one daydream away // bucky x oc (au)

chapter one

Being a wedding planner in Manhattan was the most stressful job a girl could ask for and at the same time I wouldn't trade it for the world. When I was little I dreamed about beautiful wedding dresses, breathtaking scenery and flower arrangements. I spend days and weeks playing weddings with my two best friends,Rebecca. We would all dress up in pretty white gowns that my mom made for us and sometimes we could bribe Becca's brother into being the groom. We would take pictures, eat cookies or cupcakes and drink fizzy soda pretending it was fancy champagne. Marnie, our little dog would bring the ring pops in a basket we would get at the convenience store. We had a little, beautifully decorated gazebo at the end of our garden were we would hold the ceremony. Needless to say I was a hopeless romantic back then and still to this day I am a firm believer that love at first sight exists and that happy endings didn't just happen in books and movies.

Today, Becca and I  ran a wedding planner agency in Manhattan. We were completely booked out already and it was only spring. Usually people got married in summer and spring, and destination and beach weddings were the most popular at the moment. Manhattan was a busy and crowded city, located in the city that never slept. Rosalie, our business partner, was our resident photographer and Becca ran the numbers and handled the contracts and all the other stuff that revolved around numbers. Victoria, my assistant, helped me plan the most important day of people's lives and it was truly magical every single time. 

In the meantime I haven't found The One. You would probably think that as a wedding planner I would already have married the love of my life and experienced the magic myself but no, when it came to my own love life, I haven't seem to find the right spell to land me my perfect fairytale wedding. I was content for right now, there was no time for a boyfriend. My planner was fully booked, I was lucky if I could sleep in on a Sunday, which in all honesty rarely happened. But at night when I was alone with my thoughts I was craving someone to cuddle myself into.

Sally, the local wedding cake fairy, was preparing the cake I had ordered for the Matherson's wedding this weekend when I came in with the next order for her. Sally, an eldery woman with a god given gift to create the most beautiful and mouth watering cakes and pastries, was always like a mother to me. She made sure I was well fed and my sugar level was high. Her little treats were the reason I wasn't supermodel thin but I was happy with how I looked. My dark brown hair curled along my spine and ended at the small of my back. My eyes, a light hazel with green specks matched with my freckles and pale skin. I was proud of my full pouty lips and my cute little button nose. A nice set of boobs and legs that went on forever. Sally always said that she couldn't understand why men weren't trailing behind me like dogs in heat when the truth was, one that I didn't want to admit to myself that no one compared to the man who secretly stole my heart 15 years ago. James Buchanan Barnes.

Becca's brother James, or Bucky as we used to call him. The little boy who played my groom when I was a little girl, grew into a beautiful man. A man that was way out of my league. And honestly I don't think he wouldn't even be interested in the girl that used to bribe him into a tuxedo just so that he could sneak away some cupcakes or cookies when I wasn't looking. James was Manhattan's most successful tattoo artist  and people traveled all over the world to get a piece by him. 

I was one of the people whose goal it was to get tattooed by him. And you would think that I as his sister's best friend was one of the first people he would decorate with his beautiful intricate designs but I was always scared to lay down on his table and let his skilled hands touch my flesh, not because I was scared by needles but because I was scared of my body's reaction when being so close to him. I haven't seen him in a while, we're both crazy busy and there's honestly the fear of what could potentially happen between us. 

I was curling my hair to attend the Matherson's wedding when I got a call from Victoria for a last minute guest list change because the groom's best man had an accident and they had to get someone else instead. Since I was the one who designed the name plates for the tables I asked Victoria for the name of the groom's new best man and when she told me I almost choked on my own spit. 
James Barnes. Apparently the groom was good friends with James and they used to work together in the same tattoo shop when James was still an apprentice. Good lord, fate was playing tricks on me. I took a deep breath, set my curling iron to the sidel and turned it off, logged into my laptop and quickly changed the name plate and the names on the table order. Good thing these get printed at the copy shop next to my place. So, with half curled hair and no makeup I got my keys and purse and basically ran downstairs to get the stuff printed. 

Back upstairs I finished curling my hair and putting it in a loose updo. I wore a light pink flowy dress that ended just below my knees. 
 Some nude, red sole pumps and light makeup and jewelry and I was ready to go. I packed the poster tube with the table order and the name plate under my arm and my clutch with my lipstick and gloss, powder compact and a little emergency sewing kit on the other hand, kissed my cat Salem goodbye and I was out of the door. 

The ceremony was held in this beautiful garden which was owned by the bride's grandparents. Everything looked so beautiful. I was proud of myself and my team for another beautiful wedding but braced myself for the storm that was about to come, that storm called James Buchanan Barnes. 

I put the table order on the easel and the nameplate next to the plate where James would be sitting. I was nervous before every wedding but right now I was shitting my panties and felt like throwing up at the same time. I tried to remember that this was my job and that I was good at what I did. 

The garden started to fill itself with guests that took their spots on the beautifully decorated chairs so I did the same,  when the groom entered the makeshift aisle was lined with flowers that led to the gazebo where the ceremony would take place. The wedding march started to play as the bride made her appearance in a beautiful A-line dress, simple yet stunning,with intricate lace bordering the hems of her tulle sleeves,  her hair was curled and loosely pinned up like mine decorated with real wildflowers and the bridesmaids wore light green and pink flowy dresses. The bride was crying already, walking alongside her dad who patiently held her hand and walked her down the aisle, fighting with the tears himself. When I looked at the groom, his eyes full of joy and love as he saw his bride walking to him, I started crying myself, I always did at this exact moment, so I grabbed the little pack of tissues provided for every guest here and tried to dry my tears without smearing my carefully executed makeup. When I finally looked up I saw James looking straight at me with his beautiful, smug face. He was wearing a slate grey dress shirt and a black bow tie, a pair of black skinny jeans and no surprise there he wore black sneakers. The dress shirt was rolled up at the sleeves so that you could see that both of his lower arms and hands were tattooed, his hair was slicked back, his sides cropped close to his skull and longer on the top, his chin and jawline were so sharp s it could cut glass, sported a few days worth of dark stubble. His piercing blue eyes were so intense that I felt like they bore into me. A few designs peaked from under his bowtie and collar and I wondered how much of his skin underneath that dress shirt was tattooed. With that thought I felt the heat rising and the moisture in my panties increasing. 
Where can I open a black hole and sink into it and disappear ? Because I was sure that I looked like a cat in heat. I hope that no one noticed my flaming hot cheeks.

Embarrassed, I watched the couple exchange their wedding vows that they both wrote for each other and put on the beautiful wedding bands that their little two year old boy brought to them in a little basket decorated with tiny roses and greenery. Eli was wearing a little black tux and his blonde hair was slicked back, all the little baby curls gathering in the nape of his neck. He looked downright adorable. I found myself craving being a mother as I got older I wondered when my time would come. 
After a little while, it was time for the groom to kiss his bride and I sat there imagining me and James doing the same on our imaginary wedding day, all while he stood mere feet away from me. I really should stop daydreaming shit that would never happen. 

James:

All I could think of was that dark haired beauty that sat in the crowd of wedding guests, which was my sister's best friend Emerson Raine Perkins. The girl who stole my heart at the cute age of 10, with her bouncy curls and big puppy dog eyes and never gave it back since. No woman I ever dated, compared to her. Now she has grown into a beautiful, confident and selfless woman. She ran her own business alongside my sister and loved every second of it. I get asked why I never stay with a woman, give her a chance to be the one, because I already found her and I was determined to take what's been mine for 15 years tonight.