The Dreamhouse (Paperdolls Book 2)

by Nicole Thorn

  “I am aware,” I told her. “But we love each other, and this is happening. Do you wanna come with us?”

  She paused for a moment before she said, “Can I bring Frankie?”

  “Sure.”

  I swore I could hear her smiling. “I guess Mom and Dad are gonna blow their tops then. Where do you want me to meet you, since I’m ditching school and all?”

  “Wilson’s shop. Don’t forget to feed the dog.” We hung up, and I smiled at the upcoming plans.

  Bennett still needed some clothes, so we stopped off at the store for the quickest shopping trip in the world, picking up only enough clothes for a few days. We could get more after the wedding, and when we were looking to get out of the house to avoid the death stares from my family. Once our stuff was paid for, we went to see my sisters.

  Bennett and I were hand-in-hand when we ran into the garage. Riley and Adalyn sat at the desk while Wilson hung up the phone, looking briefly at us before he greeted us.

  “We’re getting married!” I spit out without thinking.

  Riley and Adalyn looked up, slowly, and their eyebrows rose on their foreheads at the same damn time. No one said anything.

  “Well?” I said. “You guys wanna take a trip to Las Vegas?”

  Silence, then Wilson slammed his hand down on the counter. We all turned our heads to him, and he shot us a grin. “Sounds great. When are we leaving?”

  Ignoring the shocked look Riley gave him, I said, “Right now.”

  “You seem eager to go,” Bennett commented. “You know something we don’t?”

  Wilson tapped his fingers on the counter. “Yeah, all you can eat buffets, and that roller coaster that’s at the top of a building. I can call my dad and have him pick the kids up later. Road trip!”

  Adalyn cleared her throat and stood up, keeping her hands flat on her desk. “Are you guys serious? You want to get married? Like… right now?” There was nothing judgmental in her voice; it sounded more like she thought we were trying to prank her, and she didn’t want to fall for it.

  Bennett put his arm around my shoulders and nodded. “Yeah. We’re aware that it’s crazy, by the way. We’re doing it anyway.”

  I nodded too, smiling bigger than he was. “I really want you guys there.”

  While I never gave thought to this day, I knew I had to have the girls there. They needed to stand at my side as I made this choice for myself. We were all one family, the five of us. If they refused to come… I couldn’t do this.

  Riley was far too quiet, so my eyes fell to her. She watched the ground with concern, and her fingers gripped the edge of the desk a little too tight. I didn’t know what to say to her because I didn’t want to hear her call me crazy and say I shouldn’t do this.

  “Riley,” I said tentatively. She looked up, but only barely. “Will you say something please?”

  Her head dipped, and she pulled her lips to the side. “I’m just a little surprised that you’re getting married, considering the last time we talked about it, you said that you wouldn’t date Bennett because you were all worried. And now you come in here with a bruise on your shoulder, and you say you’re getting married. What the heck did we miss?”

  “Ooh… fuck,” I said.

  We didn’t tell them what happened after the girls went home the other night. So much was going on that I didn’t even think about it. They were waiting for me to tell them what happened with the police and all that. They went home that night while my parents tried to come up with something to do.

  With a sigh, I said, “I’ll catch you up in the car.”

  t was a real bitch getting Riley’s parents to let her come with us. After the trip to California, they thought that she had been out of the house enough. I gently reminded them that she was an adult and that I wanted her at my wedding. They looked at Bennett and me like we were morons for doing this. Maybe we were, but we were happy. And her parents were kind of assholes anyway.

  We gathered up all the things we would need and took Wilson’s car since it would fit all of us. There was lap sitting, but the boyfriends didn’t mind. We decided to fly to Vegas anyway. Thank God I had a credit card.

  I’d never been in a plane before, so I was obsessed with looking out the window. Adalyn had been on one when she was little since her mother used to be a flight attendant. Adalyn said she once picked her up from school to take her to see the Southern California beach. I could see the memories playing in her eyes as she stared blankly out the window.

