"So obviously you're going to be my maid of honor, right?" Riley asked at lunch about two weeks later. They were meeting Justin for lunch to go over the budget for their wedding.

"I think there are probably nicer ways of asking that question," Sophia responded, raising an eyebrow as she lifted her glass of lemonade to her lips.

"Not when the answer is obvious," Riley said, smirking.

"What if I said no?" Sophia pointed out.

"First of all, you wouldn't. We've known each other for the better part of 8 years now. And second of all, you're my wedding planner. So you might as well just say yes since you're going to be doing all the grunt work anyway," Riley said. 

"You realize you get no special discount just because you're my best friend," Sophia said.

"Of course I get a discount," Riley said. Sophia rolled her eyes, but didn't argue back. She did get a special discount. 

Riley was right, after all. They had been friends for 8 years and Sophia considered her to be her best friend. Even more than that, Riley was very much a sister to her. They had been through a lot together over the past nearly decade or so. It was an honor for her to be her best friend's wedding planner.

"Are you sure you want to get married this quickly?" Sophia asked.

"I'm not a fan of the prolonged engagement. Like, we're engaged now. And we've been together for long enough. We might as well just get married and make it official, you know? What's the point in waiting? Besides, it's going to take a good couple of months to plan this thing, right?" Riley asked.

"Eight to be exact," Sophia answered, pulling out her tablet and opening up the document she had prepared for the couple. "Here's the timeline I made to work with. I can't really get any numbers until I talk to Justin and you. I'm not sure how much you're willing to spend on the wedding. From there, we can work on the theme and then fit what we need from the budget," Sophia said, switching into business mode.

"Hold on, there, business girl. Wait until the accountant gets here," Riley said. 

Just as she said this, her fiancee walked in, making the door chime with his movement. He spotted the friends sitting by the window and waved, walking over. 

"Hey, ladies. Sorry I'm late. Had a business meeting," he said, leaning down and pecking Riley on the cheek. She grinned at him and moved her chair over slightly as he sat down in the one next to her. He looked at her with all the love and adoration that Sophia wished to have. Swallowing down her jealousy, she mustered up a smile.

"That's completely fine. Your fiancee here was just trying to weasel a discount out of me," Sophia said.

"We do get one, right?" Justin asked.

"A match made in heaven, both of you," Sophia said. Justin chuckled.

"Ok, but in all seriousness, Soph. I can't thank you enough for doing all of this," Justin said. She waved her hand at him.

"It's my job. You're thanking me for nothing," she said. "Besides, it's the least I can do," she added. Justin smiled genuinely at her. 

"You're the best, Soph. Really, you are," he said. Sophia smiled.

"Ok, so let's get down to business," Sophia said. "What numbers are you giving me to work with?" she asked.

"Well, I was crunching some numbers and looking over mine and Riley's savings. I think together we can both manage 25 grand. Is that too little? I have no idea how much weddings cost these days. I would imagine with a place like the Hamptons, they'd be a good couple grand," Justin said.

"Much more than a couple grand. But 25,000 is pretty decent. We'll have to be careful about budgeting. Any way you can do 28?" Sophia asked.

"I can check. But that would be enough to cover everything? Venue? Caterers? Decor?" Justin asked.

"You don't worry about that. That's my job," Sophia said, typing on the detachable keyboard to her smart tablet. "I was telling Riley that the timeline for this will be about 8 to 9 months," Sophia said.

"That sounds reasonable," Justin said, nodding and glancing at Riley. 

"Now, is that cost including the engagement? Or are you going to skip on an engagement ceremony?" Sophia asked.

"If we can manage an engagement in that budget, we wouldn't mind it. But if we can't, then it's fine by me. We can just do a little restaurant dinner or something," Justin said, looking at Riley.

"Yeah, an engagement ceremony isn't completely necessary. I do want engagement photos, though," Riley said. 

"We can try to work something out," Sophia said. "This is just to help me narrow down options. I know that Riley wants an outdoor wedding in the springtime. Is that what you want, too?" Sophia asked.

"That's completely fine with me. If that's what she wants, then that's what I want," Justin said, pecking Riley on the nose with his lips. Sophia fought the urge to roll her eyes at the sickeningly cute couple in front of her.

"Ok. How intimate are we thinking? 75 people? 100? 200?" Sophia asked.

"I'd like to keep it close to 100," Riley said. "We both don't have very big families and I'd prefer to have only my closest friends there," she said.

"That's fine by me. Let's say 150. That's a good number I think," Justin said. 

"Ok. That makes things a bit easier. I think that's all I need for now. We're going to stay in constant contact over the next couple months when I need smaller details. For now, I'm going to start by finding a decent venue for you all and I'll talk to some people I know about setting up an engagement photoshoot. Do you want me to go ahead and book a restaurant for the engagement dinner?" Sophia asked.

"We can take care of the engagement ceremony. It'll just be a nice dinner," Justin said. Riley nodded in agreement. 

"Ok. Give me a couple weeks with this stuff and then we can move forward," Sophia said. 

"Great. That sounds wonderful. Thanks again, Soph," Justin said.

"I'm going to start charging you for how many times you say that," Sophia said, giving him a look. "Riley's my best friend and you're like a brother to me. I don't want you to keep thanking me for doing my job. I'm happy for you both and this is the best way I can think of to help you two celebrate this time in your life," Sophia told him. 

