Annabelle’s POV

Here we are, celebrating the newly engaged couple. After a couple of calls to family members to deliver the big news, we decided to keep the party going, before all the craziness about the wedding crashed upon us. “Let me see it again” Val asked Michelle, for the billionth time. Michelle raised her hand, tiredly, showing off the beautiful ring. Val sighed. “Aww… Syn has such great taste” She said, holding Michelle’s hand. “I wished mine was bigger. Matt is so cheap” She said looking at her hand where a huge engagement ring was placed, along with her wedding band.

“What are you talking about? You can hardly keep your hand straight from that heavy stone lying on that bony finger” Leana mumbled, her mouth full of Pistachio Ice Cream. She gets the weirdest cravings. One moment she’s craving ice cream & candies & cupcakes & all kinds of sweets & next thing you know, she’s demanding for the spiciest food ever made. Poor Jimmy, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.

“You’re just jealous cuz you ain’t got one, beside that tattoo on your ring finger” Val said, dropping Michelle’s hand & walking towards Leana, grabbing her spoon & eating her ice cream. They start to bicker lowly & playfully. I just stared at them. And a small smile appears on my face.

“Hey, are you ok?” I heard Gena whisper in my ear. I turned & nodded. “Are you sure? You’ve been awfully quiet” She said, a barely-there smile playing on her lips. Zacky is a lucky guy. Gena is gorgeous.

“Leave her alone, G. She went thoughtful & silent when Matt & I said we were getting married too” Val said, returning Leana her spoon & walking the fridge to grab a beer. She tossed it me. I barely caught it. “Have a drink, loosen up & let’s enjoy our night” She said. Michelle clears her throat, earning an eyes roll from her twin sister. “Michelle’s night” She said, Michelle mouthing 'Thank you', before walking out of the kitchen to the living room, I presume.

“Yeah, she went through the same when Jimmy & I got married. Remember? She didn’t even paid attention to my smoking hot cousin” She said, standing up & walking towards me.

“Your ‘smoking hot’ cousin had a lazy eye & crooked teeth” I reply to her, before opening my beer, taking a sip from it.

“Hey, don’t talk like that about my cousin” She said in stern yet playful voice, pointing her finger at me.

“Oh, I’m so scared. What are you gonna do, spank me?” I say, pretending to be scared. In that moment, I see something in her eyes change. They are not their normal brown/green-ish. They were filled with… lust. “What?” I ask her, backing up from her. That devious smile on her face is scaring me.

“I bet you would love for me to spank you, wouldn’t you?” She said, inching towards me. “Have you been a little brat lately, Miss Hurley?” She said in a seducing tone. I let out a laugh. This isn’t her talking… it’s her fucking hormones. I’m used to this now, so I just play along.

“Yes, I’ve been” I say, walking to her & staring at her intently. “But you aren’t the one I want the spanks from” I say, never breaking our gaze. We stayed like that for almost a minute before we busted out laughing, my head resting on her shoulder while her arms circled me. We laughed so hard that I thought Leana’s baby bump was going to burst open. Michelle just stared at us, kinda scared, kinda shocked, kinda confused.

“You guys are crazy” She says, shaking her head slowly & laughing. “For a second there, I thought you were gonna really spank her” She said, playing with her ring. She stared at it with such lovely eyes, that it makes you aww inside.

“Ann would’ve loved that” Leana said, opening a cupboard & digging hard. “But I have to admit that the thought cross my mind for a second… ah ha” She said, retrieving her hand with a bag of cookies… home made cookies… Zacky’s cookies. He gets paranoid whenever anybody, even Gena, comes near his cookies. He’s like a cookie monster. That’s why he keeps hiding it. Now you know the real reason he gains so much weight in such short periods of time. I like it when he’s chubby. But Gena makes sure he doesn’t eat junk food when he’s home. Well… all the girls do that with the guys, actually. I don’t. I sneak them a fat greasy burgers or a huge taco when the girls aren’t around. I like to coddle them once in a while.

“He’s going to kill you, you know?” Michelle said, looking at me & then at Leana. Leana looked to me & I just nodded.

