Just be there

Izzie

I wake up on my one year anniversary to the sight of Casey standing beside the bed holding a tray of food, grinning from ear to ear.

I smile back at her but I'm surprised. She has brought me food in bed when I was going through my rough spot this summer, but that was because I mostly refused to get out of bed.

"Happy anniversary my love!" Casey says in a sing-song voice, placing the tray across my lap as I sit up. "I thought we could have breakfast in bed." She continues before sitting next to me.

It is obvious that Casey attempted to make breakfast herself. The pancakes are oddly shaped, and are a mix of undercooked and burnt. The eggs are over cooked, and kind of dry. It doesn't matter though. I know Casey hates cooking, so it's very sweet that she put forth the effort to make me breakfast myself.

I eat breakfast, and Casey picks at a pancake, eating around the burnt parts. "Sorry Iz, I tried" she says apologetically. "Don't be sorry Casey, I love it and I love you" I say, putting down my fork to kiss her. She kisses me back, and pulls back and grins.

"I have more planned for today. Get dressed in something comfy" Casey says, taking away the tray of semi edible food.

With the instructions of "comfy", I get dressed in soft cargo leggings, and a Denton hoodie that Casey stole from Sam, which I had since stolen from Casey.

Realizing it's chilly outside, I also stole one of Casey's beanies.

I walked downstairs and Casey put on a backpack. "No peaking in here" She tells me playfully, before pulling on a comfortable pair of sneakers. I do the same, tying my shoes in a double knot, since I'm not sure what Casey has planned.

We get in the car, and I DJ as Casey drives. I'm not sure where we are going but almost seventy minutes later we pull into a booth to pay to enter a state park.

Casey parks and gets out of the car, putting on her backpack before shutting her door. "Are we hiking?" I ask her, and she smiles at me. "To start" She says with a wink.

She pulls a water bottle out of her backpack and hands it to me, and we start up up the trail. It's chilly, so it isn't super crowded with only a few other hikers on the trail.

I enjoy the fresh air, and the scenery as we pass trees, streams, and many odd shaped boulders.

I don't know where this trail is leading, but I'm happy with Casey by my side.

We switch between chatting and just enjoying each other's company in silence.

As we go around a final bend in the trail, I hear the sound of running water. It's loud, obviously this water is moving quickly and with force. As we walk further down the the trail, a beautiful waterfall comes into view, the water cascading over the edge before falling down to crash into the rocks below. "It's beautiful" I say in awe. "I know, but it's still not as breathtaking as you are" Casey says with a grin. I roll my eyes.

We continue to hike, and I realize Casey is leading me up to the top of the waterfall.

Once we get there, Casey stop and takes off her backpack. She opens it and takes out a blanket, spreading it out on the ground by the waterfall.

She motions for me to sit, so I plop myself down on my side of the blanket. Casey than pulls out some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in ziplock bags, along with a bag of Cheetos, and a bag of twizzlers.

"Oooh!" I say grabbing for the twizzlers. They are my favorite candy. Casey laughs at my childlike enthusiasm.

We enjoy our lunch, taking in the view. After we eat, I lean my head against Casey's shoulder and she puts her arm around me, resting her cheek against the top of my head.

We sit there for a long time, just taking in the sounds of the waterfall, feeling content to just enjoy each other's company.

After awhile, we head back down the trail to get to the car.

_____
As we pull into the Gardner's house, Casey grins at me. "Go get cleaned up and change into something nice" She says with a grin. I smile and head upstairs to take a shower.

After I get out, Casey gets in the shower, and I head to the closet to figure out what I want to wear.

I see the red dress I wore to the dinner party well over a year ago, and I grin. I start putting it on. Casey comes out and laughs. She crosses to the closet in her towel, and says "Well if you're wearing that.." pulling out the infamous tweed suit and grinning at me.

I smile at her, nodding my agreement. I go back into the bathroom and start to fix my hair.

____
After I am done with my hair, some forty five minutes later (I have a lot of hair and it takes a loooong time to dry), I come downstairs to see that Casey has set the table with candles, and is laying out dishes of lasagna.

I peek towards the kitchen, and am relieved to see take out containers.

As we sit down to eat, I beam at Casey. "You're so sweet, how did I get to lucky?" I say to her, feeling warm and gushy. "Seduced me with your good looks" Casey says with a wink.

After we eat, I run back upstairs to get my gift for Casey. I hand her the small gift bag, and the card. She grins excitedly, and starts pulling out the tissue paper with gusto.

She opens the small box she finds at the bottom of the bag, and reveals the two necklaces inside. I take them from her gently. "It's a couples necklace. See how they interlock?" I take the small black one and put it over her head gently. It reads "You always shine on me like the sun". I take the smaller one that says "You're always there for me like the moon" and put it on, interlocking them once they are around our necks. "That way if we wind up having to do the distance thing during college, we can always have a little reminder of each other with us" I say, trying to gauge her reaction.

Casey blinks away a tear, and leans forward to kiss me. "I love it Iz" she says, her smile full of love.

Casey pulls a small box out of her pocket, which suspiciously looks like a ring box. I look at her, slightly alarmed.

Casey laughs at my facial expression. "Oh don't worry, it's not that ring...yet." I relax, hopefully not too visibly. She opens the box and shows me. It's a simple silver band with "forever love" engraved on the outside of the band, with a small heart between the words "forever" and "love". "It's a promise ring, we may be too young to get engaged now, but it's just a promise that we will one day" Casey says, looking at me anxiously. I smile at her, and hold out my hand. She slides it onto my finger.

I wrap my arms around her, and kiss her slowly, sinking into her embrace. When I start to run out of oxygen I pull back enough to breathe. "How much longer will your parents be gone?" I ask her. She grins devilishly and says "They are gone until midnight."

I glance at the clock, it's 10 pm. I grab Casey's hand and pull her upstairs, giggling the entire way up.
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Later we lay, snuggled together in a tangled mess of limbs. I gently brush the hair out of Casey's eyes. "Thank you for everything you did today Casey, I loved it" I say smiling happily. "I'm so glad. Happy anniversary love" She murmurs to me. I sigh happily. Hopefully it's the first of many.