Find me in Stonebrook

Twenty Two

*Tessa's POV*

"Here." Parker bulled his jacket off the second we were out of the town hall, pulling it over my arms and grabbing my hand again, tugging me forward and down the dimly lit streets. His smile didn't fade the whole walk through town. Multiple times he stopped, spinning me around in the street lights and my heart was on a rollercoaster. It didn't know if it was supposed to be pounding or stopping.

"What are you doing?" I laughed as he dropped my hand in the middle of the dirt track, almost jumping over the waist high grass as he bent down.

"Do you remember the summer we got together?"

"I barely remember what I had for dinner last night Parker." I crossed my arms, trying to see what he was doing in the sunset with his back to me.

"Okay. Well, we used to spend the days just riding around town and trying to keep out of everyone's way. You used to sit in the fields and whilst the girls were playing football with us you were sat picking petals off wildflowers. There was one time I saw you just staring at this daisy, laid on your back and you were twirling it around between your fingers. I asked you what you were doing and you told me some random fact about daisies actually being dozens of smaller flowers. That's why they're your favourite flowers. Because they were special." He came back holding his hand out for me. I extended it and Parker put a small collection of flowers in my hand, holding my closed fist tight before placing a kiss on the back. "I disappeared from the group after that, collected the best looking daisies I could find and waited until the rest of the group had gone their own way before running to catch up with you. I walked you home and waited until we were on your doorstep to give you them. And then you kissed me."

"I kissed you? I do not remember that." He put his arm around me, settling on my hip and carrying us on with the walk home.

"I do. You tasted like bubble-gum and lemonade."

"That sounds like a vile combination."

"It was amazing. I promise." My fingers gently brushed over the petals. I don't know how he can remember tiny details like this. Unimportant memories about what I tasted like and that I liked daisies because of how detailed they were. I didn't think he ever paid attention that closely. Parker had proven time and time again that our relationship meant a lot more to him than I was under the impression that it did. "I'm serious about it all Tess. Finding a house for me to work on whilst you're back in New York. I'll drive up every weekend to see you I'll be there as long as I possibly can be so you'll see me 4 days a week. I'll be at every show I can be at and I'll be screaming front row that your my girl. And when I marry you Tess-" I stopped on his door step, facing him as he unlocked his front door, turning to face me in his porch light. "When I marry you there's going to be daisies in the kitchen every week. I'll paint them on the ceiling of our bedroom so every time we're going to sleep we can look at them and I can remind you that the first time I gave you daisies was when I fell in love with you."

Parker grabbed my hips, pulling me forward and into the house. I feel like my joints were made of concrete and I was forever going to be stood exactly like this. Flowers in hand, staring at him with a loose jaw, not believing what I was hearing.

"Did you just -"

"Say I am going to marry you?" He took the flowers off me, filling a mug with water and dropping them in quickly before coming back to me. "Yes. I did. And I mean it too. I want you to have your moment Tessa. I want you to have your name in lights and I want you to shine baby. Because I am so fucking proud of you for doing this all by yourself. You got yourself here against everyone's bets. Everything was against you and you worked your ass off to make it happen and you didn't let a damn thing get in the way. You are determined and strong and beautiful but even that doesn't do you justice." He pulled the jacket off me, throwing it over a chair in the middle of the room. I couldn't take my eyes off him right now. "You deserve so much better than him and you deserve more than the man I've been Tessa. But I'm going to do better for you. I've spent 3 days thinking and getting so damn mad at myself over everything. I know where I keep going wrong." He lifted me up onto a surface and I gasped, his hands holding my face and looking deep into my eyes until I felt my soul exploding. "I know you Tess. I know you better than anyone else in the world. I know your favourite flower and why it's your favourite and I know the words to the lullabies your Mom used to sing you to sleep. I know each freckle on your skin, each shot of gold in your eyes, I know every tiny scar on your legs and how you got them all."

"When I tell you you're my whole world Tessa, I'm not talking just the physical world. You are the oxygen and the sunlight and the rain and the ocean and the breeze."

"Parker." My heart was bursting at the seams and I was doing my best not to let the tears that were forming from spilling down my cheeks.

"I don't want you to choose him Tessa. I want you to choose me. Chose the lake house and the daisies and the school we're going to build and the daisies on the ceiling and the boat on our dock. Chose me and I swear, I will be everything you need me to be. But I need to know now Tess because if it's going to be him, I'll drive you home and I need to try and find a way to live without you and I don't think it's possible."

"Parker-"

"You want our future Tess? Everything you're telling Wells you want now?"

"I want it Parker."

"You want me?"

"I want you."