Morningstar Manor

The taxi arrived very late at night, and deposited two very tired, but happy people, in front of the Manor doors, complete with several large suitcases, and a couple of bulging flight bags. Spencer grabbed the largest suitcases, and both flight bags, somehow managing to get himself into the lobby, and over to the lifts. Thank heaven for the doorman on duty, who held the doors open for Roxy, who was not her usual bouncy self as she towed the remaining two suitcases inside.

"I'll be glad to get upstairs and crash, what about you?" Spencer asked her as they waited for the elevator. "Cup of tea, shower and bed? No working tomorrow, I already called your boss earlier. Not entirely sure they believed the story about the plane breaking down and then the incident at the airport.... but, hey, we needed those few extra days huh?"

They'd spent them lounging around in a top hotel, and shopping, and just, generally being tourists in the bustle of Seville.

The tables and chairs had been rearranged, the dj was playing background music as the band settled into their chairs, and many bottles of champagne had been lined up to be opened as needed. The buffet was laid out, and many of the guests from this afternoon had been able to freshen up, and were definitely finding their second wind. Spencer and Roxy stood by the main doors to the ballroom, quietly talking between themselves, and occasionally sipping champagne, or nibbling at a plate of little dainties that Emily had given them. Spencer's parents were nearby, but the party was pretty much set up and ready to go. Not that Spencer knew much about that, he'd been far too busy since getting married, there had been a lot of kissing, and posing for photos, with all sorts of combinations of people, and then the meal and everything was just, one great big blur for him.

It was Roxy who was still with it, and realised their first guests were coming in. She chivvied Spencer back to alertness, laughing as he looked a little sheepish, and then looping her arm through his and turning him towards the doors, receiving lines were not that much fun, but it did mean a chance to say hello to everyone.

The ballroom was decorated in the colour scheme Roxy had chosen, and the gardens between it and the gazebo had been divided off from it by rope tied with ribbons in the same colour scheme, and flowers were bound into the ribbons. The gazebo itself was festooned with ribbons and flowers, so much so that the wooden structure itself was barely visible, and the scent of freesias and gardenias filled the garden. Spencer found himself fixated on one set of ribbons, desperately ignoring the jibing of his brother, busy teasing Jazz about being on the wrong side of the party, and now she had to dance with the bridesmaids. He was conscious of his father, conversing gently with his mother, and of Erika holding John's youngest and playing rock paper scissors. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and again wondered why collars had to be so tight when you had a tie on. He turned to ask his mother if everything was all right, and stopped, stunned, because there she was, Roxy, walking down the path towards the gazebo, towards him, and she was, she was perfect. It was the only word that worked, perfect.

It was time. She'd seen Mrs. Sullivan walk ahead of them all, then Lexi just ahead of her, but Roxy was waiting like she'd been told to. It was tradition and she wasn't going to go against tradition. As the music changed and the people stood, she walked down the aisle to Spencer. Roxy wanted to run. She just wanted to be there with him and not have every eye on her. The fear of tripping came back briefly, until she looked up and saw Spencer. Her jitters subsided and she smiled brightly as everybody but the celebrant and Spencer started to fade from her mind. At the altar, she handed her bouquet to Lexi and joined hands with Spencer as directed. It seemed like a fairy tale to her, but it wasn't. They were actually here, getting married, and it wasn't a dream.

( Read more... )

Roxy hadn't slept well last night. She kept thinking something was going to go wrong. There would be a mixup somewhere or she'd trip or maybe forget the words to their vows. What if she stumbled through the reciting of them and made a horrible mess of everything?

When her alarm went off and she got out of bed, Lexi was already up and had breakfast made. "Oh no, I can't eat anything this morning, Lex." She declared as soon as her sister had insisted. Reaching in the fridge she pulled out orange juice. That she could handle regardless of the nerves and jitters.

