Never in my life have did I think I'd be this nervous but here we are.

Lucas has his hands on my shoulders, and I want to slap him.

But I actually need this.

"Look, Dickface, she's beautiful, funny, perfect." I narrow my eyes at him.

"What he means is," Nate interrupts his dumbass words. "Alaina is amazing, she loves you, you love her. You have no reason to be nervous."

"Well you go and do it then!" I throw my hands up, instantly regretting my words.

I point my finger at him and he knows to just pretend I never said that.

Pacing around the room, my fingers run through my hair.

"Dom."

"Hey!"

"Dominic!"

I stop walking, looking at Lucas.

"Quit pacing, I'm getting a headache just watching you."

I can hear her laughing outside the door and its getting closer.

She walks in, still facing whoever she's talking to.

I completely panic, throwing the little box in Nate's direction and he juggles it like we are playing hot potato.

He stuffs it in his pocket, leaning an elbow on the shelf, completely disregarding the whole "act natural" thing.

Alaina faces us and her eyes dart between us all.

Lucas sits on the sofa, flipping through a magazine and pursing his lips like he's found the deal of a lifetime.

Shaking my head, I remember I'm stood upright and still like a statue so basically, all of us have failed to act any form of natural.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" she laughs, but suspicion is laced in her voice.

"Oh, you know, nothing. Nada. Absolutely nothing, we are all doing nothing, right guys?"

I just roll my eyes at Lucas' poor attempt.

"Waiting for you." I take an awkward step forward.

"Oh, you're ready to go?" she looks down at my sweatpants and plain black shirt.

She has this long, red dress on, thin straps and a long slit up the side that shows off her entire thigh.

My breath gets caught in my throat as I drink in the woman in front of me.

"Oh, uh, no but I need your help finding clothes."

"This is your house, you know where the clothes are, Dominic." she doesn't buy a word any of us are saying.

"Woah, our house,"

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. It's been about a year and a half since everything happened.

Alaina moved in officially, even though she was here all day every day anyway.

But now I have the pleasure of 7000 different bottles in my bathroom,  full size, not just the little travel ones. finding hair in every crevice of the house and everything being a whole lot cleaner than when it was just me.

We share a wardrobe, about 70-30 as I own very few clothes and she has an entire shop worth, she has a little desk where her computer sits as well as all that makeup shit.

We are thinking of moving one day, but for now we are happy.

Actually happy. 

I've had the honour of watching her pick herself up and piece herself together.

Sure, I was there for her, but she did this all by herself.

She's some sort of super hero, I swear.

She also insisted we use the garden, so she has me out there almost every day, planting flowers with her, vegetable plants, even an apple tree.

Don't get me wrong, the garden is gorgeous, but I'm not a fan of being covered in dirt when she throws it for the hundreth time.

Anyway, we are going out tonight.

Every friday is date night.

We take turns choosing places to go, whether its a trip to the drive through, even sometimes ikea to buy useless things, or a full blown fancy meal.

Tonight is the latter.

"Sorry, our. " she rolls her eyes. "Just wear one of those buttons downs I love." she bites her lip, moving closer.

"Woah, woah, you have company, keep it in your pants, Ms White." Lucas holds his hands up. 

"Soon to be Mrs." the other one chimes in and I shoot him a glare.

"Well, he hasn't grown the balls to ask me yet." she shrugs her shoulders, strolling out of the room.

I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy watching her walk away.

"Hey, I have balls!" I shout after her, but I realise it's strange statement to scream that loud.

I just hold my hand out silently and he puts the box in my palm.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look out the corner of my eye.

"She'll say yes, Dom, stop getting your panties in a twist over it."

Slapping his hand, I walk out to the bedroom.

My thoughts are going at least a thousand miles per hour, if not faster and more chaotic.

I sift through the shirts in the wardrobe, all of them basically the same.

Look, I'm not one to panic over how I look and what I wear, but she's going to remember this for the rest of her life, I can't be looking stupid.

"Why are you so tense?" Alaina's hand runs down my back.

"I can literally see your shoulders tensing through your shirt."

"Just the boys, stressing me out." I'm a terrible liar.

And by the look on her face, she definitely knows I'm lying.

She seems to know everything, and I have no idea how.

"Hm, okay well wear that one, it makes you look..."

I look over at her to see why she paused, and see her eyes travelling down my now bare chest.

Raising a single eyebrow at her, I give her an amused look and she shakes herself out of it before laying down on the bed.

"I thought you refused to lay down when you curled your hair? Something about them dropping faster?"

"That's only if its a special occassion, I don't really have to energy to look dazzling tonight."

"You look 'dazzling' no matter what, love, hair or no hair." I begin to button my shirt, keeping my eyes on her.

"Is this you suggesting you're into bald girls, because if so, I'm not shaving my hair for you."

I just roll my eyes, shaking my head as she carries on rambling.

