April's POV

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Emma hugged me tightly, momentarily cutting off my air supply.

I smiled back, careful not to tread on her dress. The day of the wedding had loomed faster than I had anticipated and we were in the midst of it all. I glanced back at the center piece where the cake stood, cascades of pallid pinks, cerise's, buttercup yellows and peaches flowering down the side of it.

But then I noticed that some of the roses weren't proportionate and I frowned, pulling out of the embrace to examine the cake for the umpteenth time. Was the cake level? Were those roses going to melt out here? It looked sloppy, I thought miserably to myself.

I felt my expression sour.

"Eh, it's okay." A new voice emerged by my side.

I turned, a grimace on my face. "It's worse."

Aiden's expression crumpled. "I was joking – it looks fucking amazing. You, on the other hand, obviously weren't."

"I'm just saying – it could have been better."

"Or you're just a perfectionist. And you can never be happy with what you do."

I made a noise of choked surprise as his lips brushed over my forehead. "Stop criticizing yourself so much. But I must say, you look cute when you do it."

"Cute?" I have bloody chornic bitch-face. Not cute face.

He shrugged and adjusted his tie. "Creepy cute."

I scowled and shook my head at him, reaching up to cup half of his face in my hand. "Have you slept lately? You look knackered."

He smiled tiredly at me and kissed me again softly, leaning his forehead against mine and sighed. "I'm fine. I didn't sleep because it was Carlo's wedding today – we had to spend all night stopping him from panicking."

I laughed at his lame excuse. "Then why the eyes?" I lifted his chin so I could see the extent to how dark his eyes had become.

He pouted at me. "Wolf stuff."

"Wolf stuff?"

He barred his teeth at me, showing off his pearly canines. I laughed. "If that's your attempt to be menacing, you really need to brush up on your game."

"I would never try to scare you." He said, tilting his head to one side.

"Oh please, you and Daniel hid in the kitchen yesterday whilst I was making a sandwich and scared the living crap out of me."

He paused, pretending to remember. "Really? I don't remember."

I shook my head at him, turning away to stop myself from smiling with him. "But seriously, get some sleep, okay?" I cupped his face again and tipped his head towards me, staring him straight in the eyes. But he avoided eye contact and ruffled the top of my hair and stepped away.

"Don't you worry about me, Cruella. Don't trip on your way to the altar."

I scowled at him.

"And Emmy," he turned to her, "you look hot." His lip pulled upwards crookedly as he admired her floor length, lace-panelled bridal dress that had been passed down from her mother. I agreed with him completely. Her flame-like hair blazed in the sunlight and her feline green eyes shone but her hands were shaking slightly.

"Thank you Aiden." She tipped her head, smiling at him broadly.

Donna scowled at him, "I think you call a bride beautiful, Aiden. Not hot."

Emma laughed and sniffed, "I'll take all the compliments I can get, thanks."

"I need to go." He jerked his head back in the direction of the beach and kissed Emma lightly on the cheek.

Then, he shot me an adorable smile before walking towards the beach, hands in pocket, smile already disappearing to give way to a scowl. I glanced at Emma.

"Are you okay? Too hot? Need some water?"

"I'll be fine. I just need to get this over with."

"Let's go."

"Wait, wait!" She quickly said, pulling me back. "Maybe two more minutes." I frowned and nodded at her, pulling up my dress. I was wearing a pale, turquoise dress that was sheer panelled and layered with lace from the bottom but secure from the top. But Emma well and truly stole the show.

She was standing half in the shade, half bathed in the sunlight. Her dress trailed along the sand and she was barefoot – she shimmered and glowed and small glimpses of rosy skin showed here and there. Nina stood beside me and was currently adjusting her head piece. Yes, there was a damn head piece.

All the bridesmaids were forced to wear those flower garland headbands, but I had to admit, they were beautiful. Nina was clad in lilac, Barbara in mint green. I shifted mine on my head, (a delicate array of azures, sapphire and white roses) and swallowed. Were the headbands fashionable? Yes. Were they particularly comfortable? No, not really.

Hey, at least I felt like Lana Del Rey for the day.

"Alright, let's go." Emma's dad announced.