Lexi directed Roxy through the morning, from wearing comfy sweats and a button down shirt down to the spa to talking her out of the increasing desire to elope. It really didn't make any sense with the ceremony just hours away now. The fact that she was half dressed, in her slip and button down shirt, was all that kept her from pacing.

"Something old, something blue, something borrowed, something new time." Lexi said with a smile as she handed a box Roxy's way.

Roxy sat to open the box. Lifting off the lid she smiled brightly. Lexi had thought of everything. Blue garter, the tiara had to be new, the ring she knew belonged to Lexi, and the date on the coin verified it as definitely old. "Thank you so much Lexi. You're the best sister I could've asked for." She said, on the verge of tearing up.

Lexi laughed. "I'm your only sister, knucklehead. Let's get you dressed before you're late!"

Lucas didn't feel like hanging out in the apartment much since Thomas seemed to be on a foul mood once again. So he had decided to haul his laptop downstairs to the Mocha and was idly browsing Youtube to kill time. He half-accidentally found videos on flair bartending that caught his interest and he kept on clicking on more of the similar kind in the relative videos. He had headphones in his ears so he barely knew of anything that was happening around him.

*

On her way home from work Laura glanced at her delicate silver wrist watch concerned about the time. She walked through the lobby to gather her mail and wondered if she would make it in time for the tai chi class with Smith.

*

Emily joined the queue in the Mocha - she had her chocolate brown hair on a ponytail and flour and oil stains and other food items on her clothes, but she just wanted a coffee and a sandwich since her own kitchen was full of things for the wedding so she could not be bothered with trying to do anything else in there. After a morning of preparation work and stock boiling she decided it was time for a break, and so she scanned the coffeeshop for familiar faces to keep her company. Now she had her usual lively color on her cheeks and a friendly smile to spare for every one - unlike for example a week ago when she had looked horribly miserable.

*

Robert pulled his broad figure over the edge of the pool up on the roof and stood up right with water dripping from his black slightly over grown hair and his skin. He took a few steps to the lounger and grabbed his towel to dry his face and ruffle extra moisture from his hair, and glanced towards the sound of an opening door to see who was coming in.

*

Avery stood outside the main doors having a smoke, one hand in the pocket of his white dress pants, the other holding the cigarette, with a white polo shirt on and mirror-lensed aviator style Police sun glasses on his nose, and observed the people coming in and out in grumpy silence.

Roxy had downright out and out groaned at the fact her boss called her this morning at eight. She'd taken the day off and she'd rescheduled everything, but apparently Mrs. VanDelinder wasn't satisfied with the girl Roxy'd sent in her place. So she'd called Paul and he complained about having his ear chewed off to Roxy.

When she was off the phone with him, her head really hurt. Sitting up to look at where she was made her realize she'd spent the night with Lexi in her old place. Musta been one hell of a night then, since she didn't remember half of it. But she needed coffee so downstairs she went.

The line wasn't long since it was half past too early to get up, unless you went to church and then you'd be there now instead. She ordered orange juice, water, coffee and a huge chocolate chip muffin. Joy grumbled something about fat and wedding which Roxy didn't hear well, but narrowed her eyes at. When Joy turned around, she was much clearer though. "I just don't know what is so appealing about the dark features that the poor guys seem to love. First Jazz lands Avery and then Emily hooks up with Vinnie... Now you are getting married? And to Spencer Michaels of all people? Too bad nobody else gets a happy ending though."

Great, Roxy thought. What a perfect morning to start the day with... "Maybe you should spend some time outside. You might not look so damn pale and find out for yourself what a guy is interested in." She said back low enough that only a few people, if that, heard her. She glared hard then took her breakfast to a table. No sense in sticking around for more insults from Joy today. Not when she was hungover from last night's night out and not when it caused her to doubt this close to the wedding.

These have gone out already, I've just been procrastinate with posting them :(

With her sister here and things falling into place nicely, Roxy's jitters were a fleeting ship. She still had to find a suitable present for Spencer, so she'd set up her laptop down in the Mocha. She was facing the door, hoping to spot him if he walked in that way he didn't get a glimpse at all of what she was up to. Smiling about her secret, she clicked on a set of cufflinks, wondering if he'd see the fun in the interpretation.

