June

“I'm here! I'm here. Sorry I'm late,” Luna gasped out as she dropped into a chair in the bridal shop. Erin's wedding was the next weekend, so this was the final dress fitting. “I need a drink.” She muttered aloud. As if by magic, a glass of white wine appeared in front of her face. She looked up at the hand holding the glass and smiled gratefully before taking it. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome, MoonBeam. Dave running you ragged again?” Stacy asked as she sat in the chair next to her.

“Yeah, Kathy is due to drop any day now, so she keeps calling him and making him rush to hospital. Three false alarms this week. I've been working my schedule and covering his. I'm exhausted,” Luna mumbled out with a yawn. She rubbed her hands briskly against her face and slapped her cheeks to revive herself. “When did you get here?”

“I flew in with the guys this morning. They have busy and important things to do before the series of concerts in Saitama,” Stacy explained to her as she poured them both more wine. “You know, I'm not really in to all this wedding stuff, but it's tolerable because there's wine involved.”

Luna raised her glass to Stacy and they bumped glasses in understanding. Leaning back in her seat, Luna watched the comings and goings of the room. Carla, the maid of honor(“Like 'maid' or 'honor' apply to that tramp.” Stacy joked), was sitting at a table with Erin's mom looking at the seating arrangement. She was so engrossed in it that Luna was fairly sure she didn't notice Luna's late entrance. There were several other people milling around that Luna didn't recognize and assumed they were part of Erin's family.

“Hi there, I'm Angela. I'm the groom's sister. I muscled my way into the wedding party,” Angela laughed overly loud. Her ears and cheeks were red, a sure sign that she began celebrating early into the day. “Are you two in the bridal party, too?”

“Yes, I'm Luna and this is Stacy. We work with Erin in the Foreign Service. We're bridesmaids as well.” Luna responded with a polite smile.

“That sounds like such a cool job to have. All the travel, the new places and people. It's exciting, I'm sure. I've never been anywhere. This is my first time leaving the United States. First time leaving South Dakota at all, really. I'm not adventurous like my brother. I'm just a silly, old, lonely, boring, married mother of three,” Angela told them with a forced smile. She downed her glass of wine and plastered the smile back on her face. “My husband hates me, you know. He's sleeping with his secretary. He thinks I don't know the signs, but I can see it. I hope Erin knows what she's signing herself up for. Sure, she's young and pretty now, but, let's be honest, once a figure starts to go, so does a man's attention. Am I right?” She laughed hard at her own joke while Luna and Stacy stared at her in wide-eyed horror.

“Whoa, Angela! Hey, now. Let's save some of that optimism for the reception, shall we?,” Carla came over and steered Angela safely into the arms of her mother where she began spontaneously weeping. “Sorry about that. She's crazy.” Carla put it bluntly, as was her style.

The three women hugged, refilled their glasses and talked about the plans for the upcoming wedding. They commiserated quietly about Erin's unfortunate choice of an 80's theme for her nuptials.

“So what have you girls been up to? I feel like I never see you two anymore.” Carla told them between sips.

“Actually, Luna and I are both dating members of the Korean band BIGBANG. She's dating the lead singer, TaeYang, and I'm dating the youngest, SeungRi. They're on tour right now, so we're hopping between Korea and Japan to spend as much time with them as possible before they go to the western hemisphere.”

Luna looked at Stacy like she had lost her blessed mind. Just like that, she spilled their biggest secret. “What Stacy meant was—”

“You don't have to explain,” Carla spat out angrily. “If you wanted me to mind my own business, that's all you had to say. There was no need for you to make up.” She stormed of in a huff.

Still stricken with disbelief, Luna turned back to Stacy slowly. “What?” Stacy asked her innocently. Luna gently took the glass of wine from Stacy and set it as far away from her as possible.

A bell chimed to get everyone's attention and the curtain drew open. Erin may have picked awful dresses for the bridal party, but her dress was a solid gold, 80's inspired masterpiece. Tafetta, silk, lace and pearls all on the same dress. Luna covered her face because it made her think of SeungHyun's cover of 'Like A '. All the ladies rushed forward to 'oooh' and 'ahh' over the beading and design. Suddenly, Erin burst out crying while saying she felt fat. Not willing to touch that with a ten foot pole, Luna walked back to her seat and pulled out her phone.

Luna: Hey love. I miss your face.

Luna set her phone down, not expecting a response for a while, and was surprised when she heard it vibrate.

Bae: I miss you more. Are you almost finished with the fitting?

Luna: Not even close. The bride is having a meltdown.

Bae: Sorry to hear that. Can I ask you for a favor?

Luna: Anything you wish.

Bae: What I wish for, is some Chinese food. Can you bring it to the office?

Luna: I can, but I'm not sure what time I'll get out of here. I haven't even put the dress on yet.

Bae: I'm not starved, I can wait a little. It'll also give me a chance to see you. I miss your face too.

Luna: Consider your wish granted, you adorable man. Text me back your order and I'll call it in before I leave here. I love you.

Bae: You are the best girlfriend I've ever had. I love you, too.

“Can we have the bridesmaids come to the back? It's time to make any last minute adjustments.” came the voice of the shop owner, breaking in to Luna's reverie. Sliding the phone back into her bag, she made her way to the changing area.