Emma nodded and linked arms with her father, murmuring to him – then, the walk began. As soon as we exited the shade of the little hut on the beach, the sun hit the back of my neck. I linked arms with Nina and we walked in front, my fingers shaking slightly – and I wasn't even the one getting married. The walk was short though and once we reached the alter area, we skipped the tradition of standing besides the bride and stood instead in the guest area.

My vision was a blur of kaleidoscopic gold and bronze pulsates of sunlight, but I managed to give a small smile to Carlos who was twitching tensely on the makeshift altar and turned in time to see Emma walk. All I can say was, she looked stunning – a beautiful smiling, statue of porcelain and dahlia-red.

The rest of the wedding was a blur of smiles, tears, laughter and waves. I felt like I was in a tiny bubble, watching from the outside, watching myself converse with my friends, with the newlyweds, with Aiden.

I can't seem to convince myself of this sudden reality change. How is it possible that someone's life can change so much? I didn't become famous among my fellow peers, I didn't change my image at all – I mean, I still think sweatpants and socks are the way to go. I've matured, but I haven't suddenly conformed to the norm – I've just... let other into my world.

Before it was just me, Nina, Kayla, my family, my roommates and a few others. Now, I've let others in. And it seems perfect. I mean, I'm standing on a beach, with a beautiful dress, with an even more beautiful friend getting married and with a friend. Aiden.

I tried the word 'boyfriend' a couple of times on my tongue – sure, it sounds okay, but I'm not too fond of it. Like I said before – labels don't bode well with me – it feels too suffocating to call him that. And so, I and he decided that 'friends' were the way to go... although our actual situation isn't just 'friends.'

* * * * * *

I was standing at the beach front looking out towards the sea. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I sighed. "It really is." I looked over, not realising who I was speaking with. My smile dropped quickly. "Antonio."

"April," he nodded back to me.

He sighed again and placed his hands into his pocket. He looked the most casual than I had ever seen him before; the bottom of his trouser legs were rolled up slightly and his blazer was off. I had to admit, he was actually quite handsome for a man of his age – did he work out?

I paused.

What am I even thinking?

"I could do with a view like this. Maria loved the ocean and hated it." He smiled out to sea and stepped back as a wave came in.

"What do you mean?"

He looked over my head. "What he means," I turned to find Cole with Nadia, smiling crookedly at his father. "Is that he's a kooky, old man who no longer makes sense."

Antonio scowled. "Wash your mouth out with soap, Cole."

"What he means," Kaden's voice came from behind his father and we turned in unison. "Is that my mother loved the beauty of the ocean but hated that she didn't know what was underneath it. She was a very inquisitive woman – she liked searching for answers and the ocean never gave her one. So she loved it. And hated it." He explained, taking a puff of his cigarette.

Aiden had come up on the other side of Nadia and I could see his eyes pausing fleetingly at the thin, cylindrical shaped roll of death balanced delicately between Kaden's fingers – the killing machine that had no power to kill. The person holding it did that for them. Then, he tore his eyes away. I could visibly see how hard it was for him. "Family philosophy session?"

"Yep. Kaden's showing off again."

Kaden chuckled and I started at how warming his laugh was – I rarely heard it. "I'm not going to deny that."

"Have you slept lately?" Antonio addressed Aiden here.

Aiden looked up, a confused frown creasing his forehead. "Why?"

"Because you look terrible. Have you been drinking again?" One question. One question was all it took for the Knight family to allow the hell they had been controlling so well to break lose. Aiden immediately became pissed, Kaden sided with his little brother, Cole was arguing with Nadia about something he'd accidentally said and Antonio was throwing his hands up in the air, muttering: "I was only asking because I care!"

I stood back, assessing the scene. Geez. This family really knew how to take sides – Aiden was threatening to leave again but Kaden was holding him back by the scruff of his neck, looking as though he was about to tear his collar.

"Let me go!"

"No!"

"Nadia, I didn't mean it, I swear. Why do you take everything to heart?"

"Look, shut up, people are looking."

"You're going to tear my collar, you fuck tard!"

"Kaden, your hair!"

