My sister, Lola, and her girlfriend, Faith, had the day off from classes today, so they were coming to visit. It was Tuesday afternoon, and I sat waiting for them to show up for lunch at a restaurant near campus. My sister didn't live far away, only two hours, but she and Faith were lazy, so they slept in on most days, causing them to typically get here around lunchtime instead of breakfast.

"Alani?" Faith's voice said.

"Hey guys," I said as they sat down across from me. Part of me was nervous that they wouldn't like my new hair. Even though I was being ridiculous since it was barely noticeable, I was still nervous.

"Your hair," Lola said as soon as she sat down, looking at my hair like she couldn't believe I had dyed it. I could hardly even believe it myself.

"Do you like it?" I asked, anticipating their answers.

"I love it!" They both said at the same time.

"Thanks," I said as relief washed over me. Lola and Faith were both blunt people who never held back, so it was truly their opinion if they said they liked it.

"We have news," Faith said.

"I thought we were going to wait until after we ate," Lola whispered.

"I'm too excited," Faith said, holding out her hand.

It hit me all of a sudden with what they were trying to show me. They were getting married. I stared at the stunning rings on both their fingers.

"Congratulations!" I said. I wished I could say I was surprised, but I always knew this day was coming soon. They had been together for years, and their love was the strongest I'd seen, so most people that knew them were expecting it.

"Thank you!" Lola said.

"So, when is the wedding?" I asked, expecting it to be sometime next year since wedding planning took a lot of time.

"September 29th."

"Of next year?" 

"No, in a few weeks."

"Woah, that's soon. Why so early? And why September 29th?" I asked.

"Because we're too excited to wait a whole year, and September 29th is the date that we met."

"That's really cute," I said, jealous of their loving relationship.

"The wedding will be held in Kona, Hawaii."

"Wait, Hawaii?" I asked.

"Yeah, we wanted a beach wedding, and Hawaii is beautiful."

"I can't miss school to travel to Hawaii," I said.

"You don't have to. You can leave for the weekend, and even if you do miss some school, it will only be a few days. How much could you miss in a few days? I'll text you all the details later, and you can get your flight set up. Also, there's one more thing."

"What?"

"We want you to bring a date."

"What? Why?" I asked, confused as to why Lola was so interested in my love life all of a sudden.

"Because it's a wedding, and we don't want you to feel lonely. Also, you need to put yourself out there. You are a beautiful girl, and we want you to find someone that is going to make you even happier than you already are."

I sighed. No part of me wanted to bring a date to Lola and Faith's wedding. I would be fine by myself and wouldn't feel lonely at all, but if it was going to make my sister happy, I would do it.

"Okay," I said.

"Great! Now tell us about what's going on in your life!"

"A lot, actually," I told them about bowling, horseback riding, the amusement park, and all the other fun things River and I did. They were shocked to find out that I had actually made some friends and was opening myself up to new experiences.

"Wow, you've been busy," Faith said.

"Do you have a crush on this River boy?" Lola asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No! Of course not!" I said immediately. I didn't like River like that. He had said that he didn't want a relationship, and he gets bored with things so quickly. It would never work out between us even if we wanted it to - which we didn't.

"Who do you think you're gonna bring as your date then?"

I didn't have many options. I could ask River to set me up with someone or ask Daniel to go with me. He showed a little bit of an interest in me during our time together, so he might be willing. "We'll see. I haven't decided yet," I said.

"You're still planning on coming to Landon's 8th birthday party, right?"

Crap. I forgot about that. "When is it?" I asked.

"You forgot?" Lola exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I've had a lot going on. When is it?"

"This Saturday," Lola said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll be there."

"Good, now, let's eat."

"River, this is my sister, Lola, and her fiancee, Faith," I said as the three of us got into his car.

"Nice to meet you," He said.

"Likewise."

"Alani, you could have told me they were coming," River said, glaring at me.

"I figured it didn't matter. It's just rollerskating."

As we drove thirty minutes to the rollerskating rink, my sister and Faith hit it off with River, which put a smile on my face.

"Have you ever done this before?" I asked River as we walked through the doors to the rink.

"No."

"Are you nervous?"

"How hard can it be?"

*****

"I take it back. I take it back. This is hard," River said as I skated circles around him.

"Slowpoke," I teased.

"How can someone be so bad at ice skating but so good at rollerskating?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me either, but I'm not questioning it."

River was having a hard time staying upright. He repeatedly fell within our first hour of skating. My sisters were even doing better than him.

"I want to go home," River whined.

"No way," I said, gliding across the wood.

"Please?"

"Now, you know how I felt," I laughed as he tripped again.

With the disco ball projecting lights across the rink and the music blaring in the background, it felt like a surreal experience.

"Hold onto the wall," Lola suggested to River.

"No, that's for little kids," He said.

"You look like a little kid," I said.

"This is harder than it looks," He pouted.

"Here," I said, grabbing both of his hands and guiding him.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Dancing," I said as I pulled his hand over my head so he could spin me.

"This isn't dancing."

"It's whatever we want it to be," I said as I twirled around.

"Okay, but only because I don't want you to look stupid dancing by yourself," He said. I knew he secretly wanted to dance with me and was lying about his reasoning, but I kept that to myself.

River attempted to keep up with me as I danced, but he couldn't. 

A few minutes in, he ended up falling and bringing me down with him. It all happened so fast. I barely had time to process what happened. We crashed and fell into the ice, with him above me. He sat up on his elbows and looked down at me.

"I'm not very good at this," He laughed.

"Correct," I said, not making an effort to get up. River's face was so close to mine I could feel his minty breath blowing on my face as he talked. It was a pleasant smell, so I was in no hurry to leave it.

After a second, we got up from the ground and continued "dancing."

Another hour passed as we skated and danced on the wooden floors. When it was time to leave, River was relieved.

"Thank god that's over," He said as we got into his car.

"I had a good time," My sister said.

"Me too. Another item to cross off the list," I said.