by Dee Bridle
“I’m just so happy right now,” she said leaning up and kissing me softly.
“Me too,” I murmured against her lips.
Should I do it right now?
Do it.
Just fucking ask her.
Do it now.
I can’t do this in the hallway.
I suddenly pulled away from her and then saw the alarm on her face, realising I had done it too quickly.
“Come with me,” I said, grabbing her hand.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“Nothing, just come with me; I need to show you something,” I said leading her down the hallway and then up more stairs to the rooftop. We both stepped out into the night air and I closed the door behind us.
She looked around the rooftop and then back to me. “What is it?” she asked.
Do it now. Now or never.
“Over here,” I said, leading her over to the main section of outdoor seating we had set up around a BBQ area. She had wanted fairy lights, so I had covered the whole area with them.
“Is this your idea of trying to get me naked?” she asked with a laugh.
“Well, yeah - maybe after,” I said.
“After what?” she asked.
My heart pumped. I felt slightly crazy as I cradled her face in my hands. I looked into her eyes and knew within my heart that the time was now.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too,” she said softly. “Zac, what’s going on?”
“I want forever with you, Ava,” I said kissing her lips. “You’re my reason for living. Everything is for you.”
“I want forever with you too,” she whispered.
“Marry me,” I said against her lips.
I heard her intake of breath and watched as she pulled back slightly to look at me. I saw the surprise in her eyes and then joy.
“Marry me, be my wife,” I confirmed huskily.
She promptly burst into tears.
I took her in my arms and laughed, before wiping her tears with my thumb. “Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes!” she cried, throwing her arms around me.
I held on to her tight, feeling like the next jigsaw piece of my life had been put into the puzzle.
“I can’t believe you just asked me to marry you,” she said into my chest.
“Believe it,” I returned with a smile, kissing the top of her head. “I can’t believe you said yes.”
“I love you, Zac,” she whispered.
“I love you more,” I said, kissing her head again, before leaning back to look at her. She looked tear-stained, happy and beautiful. I pulled the ring out of my back pocket and placed it between us.
Her eyes widened as she took it in before she exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, it’s so beautiful! And huge!”
I gave her a wink and said, “I know.”
She let out a laugh that warmed my heart all over again.
“You ready for this?” I asked.
“I’m so ready,” she said, giving me her hand.
I slipped the ring onto her finger and she gasped in happiness. It looked perfect on her hand like I knew it would. She started to cry and laugh at the same time, which made her even more adorable in my eyes.
“I love it,” she said kissing me. “I love you.”
I kissed her back, taking her breath away as I held her against me. My beautiful girlfriend was going to be my wife and I suddenly didn’t want to wait any longer.
“Let’s go somewhere now and get married,” I said against her lips.
She pulled back to look at me with a smile and said, “We can’t; these things take time and Janey would be furious.”
“She’s making me wear a suit for a whole day and night in a couple of days, so I don’t care how furious she is.”
“Where would we go?” she asked with a smile.
“You’re actually contemplating it?” I asked in surprise. “Because I have a contact than can get us married by the morning.”
“But we couldn’t tell the others. I don’t want to steal the limelight off Will and Janey.”
“So, we keep it a secret, until after their wedding. It’ll be just us tonight, getting married.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and then whispered, “I can’t believe this; I’m getting married. You’ll be my husband.”
“Sounds perfect to me,” I said kissing her again.
“Everyone is going to be so annoyed that we did this secretly.”
I shrugged, not caring about anyone other than my soon-to-be wife. “If you want a wedding, we’ll do a wedding. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“No, I want to go and do it right now,” she said with an excited glitter in her eyes.
I kissed her again and then took her hand. We looked at each other once more, she suddenly giggled and I grinned happily and then we were running to the door.
Ivy
I stepped out of the bathroom and then halted as Zac and Ava ran past laughing.
“Where’s the fire?” I asked after them but they were already heading down the stairs, in their own loved-up world. I smiled and then let it turn to a grimace as I felt the dizziness again. Did I make my way back downstairs to the party or just wait here for the next bout of sickness that would most definitely arrive sooner than I wanted. I had known for exactly fifteen hours that I was pregnant.
Me.
Pregnant.
I had a child growing inside of me.
I was going to be a mother.
And it scared the living shit out of me.
I had been feeling sick for a few weeks and I hadn’t seemed to be getting any better. Now I knew why; the baby growing inside me hadn’t been planned and I hadn’t told Noah yet. I didn’t know how he would react to be honest. I didn’t even know how I was currently reacting. I seemed to be going through phases of both sheer terror and excitement all while continuously throwing my guts up.
I had a terrible childhood, an even worse mother figure.
How the fuck was I going to do this?
I was going to fail, I just knew it.
