I'm losing us

Lover

[Taylor's POV]

The bottle of champagne pops off as everyone cheers on this occasion. Today Joe and I complete six years together. This feels surreal because I never thought I would find such a trustworthy guy at the age of 26. His family and my family both are present in our apartment on this lovely night and this is absolutely amazing.

Joe and I wrap our arms around each other and just close our eyes, rocking from side to side. We just want to enjoy this little moment of joy and happiness.

"Taylor, Joe! Come on, let us take a picture!" I hear his mom, Elizabeth; calls me to get a picture.

We both chuckle and rush to his mother. I put my arms around the two of them and pose for the camera in my stunning lavender dress. I quickly went to the cameraman of the day, Ellie, who is none other than Joe's sister.

She showed me the two snaps she clicked and as always, they were brilliant. "I am impressed by your skills once again" I compliment her.

I am a single child. Being a single child has its own advantages like the attention, the lack of need to share. However, the worst part is that it could get really lonely sometimes. Unless you have an extremely close friend who loves you more than anything, you can be really lonely.

Over these six years, I have naturally treated Ellie as my own sister. She comes to me and asks me about boys. She and I have become very close and I am so grateful that she accepted me as her darling brother's girlfriend.

My eyes meet mom and she gestures me and Joe to come to her. We both go to her and she pulls both of us in a motherly hug. She is radiating happiness and I am so glad that she is glad. "Aw, congrats you two. May god bless you with a lot of happiness"

"Thanks, Andrea" Joe spoke.

We can see our dads sitting together on the couch, sharing a bottle of brandy. They seem so comfortable with each other which makes the both of us really relieved. Everybody takes their seat on the dining table and I go to the kitchen to set the table.

While I am pouring the gravy into the bowl, I feel two strong, yet familiar arms wrap around my waste as my cheeks go redder. "Joe, this is a new dress. What if the food gets onto this?"

He leaned near my ear and whispered, "I know, love. If something happens to this dress, we'll get a better one for you, alright?"

I feel my knees go weak right there. I compose myself and subtly nod. If it was our friends and not our families, he would've done something to me right in the kitchen. But our families are here. He pushed my hair away from my back and kissed my neck, then left the kitchen.

Joe and I sit beside each other as Ellie serves the food to everyone. Everyone is in a joyous mood and I am so glad I am partly the reason for that.

"Okay, everyone now hold hands. It is time to say the grace" My dad is a very religious person. I have been brought up with the idea of believing in god and having faith in them. Sometimes hope is all you need.

We all hold hands of the person sitting on our sides and close our eyes. My dad says the grace and I inaudibly speak along. He has been saying the same grace since 30 years and not a word has changed. These words are now imprinted in my brain forever.

We all leave the hands and Joe pours some wine for everyone present there. His dad, Richard, raises his glass and makes a toast. "Here's to this beautiful couple who are the reason we are celebrating this night. We all wish you a happy life. Bless you both"

Everybody drinks their wine while I and Joe are busy blushing out of nowhere.

It might be weird that we decided to celebrate our four year anniversary with our families instead of a romantic date night or a night out with friends. But we've been doing that for the last five years.