Who: Avery Sloan and Vivica Avery
What: Important, Life Altering News.
Where: Avery Estate; June 28th.
Why: Because Alter and Leah are Mean.
Rating: PG-12.
Vivica honestly didn't know what to say. She stared at the door her parents and the Sloans had just exited in complete shock. It wasn't a bad, hateful kind of shock just complete and utter inability to form coherent thoughts or words. The other occupant of the couch shifted and Vivica's attention moved to Avery, who looked very much...not right. She didn't know a whole lot about him, but from what she did know, she could tell that this wasn't laid-back and care-free Avery. This was a...well. The words still weren't coming to her and Vivica blinked a few times and shook her head.
Their parents had sat them down before dinner - strangely Vivica had been instructed to attend dinner at the Avery Estate, instead of dining at
her house with Aland; and then had invited Avery and his parents - and given them the news. Since it had come to light that Vivica and Avery
knew each other and got along well, then why not join them in a marriage agreement? Vivica hadn't exactly seen this coming; with the mess over Amycus and then Aland breaking up with Erin, well. She
should have. Her mother had been bothering them about marriage and even Darren had been getting quite a bit of heat over his thing with Devon. But...they'd only hung out for like a week, Vivica thought, still trying to process it. They had sat them down and told them they were getting married in September and please, take a few minutes while we get cocktails to discuss this new. joyous prospect.
She wasn't going to go against what her parents said, especially with the Sloans right there. Vivica turned again to the door and shook her head disbelievingly before facing Avery again. "Uh. I had no idea," she said, honestly. Her parents had been more than a little upset over the break up with Amycus, especially when she'd been unable to tell them about the real circumstances behind it. "Did you? I...just got off the train from Hogwarts this morning. How did they... we only hooked up that week in March."
Avery sat with his brows scrunched, eyes slightly glazed, and jaw partially agape. Well… that was unexpected. His view came back in to focus, and back to the unfortunate reality when he felt Vivica shift on the couch. Avery slowly turned his head towards her, looking a touch paler than normal. For a slight moment, he just looked at her as he came back to his senses that still all weren't completely there.
His parent had always lightly told Avery that he should wed, but he had never taken the suggestions seriously. In fact, he had never really even considered them at all. It's not as if he were neither lonely nor unhappy, he was living the life he had always wanted to, really. Avery was completely content at being a socialite in his life right now, he was young, handsome, and rich, which was working just fine for him. Sure, he could be handsome and rich later, but you're only young for so long, and Avery was taking full advantage of that. That wasn't the only thing he was taking advantage of, either. Women. He loved them, all kinds. Blonds, brunettes, and redheads, tall or short, and fair or dark. He certainly wasn't one to discriminate, just as long as they were pretty.
Taking his cocktail in hand, Avery nearly downed the whole thing in one drink. It's not that he didn't like Vivica, he thought she was quite lovely in fact, but that didn't mean he wanted to marry her. He didn't want to marry anyone. "I didn't have the slightest clue, either," he told Vivica. "They sure are quick to pair us, aren't they? Especially in your case. I suppose I'm your graduation present," Avery said in a tone that he meant to sound more enthusiastic than it came out to be. "So what now?" he asked, because Avery certainly didn't have the slightest idea what came next.
Vivica's mouth quirked just a bit at his comment, trying not to smirk too much because yes, she supposed he was a graduation present and although not the one she'd been expecting, it wasn't all that terrible. Well...it
was, because Vivica didn't want to be married. She'd gone through this last year and had the wedding with Amycus postponed, and that turned out for the best, so Vivica wasn't in so much of a hurry to tie the knot with just anyone, let alone someone she barely knew. What kind of secrets could he be hiding? Their parents seemed very adamant that they be married by the end of the year and it seemed they would rather sooner than later. Vivica was still a little in shock and her mind was running into ways to get out of it and excuses to use, though it was futile. She just needed to go through these thoughts, make herself feel like she had
some sort of choise.
"Now what?" Vivica mused, handing over her drink to Avery who looked like he needed another. She leaned back into the corner of the couch and watched him with a faint frown. "I suppose they're listening at the door, waiting for us to shout and be angry that I hate you and never want to see you again. They probably would also like us to follow them to dinner, but no offense, I've suddenly lost my appetite." And she had, this wasn't something she wanted to digest while digesting. She had to get married, and even though Avery was a pretty funny and cute guy, this wasn't what she wanted. But at the same time, she did want to stay in the family and that would mean getting married. There was no way she was going to pull an Ophelia Llywellyn and get disowned for not doing it.
Especially when there could be worse guys to do it. But after being engaged to Amycus, Vivica had let herself fall into the whole being in love aspect of getting married. Before...it would've been no question. Now, she was sorely disappointed that her parents had jumped the gun, because she
could see herself getting with Avery, maybe not in the way she had with Regulus or Amycus but it wasn't unimaginable to see herself on his arm at a function or two. This...situation was completely sterile and devoid of any emotion other than her present ones. "I can't really go against my parents. I, really, no offense, but I didn't really think this was quite the surprise they had for me. I'm not ready to get married," Vivica put one hand on her forehead and sighed, looking down at the floor. "But I don't have any choice."
His parents couldn't just pawn him off like that, what was wrong with them? Avery was usually very nonchalant about things, just so long as they didn't affect him. But this? This definitely affected him. Of course any girl would be more than glad to have such a handsome and charming man such as Avery for their own, but that didn't mean they should. Avery certainly wasn't in a hurry to tie the knot with anyone. Even if they were the desire of his affection – not that he had one, of course. That wouldn't go well with the one night stands he was used to, and neither did marriage.
