Just Friends? No, It Must Be More

Chapter 26

Ryan’s POV                  

I flip the pancake and feel two arms wrap around my middle from behind. It’s Alison. I feel her tiptoe and kiss the back of my neck. 

“Someone’s finally up.” I tell her. 

She giggles into my back, “It’s only 9.” 

“Well, I’ve been up for hours, slaving over this hot stove, making us breakfast.” 

“Slaving? Please, you love cooking. Especially when you’re cooking for me.” 

I turn around and place the finished pancake on the already tall stack of pancakes. She beams at me, “You’re right. I love cooking for you. Especially when you come down in your cute little pajamas ready to eat.” 

She smiles, “How’d you know I was hungry?” 

“You’re always hungry.” 

She sticks her tongue at me before we sit down to eat. As she cuts through a short stack of pancakes she asks me, “Have you heard from Kenny and Anna?” 

I shook my head 

She took a sip of her tea before she said, “I’m worried. They didn’t come home  last night. You think something happened to them?” 

“They’ve been M.I.A before. I’m sure they’re okay. Don’t worry. And I’m kind of glad they didn’t come home last night. Who knows what they would have seen or heard.” 

A faint shade of pink fills the skin on her cheeks as I reminded her of what happened last night. It was our first time. I will never forget the noises that she made, the way she held onto me, and the way she looked at me last night.  

She was looking at me from under her eyelashes, looking extremely sexy. I was more than ready to repeat what we did last night when the front door opens and Kenny and Anna walk in the house looking all bright eyed and happy. Alison immediately runs up to them to smother them in her arms. In all my life, I’ve never seen a friend like Alison. She’s the best friend any one can have. She’s been worrying about Kenny and Anna since last night. I walked over to my friends and welcomed them back. 

“Alison, please tell me you haven’t been worrying about us.” Anna says to Alison. 

“Of course I have, you two were suppose to be here last night. I thought you two were spending Thanksgiving here this year.” 

“We were suppose to be here but we just had to see Anna’s parents.” Kenny says. 

Kenny and Anna were being extremely vague. They were oddly excited about something that Alison and I didn’t know about. Alison and I both looked at each other, clearly confused about what was going on. 

“Will you two please tell us what’s going on?” Alison asks impatiently. 

Anna and Kenny sit on the couch and ask us to join them. Alison and I slowly take our seats and nervously wait for them to tell us. 

Anna takes a deep breath before she says, “I’m pregnant.” 

Alison and I were at a loss for words. I can’t tell you what was going through her mind but she was clearly in shock. And so was I. Anna and Kenny are two 21-year olds. Anna is still in her last year of college and Kenny has just started his business. They haven’t really started their lives yet and they have a baby on the way. I was worried for them, but they looked like they were prepared to take on this challenge. They’ve made up their minds about what they were going to do. You can tell, by just looking at them that they want this. 

“Ohmygod, why didn’t you tell me?” Alison asks still in shock. 

“We just didn’t want to ruin your time at home. With Ryan meeting your family and your sister’s wedding. I just didn’t want to interrupt anything that you might have been going on.” Anna explains 

“You’re so ridiculous. You could come to me with anything. Especially something like this!” Alison began, “Anna, you’re pregnant. You’re going to be a mom.” She says smiling widely as she makes her way to Anna to give her a big hug. 

Anna begins to tear up happily, “I know. I can’t believe it. I mean, I know it’s crazy. We haven’t thought everything through yet but we know this is what we want.” She looks at Kenny and he holds her hand comfortingly, “We’ve always talked about getting married and having kids someday. I guess someday is now.” 

I congratulate my two good friends. As crazy as all this seems, I’m happy as long as they’re happy.

Alison’s POV

So much has happened this past week. I’ve realized that I love Ryan more than I ever thought I could. He’s shown me sides of himself I haven’t seen all three years we’ve known each other. And now Anna’s pregnant. She and Kenny are so excited about having a family. And now everything just seems so real. My future with Ryan couldn’t be any clearer. I had my head on his chest while he had his arm wrapped around my midsection. I was staring blankly at my bedroom wall when he asked,  “What are you thinking about?” 

I pull myself up as he gripped onto me, “So I know we were joking around about getting married and having kids together but last night when you said that you wanted everything with me, did you mean it?” 

Without hesitation he said, “I did.” 

“It would be okay if you aren’t entirely sure. I love you and I want you to know that you don’t have to say those things just because you know its what I want to hear. And…”

He interrupted me with a kiss, “Stop.” I just stared at him, “I meant every word. I think I knew I wanted all those things with you for a long time, I just didn’t realize it until this weekend.” He stared at me for a moment before he said, “Hold on…” then he went to my desk and came back with a black sharpie marker. 

“What are you going to do with that?” I asked

He smiled and took my left hand, “This is to show you that I meant every word.” He began to draw on my ring finger, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you and that includes getting married and having a family together. I want to be your husband someday. I want to have kids with you…  a daughter that looks exactly like you or a son that looks like me but with your eyes. A future with you is exactly what I want.” He finished and presented a neatly drawn ring around my finger. “There.” 

I looked at the black ring around my finger as he said, “I know it’s just marker but means just as much as one of those things…” he was so cute he didn’t know what it was called. 

“A promise ring?” 

He nodded, “Yeah, a promise ring. I drew it on the right hand right?” 

I laughed, “Yeah, you did. I love it.” 

I held his face between my hands and kissed him again and again.