Faced with the dress again, it did not improve upon further inspection. It was still a strapless, purple satin piece of madness with a gold lamé sash that formed a ludicrously large bow in the back. It was matched with gold heels and gold hair accessories. She knew Erin was going for retro, but this, this was fashion agony. Luna shook her head as she put it on, lamenting the fact that she actually had to pay to look this crazy.

*****

“Ready to go?” Stacy asked Luna after the rest of the bridal party left the shop. The dresses fit fine and Luna got back out of hers as soon as she got the ok from the seamstress that no alterations needed to be made.

“Yeah, I'm rea—oh, crap. No. I'm supposed to take YoungBae dinner,” She called his favorite Chinese restaurant and placed the order. “They said it'll take about thirty minutes. Might as well waste some time here.” Luna told Stacy as she browsed the racks along side her.

“Ooooo, look at this,” Stacy said in awe as she held up a dress. “You should try it on.”

“No way.”

“Oh, come on. It's your size. It'll look great on you.”

“We wear the same size. You put it on.” Luna countered.

“You have bigger s than me and this dress, requires s,” Stacy stated like it was an undeniable fact. “Plus, you have some time to kill. Go on, take it.”

Luna examined the dress closely and had to agree that it was a beautiful dress. It had a simple, halter neck design with pearl embellishments along the empire waist. The dress was long and fitted with a slight flair below the knees. It was elegant and understated. Luna loved it. “I'll try it on, but only for a few minutes.” She made it sound like she was doing it reluctantly, but really she couldn't wait to try it on.

*****

“Woooooooow. You look amazing!” Stacy told Luna a few seconds after the curtain opened. Initially, she was speechless. “Hold on, let me find my phone.”

“No! This is just a little game of 'Dress Up', there is to be no record that this ever happened. Understand?” Luna warned Stacy with a her finger pointed at her. Stacy put her hands up in compliance.

The shop owner and the seamstress came over to compliment Luna and tell her how lovely she looked in the gown. Luna gazed at herself in the dress and tried to not smile too broadly or feel quite so conceited. While Luna was distracted, Stacy took a few pictures anyway.

*****

Luna walked into the basement of the YG building with food in hand. When she walked in, BIGBANG and their backup dancers were lazily running through choreography for 'Love Dust'. Not wanting to interrupt, Luna sat on the bench and waited for them to finish. As soon as the song came to an end, YoungBae ran at her full speed, dropped to his knees and slid to a stop right in front of her. He pulled her close by the cheeks and kissed her soundly. The kiss was only stopped because someone threw a sweaty towel at them.

“Ah, noona, we're all hardworking people and you only brought food for one?” DaeSung complained as he flopped down on the bench beside her. He his teeth and crossed his arms in a pout. “Such bad manners you foreigners have.” he mumbled with a shake of his head.

“Go eat in the cafeteria,” YoungBae ordered. “I've got to go negotiate with JiYong about break time. Be right back.” he told Luna with one more short kiss to her lips. Then he rolled backwards into a handstand and walked on his hands over to where JiYong was talking to the choreographer. He purposely let his legs drop and kicked JiYong in the back. Serves him right, Luna thought.

“Aigoo, Luna. You look even cuter than you did the last time.” SeungHyun told her with his hands up like he was going to pinch her cheeks.

“Retract your fingers or I will break them.” She informed him with a bright smile on her face.

“Ya, how can you say such mean things with a smile?”

“I told you she was crazy,” SeungRi answered as he walked by. Luna jumped on him and put him in the headlock while punching him lightly in the chest. “AH! Hyung! Make her stop!” he called to YoungBae.

“One does not attempt to 'make' Luna do anything. You ask very politely and hope she already had that thought in mind,” he told SeungRi as he walked back to Luna's side. “I haggled and got us forty-five minutes. We'd better hurry before he changes his mind.”

Luna pushed Maknae to the ground, landed a well placed kick to his stomach and followed YoungBae to the black painted lounge outside the third floor studio. She smiled brightly as she talked animatedly about the wedding plans and Dave's impending fatherhood, not wanting to let on how tired she was. She didn't want him to worry. She could see the smudges of darkened skin under his eyes and didn't want to add to his load.

“How are the rehearsals going?” She asked between bites.

“It was fine until HyunSuk-hyung complained about the choreography. He said it was getting stale since we do it the same at every concert. He wants us to change it up.”

“Is that hard?”

“Maybe you haven't noticed, but SeungHyun can't dance.” YoungBae explained while Luna covered to avoid spitting out her food. “I'm not being mean, the man is as stiff as a board. We have bare bones choreography as it is so he can keep up. He was just getting good with the routine, now we're changing it. So SeungHyun is frustrated because he knows he's lacking. JiYong is pissed because SeungHyun can't get it right and we have to keep doing the same five songs over and over. I'm glad you came when you did, I was pretty sure SeungHyun was on the verge of punching JiYong or walking out.” YoungBae cuddled close to her and tiredly put his head on her shoulder. Luna rubbed his back in sympathy.

“JiYong changed his mind and wants us all back in five.” SeungHyun told them as walked in the room.

“But it's only been ten!” YoungBae argued. SeungHyun shrugged, took off his jacket and sat down in a chair. Peeking over at Luna, he saw the half eaten carton of food in her hand and relieve