I left the bathroom and headed to the top of the stairs and then paused, looking at the party below. The crowd had thinned out slightly but the music was still going and the laughter travelled up to me. I sat down on the top step and then searched out Noah, feeling my heart rate calm as I set eyes on him. He was talking animatedly to a friend while drinking his beer, making his friend laugh out loud. I smiled to myself, feeling the power of Noah, all the way from up here.
He was my sunshine, my saviour and I loved him to bits.
He was going to be a father, and he didn’t know it yet.
I needed to tell him tonight.
Noah
She looked beautiful sitting up on the top step and she called to me in ways that no other girl had. Our eyes met and she smiled at me, hiding the vulnerability that was there a second ago. Something was up. Something was bothering her and I needed to find out what was wrong.
Zac had just left, asking me to lock up after everyone left. I had no idea where they were going, but they were both grinning like they were sharing the same secret.
“So I can’t believe Will’s going through with it,” said Dylan with a laugh.
“I know, never thought I’d see the day,” I said, still looking up at Ivy.
“I hear a thousand girls’ hearts breaking all over the place,” he laughed. “Pretty much the same thing happened when you went and got serious.”
“That was a long time ago, now,” I said still watching Ivy.
“You okay?” I mouthed to her.
She nodded with a smile. I didn’t believe her.
“I’ll be back,” I said to Dylan as I put my beer down and moved through the party. I went up the stairs two at a time and then sat down beside her.
“What’s going on?”
“Just admiring my man from up here,” she said, leaning into me.
“Which one? Is he
hot?” I said, looking around the party.
“The hottest,” she said with a smile.
“Why aren’t you down there with him then?”
“Thought I’d watch from up here,” she said with a smile.
“You think he’d mind if I took you away from the party and had my wicked way with you?” I asked.
“He probably would,” she said pretending to be disappointed for me. “He’s actually a fighter and I really wouldn’t want you to be on the receiving end of one of his fists.”
“What if I kissed you?” I asked, leaning into her further.
“He doesn’t like other guys looking at me, let alone kissing me,” she whispered, her lips grazing mine.
“He shouldn’t have left you alone then, even for a second,” I murmured, taking her lips against mine, before taking her bottom lip between my teeth and gently pulling at it.
She let out a small sigh and whispered, “I can’t think when you do that.”
“Good,” I whispered, taking her mouth fully and kissing her hard. She returned my kiss as her hand went to my thigh and squeezed. I had her under me in a second, lost in our kiss, on the top step of the stairs. She would always have this effect on me and I would never get enough.
“Wait,” she said, breathing heavy.
I took a breath, remembering I was in clear view of the entire party. I had to get control of myself before I embarrassed both of us. I wanted to take her to our room we used when we stayed here and finish what had been started.
“We need to talk first,” she whispered, suddenly looking vulnerable again.
I pulled back to look at her expression, my eyes narrowing. Talk? I was ready to take her up against the wall in the closest bedroom and she wanted to talk first?
“About what?” I asked.
She looked away from my eyes and pushed up from under me. “I don’t want to talk here.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, alarm bells going off somewhere in my head as the blood returned.
“Nothing,” she said as she shook her head. “I mean…look I don’t want to talk about it here.”
“Am I going to like what we need to talk about?” I asked, my heart beat starting to race.
“I honestly don’t know,” she said in anguish.
“Ivy, what the Hell is going on?” I asked.
“I can’t Noah; not here, like this,” she said emotionally.
“Fuck,” I muttered, standing up and heading down the stairs. I had no idea what the Hell was going on and what was about to happen but I felt panicked as I headed back down into the party. I didn’t work properly without my Ivy and if she wanted a break I honestly didn’t know if I would cope. We were forever. We had a house together, our lives were intricately entwined. I shut the music down and everyone turned to look at me.
“Party’s over!” I called out. “Everyone out!”
There were groans and shouts, but people started to leave. I said my goodbyes, looking up to see that Ivy had disappeared from the stairs. I let out a frustrated sigh and shuffled everyone out.
Locking the door, I turned to go and find her. She was coming down the stairs, not looking at me as she seemed to concentrate on the steps. She reached the bottom step and then proceeded to pick up empty bottles.
“Leave them,” I said, stepping towards her.
She shook her head and with a determination, picked up more.
I watched her put the bottles in a bin in the kitchen and then collect more, wondering how my night had gone from feeling like the luckiest schmuck on Earth to this.
“Talk to me,” I said.
She frowned and continued to clear surfaces. “I don’t know how to say it.”
“Jesus,” I said rubbing my hand over my face in despair. “Look, I don’t know what’s happened, Ivy but I can’t not be with you. If this is some sort of fucking break up speech then I don’t want to hear it.”
She stopped in mid bottle pick up and stared at me. “I don’t want to break up with you,” she exclaimed.
I felt the relieved sigh of release from me. Okay. If we were together, I’d handle anything she was going to throw at me.
“I never want to be apart from you, ever,” she said emotionally.
