always responded that way, knowing it would annoy me, before telling me his real answer. "I was thinking of getting the cheeseburger with their shoestring fries. I feel like that's a good pre-club meal."

"Me too."

I shimmied off my coat, finally feeling warm enough to let it fall back against my chair.

"Wow! Babe. How does every outfit you wear always look better than the one before?" Eric took in my look, even though he couldn't see the whole outfit, since I was seated.

Brenda came back just then and complimented my outfit, too, before getting our dinner order. After she left, heading back to the kitchen, Eric leaned forward and stretched his hand across the table for me to take. I took it like I always did, and we just sat like that and chatted about our day and how my dress fitting went, while we waited for our food to arrive.

By the time we were finished with our meal, we only had about twenty minutes to get to the club to meet up with Becca and Sasha. Although the club was about three blocks away, Eric suggested we take a cab instead. The weather had dipped even more, and he didn't want me to get too cold or for my feet to hurt before we started dancing.

We walked up to the cab that had just pulled over to let off another passenger. As the door to the taxi opened, of all the people in the world that could have stepped out, it was none other than Ryan Herman.

"Well, isn't this a small town we live in?" He greeted casually.

I instantly felt tense, and I could sense Eric was feeling the same, too, as his grip on my hand got tighter. "What are you doing here?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm meeting a friend here for dinner." Ryan pointed past us.

I turned to look and saw a very blonde and very tall girl waiting by the entrance of the restaurant we just walked out of. Eric turned to see her, too, then back to Ryan. "She's cute. I hope she's single."

His comment made me wince, but Ryan's expression remained uninterested. "I hope so too." He patted Eric on the shoulder before walking past us, without glancing at me, and went straight to the waiting maiden.