Bridgette - Chapter Twelve: Homecoming - Part Two

The next morning Carson came over and you would thought that a member of our own family had come home. Everyone greeted him and he and Charlie immediately started giving each other a hard time.

“Man, you are the worst with text messages.” Charlie complained.

“I’ve been busy!” Carson defended.

“Busy with what?! You go to class, you eat, sleep, study a little, and sometimes hang out with Bridge, Julia and Trent. You don’t have time to text back?”

“Believe me, I’ve been busy.” I had to turn away so everyone wouldn’t see me smile.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you something. Kate asked Star and Bridge to be in the wedding, and I’ve also asked Jeff but I was wondering if you would stand up with me too?”

“Bro, I’d be honored.” Kate and I looked at each other as they hugged and we both awed.

They pulled quickly away from each other and Carson gave me a look that let me know he was going to get me back for it later. Most of the morning we hung out and talked about the wedding some more and partially filled them in on what it was like to live on campus and what we had been up to since Christmas.

Mom had offered to cook us lunch and when lunchtime arrived, we went down to the dining room.

“I’m so glad you were able to come over Carson!” Mom gushed. “We’ve missed seeing you around here.”

“It’s nice being back. Thanks so much for cooking lunch for us! I’ve missed eating home cooked food.”

“Is the food that bad at school?” Dad asked him.

“It’s mostly cafeteria food. I mean we all had kitchens in our apartments but most of the time we would heat up something or just grab food at a grab and go place or cafeteria.”

“How did you like school?” Mom asked.

“I liked it. This year wasn’t as interesting as I think the next couple years will be. Most of my classes were just basic freshman stuff; math, history, English. Thankfully I tested out of Spanish.”

I was glad that the conversation was revolving around him. It was less likely they would notice anything between us.  Before we left school the day before, we had decided that sitting everyone down and announcing we were dating was silly. We didn’t want to make a big to do over it. Sooner or later, they’d figure it out on their own.

After lunch Kate, Charlie, Carson and I went into the living room to talk more about what we wanted to do this summer. I heard the clock strike and I couldn’t believe it was already two o’clock. Mom and Dad came into the family room. Carson had mentioned at lunch that he needed to leave around two to go home. His two older brothers were coming home from school too.

He stood up. “Well, I guess I better get going.” I stood up with him.

“I hope we’ll be seeing you soon.” Mom stated.

“Oh, I think you’ll be seeing me quite a bit this summer.” He said with a smile that perplexed everyone.

He turned to me “I’ll call you later.” Before I could respond he leaned down and kissed me. We looked over at everyone and they looked as shocked as we had expected them to be.

Charlie stood up. “Oh my God! You two are together!? Dating?!”

“Yes.” I said and the blood started rushing to my face.

“How long?!” Charlie insisted.

Carson looked at me and I nodded. “Five months.” He told them.

“Why haven’t you mentioned it?” Mom asked.

“Because we wanted to wait a little while. Most of you in this room have hinted and pushed for us to get together and once it happened, we wanted a little time to keep it private before you all freaked out.” I explained

“We’re not freaking out!” Kate said a little too animated.

“Really? I wish I had a video camera so I could show you how you’re not freaking out.” Carson joked. “We had actually thought about trying to hide it even longer. We didn’t want to shift any focus from Charlie and Kate but Julia and Trent informed us that there was no way we were going to be able to hide it.”

“Five months?” Mom whispered. “And you let me believe last night that you were still just friends.”

“We didn’t want to make some big announcement about it. We figured eventually you’d figure it out on your own. I didn’t think that it would be in such an obvious way.” I looked at Carson and he had a mischievous grin.

“I hate to do this, but I really have to go. I’ll call you later.” He said to me. “Mom and Dad want you to come over for dinner sometime this week.”

“Okay.” We kissed again. He said goodbye to everyone and left.

After a few moments of silence I couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you all going to remain like this the rest of the day?” They were all staring at me with the same shocked expressions.

“I think we’re all just trying to absorb what we’ve just seen and heard.” Kate said. “How did this happen?”

I sat back down since I figured this was going to be a long conversation. Mom and Dad sat down too.  “A year ago, Carson and I decided to let things be. He was really hurt over what happened between him and Waverly and I was confused.”

“We all know that Bridge.” Charlie interrupted.

“But I’m convinced that those six months that were in between prom and us dating are part of the reason we’re together now.” They looked at me confused. “It took the pressure off of us. I don’t want to make you all feel bad, but we were getting a lot of pressure from people. We also had put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Once we got to college, the pressure disappeared. Trent and Julia were most of the time in their own little love world so we didn’t feel like we were under a microscope.”

“I’m sorry you felt that way, Bridge.” Mom apologized. “We were all just rooting for you two to get together. It was like the little engine that could.”

I laughed. “I can see that.”

“So what happened that changed everything.”