“Good,” I said heading towards her slowly. “So tell me what else is going on, let me fix it.”
“You can’t fix this,” she said swallowing hard.
“I’ll do anything to get the smile back on your face. Just tell me.”
“I’m afraid of the outcome,” she said softly.
“Outcome of what?”
“You, me, our lives changing forever.”
My eyes narrowed as I reached her. “What is it?”
“Promise to be honest when I tell you,” she said.
“Honest about what?” I asked, taking the bottles from her hands and putting them down on the bench behind her.
“Your reaction, your thoughts,” she said.
“You are really scaring me, again,” I said with a frown. “I’ve just had to survive five minutes of thinking you no longer wanted to be with me and now this. Just say it.”
She let out a sigh and ran her hand through her hair.
“Tell me. You want to stop college? You want to sell the house and move to a farm? You want us to join a sex cult? Fuck, are you proposing to me?”
“I’m pregnant.”
The words hit me, took my breath away and dived their way into my brain. Pregnant.
My girl was pregnant.
With my baby.
My baby was growing inside her.
“Say something,” she said in anguish.
I wanted to swear, I wanted to laugh and I wanted to shout with some sort of alpha joy. I was going to be a father. Fuck me. I focused on Ivy.
“Say something Noah, I know this is huge. Tell me what you are thinking. Do you feel like running away? I understand if you do, I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to be a mother. I found out – ”
I pulled her to me and kissed her fully on the mouth, silencing her questions. I cupped her face with both of my hands and held her to me, feeling fear and joy all at the same time. She pulled back slightly to look at me with questioning eyes and asked, “You’re happy?”
“We’re having a baby,” I stated with a grin.
“Which will change everything,” she confirmed.
“Everything,” I said, still grinning.
“What if I’m a bad mother?”
“You won’t be.”
“I’m still in college.”
“Keep going with it. Or stop it for a while and then go back to it,” I said.
“A baby, Noah,” she said like she was confirming it to herself.
“A baby - you’re growing my baby inside of you, right now,” I said with a laugh. “I can’t fucking believe it.”
“You ready for this?” she asked.
“I was born ready,” I said with a wink.
She laughed for the first time that night and I captured her lips in a kiss. “We are so going to rock this,” I said against her lips.
“I hope so,” she whispered.
I lifted her onto the kitchen bench behind her and cupped her face again. “I honestly don’t think you’ve been any hotter to me than you are right now. I feel like a caveman and have this urge to beat my chest or roar or something.”
She laughed again. “I love you Noah.”
“Love you more.”
Two days later
Will
“You sure you want to do this?” asked Zac, leaning against the door frame, his hands in his pockets.
“I’m so sure that I would have done it months ago,” I said, running some wax through my messy mohawk. I had grown it back because Janey loved it and I loved her loving it, so it was here to stay. She liked to pull on it roughly when I was between her legs and the thought of that made my zipper instantly tighten. I looked at Zac in the mirror behind me and instantly cleared my head. I couldn’t get a b
oner now, especially with her brother in the room.
“Why didn’t you?” asked Zac.
“Huh?” I asked. I’d never been successful in getting my wicked woman out of my head.
“Why didn’t you do it months ago?” he asked again.
“She wanted to come back here and be with you.”
“You never know; the idea might rub off on him and he will want to do it next,” said Noah walking in with a bottle of scotch and three glasses.
“That I would like to see,” I laughed, doing one more check in the mirror before turning around to them both.
“How do you fuckers know that I haven’t already done it?” asked Zac.
We both paused and looked over at him, noting his serious face.
“No way,” said Noah.
My eyes narrowed onto him. Janey and I had been gone for months, travelling around Europe and just getting lost together, there was the possibility that he had already done it and we were all none the wiser but he used to be so against the idea that I couldn’t see it happening.
“Not buying it; there is no way that Ava would have kept that a secret,” I said.
“I guess you’ll never know,” he said, standing away from the door frame and stepping inside the room.
“Get Ava in here,” said Noah, pouring a shot of scotch into each glass. “She can tell us if they have or not.”
“Ava is better at keeping secrets than me,” said Zac with a smirk, taking a glass and putting it to his lips.
I watched him closely as I put my own glass to my lips. “No way; you wouldn’t have done it without your sister being there. She would kill you if you did.”
Zac shrugged and then threw back the scotch in silence.
“How we going in here?” asked Dean at the door.
I looked over to my father and smiled. We had furthered our bond together before I left for Europe. He and I kept in regular contact and I was truly better for having him in my life.
“Just getting some courage,” said Noah, holding up the bottle. “You want some?”
“No, I better not,” he said with a smile. After his visit to the hospital and two operations later, he was looking after himself. “So you ready for the rest of your life?”
I nodded and said, “Ready.”
He winked at me before turning to see Ryan appear beside him.