“He won’t if he doesn’t find out” She said in a duh voice, before smiling. I laughed as I grabbed my phone & walked towards her. I motion Michelle to come join us. She quickly scoots next to us & I snap the picture. Michelle looking flawless as always, with her signature smile. Leana had a cookie drained on Pistachio ice cream on her mouth, making it seem like she was taking a bit, which she did actually. I had one hand over my mouth with an ‘oh-oh’ expression. Leana & I are always the one on pictures with goofy faces, obscene gestures, or a scrunched nose. Just as I was showing the picture to the girls, Zacky walked in, Icky in his arms & was so distraught with his dog that he didn’t even noticed Leana’s full mouth. He looked at me & smiled, walking to the fridge. We all were holding our laughs, Michelle failing, letting out a loud laugh, before snapping her hand over her mouth, making me burst out in laughter. Leana, surprisingly kept her straight face, chewing slowly her cookie, before swallowing. Zacky looked at us & then turned to Leana.

“What’s wrong with them?” He asked, bouncing Icky on his arm a little before placing him on the counter we were leaning on.

“I have no idea. I’m just gonna go find my man. I feel hot & bothered from all the spanking talk Annie & I had” She said, walking away, like nothing bad happened. Zacky looked at us.

“Girls are so weird” He mumbled bending down so he could get his sandal to open his beer bottle. It took a second for mine & Michelle’s gaze to travel to where Icky was… eating Zacky’s cookies that Leana left on the counter. Our eyes widened & we immediately looked at each other.

“What are you…?” Zacky said, before trailing off to look what Ichabod had just about finished eating. His face went red when he put the beer down & lowered Ichabod. “LEANA” He roared. We heard a faint ‘oh, shit’ before some rustling, probably her trying to hide. Zacky stumped out of the kitchen, Icky following him, while Michelle & I laughed.

“I don’t want to miss this” I said walking towards the door, before Michelle spoke.

“Wait. Do you think we can talk for sec?” She said, turning towards me. I looked at her & nodded.

“Sure. What’s on your mind?” I say, placing my arms on the counter next to her, & hold my head up with one hand while I lean on the top. “What a stupid question. Of course a lot of things are running through your head. You just got engaged, for Pete’s sake” I say. She lets out a small laugh & looks at me, smiling, before biting the inside of her bottom lip. She tends to do that when she doesn’t know if she should say something or not. I know her too well. “Come on, Mich… you can say anything to me” I say, taking her hand on mine. She laughs again & lowers her eyes.

“Thanks” She almost whispers. “I wanted to say thank you” I have to admit that I was a bit shocked. Why was she thanking me for? She looked at my confused face before she spoke again. “Brian told me he talked to you about the whole ‘taking the next step’ situation” She said, fidgeting with her hands. He told her?

“He told you?” I asked, dumbfounded. She nodded.

“I knew you were going to be the one he was going to talk to if he left at 6 AM ‘for a run’” She said making air quotes. “You’re… his person” She said, signaling me. I noticed her face saddened a bit with that last part. See… our, Brian & I, relationship is often misunderstood. People seem to think we’re too close to just be friends, but not close enough to be more than friends. It’s really a pain in the ass. Especially whenever we were caught in public just hanging out, sharing an Ice Cream, or me dog sitting Pinkly when Michelle would go on tour with Brian & they can’t take him. So I’m always the ‘other’ girl, the bitch that meddled between Michelle & Brian, the one that’s sneaking her way into his heart, and I can go on & on about all the things I’ve been called.

But when it came to our closest friends, we had nothing to worry. We’ve known them our whole lives so they know how we are & react around each other. But, although she had never said anything to anyone, I know Michelle tends to feel really unsure when it came to Brian running to me when he had a problem, me being the first one to know what’s going on with his life. I’m, like she said, his person like he’s mine. And I can’t blame her. I wouldn’t feel comfortable either if my boyfriend went running to another girl whenever something major happened in his life. But she has nothing to worry about. Brian & I are nothing more than just friends. We always were, are & will be just best friends.

“But why thank me?” I ask her. Really… why is she thanking me? If I remember correctly, I told Brian to tell her that he wasn’t ready to get married just yet. At least, I think that’s what I told him. It was way too early for me to remember correctly.

“Because without you, he would’ve never had the guts to ask me. Whatever you said to him, worked” I nod. So he didn’t tell her what I said. It’s better that way. “You gave him that little push he needed & that I wanted him to take… so thank you” She said, with a warm smile. I smile back at her & hug her tightly. She’s gonna make my best friend a very happy man. “Come on, let’s go to living room & find out what happened to Leana. Hopefully, Zacky is still breathing. You never know with her recent mood swings” She said.

“I’ll be right there in a sec. I’ll just grab something to eat” I say, walking to Gena’s fridge.

“Ok. Just don’t eat those” She says pointing to the leftovers Zacky’s cookies that were still lying on the counter before leaving me alone at the kitchen. I take the almost empty bag & throw it into a garbage can before I open the fridge door to take out the Smackers P&J to make myself a sandwich.