“I’m not going to bore you all with the details.” Kate looked disappointed “I’ll fill you in later if you want. Long story short, about six months ago I finally got over being scared of our relationship changing and he, being the very patient guy he is, waited until the time was right.”

“Well, as long as you’re happy that’s all that matters.” Dad said. “I have to say though; I was really rooting for him.”

I laughed and Mom and Dad hugged me before leaving the room.

I stood there with Charlie and Kate who were still looking at me in disbelief.

“I am so going to let him have it the next time I see him. That’s why he never had time to text; he was too busy wooing you.”

I laughed. The rest of the day was spent by me filling them in on what had happened with Carson and me the last six months and with more wedding talk. After dinner my cell phone rang.

“Hey there trouble maker.” I answered the phone.

“What?! I was just kissing my girlfriend goodbye.” Carson insisted.

“Uh-huh.”

“How long did they freak out?”

“They stopped not long after you left. They became too interested in the how and when to freak out.”

“Is everyone okay?”

“Are you kidding, Carson? They all love you and they act like it’s the best thing in the world.”

“This stinks.”

“What?”

“We’ve been able to see each other every day and hang out at night while we were at school and now I have to live with only talking on the phone with you.”

“It’s not like I live miles away.”

“You know what I mean. I just wish I could see you instead of talking on the phone.”

“I know.”

We talked for a little while longer and made plans for me to go over to his house for dinner the next night. After hanging up I started thinking about the next school year. If I wasn’t a student at ASU I couldn’t live on campus and there wasn’t much of a reason for me to live there. That would mean Carson and I would be separated. I needed to find a way to keep that from happening.

Several weeks later it was the day of Charlie and Kate’s wedding. They chose to get married near the beach where Kate’s mom and dad had gotten married.

It was a beautiful, sunny summer day and Kate wasn’t at all nervous.

“How can you be so calm?” I asked her.

“Because I know this is what I want. I love Charlie and he loves me.” I was always amazed at how Kate was so confident and sure about everything.

We were informed that it was time to line up outside. Star and I followed Honey and we walked to the main path. Kate and Star’s dad was waiting on the path and he almost started crying when he saw Kate.  I stood there watching them hug each other and was surprised by a voice behind me.

“Hey beautiful.”

I turned around. Carson was wearing his tux and the sight of him wearing it about drove me over the edge. “You really should be careful about wearing a tux.” I warned him.

“Why?”

“I find you very hard to resist when you wear one.”  I admitted.

“Well then, maybe I should wear one all the time.” He joked. “You look stunning by the way.”

“Thank you.”

“We’d better go get in line.” I put my hand through his arm and we got into place.

The music started and we started walking down the aisle.  Carson and I were first, and then Jeff and Star followed.

Once we reached the front the music changed and everyone stood up. I watched Kate and her dad walk down the aisle and it all of a sudden hit me. My best friend and my brother were getting married. Kate and I were really going to be sisters now.

I was snapped out of my thoughts,

“I, Katherine Grace Randall, take you, Charles Frederick Hobble, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will honor you all the days of my life.

When it was Charlie’s turn I started crying. “I, Charles Frederick Hobble, take you, Katherine Grace Randall to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will honor you all the days of my life.

They exchanged rings and soon the minister was telling Charlie he could kiss the bride.

After the ceremony we all went across the path to where the reception was being held. Carson, Trent, Julia and I sat at a table together. Soon it was time for the groom and bride to dance and we all stood around watching them. At one point Carson put his arms around me and I leaned back into him.

After their dance another song started playing and Carson pulled me onto the dance floor. Other couples joined and as we danced I noticed Mom smiling as she watched Carson and I dance.

After a couple hours of dancing and socializing, Charlie and Kate left to go on their honeymoon and we were all left standing there.

“Can I drive you home?” Carson asked.

“Sure. I’ll go tell Mom and Dad.” After telling them we walked to his car and he drove me home.  We got out of the car and started walking up the stairs.

“Bridge, what are you going to do next year?”

I stopped walking and turned around. “I don’t know. I don’t want to go back to school but I also don’t want to stay here and be away from you.”

“How is that going to work since you can’t live on campus if you’re not a student?”

“I’ve been thinking that the only way is if I move off campus. I wonder if Julia and Trent would be interested in moving off campus too. We could all four move in together. There’s a professor who I’d love to mentor me; I could live off campus and still be close enough to school to do that.”

“I hadn’t thought about moving off campus. Do you think your parents will agree?”

“I don’t know. I need to think about it more and figure out a way to sell it to them to make it sound appealing.”

He smiled “Well, if anyone can think of a way, it’s you.”

Credits:
Poses:
Zhippidy's With Friends
Traelia's Smile Poses 
Skylar's We Heart It
Mypalsim's Argue Pose Pack
Cloudwalker Sims' Family Photos Poses
Kiddo's Dreams' Wedding Poses 1 and 2 and Wedding March
Urban Hype Sims' Siempre Couples Poses