  I felt so damn happy when I felt Bennett’s hand on my leg, resting there like it found a home. When we hit the cruising altitude, I unbuckled and hopped up on my seat to harass my friends. I hung off of the seat and started chatting with Riley, Wilson, and Adalyn. I had a brief moment of sadness when I realized that Adalyn was all alone. I had Bennett, Melissa had Frank, and Riley had Wilson, but she didn’t have anyone at all. It hurt my heart to know she didn’t have anyone to go to bed with. I wasn’t sure she even noticed.

  Benny hung over his seat the same way I did while we had our conversation about what we would do after the wedding. Wilson just cared about getting discount lobster.

  “Most of us are under age,” I reminded him with a smile. “Only you and Bennett can go into the casinos. I think that they’re the places with those buffets.”

  Wilson got the most crestfallen look on his face, and Riley rubbed his back. “You can go in without me, Wilson. I wouldn’t keep you from your back-of-the-truck lobster.”

  He sighed, and shook his head. “They wouldn’t do that, Cookie. It’s the good stuff. Fresh and stolen from their little lobster families.”

  Adalyn looked off to the side, hiding a smile with her hands.

  “We can get a nice dinner,” I said. “We’ll get there late tonight, so maybe we can find a place to get married tomorrow, then go eat.”

  Bennett grinned down at his hands on the seat, and I blushed. I get to be his wife tomorrow. And then forever.

  Bennett and I switched seats when he wanted to look out the window. His smile wouldn’t fade, and I loved watching him look less miserable than normal. He still had little flecks of worry in his eyes, but he was blocking it out pretty well. When he got sad, I took his hand, and he relaxed.

  We landed, and finding a hotel was a real bitch. Wilson, being a lovely man, got us two rooms.

  He put his card on the check-in desk and patted Bennett’s shoulder. “My wedding gift to you. Feel free to name a kid after me.”

  I laughed. “I doubt we’ll have babies any time soon. Having a house of our own would be good first.”

  “For the future then.” Wilson shrugged. “And according to tradition, you guys can’t share a room tonight. I figured the girls would share, and I’d take Bennett to go get lobster.”

  I smirked at him, and we headed up to the rooms.

  Holy fuck, I’m getting married in two hours.

  I paced my hotel room while all three of my sisters got things ready for me. I was told I wasn’t allowed to do anything because it would stress me out. I didn’t even get to know what Wilson and Frank were doing with my almost-husband, though I suspected they were getting suits or something like that.

  “Do I at least get to look at my dress again?” I asked.

  “No!” Melissa shoved a cinnamon roll in my face, and I took it. She wagged her finger at me. “It looks the same as it did when you checked twenty minutes ago and ten minutes before that. The dress is fine. You are insane.”

  I huffed, and shoved the food in my face.

  I wasn’t allowed to call Bennett or text him. No contact until the wedding which was an insane tradition. I was spending the rest of my life with him, and it was supposed to hinge on if I saw him before the wedding. Who came up with that?

  “I want Bennett,” I said around a mouthful of gooey goodness.

  Riley laughed at me, bending to pick up the bags of shoes that we got earlier. She set them on the bed and began laying them out for us. The dresses were
laid out as well, each with the owner looking it over.

  My phone rang again, and my body tensed. Mom had called me three times, leaving messages, begging me to call her back. I guess I had to now. At least she wasn’t screaming at me in them.

  My sisters watched me when I sat on the bed, and put the phone on speaker. I closed my eyes, and said, “Hey, Mom.”

  “Layla.” She sighed in relief. “I need you to tell me where the hell you and your sister are. Right now.”

  I swallowed and blinked. “Umm, we’re in Vegas. We’re all fine…” I scratched the back of my neck, looking up at my tense sisters as they stood at the foot of the bed.

  “You’re getting married,” my father stated, making his presence known. “You gotta tell us, honey, what’s going on? Did something happen? Are you pregnant?”

  “No,” I assured them. “Nothing happened, and I’m not pregnant. I know what I want, and I want it now. I love him.”