Brian’s POV

I was walking towards the kitchen in search for my 2 girls, when I saw my soon-to-be wife walk my way. I’m so fucking lucky! She’s just… spectacular. She smiles my way, before wrapping her arms around me. “Hey” I say before pecking her lips. “Where were you? I felt so alone” I say, pouting, earning the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard… her laugh.

“I was in the kitchen with Ann” She said, kissing me one more time.

“Where is she?” I ask, kissing her lips & letting mine travel down her jaw line to her neck. She smells delicious. I hear her snicker a bit.

“She was going to find something to eat before heading out here. What do you think you’re doing?” She asks, when I start sucking on that little spot on her neck that I know drives her crazy.

“I was thinking we could start our engagement celebration a bit early” I say. I’m not gonna lie. When it comes to Michelle… I always want to jump her. I don’t know… I guess I can’t resist her. I let my hands travel down her back to her ass. She lets out a small moan, before whispering in my ear.

“If you keep doing that… there will be no sex til our honeymoon” She says before smacking my hands away & walking towards the living room, not before winking at me. I groan. I look down cuz I can feel my pants are a little tighter now. I know she won’t be able to resist me til our honeymoon. I mean... I'm Synyster fucking Gates. But I just let it go, walking to the kitchen. There I found a shoeless Annabelle munching on what appears to be a P&J sandwich. She’s sitting atop of the kitchen counter while swinging her crossed leg to the beat of whatever song is stuck on her head & that I can hear her faintly humming. She notices me & stops, smiling.

“Hey” She says after she swallows her bite.

“Hey. You look pretty tonight” I say, walking to the fridge to grab a beer before walking towards her. I open my mouth & she places the sandwich so I can take a bite.

“Wish I could say the same” She mutters before biting her sandwich. I look at her & see her playful smile. Silence fills us while we continue biting the sandwich & drinking my, now our, beer. After we’re done, she jumps down of the counter, fixes her dress & walks to sink, placing the knife she used there. I examine her. That dress fits her perfectly. I haven’t seen her in a dress in so long. She should wear them more often. “So… you told Michelle about our little talk” She says, turning to look at me.

“Yeah. She asked me why all of the sudden I changed my mind & I told her you & I talked” I say, jumping to sit on the counter.

“I thought I told you to talk to her & tell her that you weren’t ready” She says, grabbing her shoes, & starting to put them on.

“You also told me that we were practically married” I say. She laughs/scoffs. “What?”

“I can’t believe that’s the part that stuck” She says.

“Are you surprised?” I ask her. I see her think about it for a minute. She stands before me & just looks at me with her hands on her hips.

“No. You always do exactly the opposite of what I say” She says & we laugh. She’s so right. If I listened to her, I would’ve saved myself from a lot of past fucking drama. “I have to admit that I was surprised that you proposed like that though. It was beautiful” She says with a smile. “What you said was beautiful. You are a very charming man, Mr. Haner”

“What can I say? I have a way with words” I say, smirking lightly.

“Yes, you do. I’m really happy for you guys” She says. I jump off the counter & bend down a bit to look directly at her eyes.

“Really? Aren’t you jealous that you’re gonna have to share me?”

“Are you kidding me? It’s about time for someone else to take care of your ass. I feel like she took a load off my shoulders” She says.

"You don't mean that" I say while I laugh & hug her. She hugs me back & as she starts to let go, I hold on to her a little bit tighter. If you didn't know us, this would look really bad. Outsiders to our extended family, we are a couple. But we aren't. We just love each other so much... but not the kind of love I have for Michelle. Its a different kind of love. Its that kind of love that you just can't explain.

“Are you & Justin going to do it tonight?” I say into her ear. She smacks my side & separates herself a bit to look at me. “What? From what I heard, those are tonight’s plans” I say, still in each others arms.

“Were… you kinda killed the mood” She says, while we let ourselves go. “Maybe if he rubs me the right way, I can get into that mood again” She says walking towards the door, before turning her head to me, revealing a smirk.

“You’re a dirty woman” I say walking to her & hold the door open for us to walk through.

“I have nothing to say to that” She says before heading to where Justin is talking intensively with Gena, sitting on his lap & joining the conversation. I sit next to Michelle, throwing my arm around her. She places her hand on my leg, not paying a bit of attention to me, too engaged on her talk with Jimmy & Johnny. But I shiver. Great… maybe I’m the one being rub the right way.