The Wedding

by Sian Ceinwen

  “How many do you need?”

  “Forty. There were twenty-five that we loved, so I’m just hoping they all come back, at least.”

  “I’m sure they will,” he told her reassuringly.

  She really hoped he was right. Even if she only managed to get those twenty-five, she would be happy with fifteen of them doing changes behind the scenes. Heather knew it was unlikely that she would manage to get all of her favorites, however, so she tried to keep her optimism in check.

  “What are you up to this evening?” she asked him.

  She thought that it sounded as though he might be at a restaurant from the general chatter and clinking of plates in the background.

  “I’m out at dinner with Gabriel and Ariana.”

  Heather didn’t quite know what to say to this. She hadn’t forgotten their argument the night that they’d been at Sebastian’s, and she didn’t have the energy for one right now.

  “How is it?” she asked him carefully.

  “It’s good. We’re at Giovanni’s.”

  It was one of their favorite Italian restaurants. This wasn’t something Ariana would’ve done in the past, either. They generally had eaten in private or at secluded, out of the way restaurants to minimize the people who might see them. Considering Gabriel and Ariana were on almost every gossip magazine and website now, it probably didn’t matter. Though, Heather knew from experience that whenever there were more than one of the band members out together, the public interest was exponentially multiplied and was mildly curious how Ariana was coping with that.

  “Nice, are Hayden and Seb there, too?” She was very interested in this, particularly if Sebastian had joined them for dinner or not.

  “Nah, Hayden had a date and Sebastian…” he trailed off.

  “Is Sebastian.” She finished his sentence with a laugh.

  “Pretty much,” he said as he laughed, too.

  She missed him so much. It had only been a day, but she hated to be separated from him. Heather had thought she’d get used to it on the Heart Wide Open tour, but she never really had. It was generally fine when she was busy working, in meetings etc., but it was always this time of night when she was ready to go to bed that she yearned to have him with her.

  “I miss you, honey. I wish you were here with me.”

  “Me too. I can catch a plane tomorrow if you want?”

  A smile crossed her lips. That was Harrison, always willing to do everything for others. As much as she would love to have him here with her, this was something that she felt as though she needed to do on her own. It was important to her that her design career wasn’t entangled with Cruise Control, plus, she’d already dealt with the paparazzi when she had first arrived here yesterday. They would almost certainly double down on their attention if Harrison were in town with her.

  “No, I’m fine. It’s just the weekend, and then I’ll be home. I love you.”

  “I love you, too, angel. Call me tomorrow when you’re free.”

  “I will.”

  Heather hung up their call and thought vaguely about texting Sebastian to see what was up but couldn’t be bothered. The exhaustion had hit her in full force now, and she couldn’t even muster up the energy to gossip with him about Gabriel and Ariana tonight.

  She fell asleep exactly where she was lying, fully clothed, and with a head full of models strutting back and forth on a runway wearing her designs.

  *****

  The next morning, Heather was woken by her alarm at seven. She was meeting the DJ and lighting technician in the conference room at eight-thirty. She called room service and ordered breakfast before heading to the bathroom to shower and change.

  As she toweled herself dry after her shower, Heather caught sight of herself in the mirror and was shocked by her reflection. She looked too thin, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she almost didn’t recognize herself. No wonder Harrison had been worried about her lately.

  There was still so much to do before Fashion Week, though. It was six weeks away, which should be a lot of time, but Heather knew it would pass in what felt like an instant. She quickly pulled her makeup bag out from a drawer and covered her face in foundation, immediately looking a lot better. Once Heather had finished doing her makeup, the difference was astonishing. She looked fresh and ready to work, nothing at all like the tired woman she’d seen less than fifteen minutes ago.

  She went to the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of black jeans, which she paired with an oversized, pink, knitted sweater and pulled on black ankle boots to go with it. As she was zipping them up, there was a knock on the door, and she went to answer it to find room service there with her breakfast.

  Thanking the hotel employee, and tipping him generously after he set her breakfast up on the table, she sat down to eat. The food was delicious; it was a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon on sourdough toast. She devoured it all and drank her orange juice.

  Heather grabbed her sketchbook. She’d been sketching out ideas for her wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses. She had no idea who she would have as bridesmaids, which made that more difficult, but she was so pleased with her wedding dress. Most of all, it was the knowledge that this dress would be the one she was going to be wearing when she married Harrison that made it special for her.

  Heather glanced at the clock, then put her sketchbook away. She headed down to the conference room, arriving just after eight. She began looking through the outfits that were so carefully hung up on racks. As she did, Heather pulled out her phone and saw a message from Sebastian that he’d sent to her last night.

  Hey sexy legs, how’s NYC?

  She laughed and sent him a reply.

  Good. Callbacks today. You didn’t go to dinner last night?

  It was only seven in Chicago, so she didn’t expect a reply from him any time soon. She wanted to call Harrison and speak to him but knew it was probably too early for that as well. Heather opened the photo app on her phone and started looking through the pictures she’d taken of the notes from their favorite models. She began to match models to outfits in her mind. She was probably getting ahead of herself, but she felt that some of the designs so perfectly matched a few of the models that she was terrified they wouldn’t be able to book them. Heather’s show was starting to come together in her head, and she was excited to turn it into a reality.