  My mother sighed. “And you left us a message because what? You thought you would get in trouble? Did you think we would do something?”

  I shrugged though they wouldn’t see it. “I don’t know. I don’t want you to hate me or think I’m stupid. I know what we’re doing is crazy. I promise you that I know. But I’m doing this.”

  My father was the next to speak. “We can’t tell you what to do here, kiddo. We’ll be here when you guys get home, and we’ll try and help you as much as we can.”

  “You’re sure about this?” Mom asked.

  “I am.”

  “I really want this to work out for you,” she said. “Do you have to get married right now? You don’t want to wait a little bit? There’s no rush, Layla. The two of you can stay with us as long as you need to.”

  I looked at my dress hung up in the closet. I’d be in it soon, getting ready to marry Bennett. No part of me had doubts about it. “I know there’s no rush. I want to marry him, Mom. I know it sounds dumb, but I feel this thing in my chest that’s telling me that I’m right. I’m going to be with him for the rest of my life.”

  My parents were both quiet for a moment before my father spoke. “I wish if you felt this strongly about it that you would have sat down with us to talk. I mean… I would have loved an invite to my kid’s wedding. Ya know?”

  Oh fuck… How did I not even think about that? In the massive rush, I didn’t stop to think that maybe my parents would be hurt by not getting to see my wedding.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  Mom still sounded upset. “Obviously you weren’t thinking. That’s a running problem with you. Your punishment is that I’m gonna save up and make you have a real wedding where we invite all of our family. They’ll harass you and make you dance with them and be drunken messes.”

  I smiled. “That’s fair.”

  “Good,” she said in her deeper voice.

  “You stole our other kid,” Dad mentioned.

  Melissa scurried over to the bed and snatched the phone out of my hands. She laughed nervously and smiled. “Hi, Daddy. I know I ditched school and made Frankie ditch too, but I have no regrets. You’ll never take me alive!”

  Riley laughed and hobbled over to the chair to sit down. Without Wilson to carry her around, she got tired too easy. Another reason her parents didn’t want her here.

  “At least someone fed the dog,” Mom said. “I hope when you get home, he guilts you with his big doggy eyes and howls at you for abandoning him.”

  “It’s only been a day,” Melissa huffed. Her rough expression faded, and she whispered, “Put him on the phone.” A few seconds went by, and I heard Moulder bark. Melissa lit up. “Hi, baby! Mama is away, but I’ll be back soon…”

  She cooed at the dog while Adalyn went into the bathroom to change into the purple dress she bought to match my other sisters.

  After I was handed back the phone, my dad asked me a question. “You’re really sure about this boy, Layla? You’ve only known him a couple months.”

  Less than that, but… details. “I’m sure,” I promised. “I love him, and he loves me too.”

  “All right then,” he said with a sigh. “I’d threaten him if I could, but I’m sure if that boy has any brains in him, he’ll bust his ass keeping you happy until the day the world stops turning.”

  “He said forever, Dad. It’ll be forever.”

  It was time to change into my dress, and Melissa helped me zip it up. It was kind of short and light gray. Riley was the one to pick it out because I couldn’t decide on my own. It fell to my knees, and the sleeves were very short. It was simple and pretty, and I loved it.

  Riley was forced to go barefoot since she still rocked a cast, but the rest of us were all dressed. I had my boots, and the girls had flats on. Then we were ready to go.

  I thought I would feel nervous when I walked to the cab to meet Bennett and the boys, but I felt fine. I wasn’t shaking or worried at all. The only thing I felt was happiness that I was going to be married to the person I loved. Everything was fine. It might not be in the future, but for now, it was perfect.

  We got to the little chapel after the boys did, and the girls rushed me off to a back room, so I wouldn’t be see. It was so damn stupid that I wouldn’t make out with my fiancé before our wedding. I mean… come on.

  I waited impatiently for the clock to strike noon, and then it was time to get married. With a big smile, I walked out with my bridesmaids, and they led me out to the room where my fella waited.

