Chapter 23

The following week was so busy with work that I hadn't had much time to see or even speak to Sean. Of course I was annoyingly up to date with the wedding preparations courtesy of Mel.

"You have all the connections, it would be easy enough to do." Evan called from the kitchen.

It was finally friday again, and I was kicking back in my pyjamas on the sofa, Evan was making popcorn and Scream was sitting in the DVD player ready to be played.

"I suppose you have a point." I called back, throwing my slipper boots into the chair opposite and pulling the blanket from the back of the couch.

Evan came round the corner, carrying a large bowl of microwave popcorn. My stomach growled at the smell.

"Half sweet, half salted." He smiled, thrusting it into my hands and disappearing back into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a rack of coronas.

"Just think about it, switching her rose bouquet with a sunflower one,"

"She hates sunflowers." I tilted my head in thought.

"Exactly, and she would, vampires hate anything with 'sun' in the title."

I laughed and Evan picked up my legs, sitting on the couch and letting them rest across his lap.

"Call the caterers, order the food she hates and the decorators, tell them the theme is no longer winter wonderland, it's now Santa's grotto. Green and red stripes and bells everywhere, elfish waiters, little toys and miniature everything."

I nearly choked on the popcorn I was eating, laughing at the mental image of Mel seeing all of her ice sculptures, and sparkly decorations replaced with childlike clashing colours and patterns, mini tables and chairs, and caterers with pointy ears.

"As funny as that would be, I don't think it would stop the wedding." I sighed.

Evan made a small disgruntled hmph, then took a handful of popcorn.

"Can we at least call the dress shop, tell them she's three months pregnant already, and that they need to let the dress out, waaaaay out?"

I bit the inside of my cheek in thought.

"I'll think about it."

Evan punched his fist in the air with a cheer.

"Tell me again, why are rewatching this movie?"

"Because it's a classic, and after the week I've had with work, I'm in the mood to watch some idiots, who don't know how to run away properly, get murdered."

Evan nodded, tossing a piece of popcorn in his mouth.

"Fair enough."

I hit play, shuffling into the cushions as the sound of the phone ringing signalled the start of the movie. It was just after the first murder scene when my phone chimed. Rolling my eyes I pulled up the text message. It was from Mel, and the further I read, the more pissed off I felt.

"What's up?" Evan asked when I threw my phone on top of the cushion, looking back to the television.

"Mel, it looks like my wonderful family, is having a dinner with Sean's family tomorrow, and I'm ordered to be there, and on best behaviour."

Evan's eyes widened.

"Oh."

"Yep." I bit the inside of my cheek and picked up the remote, rewinding it to just before she got killed, and hitting play.

"What are you doing?"

"For some reason, it's soothing me."

Evan laughed and pulled me to him, kissing me on the cheek and offering me the popcorn.

We watched the rest of the movie, then old comedy reruns. Evan spent the night, insisting on coming with me tomorrow.

"Rox, where did you put my blue shirt?" Evan called from the spare room, the next morning.

Evan spent so much time here, that he basically had full ownership of the spare room, not that he always used it. He even kept a bunch of clothes for here for occasions like this where he wouldn't have time to go home and change. Due to the drinks and late night, we were up late this morning and needed to get to my parent's place for one o'clock.

"Should be at the back of your wardrobe." I called back, unhanging my dress selection for the day.

It was a black v neck, pleated cocktail dress with a fitted bodice and a lace finish to the end of the skirt. I pulled it on, checking it in the mirror. It clung to my shape perfectly, and the skirt finished just a short distance above the knee. I reached for the zip but couldn't quite make it budge.

"Ev, can you come here?"

I heard him close his wardrobe door, and he appeared in the bedroom a moment later, just pulling on his blue shirt as he walked in, the buttons still undone, his torso on full display.

"What's up?"

"Can you zip this for me? Damn thing is stuck." I spun around, sweeping my hair to the side.

Evan stepped up closer, his fingers grazing against my skin as he pulled at the zip, then slid it up, drawing the fabric together.

