Short Stories

What the Love?

His arms hold me close, the warmth from his body radiating onto mine. With the side of my face pressed against the fabric of his t-shirt, I take a deep breath and smell his sharp cologne that I have loved since I first met him. I look up into his light brown eyes and smile at the man. He returns the grin and leans down, pressing his lips against mine. Time seemingly stops as we kiss and doesn't begin again until we fully pull away from each other. His eyes gleam when his eyes meet my light blue ones. "I love you."

"I love you too." The words slip from my lips. Even after four years of being with him, saying and hearing those tiny three words still makes my heart skip a beat. He nods and moves his arms away from my waist. The man grabs my hand softly in his and we walk across the serene park.

His mischievous smile comes onto his face. "How much do you love me?"

I tuck a stray lock of his black hair away from his eyes and bite my bottom lip, thinking. After a minute, I finally find the right words. "I love you more than anything and everything in this world and every other world. You're my one and only."

He stops us in front of a large oak tree and turns to face me, resting his hands on either side of my hips. "Then you wouldn't mind if I did this." My eyes widen in shock as he pulls something out of his pocket and moves down onto one knee. opening the small blue box, he reveals a simple but elegant ring to me. "Audrey Marie Conners, will you marry me?"

Tears begin to form in my eyes as I nod silently, unable to even think of forming words. It wasn't until a full minute later that I was finally able to choke the words out. "Yes. Of course, yes Tom."

He gets back to his feet and wraps me into a tight hug. Pulling back, he takes my left hand and carefully slips the beautiful engagement ring onto my ring finger.

"Young love, how adorable." We both turn and see an elderly woman clasping her hands to her chest. "I remember when Reginald and I were like you two. Oh it's so nice to see happy couples like you two."

"Thank you ma'am. She will be my one and only love, I can promise you that." He smiles at the lady. She nods and she mutters to herself, walking off. He scratches the back of his neck and turns back to me, "I know you were so excited about your cousin Rebel's wedding so I thought I could help you with your own."

Wiping the tears off of my cheeks, I laugh softly. "That was a great wedding. It will be hard to top but I think we can do it."

"Just seeing you in a wedding dress walking down the aisle will already make it so much better." The man smiles and softly kisses my lips. "And hearing people call you Mrs. Tom Oliver Parkinson will make it perfect."

"Audrey Parkinson does have a nice ring to it." I agree with him. The new jewelry on my finger quickly catches my eye. "Speaking of rings, where did you get this? It's perfect."

He smiles softly, "It was my mom's."

"Y-you don't have to give this to me." I stutter and think back to what happened three and a half years ago. Even today, I can see the same pain I had saw that dreaded day. Looking closely at the ring, I realize that it's the same one he had worn around his neck on a chain since the funeral. "This means too much to you, I can't take it."

He places my hands on my chest and looks into my eyes. For the first time in a long time, I can't see any sadness or hurt. There is only warmth and love in these dark brown eyes of his. "You are my soon-to-be wife and I want to show you that I trust you. And like you said, it's perfect. Mom would want you to wear it."

My hands shake as I wipe the tears away. "I would be honored to wear it then." We both go silent as our words die in our mouths. I nervously break the tension, "Did your mom like me? I know you say she did but I'm not so sure you were telling the truth."

"My mom loved you." He rests his hand on my cheek. "She even told me that you were the daughter she never got to have."

I laugh softly, "Your poor mom had to be stuck in a house full of boys. How is your brother by the way?"

"He's happy that I finally got the balls to ask you to be my wife. Said I should have done it four years ago when we met." He chuckles. "I would have but I didn't want to scare you away and lose my only chance with such a beautiful woman as you."

"You could have played it off if I were to say no. I would have fallen for it." I tell him with a wide smile. "Tell Josh I say hi next time you talk to him."

"I will." He assures me as we sit down onto the grass. "Speaking of brothers, how is Chris doing?"

"Good. I just texted him yesterday. Apparently that blonde he was telling me about finally gave into his woos and agreed to go out with him. He even met her friends already." A smile comes to my face as I recall his retelling of how that went. "Mia and I cracked up."

Tom's face quickly grows white and all emotion drains from his face. "We have to tell Mia. She will kill us if we don't hurry up and tell her." Grabbing my hand, he quickly pulls us both up.

"Shouldn't we tell my parents first?" I ask him as we make our way to my childhood home.

He smirks, "I'm a man of tradition, I already asked them for your hand in marriage. They give us both their congratulations."

Yes I know this is Who Do I Love? but that story just couldn't be worked out. It was decided that it would be best to give it up. I re-uploaded this first chapter because I personally feel like this first chapter was one of my best. I hope you enjoy it and remember to like if you want to.