AU: also posted on A Box of Chocolates. This one's funny ish. Two-shot.

Wedding Cake.

Leighton Havenstone had always been a fan of weddings. She loved the picturesque scenes and vows of eternal love (even if today, fifty percent of the marriages end in divorce). She loved the symbolism and beauty of raw feelings, and she loved the way it could bring people together in ways that could not be possible any other way.

But this particular wedding was a little more different than the others.

For one thing, the bride was her best friend, Hannah Valentine, and they'd been friends since Kindergarten. And so, because of this bond the two shared, Hannah had chosen Leighton to be her maid of honour.

There was no better maid of honour than Leighton, that was for sure.

She helped plan every single detail of the wedding, acting as a wedding planner as well. Leighton and Hannah never fought, and had loads of fun making fun of Hannah's fiancé as well, a man named Erik Livingston.

Leighton definitely approved.

Having always been a fan of Austen's works, she also always made the comparison between Hannah and Erik to Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley. The two must've been some sort of incarnation from inside the book!

Needless to say, Leighton was utterly happy for the two.

However at the end of the day, Leighton also couldn't help but feel a slight bit jealous.

Her best friend was getting married, and when she thought about it, weddings were happening left and right to people she knew.

How was it possible that time had passed so quickly, and that she was now working and organizing weddings?

But the feeling soon passed as Leighton reprimanded herself. Those were foolish thoughts. She should be completely happy for her best friend!

She was, and with a smile, she mentally crossed off another day on her mental calendar, and fell asleep.

June 5th. There was exactly one week till the wedding itself, and a few things still had to be done.

For one, Leighton and Hannah had to check the registry, confirm with some of the non-responsive guests, and make sure everything was perfect. Or at least, as close as possible.

Also, Hannah wanted to have lessons in dancing, for the first dance, and luckily for them, Leighton had a friend who could do it for free.

(That friend, Giorgio, owed her anyway.)

When everything else seemed to be rather finished, Leighton and Hannah set out for Studio G, her friend's studio in which they'd be practicing. At the front entrance, they met up with Erik.

"Hey." he said, kissing Hannah lightly on the lips before greeting me.

"Well, here it is. You guys just go up the stairs, and it's the first room on the right. Later!"

"Wait a tick. You're not coming?"

Leighton looked shiftily to the side.

"Well, it's your dance..."

"Pft. You're her maid of honour. You've gotta get your boogie down as well." said Erik.

"By myself? Won't I look just a tad ridiculous and out of place?"

"Nonsense."

"... about being by myself, or looking ridiculous?"

"About both! My best man will be your partner, of course." Erik said.

Hannah and I immediately looked at each other.

"Erik, I swear, if your best man is--"

"It's not Gregg. I swear. It's somebody else, that I thought wouldn't be able to make it, but he is. He's coming tomorrow."

"Who is it?"

"His name is--"

Suddenly, Giorgio's voice interrupted our conversation.

"Are you people coming or what?!"

Leighton giggled. "Well, since your man isn't here till tomorrow, I'll go with tomorrow. For now, you two..."

Leighton looked up at Giorgio, her crazy friend.

"... have fun!"

Dramatically, Erik took Hannah's hand.

"We can do this."

"Yeah. I'm sure Giorgio's not that scary."

They were in for something.

Leighton laughed, but Hannah seemed to remember something. She pulled out a plate wrapped in plastic.

"Here. It's a sample of the wedding cake. Erik and I already decided on it. Don't eat it yet though! Put it under your pillow tonight. Apparently, you'll dream about your future husband!"

Leighton laughed.

"You believe stuff like that?"

"Nah. I just want you to try it though."

Her friend smiled brightly before continuing on her journey.

When Leighton got home, she felt a little more down than usual. Everything was going into place, sure, but the best man and her idea made her seem a little uneasy. Knowing her friends, they'd probably want to set them up.

Which was impossible, of course. What man would want her?

She sighed and showered, brushing her teeth and walking into the kitchen and organizing her things.

Then, she caught sight of the cake.

She debated it for a second.

She walked back to the washroom and wrapped up the usual routines and began to walk back to her room, but caught sight of it yet again.

"Well. It wouldn't hurt to try..."

And so, Leighton put the piece of cake underneath her pillow, turned off the lights, and fell asleep.

He held her lightly, gently, with care. He looked into her eyes.

"Do you remember me, Leighton? We haven't seen each other in years... but we'll be seeing each other soon."

Leighton woke with a jolt.

She knew immediately who she saw in her dream.

It was a boy she used to know, he was three years older than her, but they'd bonded over the fact that in their large families, they were the youngest.

His name was Stewart Foxley

He was the same age as Erik too, when she thought about it.

Dirty blond, tanned complexion, a real hard worker. The last time she had even though of him was when their families came together for a sort of reunion.

Christmas, when she was thirteen.

It had already been ten years.

Leighton thought about it.

In truth, she definitely wouldn't mind marrying him. He was good looking, hard working and funny too. He was gentle and understanding, and though he had somewhat of a temper, it was never unjustified.