"Thanks."

"No problem," He stepped in front of me, holding up a tie. "Tie, or no tie?"

I rolled my eyes, walking to my dresser to put on my earrings.

"Definitely no tie. No need to go too far, we aren't there to be seen remember," I ran my fingers through my straightened hair, giving it a blast of hairspray to keep the style in place "In fact I'm surprised we're even invited. My parents no longer like you after the last dinner fiasco, and I doubt their opinions were changed for the better after the wedding dress jabs."

We both smiled at each other at the memory, Evan finished buttoning his blue shirt, leaving the few at the top open, then tucked it inside his black trousers. We started for the door, noticing it was nearly half past twelve. A horn outside sounded the arrival of our taxi.

"Ready?" Evan asked.

"Yep." I pulled on my black heels, and followed him through the house, and out into the cab.

We arrived at my parent's house with five minutes to spare. Not bothering to knock, we walked on in, and were instantly greeted by three irritable faces.

"You're late," Mel said, standing between my glowering parents.

"You said one, it's five to." I shrugged.

"And what the hell are you wearing?"

I rolled my eyes, then gestured to her.

"I could say the same about you, you look like you're wearing Mom's curtains."

Her awful brownish red, paisley dress had a high scooped neck and full length sleeves, coming down just below her knees.

"Some of us like to make a good impression."

"And some of us have fashion sense. My dress is fine thank you."

She didn't have time to come up with a snippy retort as the bell rang behind me. She rushed past me, Evan and I stepped back, taking up a place at the foot of the stairs, leaning against the banister, and sharing a look, let's get this over with.

The moment Sean and his family stepped into the entryway, his eyes sought mine. The corners of his lips twitched upwards as he took in my appearance. Standing just behind him was a young woman, his sister, Katarina. Her emerald green wrap dress stood out beautifully against her tanned skin and her rich brown hair. She too had brown eyes, ones I could see they shared with their mother, who was standing with their father, arm in arm and smiling warmly at Mel. His mother's black hair fell to her shoulders in soft waves, framing the gentle beauty of her face. She wore a dark purple dress that showed off an amazing figure, and looked every bit as classy as the woman wearing it. His father's hair was a lighter shade of brown, gold beamed from where the sun was shining on it from outside. His dark grey suit was immaculate, and smart. He oozed class and sophistication.

"It's lovely to see you again Melody." His mother smiled, pulling her into a hug.

"Hope she's not wearing silver, Mel will catch fire." Evan whispered to me.

I had to pinch my lips between my teeth to stop from laughing.

"No, wait, I take that back, I hope she is wearing it."

That did it, and a small laugh rumbled free. Thankfully no one noticed, except Sean, who looked at me curiously. I waved a hand, shaking my head slightly as Mel broke free from his mother's hug and his father gave her a brief hug too. I noticed that Katarina made no attempt to greet her, instead, she inclined her head, before her gaze found mine and she smiled.

My parents hurried forwards to be introduced, and Sean was soon pulled into the flurry of chatter and introductions, he attempted to direct his parent's attention towards me and Evan, but it was pointless as Mel simply engaged his mother in conversation, and as predicted, myself and Evan were ignored. We could have been playing beer pong in the corner and they wouldn't have even noticed, all except for Sean's sister, who was still watching me intently, and it was becoming a little unnerving.

It eventually grew quiet, as my parents made to bustle the Campbells into the living room. It was then, that Katarina spoke up.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Sean?" There was a playfulness to her tone that I found intriguing.

Sean looked fondly at his sister, then disentangled himself from Mel's grasp and, with a little difficulty, broke free from the crowd, making his way over. His parents seemed surprised to see me and Evan standing in the room and apologetic expressions took over their faces as they followed their son.

"Mom, dad and Kat, this is Roxy, she's Mel's sister." He stood at my side, presenting me to his family. His mother pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry dear, forgive us for our rudeness."

"It's completely fine Mrs Campbell." I replied with a smile as she released me.