"If I let go, will you run?"

"Cole!"

"Son, shut up!"

"Nadia!"

It was chaos.

Voices and random phrases were being thrown around like a deflated volleyball; they spoke but it travelled nowhere and reached no-one. I glanced back and noticed a few heads being thrown this way; Diego was beginning to excuse himself from Emma's parents, his olive hued eyes narrowed, but by now, Antonio had turned a furious glare over his family and silenced them all.

An uneasy hush fell over them all and they all turned away from one another; Antonio's lips were pressed together so thin I thought they would disappear as he glared at the ocean accusingly. Aiden had turned his back on them all and was scuffing his shoe against the sand. Kaden has resumed his cigarette and Nadia and Cole were turned to one another, bickering quietly together.

"Is everything okay?" Diego spoke but no-one answered.

"Dandy. We're just dandy."

He threw me a curious look – "well, the ceremony's over so everyone's being called back."

"Yes, Diego. We'll come in our own time." Antonio broke in, tearing his clasped hands apart and stepping past Diego as he spoke.

After that... well, everyone left in their own time and I joined Kaden in silence on the walk back when it was clear that Aiden wasn't joining us anytime soon. I raised my eyebrows at Kaden but he shook it off and flicked his cigarette to the ground before bending and precariously balancing the crushed roll of death between his fingers to dispose of it somewhere.

* * * * * *

I was sitting out on the balcony overlooking the darkened beach; the waves were slashes of tinted paints and pastels – rough and soft strokes forming each wave carefully as it crashed in to shore. We were at a beach near where the wedding was – it was decided that we would take a road trip for a week and stay at this neat little beach house that belonged to some distant relative of Carlos's. The happy couple had left earlier this evening for their honeymoon and so the rest of us were left relaxing for the remainder of the week.

"April? Are you in one of those shut-up-and-leave-me-to-my-thoughts moods?" Nina's voice broke through my thoughts.

"No. Come, sit."

She was already on her way to the chair. We sat in silence and looked out over the waves – it was quiet, but the ocean filled the void. "She's finally married."

She laughed, "I... Where are we April?" She looked at me suddenly, her voice quiet.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at us." I smiled nervously, my eyebrows rising, "No. Before you let loose some smart comment, really, look at us." I glanced down at myself in bewilderment and then back at her.

"What's going on Nina?"

Her voice was muffled and far too quiet for my liking. "Things are so different. I feel like I don't even remember who we were nearly a year ago now." I fell silent. "I mean... I have a mate. I discovered werewolves exist – I nearly lost you. We're on a beach on a friend's wedding who we met when you were kidnapped by one of them and I was bought along as leverage. Us and Kayla have been so separated from one another for so long. I've graduated high school. You haven't. How the hell did things get so crazy?"

"Nin," I breathed, grateful for the thin veil of darkness that prevented us from seeing each. "What is this really about?"

Her breathing haltered. "I fought with Diego today."

I sighed, "everyone fights with their partner every once in a while. It's natural."

"No, April," she assured, "it wasn't like that. We really fought."

I frowned. "Well, what about?"

She shook her head at me, exasperated. "I can't tell you!" I paused, waiting for her to go on.

"Nina, I can't help you if you don't spill. Friends share secrets. That's what keeps us close," I whispered conspicuously, quoting one of her favourite characters.

"April, you don't understand. We were... we were arguing about... you."

I let that sink in for a minute, taken aback. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ap..." she bit her lip. "It's about Aiden."

"Well what about him?" I asked sharply.

Silence.

"Nina, I'm serious. Don't make me blank you if you don't tell me. Come on. Please!" All kinds of words of encouragement spilled from my mouth in a desperate bid to get Nina to break her silence.

She bit her lip again. "Me and Diego were arguing about whether or not to tell you. I wanted to tell you; I didn't want you to get hurt if you found out later. Diego wanted to give Aiden more time to sort it out, to avoid hurting you and damaging what you have. But I can't do this to you. You're like my sister April. His life is just as much a part of yours."

I kept my voice neutral, leaning forward to squeeze her hands reassuringly. "Nina. What's going on with Aiden?"

"April... He's back on the drink."