I've been with Alaina so long I've learnt to listen to her constant talking while doing other things.

I used to be terrible at multi-tasking, but she leaves me no choice or nothing would ever get done.

She sits with one of those books in her hands, it's very rare she doesn't have one in her hands at this point.

Today, it's the one I gave her for her birthday.

Yes, her birthday was a while ago, but as she likes to tell me all the time, her 'tbr', I don't know what that is, is an entire bookcase, and there aren't enough hours in the day.

But as long as she's doing something to stop her mind running wild, I'm okay with however long it takes.

I took her to a reading for one of her favourite authors, and boy, was it the best decision I ever made.

She made sure I knew just how grateful she was, and how could I ever complain.

These days, she seems to show me often.

I blink a few times, focusing back on getting ready.

It's very unusual for her to be ready before me, but under the circumstances, I think it's okay for me to stress a little.

After 2 years, I like to think I know Alaina well enough to know what she likes.

She likes a nice meal out, not fancy enough where you get stared at because its so quiet, but nice enough to dress up and get good quality food.

She hates the idea of grand gesture proposals, like when people fly banners in the sky, or go on stages at concerts, she just likes the idea of a little speech and a ring.

And being suprised.

It's forbbidden to propose when it's expected in her eyes.

I feel a harsh smack to the back of my head and I don't even question who or what it was because this is a daily occurance when she finishes her book.

"Done!" she shouts, pouncing on my back.

Her dress dangles, lightly touching the back of my knees.

Since she was layed down her dress shifted to the middle, exposing both her thighs.

My hands automatically grasp onto her thighs, hoisting her up on my back with a small grunt.

She ruffles my hair before placing a kiss on my cheek.

"How was it?"

"Best. Book. Ever." She almost sings the words.

"Tell me all about it in the car, I want to hear it all."

She lifts her hands from my shoulders, clapping happily.

I walk over to the full-body length mirror and she peers up over my shoulder.

I mainly walked over to get a better view of the beautiful girl who has apparently taken residency on my back, but when she stares at me through the mirror and runs her hands down my chest, I decide this was a great idea.

Her lips brush against my ear, her hands delving deeper into my shirt.

My eyes are closed, but I feel her kiss down my neck before her breath touches my ear as she talks.

Am I about to get lucky?

"Your little cross chain would look good with this shirt." 

And before I know it, she hops down from my back and skip out the room while adjusting her dress.

My god.

Adjusting my shirt and trousers, I take a deep breath before following her.

As I walk past her, who faces the counter in the kitchen, I lean down to her ear.

"I hate you, amore." 

She simply blows a kiss before focusing back on cleaning the counter.

People say someone will be the death of them all the time, but this girl actually will.

"Can we redecorate the kitchen?" she suddenly asks. "Maybe the bedroom too."

"We can't redecorate whenever you get bored of a colour, darling."

She hums in response.

"Besides, what's wrong with the kitchen?

"It's boring!"

It's not boring, just more simple than she likes.

We have a nice black marble countertop, the kind that looks like it has stars, and some very comfy grey barstools.

The cabinets are matte black and 3 lights hang over the island.

It's a lot more modern than she likes, she's the type to live in a cute, little house with her books and 7 cats.

But I'm always open to change the house, it is a little dull around here.

"But we can keep the barstools, they are just like placing your butt on clouds." 

I hesitate as she stares at me hopefully.

Not blinking. It's sort of creepy.

I've wanted to redecorate for a whie, so this isn't really a bad idea.

"I guess... we can change a few things."

She jumps up and down a bit before scurrying off.

Within seconds, she darts back with a little hand bag, looking a lot more calm and collected.

"Okay. Let's get this show on the road." 

Her arms wrap around one of mine, beaming up at me with that gorgeous smile I love so much.

I really got lucky with this one.

Yes, I'm slightly biased but she is the most beautiful woman in the room.

No matter where we go, nothing compares.

No one.

I realise I'm staring and I place my hand on the back of her neck with my thumb on her cheek and she leans into my palm.

My lips meet hers and it will never stop being the best feeling.

It just feels like a perfect fit, any time we touch.

Our tongues touch for less then a second, but I know we have a reservation so this can continue later.

She lightly pats my chest, which means "Stop now or we are staying in for the night."

I separate from her, looking into her eyes, just for a second.

"I love you."

I smile, I love hearing that.

"I love you too. Now lets go we are already late."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a good 15 minute drive, I basically know the entire plot of her book, all the characters and the childhoods aswell as every 'crazy' plot twist.

And the character she has declared as her favourite 'book boyfriend'.

Am I jealous? Maybe slightly. 

"Don't worry, babe, their only fictional, and you're hotter." she hates the word 'babe', she only uses it to tease me.

"So you're using me for my body?"

"Oh absolutely." she kisses my cheek before reassuring me she's obviously joking.

This is a common occurance.