Riley's eyes were welling up with tears.

"Oh, Sophie! You're the best!" Riley cried, reaching forward and grabbing her friend's hands in hers. Sophia looked at her in alarm.

"Let's try to keep the dramatics to a minimum, too," Sophia mumbled under her breath. Sophia was never one to deal well with emotions. In her line of work, she became almost desensitized to it. She had planned so many weddings and engagements and rehearsal dinners and had heard so many toasts, vows, and teary eyed speeches that now when she heard something emotional, she was used to it. She had literally heard every cheesy line there ever was and that hindered her ability to deal with emotional situations. 

"Now that we're done with that," Sophia said, turning her tablet off and tucking it into her messenger bag, "let's eat."

                                                          ~~~~~~~~~

"Is the food ready?" Sophia asked, walking briskly into the hotel kitchen, Brent at her heels. The chef looked up from garnishing a plate of pasta.

The engagement party she had planned was in full swing. People were milling around and getting liquored up. The socializing part of the event was nearly over and Sophia had announced for everyone to be seated for dinner. After that, there would be speeches from close family members. 

"Nearly. How much more time until you want us to serve the food?" the chef asked.

"Ten minutes," Sophia said.

"We'll be ready by then," the chef said, putting the gold trimmed plate onto a cart with several other plates. 

"Ok. I just announced for everyone to be seated," Sophia said.

"All right. We'll have it finished, Miss Hart. No need to worry," the chef said again, giving her a look. She nodded stiffly and then turned around to walk back out. 

"Joey just got here with his new crew," Brent said, checking Sophia's texts. 

"Finally," Sophia breathed out. She turned on her heel and exited the kitchen, Brent walking quickly to keep up with her. The two walked outside of the hotel into the crisp Hamptons air. Sophia scanned the perimeter until her gaze landed on a dark navy utility van with a logo of a baby kangaroo wearing a sweater that said the words Joey Stein Photography. She marched up to the rear of the van where she found her less-than-trustworthy photographer.

"Joey," she said.

The tall, lanky photographer emerged from the depths of his van, his arms laden with equipment.

"I know. I'm late," he said. 

"What was it this time?" she asked, placing her hands on her slender hips.

"Traffic. And honest to God, I'm serious this time," he said. "There was a three-car accident on the highway. We were held up for nearly an hour," he explained. Sophia closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You missed the entire first part of the ceremony," she said.

"I know, I'm really sorry, Soph. But it wasn't something that was in my control," Joey said.

"Why do I keep coming to you for your services?" Sophia asked, opening her eyes and staring pointedly at the man in front of her.

"Because we have a contract," Joey replied, setting some tripods on the ground. "And you're secretly in love with," he added with a smirk. Sophia rolled her eyes.

"Just get your ass in there and start filming and taking pictures," she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied with a wink. She shook her head and turned around to head back into the hotel only to crash into someone with a rock-solid chest.

"Damnit, Brent!" she exclaimed, rubbing her nose which was now throbbing from the impact.

"What? I'm over here!" her intern exclaimed from somewhere to her left. She glared up at the person in front of her through watering eyes. Then she quirked an eyebrow when she saw who it was.

He was handsome, there was no doubt about that. He had dark brown hair, sparkling blue eyes that were hidden behind a pair of thick framed glasses, and the build of an international soccer player. He was dressed in all black--black t-shirt and black slacks--which was Joey's team's signature look. But somehow, he made it work.

In her surprise and oggling, Sophia almost forgot to be angry. 

"You okay, there?" he asked. Her hand was still on her nose and she couldn't see quite straight. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get in the way," the man said, reaching out to hold her steady, as she was still swaying on the spot from the collision. She glanced up at him and he shot her a pearly white smirk. She narrowed her eyes and shrugged his arms off just as Joey came around to see what was going on.

"Oh, hey. It looks like you've met the newest member of my team. Soph, this is Oliver Grey. He's my new videographer," Joey introduced. "Oliver, this is Sophia Hart. She's the one I was telling you about," Joey said. 

"She lives up to expectations," Oliver said with another smirk. She raised an eyebrow again and ignored the comment.

"You finally found someone?" Sophia asked Joey, her eyes not leaving the man in front of her. He gazed back at her with an amused expression. 

"Yeah. He's an old buddy from college that just moved into town. He was looking to start his own business, but I offered him a position on my team since I'm like the go-to photographer in this town. We're splitting the company 65-35," he said. 

"That's fantastic," Sophia said, her tone flat, indicating that she didn't really care. "Now hurry the hell up. They're about to serve dinner," she snapped.

And with that, she pushed aside Oliver and began walking quickly back into the hotel. Brent hurried after her.

"He seems cool," Brent commented as they went inside.

"Shut up," Sophia seethed.

"Ok," Brent said, silencing himself immediately.

____________________________________________________________

A/N: I'm going to give this story another shot. Just because a ton of my friends are getting married/engaged and I'm in the wedding spirit. 

You know what would be awesome? A trailer for this story. I've always wanted one for my books, but no one's ever offered to make me one. I will dedicate a chapter to anyone that's willing to make one! Or even if you have a recommendation for someone that will make one.  :)

Oliver's going to be trouble. ;)

Anyway, I should be studying. Tell your friends about this story. And don't forget to vote!

XOXO