  It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door to the conference room, and she called out for the person to enter. Russell Cross walked into the room. He was in his late forties, medium height and build, and was one of the best lighting technicians in the business. He’d worked on both of the Cruise Control tours, and aside from the money Harrison was lending her, this was one of the few favors she’d pulled in for her show. He was the only person she would trust to organize the lighting and was so pleased when he’d agreed to work for her.

  “Heather! So good to see you.” He gave her a massive smile as he walked over to her and gave her a hug.

  “Hi, darling, it’s so lovely to see you again. I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me.”

  “It’s not a problem; I’m honored you wanted me to do it.” He smiled at her. “Are you excited?”

  “I’m shitting bricks,” she confessed to him, and he laughed.

  “Well, if I recall correctly, I know four guys who were shitting bricks before their first live concert, and they seem to have done well for themselves,” he reminded her with a wink.

  He was right; she’d been there the first night of Cruise Control’s Cards Have Been Dealt tour, and they truly had been shitting bricks. Even Sebastian, probably the single most confident person she knew, had been terrified. It had all been fine as soon as they were on stage and in their element, but for Heather, it was different.

  Heather had to do all the work in the lead-up to the big day. Then, she just had to hope and pray that it all came together flawlessly. There were so many moving parts in a fashion sho
w that it could fall apart easily at many different points. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly; she was doing everything she could and hiring the best people possible to make it a success. Heather just needed to trust that they would perform as well as she knew they could.

  Damien Hudson walked through the door to the conference room. He was younger than Heather, only twenty-two years old. Tall, slim and dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt. He was carrying a backpack, which she knew would have his laptop in it. He was relatively unknown, going by DJ Atmos online.

  “Hi, Heather,” he said, holding his hand out to shake hers, “it’s great to finally meet you in person!”

  She’d found him on SoundCloud when she was looking for someone to DJ the show and had loved his work, so she’d approached him through his direct messages to see if he was interested in working with her. They’d talked on the phone a few times since, and he’d been ecstatic to be given this opportunity, and Heather had faith that he could pull it off.

  “Damien, thank you so much for coming and working with us.”

  “No, thank you for asking me! I can’t believe I’m going to DJ a Fashion Week show; this is insane.” He gave her a shy smile as he opened his bag and began to set up his laptop.

  “I feel pretty similar! I still can’t believe there’s a show for you to even DJ.” She grinned at him.

  “You’re both going to do great,” Russell told them.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Where are my manners? Damien, this is Russell Cross, probably one of the best lighting technicians in the United States. Russell, this is Damien Hudson, our DJ.”

  The two men shook hands.

  “Have you lit fashion shows before?” Damien asked.

  “Yeah, quite a few. I mostly work on concert tours now, though.” He smiled at Heather.

  “He did the two Cruise Control tours,” Heather informed Damien, and he looked impressed.

  “Oh, I went to the Heart Wide Open tour. It was amazing!”

  Heather smiled at Damien’s evident enthusiasm and felt a glow of pride at the effect that Cruise Control had on people. The guys had worked hard and earned this reaction from their fans.

  “It really was.” She smiled at him. “Okay, where do we start?”

  Damien had been working on possible music for her show over the last few months, and Heather loved what he’d done. She’d told him about her inspiration for the collection and had sent him pictures of some of the designs as she’d finished them so that he could get a feel for what she wanted.

  Russell closed his eyes as he listened, Heather imagined that he was envisioning the lighting needed to complete the show. The music was soft and lilting; it fit her goals beautifully. It took you away to some kind of fairy tale world where life was perfect and easy. She gave him some feedback on a few songs that she thought could probably be switched around to match the designs better, and he wrote a note on his computer so he could move them around in the playlist.

  Russell described his ideas for lighting, wanting to go with soft, colored lighting between outfits but explaining that they would need full-spectrum white lights as the models walked the runway to allow the clothes to really shine and to make for the best photographs.

  “It’s a lot different than lighting the stage for a concert,” he explained, “we want to make sure that your designs look as good as they possibly can, Heather. So, we need some ambient lighting for mood mixed with medium temperature white lighting so that the colors in the clothes stand out when they’re on the runway.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Heather said with a laugh.

  “I won’t let you down,” he reassured her.

  Heather appreciated his confidence. It was comforting to know that he was so sure of himself. This morning’s work had helped her to feel better about the show. It was coming together exactly as she’d planned, and it was a huge relief. She’d been so worried about this show for so long that having some things set in stone now eased her mind.

  “Thank you so much for coming today, gentlemen,” she said to them as they were leaving the room.

  “No worries, Heather.” Russell smiled at her.

  “Yeah, I was happy to. It was great to meet you,” Damien said.

  “Well, I guess the next time I see you two, it’ll be at the dress rehearsal!”

