More Then Friends

Chapter 79

"Rudy, what are you doing here?" Dwight asked, going to hug his little brother.

"Well, Sam texted me a couple weeks ago and asked me if I was still living down here and after y'all all agreed to come down we made plans for y'all to stay here with me."

"This is your place?" Stevie asked.

"Well duh." He said. He looked at Sam. "Damn, I haven't seen you since May."

"I know, you've been out here with your girlfriend." Sam said in a mocking way and Rachel elbowed him in the side.

"Says the man getting married. I bet you and Rachel would be out vacationing if you weren't working so much." Stevie said, poking Sam. Sam rolled his eyes playfully.

"True. We probably would. Let's go in the living room, I'm tired of standing up."

"For a boy who works out for up to three hours a day, you sure are lazy as hell." Mary said.

"True but that's nothing new." He said winking at her and she laughed. They sat in the living room and talked for a while and then someone walked through the front door.

"The life of the party is here-Oh! Hi!" Rudy snorted and got up to hug her.

"Everyone, that hasn't already met her, this is Brandi, Brandi, that's Rachel's dads, Hiram and Le'Roy." He pointed at the wrong.

"Dude." Sam face palmed. "It's the other way around."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He giggled nervously.

"Sam did it too!" Rachel managed to say from where Sam was trying to cover her mouth up. She laughed and licked his hand.

"Ew! Why'd you do that?" He exclaimed, wiping his hand on her shorts.

"Wouldn't you do the same?"

"No!" She raised an eyebrow. "Probably." She giggled.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mr. Berry. And see everyone else again."

"You can just call us Hiram and Le'Roy." Hiram said. She smiled and nodded. They sad down, Rudy sitting in front of her legs.

"So have you guys set a date for the wedding yet?"

"We have actually, last night." Rachel said, grinning at Sam.

"Really?" Hiram and Mary asked simultaneously. They nodded.

"We were watching a movie last night before we went to bed and got to talking about it. It's actually sooner rather than later, in May."

"May 16 to be exact."

"That's so soon." Mary said.

"It's only five months away. We have enough time to plan everything since Kurt is helping us."

"And he could plan a wedding in a week or less." Mary nodded and bit her lip.

"Excuse me." She said and got up. She walked outside onto the back porch, facing the ocean. Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then got up and joined her, shutting the sliding door behind him quietly. He leaned forward on the railing next to her.

"You okay?" He asked. She nodded but then shook her head.

"No, I'm not, actually." She said and looked at him. She had tears in her eyes.

"Mom-"

"It's just, you literally just got engaged, not even a month ago, and now you're actually getting married in five months. It feels too soon." She said. "It feels too real."

"What does?"

"You're my baby, Sam, I'm not ready for you to get married yet. I'm not ready for you to leave me."

"Mama..." He wrapped his arms around her as she cried into his shoulder. "I'm always gonna be your baby, and I'm not leaving you. I know I live basically across the country, but I'm always gonna be around. I love Rachel, mom, so much it hurts sometimes. I just...I want her to be my wife already."

"I know you do. I can see how much you two love each other. I guess it's just what every parent feels, you'll feel the same way when you two have kids. I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon." She said, pulling away and wiping her eyes. She smiled slightly when she saw that he had started crying too. He bit his lip.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around much. I'm gonna change that, I promise you." She smiled at him and nodded. "I feel like I've lived away from you and dad and Stacy and Stevie for too long. I haven't lived with you for three years and I miss it." He said. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut. This time she hugged him and he buried his face in her hair.

"I know. You know you're welcome to come home and stay with us as long as you want, whenever you want. I'm sorry we weren't there for the important things, like prom or senior pictures or any of that stuff, and especially football and baseball games. That's what I regret the most." She said.

"I know y'all couldn't help it."

"That's not the point, we should have been to every single one of them. We're gonna be at every single one of your concerts from now, that's a promise." He chuckled and pulled away and wiped his eyes.

"You'll be coming to a good bit then." He said. "Because I'm going on a mini tour in February to April."

"Really? That's amazing! I'll drag your dad to every one of them, although I'm positive he'd be glad to come without me doing that." Sam laughed at that.

"I know mom." He hugged her again. "I love you."

"I love you too, Sammy."