  Everyone stood up front, and I saw Bennett smiling at me as the wedding march played. I walked when I was supposed to walk, and I had Wilson give me away because my daddy wasn’t here, and that was my fault. It was a consequence I had to live with.

  I saw Melissa holding Frank’s iPad out and pointing at me, and it only took me a few seconds to realize why she wasn’t standing right with my other sisters. My parents were on the screen, sitting together and watching me as I walked down the aisle. I waved at them, and they waved back.

  “Who gives this woman away?” the woman at the end of the row asked.

  “Me,” my dad said gruffly.

  I nodded. “Yup, him.”

  Wilson acted as proxy and put my hand in Bennett’s, and I took him in. He was grinning and in a very nice suit. Much nicer than I thought he would be able to get last minute. His tie matched my dress, and I knew that was all Wilson and Riley.

  A very nice older lady conducted the ceremony, and I exchanged vows with Bennett, not looking away from him the entire time we said them. It was amazing, and I’d never been as happy as when he slipped my ring on my finger. And then the woman said we were married, and Bennett kissed me while our friends cheered.

  “We’re married,” I whispered when Bennett pulled his lips from mine. Our foreheads touched, and I smiled when he put his hands on my hips and dragged me against him.

  Bennett nodded. “Looks like it.” He chuckled. “No second thoughts?”

  I shook my head. “None.”

  I lifted up on my toes, and he bent down at the same time. We met in the middle for a slow, perfect kiss.

  Bennett

  woke up on my stomach, and my wife slept on my back. Just lying on my back, face on my shoulder, and completely naked. There were worse ways to wake up.

  I looked over my shoulder at Layla and her sprawled out hair. Her nose wrinkled in her sleep, and her fingers curled in. The early morning light bounced off the ring on her finger, and I felt lightness all throughout my body.

  “Layla?” I said quietly, trying to stir her awake. “Honey?”

  She wiggled but didn’t wake up.

  Hmm. It would probably be a bad way to start a marriage, but it would be so funny to wake her up by tossing her onto the bed. So I did… And she landed on her back, waking up with an oof!

  I chuckled and rolled onto my back, ending up on my elbows, watching Layla blink herself into awareness. When she figured out what happened, she glared at me.

  “Sir,” she
huffed. “What did I do to deserve that?”

  I waggled my eyebrows. “You did so much.”

  That earned a shove.

  That shove turned into something that Layla probably didn’t intend, but she climbed onto me anyway and proceeded to greet me in the most pleasant way I’d ever been greeted in the morning. Layla took very good care of me, and I loved her a lot for that.

  I was riding a high that I didn’t know was possible to get to in this life. Happiness in every single moment of every single thought I had, and it felt like I could breathe for the first time. I could see a real future for me with joy and something I could be satisfied with. I could have those things that I thought were for other people, like a job I enjoyed and a wife that loved me. One day, we’d get to buy a little house, and we’d have babies and a dog. It all looked so normal in my mind, and that was all I’d ever needed. I didn’t want castles and majesty; I wanted Layla and anything that she wanted in our lives. I would spend mine making sure she was never less than happy.

  Layla pressed her body against my side and captured my face in her hand, slowly nibbling on my earlobe. She stopped to whisper something to me every few moments, and I didn’t want to leave the bed anymore. Couldn’t we stay here forever? Why did we have to go back to the real world when this felt so easy?

  After we finally dragged ourselves into the shower, we made a very real attempt to shower and get clean. It took a while, but we eventually got there. We finished the shower and dressed, only stopping to make out once. I was proud of us. We’d earned the make-out break. And the one that we took after trying to get all the way to the door in one try.

  We met up with everyone in the other room, and they had two big boxes of donuts waiting for us. Layla ditched me like I was nothing when she saw them, and I slowly moseyed on over to the table to get one. Layla groaned in bliss as she shoved a glazed one into her mouth.

  “SOOO GOOOD!” she said, her eyes almost rolling back in her head.