But Leighton shook off these thoughts, taking out the flattened cake from underneath her pillow and setting it on the table beside her. She did her usual morning routines, and changed. Checking the time, she yelped.

If she didn't get moving, she'd be late for work!

No more thoughts about the crazy superstition and the dream entered her mind, though she did end up eating the cake, then zooming out the door on her way to work.

Leighton worked at a publishing company, but she was also a published author of teen fiction. She was quite the fan of Meg Cabot's, and nearly fainted the first time she got the chance to meet the iconic author.

She loved her job, and every minute of her day was spent busily. Luckily for her, it pushed the thoughts of the dance lessons away.

Until the time came for her to be there.

She debated escaping, going home and faking sick, but was not too surprised when she saw Hannah waiting for her at the front entrance of her building with a Starbucks vanilla frappuccino (a sort of bribe, she supposed) and a smirk on her face.

"You know I love you, right?" she said.

"You just don't want to face Giorgio again by yourself." Leighton grumbled.

Hannah glomped her. "You're too cute!"

"Just give me my drink."

"He should be here any minute now." Erik said, checking his watch as they waited in front of the Studio building.

"So, what's he like?"

"He's, like, toe-tuh-lee good looking, strong and built but not too much so, and he's just... ah! He's toe-tuh-lee your type!" Erik faked a girly voice and tried to 'copy' the way Leighton and Hannah 'gossiped' about boys.

The two girls deadpanned and both hit him over the head.

"Ouch." he said, rubbing his head. "But I probably deserved that."

Leighton nodded.

Suddenly, a faint whir was heard by the three, and Erik rubbed the back of his neck.

"Here he comes. Always with the flashy things."

Zooming down the road came a man on a flashy motorcycle, stopping directly in front of us. Leighton could hear a laugh as he turned off the motor, and he got off his bike.

Leighton turned and began to murmur quietly with Hannah, gossiping already.

The man took off his helmet, but because Leighton had been slightly occupied making up stories about how he was sure to be masochistic and narcissistic.

Him and Erik exchanged a 'man hug', before Erik tried to get Leighton and Hannah's attention.

Leighton heard her cellphone ringing, so she began digging through her purse in an attempt to find it and missed his introduction.

"Hannah, this is my best man, Stewart Foxley. We've known each other since Kindergarten too! Just like you and Leighton. So, in your faces!" explained Erik excitedly.

The man laughed.

"Oh, and Stewart, this is my best friend and maid of honour, Leighton Havenst-- Leighton, what are you doing?"

"Well, I thought I heard my cellphone ringing, but... Oh, sorry! My name's--"

"Leighton Havenstone. I know."

She looked up to see what seemed like a familiar face. Rugged outlook, tanned bronze skin, laughing eyes, a slightly mischievous person. Well built, quite good looking with great facial structure.

But.. familiar...

"Uh..."

"Don't you remember me? Well, I have to say, it has been quite a few years..."

Nope. Nothing.

He smiled widely, and held out a hand for her to shake.

"Stewart Foxley."

Suddenly, her dream and memories of the times they'd spent together in the teen years came rushing back.

"Oh, Stewart! I barely recognized you!"

Habits overcame her, and though Leighton and he were no longer teens or kids, she hugged him.

He had grown, yet again, but she had as well. Still exciting and hyper, but a maturity had also taken place in Leighton that Stewart...

... very much enjoyed.

And then, as they hugged, Leighton remembered the dream she'd had, and let go as if he was burning hot.

"Haha... yeah." she ended, sheepishly.

Erik and Hannah watched, scheming already.

"Suddenly, I really need to go to the washroom." Hannah said as they took a break from dance classes.

"Okay."

She got up, dragging Leighton with her. Both sides, male and female, took this chance to make them explain.

"How do you know him?!"

"Remember, back when we were in middle school, I told you about how I was forced to go to some camp in the middle of nowhere? Well, it wasn't the middle of nowhere, just on the countryside. Anyway, I stayed with his family."

"Oh, that's him?! He's cute!"

"Yeah! And, don't freak out, but you know how you told me yesterday to put the cake under my pillow? Well, I did. And I dreamt about him."

"No. Freaking. Way."

"Yeah, weird isn't it?"

"Extremely!"

Some silence.

"So, are you going after him or what?"

Leighton smirked.

"He won't even know what hit him."

"So, how do you know the lovely Leighton?"

"Remember, back in middle school-high school-ish times, I told you about a girl who totally kicked my butt at those subtraction and multiplication things we had to do? But she was kind of annoying because she always got homesick?"

"Yeah. Whoa, that's her?! I thought she was kind of... you know. Pudgier. Or something."

"Yeah, I guess not anymore? Wow, she's changed. The last time I saw her, she was thirteen and still growing."

"Well, she's fully grown now!"

"I know."

Silence.

"So, are you going after her or what?"

Stewart smirked.

"She won't even know what hit her."

This definitely cannot be good for either parties.

If you guys liked this story, Wedding Cake, I have to suggest that you read My International Slip Up. It's another one of my stories, and the characters are sort of similar. Ish. Meh.

R&R.

-chewyy.