Hi again everyone! Quick side note: Monique in the last chapter was not Nudge! I did not mean for the confusion and it only now occurred to me the silly mistake I made. Sorry lovelies! Anyway, here is yet another chapter, which gets pretty touching at the end, so prepare yourselves!

Previously on Her Bucket List

Monique guided me back to David and I was introduced to Chris Columbus, the other director in charge of the film. Between these three fabulous people and my mother crocheting off to the side, I figured these were some of the greatest ways to finish my days left on Earth. Plus everyone who ever hated me will have to read my name in the end credits of Wings for the rest of eternity!

The next day, my mom had Iggy watch Ella and she took me and Nudge to this really lame theme park called Simple Amusements. The name really explained it all. Nudge basically chatted our ears off the entire car ride, and to be honest I lost her somewhere between her rant on waffles and when she went off on a tangent about cotton swabs. Who really knows with that girl?

As the car pulled into a parking spot I became vaguely aware of a banner hanging somewhere in the distance near the entrance of the park. Nudge continued to talk about her fear of flume rides as we made our way to the entrance and suddenly it became all too clear.

The banner in front of us read "Dare to Ride the MAXIMUM RIDE!" and was surrounded by screaming people in a roller coaster. Excitement bubbled from my toes to my ear lobes.

"No way! Mom, you did not do this!" I jumped up into an embrace, enveloping my off-guard mother. She laughed and pulled away from my attack.

"I would love to take credit for this, Max, but it really wasn't me." I looked over at my smiling best friend, shining so bright with puffed out cheeks, as if she was holding in far too much air. Finally, she exploded into a full-on grin and there went the chatter.

"Do you have any idea how hard it's been for me to keep this a secret? Oh my God, like talking about cotton swabs? Seriously, like who am I, that girl from Zoey 101? Ugh, as if! I can't believe this worked! That really is some incredible graphic designing, maybe I should take that up. Actually, no, I'm no Picasso, let's be real. SURPRISE! I just contacted the park about a week ago and they were in some desperate need of wicked cool advertising and bing, bang, boom! They get more customers, you knock something off your bucket list, it's a win-win situation! Gosh, I just love being amazing," she eventually faded off.

I grabbed the hand of my best friend and gave it a squeeze. She returned the motion knowingly and we all proceeded to make our way into the park. Due to my name being on the roller coaster, we were granted free admission, (totally cool, especially if we got free cotton candy, am I right?). We rode some pretty cool rides, namely the one with my namesake, and enjoyed a pretty awesome day—for a good three hours, at least. Hey, Simple Amusements, okay? This ain't the Golden Globes.

As we piled back into the car, our bellies full of popcorn and melted sugar, my mom told us that we were going dress shopping for homecoming. Suddenly, the sugar seemed to whip back into cotton and I felt my stomach lurch.

"Mom, I really appreciate the thought, but I don't even have a date yet," I droned. I mean, yes, homecoming was on my bucket list, but who wants to show up half dead and dateless? Nudge poked the back of my head from the back seat.

"Excuse me, miss, but you would never go alone! You'll always have me, Miss Pessimistic!" She grumped. I giggled at her request, though she had a point. I would never be alone with a friend like her. Though despite her awesome save, my stomach still churned as I thought of not going to my first and last homecoming with Fang. That was my true dream, but I clearly am not Cinderella, (plus, glass slippers? Hello, heels are torture enough!).

We went shop to shop for a while until finally my eyes found the perfect dress in a boutique called Atiana's. It was a very simple white dress with silver beads lining the chest and forming the straps and there was a slit up the right side where my leg rested. As soon as I tried it on, I knew it was the one. As I opened the door of the dressing room, I was met with three gasps; even the saleswoman was taken aback.

I glanced at Nudge, who simply nodded blissfully, and the sales associate gave me a nice thumbs up accompanied by a grin, but I was not prepared for my mother's reaction. Tears were welled up in her eyes, her hands clasped together in front of her mouth. I stood in the doorway silently, watching the tears slowly roll their way down her cheeks. Finally, she took a breath.

"You are so beautiful, Maximum. You're a vision in white," she managed to squeeze out before quietly sobbing. The saleswoman looked confused and mildly uncomfortable, so I politely asked if she could excuse us for a moment. My mom grabbed my hands and looked me in the eye as best she could.

"It's just hitting me now that I'll never get to see you in a wedding dress," she squeaked. I kissed the top of her head and asked for her to unzip me. I felt her hands shakily obey, and for once Nudge remained absolutely silent.

"Nudge, can you bring that woman back in here? I just have a few questions for her," I requested. A minute later, after I had shed the dress, the two walked back into the room. "I'm going to take this one, but would you mind guiding us to the wedding gowns?" I asked, noticing the sparkle in my mother's eyes. The woman nodded, taking my new homecoming dress from my thin arms.

"We're going to need some really poofy veils, too, miss!" I shouted. My mom would get her chance to see me in a wedding dress, even if I would never walk down the aisle, and I had made damn sure of that.

What do you all think? I was not expecting that ending at all, but I thought it was a cute touch. I had a request to include Nudge a bit more, so here was an entire chapter with her and her craziness, though it is sort of toned down for the sweetness of the chapter, and I figured we could use a bit of a reality check here. Not every day is going to be stoic and dedicated to the list. There are going to be some crazy emotions and at some point, Max's death is going to hit the people in her life like really heavy bricks.

Please review!
Love and Trivia Crack,
Abby