  They said their goodbyes, and as the men walked off to the lobby of the hotel, Heather headed back upstairs to her room. She was planning to order room service for lunch before coming back down in time for their one o’clock callback time. It was only ten-thirty now, so she had a couple of hours to decompress in her room before she had to come back down.

  As the elevator traveled up to her floor, she pulled out her phone and looked at it, seeing Sebastian’s reply to her text from this morning displayed on the screen.

  You’re surprised? Got any models’ numbers for me yet?

  Ah, Sebastian, he could always be counted on to be on the prowl.

  Not really. Were you invited, though? Sorry, darling, I need all the models I can get. None for you.

  Heather wondered if Sebastian had been invited to dinner last night and declined to go or if he hadn’t been invited at all. She thought it would be the former and was unsurprised when his reply came through.

  Yeah. They asked me. Why would I go if you’re not there, anyway? No Heather and no models. My life sucks.

  He was deflecting, and she knew it. Sebastian had some deep issues, that was for sure. She opened the door to her hotel suite and flopped down on the bed before writing her reply to him.

  I’m sure you’ll survive. Ariana went out in public with him. Maybe Hayden’s right. Has she changed?

  No, Heather. You need to stay on Team Sebastian. Forever. Team Gabriel and Ariana sucks.

  She laughed out loud; he was so dramatic.

  Hey, I haven’t changed my position. I was just wondering. I’ll talk to you later. I have to call Harrison and eat lunch before callbacks.

  Okay. Don’t forget to get me those phone numbers, though!

  Heather rolled her eyes as she dialed Harrison’s number.

  “Hey, angel.”

  Her heart skipped a beat, hearing his smooth voice in her ear.

  “Hey, honey. How’s it going?”

  “Not bad. I’m lying in bed, wishing you were here with me.”

  Her heart raced; he slept naked, and she knew precisely what they would be doing if she was there with him.

  “I’ll be home tomorrow; I can’t wait to get my mouth around your cock,” she said wickedly.

  “Is that a promise?” She could hear the arousal and amusement in his voice.

  “Absolutely. If I don’t have some kind of carpet burn by tomorrow evening, I’ll be sorely disappointed.”

  “Fuck, Heather, do you know what you’re doing to me?”

  She knew exactly what she was doing, of course, and she loved doing it. Calls like this were the only way she’d been able to survive their long stretches of separation during the last tour.

  “You bet your sexy ass, I do. If I’m right, you should be stroking a pretty impressive erection right now. Am I right, Harrison?”

  She dropped her hand to her waist and slipped it underneath her jeans and underwear. She was already wet, and her breathing quickened as he answered her question, and she began to finger herself.

  “You’re right, angel. I can’t wait until it’s your hand stroking me instead of mine. I want you on your knees in front of me so I can fuck your face before I fuck your pussy.”

  Heather thought she might come immediately from that. She loved when strait-laced Harrison talked dirty to her, but he knew this, too. He knew just what to say to drive her wild, and she began to moan his name.

  “Come for me, sexy. I want to hear your orgasm.”

  She gave way, then. Not holding back, even though she knew she was being too loud, given she was in a hotel. She fingered herself unti
l she came loudly, and her satisfaction doubled as she heard him come on the other end of the line.

  “I love you, Harrison,” she breathed into the phone.

  “I love you, too,” he replied, and his voice sounded further away from the phone. “Hang on. I’m just cleaning up.”

  Heather laughed at the sudden silence on the other end of the phone and thought that this probably made her love him even more.

  “Okay, I’m back,” he announced a minute later.

  “God, I love you. Mr. Neat Freak!” She laughed.

  “I love you, too, Future Mrs. Neat Freak.” She could hear his smile. “So, I meant to ask before someone so rudely interrupted me, how did the meeting go this morning?”

  “It went brilliantly,” she told him proudly. “Damien’s mix is absolutely perfect, and you know Russell is a genius. I don’t want to jinx it, but I think the show might actually end up being amazing.”

  “I don’t think it will. I know it will,” he assured her. “What time are your callbacks today?”

  “One o’clock.”

  “What time is your flight tomorrow morning?”

  She had decided to fly back on Monday morning instead of tonight just in case they hadn’t finished the callbacks in time.

  “Eleven. I wish I was coming home tonight, though.”

  “Me too, angel. I’ll be waiting for you.”

  They had given up on airport meetups long ago. It was always crazy between fans and the media. They instead preferred to reunite in the privacy of their own home, and Heather longed to be there with him.

  “I’m going to go now, honey, I need to order some lunch and eat it before I go back down for the callbacks.”

  “Okay, love you.”

  She hung up and then used the room phone to call down and order some sandwiches and a soda for her lunch. After she finished eating, she made her way back downstairs for hopefully the last time this weekend to do the callbacks, and it wasn’t long before Ally and Emma joined her.

  “Hi, darlings!” Heather gave them each a hug as they arrived. “Did you get a good response for today?”

  “Overwhelmingly positive. Only two of our favorites can’t make it. Plenty of others can, and I’ve got between fifty-five to sixty confirmed as coming today.”