"Besides, you're my favourite person ever. And that includes fictional people."

We walk into the restaurant, her fingers tightly locked in mine.

She still gets a little nervous going into public places, but she says she feels safer with me holding her hand.

But she's never too nervous to dead-eye anyone who tries it with me.

For example, now. 

The girl who stands at the front to seat people looks me up and down before doing that weird blinking thing I see girls do sometimes.

I don't know whether she thinks its attractive but she's just taking "batting eyelashes" to a whole new level and I feel like she needs an ambulance with whatever she's doing.

I don't even have to look to know Alaina is squinting her eyes, trying to be threatening.

After sitting down at our table, she rests her chin on her hand, just looking at me.

Her eyes travel around my face, as if it's something she's never seen before.

"What?" I chuckle and a lazy smile creeps on her face.

Her eyelids are slightly closed, she looks a little tired, but pretty none the less.

"You just have a nice face." she gives me a small shrug, reaching her hand out to take mine.

We are definitely one of those couple I used to hate looking at in public, but now I'm part of one, it's different.

How am I supposed to keep my hands away from her?

Plus, it keeps all the gazes away from her.

"So, how's it been going down at the cafe?"

My thumb strokes over the back over her hand as I watch her lips when she talks.

"Well... I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

She seems nervous, which makes me nervous.

"I want to quit." she pauses, waiting for me to react, but I just nod for her to continue.

"Don't get me wrong, I adore that little place, it's beautiful, but I spoke to Joshua and he really wants the managing job when it opens. And I think it's time I do something I actually want to do."

"You don't have to ask permission from me, you know that, right?"

"I know! I know! It's just, this is going to be a big change, and I'm going to need some help to make it happen." she picks the skin around her fingers whenever she's nervous.

Taking both her hands in mine, I look up at her.

"Whatever you need. Now. Tell me what it is you want to do."

"You're going to think I'm stupid."

I scoff at her words.

"Never."

"I want to open a little bookstore. I want people to be able to have a little, quiet spot to just read. Maybe even a little coffee machine at the desk."

That's not even that crazy, I was expecting some actual insane shit, but there's like one bookstore and they sell like 1 genre.

"I love it." She lights up at my words.

"Really?"

I nod at her, taking in her ridiculously big grin.

She continues explaining all the details of the exact bookstore of her dreams while we eat.

In her mind, it's written in the cards that it will fail and she'll get no customers, but I know she's wrong.

By the sounds of it, she's been planning this for a very long time, I have no idea why she waited so long.

We get to the park, the one from one of our first dates and we sit on the same bench as we did all that time ago.

It's pretty dark, just the warm glow of a streetlight over our heads.

We are getting deep into winter now, so it's been non-stop snowing.

There's never anyone in this park, that's why I decided it was a good idea.

"Hey, do you have any tissues in your bag?"

Very poor excuse to get her to turn around, but I'm not one for thinking on the spot.

She twists her body to rummage through her bag.

As she turns to face me, her eyes land on me, kneeled before her, box in hand.

The tissues instantly drop from her hand, landing in the inch of snow that coats the floor.

"I'm not going to give you a whole essay on why I love you, but Alaina-"

She's already nodding and I try not to laugh.

"You are my home, my safety. I'm yours until the day we die, I look at you and I see us in 10 years, in a smaller house, a beautiful garden, 3 kids. And of course your cat and Roxy."

She laughs in between little sniffles when tears well in her eyes.

"So just, lets have a massive party with a puffy white dress, with flowers and let me put a ring on that damn finger of yours before I lose my mind." I laugh and she bites her lips to stop herself from grinning.

She doesn't speak for like 5 seconds and it's the most painful 5 seconds.

"So? Will you marry me, Alaina?"

She pushes at my shoulder lightly.

"Of course I will, idiot."

Sliding the ring on her finger, I let her gush over how pretty it is for a few seconds before placing a hand on both sides of her.

I rise up from between her legs, placing a deep, firm kiss on her lips.

She puts both her hands on either side of my face, pulling me impossibly closer.

Our tongues brush together, finding a smooth rhythm.

Her back arches, pushing our chest's together, letting out the softest moan.

We break apart for a second, both of us breathing heavily.

"Oh, and I want more than one cat." her voice is rushed, her breath fanning over my lips.

I completely disregard what she said, desperate to have my lips back on hers.

As we reconnect, she lets out a little gasp and I smirk.

We are getting married.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I remembered I had this one pre-written, so I'm publishing it now instead of tomorrow because why not?

After this story is over, it's being entered for the 2022 Watty's Award.

This book definitely isn't the best and my next book will 100% be an improvement but what do I have to lose?

Like I said, I can't lie and say I'm very happy with this story, because its my first time writing anything.

But I love you all, you are the best.

I'm also making a little bonus chapter for tomorrow that's going to be very short.

Epilogue coming in 2 days, low-key nervous.