Avery gladly took the drink he was handed and didn't waste any time with it as he drank from it. "Wait, they want us to yell at each other? Isn't that supposed to come after marriage, not before? I'm not so hungry, either." Really, Avery was. He was starving, but he had more important things to worry about than steak. He was going to have a wife, and even worse, he was going to be a husband. Marriage was definitely going to cramp his style. God, what would Noah say? Probably not much, just laugh.
At least Vivica was a nice girl, and thank Merlin she had a pretty face, too. He knew he'd be getting hell from Noah when he found out, but he wouldn't be able to deny that she was a gorgeous girl. "You're not the only one," he assured her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She looked like she could use some comforting. "I think it'd safe to say that this one is out of our control. But…" Avery stalled, thinking of something to say that might cheer the both of them up, even just a little bit, "you'll get to plan the perfect ceremony. Girls like that stuff, right?"
Vivica watched Avery for his reactions closely. It was good that he wasn't freaking out but also good he wasn't to keen on the idea. That meant that they were on the same page. Vivica leaned into his touch and shrugged. "I just think they're expecting us to be upset or something. They didn't seem too concerned beyond making themselves a match so pretty."
Vivica gave Avery a small smile and bit her lip. She really didn't want to plan another wedding, but if she didn't, her mother and his would take over and she certainly didn't want that. "It will be very elegant and tasteful. I suppose you'll get a little say," Vivica teased gently. Good there was no reason to freak out. Vivica bit her lip and looked at him.
"You know there isn't any reason that getting married has to change things all that much. We had fun before, right?" Vivica knew Avery was smart, they could figure this out.
Avery was relieved to know that Vivica hadn't been in on the sudden decision of marriage. If that had been the case, she certainly would have seen a different side of him tonight. As much of a jerk Avery could be, he thought it best to keep his mouth shut tonight. He didn't want to say anything he'd regret the next day, especially since it looked as if the Sloans and… Averys were going to be spending a lot of time together.
"I'm sure that it will be, and thanks for letting me be a part of it," he said with the smallest of laughs. "Just make sure to not overuse the color pink," Avery said, putting his two cents in. His arm was now draped around her back and across her shoulders. If their parents took a peak into the room now, they might actually believe that they were real-life cupids.
Avery smirked in Vivica's direction. "I'd say we had our fair share of fun, yes," he agreed. Maybe this whole marriage thing wouldn't be so horrible after all, they did both know how to have fun, yes, that part was true, and they were both young free spirited. He wasn't exactly looking forward to getting married, no, but at least he wasn't absolutely dreading it. If anything, maybe he and Vivica would have some passionate angry sex by the end of the night.
"So no salmon colored robes for you?" Vivica teased, leaning her head onto his shoulder and sighing lightly. "Don't worry I don't really like pink all that much. We'll have a very classic wedding. Very chic. And a fantastic honeymoon."
Vivica really liked the idea of a honeymoon but the thought of getting married didn't make her feel as giddy as it had before. Maybe it was the realization that the two boys she really loved were forever gone from her life. She wasn't going to fight her parents unless Avery was totally against it, but it didn't seem like he was. Plus they had a lot more to lose by not getting married. She leaned up and kissed him on the side of his mouth and gave him a genuine smile. "Right now, lets get through dinner and then later you can pretend to sneak into my room and tomorrow you can buy me a giant diamond."
"Mm, I think I'm going to have to pass on that one," Avery responded as if he were giving it some real thought. "I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty relieved to hear that," Avery commented, referring to the pink, "but I'm sure it will be."
Vivica was right, there were more cons to actually not getting married than there were to wed, and they both knew it, even still, he was proud of the two of them for not outwardly losing it or going into a yelling fit of profanities. At least their parents hadn't let them down when they were growing up, then. Avery nodded as Vivica spoke, glad that for her age, she had a good head on her shoulders. He was about to get on his feet again when he heard the diamond bit, and lucky for him, they weren't at dinner right now or Avery might have choked a bit. "Right, a diamond," he repeated. He had forgotten about that detail. "Let's go, then," Avery said as he rose to his feet, offering a hand to Vivica.
Vivica rolled her eyes just a little at Avery, but still had a smile on her face as she took Avery's hand and stood. She was a little amused about how he seemed to forget about a ring, really, who
forgets about a ring in this kind of situation. "I'm thinking we can do okay. More than okay, yeah? We'll be really, really fantastic and who knows, maybe we can get something out of them for playing along." Vivica nodded, trying not to think of what they'd have to do to get some of it - playing along was one thing, but when babies and parties and all that stuff was thrown in the mix, well, that's when it started to get scary. Vivica calmly side stepped that train wreck of thoughts and decided to focus on what her dress would look like and maybe what color scheme they were going to have.
Well, one thing was certain, the girl never forgot about the ring. Of course, that wasn't all too surprising considering that it was jewelry – not to mention expensive. Avery was very aware that women loved being spoiled, though, and he was certainly used to doing the spoiling. Even if you just bought a girl a drink on a night out on the town, she'd never forget. "We'll be fine," he promised. That was another thing Avery knew, always tell the girl what they wanted to hear. Of course, there was always an exception, though, babies being one of them. He would have to draw the line somewhere.
"Let's not keeping our parents waiting any longer, though," he insisted. Standing by her side, now, Avery slinked an arm around Vivica's small waist before they made their way out of the room to be reunited with their parents once more. Who knew, maybe they would get something out of all of this for playing along with the plan so nicely.
