Finding My Feet

Chapter Twenty

I followed Reegan into his room, a backpack on my shoulders. He set the box he had in his hands down and I put his backpack onto the bed.
"Well that's the last of it," he announces happily. "I'm all moved in."
I looked around at the ten or so boxes around us.
"You're not exactly moved in," I raise my eyebrow.
"Hush and help me find my bedding," he chuckles.
We search in a few boxes before finding his bedding and I sit at his desk while he makes his new bed.
"I'll unpack everything else tomorrow," he looks at his watch. "This the bathroom?"
I nod as he gestures to a door and opens it. He glances at me in confusion.
"It's a linked bathroom," I say. "But one of us can just use the passage bathroom, it doesn't matter."
"Don't mind sharing," he shrugs just before closing the door behind him.
I looked around his room. Reegan finally moved in. We were living together now. That meant no more fighting and certainly no more Kelly.
I walked over to a box that had files in it and when I looked closer, they were photo albums. I picked up one that caught my eye. It was a simple black album with gold words written on it.
"Our time together," I read.
I quickly dropped it back into the box as I heard the toilet flush.
"What you looking at?" Reegan came up behind me.
"Uh, nothing," I turned to smile at him but he was looking at the box I was standing over.
"So you found it?" He asked.
"Found what?" I shrugged.
"Don't play dumb," he rolled his eyes.
"I most definitely am not," I stated.
His hand reached for the album laying at the top.
"And of course, you'd find this one," he smiled. "Let me show it to you."
We plopped down onto his bed and he scooted close to me.
"I was going to give this to you when I moved back to California," his eyes studied the cover. "Plans changed though."
"When would you have moved back?" I asked.
"End of next year. When I'm done studying," he nods. "Let's start."
He opened it up and of course, it was a picture of Sage, him and I.
"The day we all met," I smiled.
He flipped the page. The photos were of the three of us, our friend group, having fun throughout our childhood years. It carried on for the next few pages.
"It's just an album of us as kids," I frowned. "Why'd you want to give it to me?"
"I'm not done, Bam," he chuckled.
He flipped the page and sure enough, my first letter that I slipped into his locker.
"I was around fourteen," I laughed. "How stupid."
He continued flipping the pages, showing me each one of the letters that I slipped into his locker in order.
"I didn't think you'd keep them," I smiled.
"Of course I would," he looked up at me. "You're my everything. Honestly, I don't want to miss or forget a single thing about you. I want to keep it all."
I felt my cheeks heat up and I motioned for him to carry on.
On the next few pages were the pictures on our first date. We had gone to a carnival. Badly drawn hearts littered the blank spaces between each photo.
It then went from our first date to us in our relationship. All the photos we had taken together and all the photos he had secretly taken of me. The photos of our first and second anniversary. Our Valentines Days together, our Christmases together, our Thanksgivings together.
He had even printed screenshots of us FaceTiming after he had moved.
He got to the second last page and hesitated. I looked at him in confusion.
"Go on," I said softly.
He turned the page slowly. The last page had writing on and a flat square shaped box.
"All this comes down to one last question," I read. "Will you marry me?"
My hand slowly covered my mouth as I opened the box to find a simple diamond engagement ring.
"You wanted to marry me?" I said, choking back the tears.
"I still do," he said, taking the album from my lap.
"Oh my god," I wiped my face with my hands, a few tears spilling onto my cheeks. "Wow."
"Will you marry me?" He asked.
"You know I would, Reegan," I giggled slightly. "We haven't been together for a year and a bit now."
"That doesn't change our feelings for each other," he shrugged. "I love you tremendously and I'm like pretty sure you feel the exact same."
I nodded.
"So?" He chuckled.
"I'm still in school," I sighed. "And we need to work through things."
"You're almost done with school and we can work through things while being engaged," he smiled cheekily.
"What would our parents say?" I asked.
"It's our decision so I don't think they should get involved," he shrugged.
"We have to think of the consequences," I sighed.
"What consequences?" He frowned.
"I don't know. That's why we need to think of them," I stated.
Oh how I wanted to just say yes to him. But my mind was shouting to me that I wasn't ready at all to be engaged, already planning my wedding while in senior year of high school.
"We can be engaged for however long you want, Bam. A year, five years. Whatever. As long as I know you're going to be completely mine one day," he stroked my cheek with his fingertips.
"We have problems Reegan," I sighed. "We need to get through them."
"We're going to, don't you stress," he kissed my forehead. "Everything is going to be just fine. I'll have you and you'll have me."
"But-"
"Do you love me, Amber?" He interrupted me.
I stared at him for a while, frustrated that he didn't understand how much I actually do.
"Yes, Reegan, how many more times must I repeat it?" I asked.
"Then marry me."