“Uh, Katy!” I groaned. “That’s not really helping."
Katy flashed a remorseful grin as she leaned in towards me and swallowed me with an embrace.
“I love you, Maddie,” she said as she fought through a sniffle. “And I’m proud to be your friend.”
I leaned into her embrace. “I love you too, Katy. And thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You saved my life, literally. I’ll never forget it.”
Katy exhaled as she waved her hand back and forth in front of her eyes. “Please don’t start. I’ll never make it through tonight if you do.”
“You?” I replied as I leaned away from her. “I’m the one getting engaged.”
“I know. I’m just a little emotional, is all.”
“Well, knock it off, wouldya?”
Katy smiled as I finished chastising her. As she did, she looked past me, in the direction of the ballroom.
“Looks to be filling up. Where is Grey anyway? I haven’t seen him anywhere.”
“Well,” I began. “When I talked to him yesterday, he told me he might be running a little behind.”
Katy wrinkled her brow in confusion. “Yesterday? What’s going on? You guys aren’t fighting are you?"
“Oh, it’s nothing, really.” I said, waving her comment off with a casual gesture. “We’ve just been bickering a bit about setting a date for the wedding.”
“Oh dear,” Katy said. “Is he putting you off? He’s not getting cold feet is he?”
“Hmm?” I replied. “What? No, it’s nothing like that. You know how Grey is, Katy. Work comes first no matter what. If you try to get him to commit to anything too far in advance, he hates it.”
As I finished speaking, Katy’s eyes widened.
“What do I hate?”
Drowned out by the din of the party, I hadn’t heard Grey approach. Winking at Katy first, I turned back around to face him.
“Picking a wedding date?” I said, as I crossed my arms over my chest. Pursing my lips, I continued to chastise him. “Remember our discussion the other day? You weren’t exactly in a hurry to commit to it.”
Grey smirked as he closed the distance between us.
“Are you mad?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yes,” I lied.
Sensing my sarcasm, Grey edged closer, at last slipping his arms around my waist and hooking his hands low around my back, just above my ass.
“You better not,” I warned.
“Or what?” he said, as he wriggled his eyebrows.
I licked my lips as his face drew close. Grey’s powerful aroma overwhelmed that of the delicate flora surrounding us. His eyes flickered with cinnamon-brown warmth as he looked into mine.
“It’s okay,” he said with a wink. “You can kiss me now. Everyone will know soon enough.”
Feigning displeasure, I pressed my palms against his chest and gave him a little shove.
“You wish! Jerk.”
With that, Grey clapped his hands together and let out a chuckle. Still smiling, he gestured towards Katy.
“Katy, my dear. Come with us.”
Grey turned towards the ballroom and offered me his arm. Hooking my hand inside of it, I crossed the threshold back inside with him and as we did, he leaned in towards me. After placing a single, soft kiss on my cheek, he gestured towards a stage in the front of the ballroom.
“Excuse me for a second, baby.”
As Grey walked away, Katy approached. “What’s he doing?”
I shook my head. “I dunno.”
Just then, Grey hopped up on to the stage.
“Everyone!” Grey bellowed as he turned to face the assembled throng. “Can I have everybody’s attention?”
As he began to speak, a hush fell across the room. Everyone turned and looked in his direction.
“Thanks folks,” Grey said. Just then, he looked in my direction. “Maddie, come join me.”
Katy trailed behind as I made my way to the stage. Grey continued to speak.
“Now as most of you know, we’re here to celebrate completion of the film. I want to thank every single one of you for doing such a great goddamn job. I’ll tell you. I’ve got the bug now. Working with all of you has me in love with movie making. So again, thank you all.”
As he finished, a wave of applause broke out and went on for a few moments. As it did, I climbed up on the stage and joined Grey just as he gestured for them to stop.
“Thank you, thank you all very much.” he said with a nod. Just then, he turned to face me and continued, “But as it so happens, movie making is not the only thing I’ve fallen in love with here in Tinseltown.”
I felt my chest flush red as he paused. A lump gathered in my throat. Grey leaned in and kissed me on the cheek again.