"Please, call me Isabella, and this is my better half," She gestured to her husband, who gave her an affectionate smile and pulled me into a hug too.

"Julian, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Katarina was next, she gave me a brief but warm hug.

"Great to finally meet you Roxy."

As she released me she smirked, and I got the distinct impression that she knew more than she was supposed to. Before I could even think on it, Sean spoke up again.

"And this is Evan, her best friend." Sean gave a friendly nod to Evan, who joined me at my side and shook hands with Sean's father, and kissed his mother on the cheek, with a small one armed hug.

"Well now, aren't you a handsome young man." Isabella grinned, stepping back to look at Evan.

There was a rumble of laughter among us, but looking over their shoulders, my family was far from amused. Sean wrapped his arm around Kat's shoulder, stepping closer to me. The close proximity of his body was making me tingle already. Clearly displeased with the lack of attention, Mel walked up and took charge, I noticed a strange look that passed between Kat and Mel, and wondered what had happened there. It seemed like there was one member in Sean's family that wasn't so keen on Mel afterall. She stepped around Kat, resting her hand on Sean's forearm and began steering his family further into the house and leading them to the dining room.

The dinner was boring, and predictable, centred around the wedding details and plans. The only different detail was the behaviour of my parents, towards me and Evan anyway. It was as though they'd had a personality transplant since the moment that the Campbell's had entered the house. Not only were they polite at dinner, but they even managed to sound proud of me, something that they hadn't done for as long as I could remember. I knew it was all for show, and decided to keep my head down, instead just talking with Evan as we ate, simply engaging with Sean's family when they addressed either of us. They were lovely, the more they spoke and the more that we interacted, the more fond of them I became. I was still intrigued by Kat's intensity throughout the night. Whilst dessert was being served, I excused myself from the table. I saw Sean's eyes follow me, and a moment later I heard him excuse himself, claiming that he had a work call to answer. I lingered in the hall and when he stepped into view, I pulled him into a side room with me.

The moment I closed the door behind us, his lips were on mine. I moaned softly against them, his touch was a welcome blessing after not having seen him for nearly the whole week.

"I missed you." He whispered between kisses, his hand cupping the back of my neck, whilst his fingers threaded through my hair.

"I missed you too."

I kissed him deeper, my tongue pushing past his lips and brushing against his own. It was hard to not give in completely, and let him take me against the wall, but it wasn't what I'd got him alone for. Reluctantly, I pulled back, our passionate kiss had left me breathless, I placed my hands on his chest to keep him from kissing me again.

"Does your sister know?" I asked.

He looked confused at the question.

"Know what?"

"About us, she's been giving me strange looks all night, and I don't think they're the 'I'm into you' type of looks."

"I haven't told her anything, I promise."

I nodded, still unsure what was going on with her.

"I see she isn't Mel's biggest fan."

I couldn't keep the smirk off my face, or the joy out of my voice, something Sean definitely picked up on as he smiled at me.

"That's putting it mildly, I'm not sure which of you would be more likely to mess with this wedding to be honest."

His words triggered the memory of Evan's suggestions, and I laughed.

"What?"

"Just remembered something, that's all. Tell me, how do you feel about Elves?" I teased.

He was about to answer, when I heard footsteps approaching. They walked right past and I knew we had to get back. Sean kissed me once more, eager to make the most out of the first scrap of alone time we'd had recently. Then I let him go first. Once I was sure he'd been sat at the table for a few minutes, I made my way back too, dropping into my seat and helping myself to profiteroles.

As the day went on and evening drew in, everyone began to get ready to leave. Evan and I had arranged a cab to pick us up, it arrived just as we were saying goodbye to Sean's family. Kat was the last to come over, whilst her parents were getting in the car, she smiled at me.

"I'll see you again soon Roxy," She gave me a hug and whispered in my ear. "You're much better for him than her."

She pulled back, winked and then turned to climb in the car, leaving me pondering her words, and just how much she knew, and how.