And Again

Chapter seven

On the Thursday morning before their wedding, Allie woke up with her head on Nicky's chest and his arm around her. He was still asleep. "Babe" she said softly and kissed his chest. "We gotta get up"

"Mmm" Nicky groaned.

"Come on, people are waiting for us"

"We went to sleep way too late last night" Nicky grumbled.

"And whose fault is that?" Allie chuckled.

"Yours, for being so damn irresistible"

"Your lack of self control is not my responsibility"  Allie said. "And you're not gonna distract me from making you get up. I'm going to shower and if you're still in bed when I'm done, I'm dumping ice water on you"

"You wouldn't"

"I think you know I would" Allie said. She got in the shower and a minute the bathroom door opened. "What are you doing?"

"Joining you"

——

"How are you guys late to the time that you set?" Rory asked when Allie and Nicky walked into the hotel dining room for breakfast.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to" Sammy said

"What does that mean?" Kate asked.

"Nothing" Logan said. "Do you guys need help with anything today?"

"Nope" Nicky said. "Today is a chill day, except for bachelor and bachelorette parties which do not include you guys"

"And thank god for that" Logan said and patted Nicky's back.

That night, Allie and her bridesmaids went out to a club, not far from the wedding venue and hotel.

"Alright, I'll go first" Maya said. "Allie, truth or dare?"

"I'm gonna go with truth, seeing as you're known to get a little wild" Allie said.

"Fair enough" Maya said and pulled a folded piece of paper out of the sparkly pink hat. "Have you ever had a pregnancy scare?"

"One time" Allie admitted. "Second year of college, right after finals, Nicky and I went to that party at rich man's shoe and got a little too drunk. 3 weeks later I was freaking the fuck out because my period was late"

"But you weren't pregnant?" Emma asked.

"I was not" Allie said. "Nicky went and got me a pregnancy test, I took it, and before we even had results, I got my period"

"Alright, so now Allie's turn to ask someone" Charlotte said.

It became clear to Allie very quickly that her friends were ganging up on her.

"Who said 'I love you' first?" Emma asked. "You or Nicky"

"Nicky did" Allie said.

After Allie gave Violet a dare, she was not at all surprised when Violet chose to ask her another question. "Would you ever get a tattoo?"

"I already have one" Allie said and everyone reacted. Only two people knew that Allie had a tattoo. Maya, who'd gone with her to get it. And Nicky.

"What?" Charlotte asked

"Where?" Grace asked.

"On my ribs, like the underboob sort of area but a little lower. If I wear a small enough bikini, you can kinda see it" Allie said. "It just says 'survivor' with a little butterfly"

"Oh, I love that"

The next morning, Allie woke up with a headache, in an empty bed. She rolled over and saw Nicky who looked like he'd just gotten out of the shower. "I envy your inability to drink" she grumbled. Because of the medication Nicky took for his epilepsy, he had to be extremely careful with the amount of alcohol he drank and usually just didn't drink at all.