Travis was lounging around poolside. The last time he'd been here, it had turned into something eventful. Good scenery and a good website that he'd poked about a couple times over the week. Maybe he'd see her again, maybe not.

~*~
Memphis was downstairs in the Mocha, flipping through an auto tuner magazine. Keeping up on the latest trends going was something of the mind boggling type. He just didn't understand why some kid would pay for an import car, then sink the money in to the performance aspect just to wind up with a car keeping up with the domestics. He chuckled reasoning that the kid could've saved money by buying a Mustang instead.

*~*
Chad was out in the gardens, tending to Logan's patch of peppers and tomatoes.

~*~
Logan wasn't far away though, having decided that he'd play with Lily today.

*~*
Also in the garden, Erin had taken up her sunbathing spot from last summer. With her blanket spread out on the grass and earbuds tucked into her ears, she laid on her back to even out the tan over her boobs with the lack of tan on her stomach.

~*~
In the mail room, Tristan was retrieving his mail out of his mailbox. He'd already set the magazines on he table, then stacked envelopes on top, putting the light purple one on the bottom. He already knew what that meant. His mother was requesting a visit or at the least, information.

*~*
Somewhere between the Spa in the basement and the eighth floor, Roxy and Lexi were going over the brochure and discussing the different options offered.

[[OOC: Probably slow-timed due to unexpected injury, Mum's recovery, and complaints of nothing accomplished due to online time... If only housework did itself!]]

Roxy had taken today and tomorrow off, calling it an early weekend. Lexi was expected to arrive today and they were going shopping after that. After being invited to come along for opinion's sake, Mrs. Sullivan declined politely, deeming dress shopping something suited better for sisters. Lexi squealed when she found out Roxy hadn't gotten any of the dresses yet, then hauled her butt out to do shopping.
( girls go dress shopping and giggle over silly fashions )

Roxy was stressed. So much had been done for the wedding already, but she still hadn't found a dress that she liked. Hadn't found the one that just flat out screamed oh yes! absolute perfection and it was starting to stress her out majorly. She opened the planner, hoping it would say that her sister was going to be here sooner than expected. Instead it said Bridesmaid's dresses, my dress, hair? nails? shoes??. All last detail stuff, except the dresses, and entirely stressing.

Carrying two heavy-looking folders Emily came to Roxy and Spencer's door, as promised, and knocked. She had taken her portfolio with her just in case the bride needed reassurance that Emily was the person to do the catering for the wedding, and also one of her relatively well-arranged recipe and menu folders that had quite a lot of photos of the dishes and desserts and cakes.

Emily sat down on her yellow couch after coaxing Wayne into giving her some space. The cat yawned, shook his head and stared at Emily as she settled beside him with her cell phone in one hand and a small note she had received from Spencer in the other. It had Roxy's phone number on it, and she dialed that number on her phone. While she was listening to the dialing beeps she turned the TV down and hoped it wasn't too late to call.

Roxy hadn't managed to run into Andras anywhere since making the list of priorities, so she decided she'd better call him. Now that there was a month left, she couldn't be dragging her feet on this anymore. So she picked up her phone and dialed, waiting as the line rang.

Roxy was sitting in the Mocha, sipping her coffee as she looked over her task list. Today had been a short day since her afternoon client had canceled on her. What was left on the list? She asked herself then sighed and shook her head. What wasn't left on the list? She still had to get hold of Andras, check with Abrams and the TA about her sister staying in her old apartment, and find a dress. Picking up her pen, she wrote Call Andras at the top of her list and drew a box around it.

~*~
Chad was sitting in the Mocha as well, just in an opposing corner so he could watch out the window. is knee had been doing better, and the physical therapist he'd been seeing said there was a substantial showing of progress. He should be able to go back to work in another couple weeks. The crutches had found their home in the closet, but he still needed a little help from time to time.

*~*
Which was why Logan wasn't far away. He was out in the gardens, but if he looked up from the little patch of dirt he could see his father through the window. He smiled and waved, holding up a couple of red tomatoes.

~*~
Travis was lounging about at the pool. He hadn't heard anything about a job yet, and Memphis had gone off on him about the car being dirty, so to the pool he went in hopes for finding some pretty girl to watch.

*~*
Memphis had decided to close up the shop for lunch and took Demon out to Riverwalk Park. It had been a while since he'd taken the dog for a good quality fetch session, and it was a way for him to blow off some of the steam he had towards his brother. He just hoped Demon didn't decide to go chasing squirrels again...

~*~
Erin had today off, and decided to go shopping around Vine Square. Her foot had healed nicely, despite having to be stuck in boots during work. She'd kept it covered though, and now it was in flip flops again. Not necessarily to draw attention, but so it could get air and finish the healing process.

*~*
Tristan had decided he needed to do laundry again. His suits had been sent to the dry cleaner's, but he still had jeans, tee shirts, boxers, socks, sheets and towels to chuck in the machines. Once everything was in the washer, he decided to go play a game of pool or two.

Spencer had his list mostly completed. He wanted it to be small and cosy, not enormous and stupid. After all, he knew Roxy was conscious of the lack of family on her side. So he had tried to keep his list down to immediate family, very close friends. He sighed, "Roxy, how's your wedding list going? I think mine's about as done as I can get it."

He sipped at the beer he'd been nursing through this job, then shrugged lightly and downed the rest of it. He had so not enjoyed this job.

Travis had decided to go lounge around the pool today. As he kicked back in a lounge chair, he wondered briefly if Memphis was out on another date with that little redhead maid. Maybe if the dates continued, Travis would get told to not come home one night. Then maybe Memphis wouldn't be so crabby.

~*~
Crabby or not, laundry still had to be done. Which was where Memphis was, fishing the laundry out of the washing machine and chucking it into the dryers. His fingers closed over something not made of cloth and his expression turned confused. Picking the object out of the machine, he'd pulled out a condom.

*~*
Erin was in the mail room, sorting the junk from her Cosmo magazine, her cell bill and a letter from her Grams.

~*~
Roxy was in the lobby, trying to figure out what she'd been thinking, upping the wedding by a whole year. Then trying to fit a vacation in the middle of that? She still needed to talk to Andras too. Scribbling on a paper in Spencer's project planner she made that a top priority.

*~*
Logan and Chad were both outside in the gardens. Logan was tending to a small patch of garden as Chad watched, unable to do much more. He was frustrated and despising this whole meniscus thing in it's entirety.

~*~
Tristan needed coffee. His day had started out a disaster, after having a shrieking Anabella Winters on the phone for nearly three hours. Somehow, she'd found out about that tattoo of his and decided she needed to voice her opinion. At seven a-m, which was when Tristan had been peacefully dreaming of screwing a hot brunette.

Roxy had taken today off to catch up on phone calls. The first on her list was the Tenant's Association. She'd thought about just going up, but making an appointment sounded like a better option than just showing up, so she picked up her phone and dialed the number.

Time surely wasn't slowing down, and with Spencer having made the arrangements and calls to his family, she needed to do her own. Picking up her phone she dialed her sister and waited out the rings.

Lexi picked up mid sentence. "got soccer practice in twenty minutes. Roxy, hey. What's up?"

Soccer practice... "I guess that's good timing. How lenient is the coach about time off for weddings?" Roxy asked her sister with a small chuckle.
( Read more... )

Today was Roxy's birthday. There was a party going on here, and she was fairly sure they'd be going to that. Over the past couple weeks she'd been plotting just what to wear. It might be better to just dress comfortably until she knew if Spencer had any elaborate plans. She pulled on a pair of khaki shorts and a light blue tank top before heading out to the living room.