Under the Mistletoe (Christmas Special)

Epilogue

The sound of death fills my ears.

Well, I mean, it's not exactly death. It's Liam clapping a wooden spoon against a metal pot right near my head in attempt to wake me up. But same thing, right?

"Liam, I swear to God if you don't stop doing that right this minute I will kill you," I mutter, my hands covering my ears, through gritted teeth.

"Wake up!"

"We were up for the majority of last night - stupid idea on our part, by the way - and I would like to get a few hours of sleep so leave my flat."

"Oh, come on, you had a blast at the party last night! And it's our flat. So I don't have to leave!"

"I don't care. Go away. I hate you."

"Noooo, you love me. And you have to wake up, it's Christmas morning!"

I jolt up from my peaceful slumber, "Oh my god! I forgot!"

"Clearly."

I scramble out of bed, give Liam a quick good morning kiss, put my glasses on my face, and grab Liam's arm, dragging him into the living room.

As if on queue, in unison we say, "I want you to open my present first."

I argue, "No, open yours first."

"No, yours first."

"No!"

"Josie!"

I pick up the box contain the present I bought him - a mug and a bowl. They have a cow pattern on them and udders on the bottom. Unique present, yes. Hilarious, yes. He said and I quote to get him "anything" and that's exactly what I got him! Plus two tickets to DisneyWorld for my spring break from Uni. I've been working hours overtime since the summer just so I could afford this.

"Liam, I swear, if you don't open mine first," I lift it up to my nose. "It smells good. You should open it."

He smells it. "It smells like wrapping paper."

"Which means presents so who doesn't like the smell of wrapping paper? OPEN IT."

He groans, "I'm not going to win, am I?"

I shake my head and he takes the present from my grasp. He hastily rips the wrapping paper off - clearly wanting to just get to the part where I open my present. Just as he's about to open the card, I tell him to stop. Save the best - the tickets - for last, right?

He opens the mug and bowl and immediately bursts out in laughter. "Josie, what is wrong with you! I swear you're mental. Only person that would ever buy this. I absolutely love it. Thanks babe."

"You're welcome! Open the card now."

He does as he's told and rips the envelope open. I taped the plane tickets to the back of the card so he has to read the sentimental crap I wrote before seeing them. Ha.

He reads it out loud, "Liam the Loser," he pauses. "Nice start."

"Thank you."

"Merry Christmas bud! This has been another amazing year with you. What has it been, twenty-three years now? (Only kidding. Our three year anniversary was a week ago, my memory isn't that bad.) I'm so lucky to have you. Do you mind clarifying why you like me, again? Beats me. I'm the psycho girlfriend all boys want to avoid (sleep with one eye open). I love you so much and more than that too. I love you a lot. Like a lot a lot. A lot a lot a lot." Liam takes a break from reading the card to ask, "Were you eating ice cream while writing this?"

"Obviously. That's why there's a small spot on the card right there," I point to the splotch on the white card.

He chuckles and continues reading, "So I guess I have to tell you something. I'm," his voice raises, "pregnant."

"You're what?!" Liam shrieks.

"Keep reading," I laugh.

"Just kidding. I'm not pregnant, trust me. I'd be way fatter and bother you so much more with cravings (is that even possible??). But I did sneak a peek at your Christmas wish list. Sorry not sorry? I happened to see that you wanted to take me on a vacation? Which, by the way, would be just divine. So look on the back of this card will you?" He turns the card over, confused. He squints as he reads the print on the tickets. When will he listen to me about going to the eye doctor?

"Disney world!" He exclaims. "Josie! This is amazing! You didn't have to do this for me."

"Yeah, because you're loaded and could buy it yourself," I say. He tickles me as some sort of...revenge?

"But seriously, I'm so excited! I love you, babe," he leans in to kiss me, but I lean away before our lips make contact.

"Wait!" I squeal, scrambling to my feet and nearly tripping over myself as I head over to the front door. I grab the mistletoe hanging above it and move it over to right above where we're sitting next to the tree.

I smile, "Okay, now kiss me."

He does as he's told.

"Now, you open your present," he tells me. "I think you might hopefully like it just a little."

I take the small box from him. I somehow manage to pull the ribbon off from around it and take the lid off. Inside is a small box.

I look up at Liam, "Really? A box inside a box?"

"Just take it out, silly!"

I take out the small box and it starts to register to me. It's small. Velvety. Boxy. Just the perfect box to hold a ring...

My heart stops beating. I barely whisper, "Liam."

My trebling hands open the box and reveal...

nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

An empty box.

"Um, Liam, I- there's nothing in there," I peer up at his excited face.

His expression quickly changes to a worried one and his hands go to his hair. "Oh my god, it's not there? It- where is it? Where could it possibly be? I swear it was in there when I wrapped it! It-" he reaches his hand in his pocket and grins, "oh, look what we have here."

I roll my eyes, "You are such a dork."

"Stand up," he says.

"But-"

"Is this really the time to be lazy? This is kind of a big moment."

I groan and stand up. He gets down on one knee.

Liam is down on one knee.

Attention everyone, my boyfriend Liam is down on one knee.

He begins, "I was going to memorize some sort of long proposal, but then I remembered that I suck at memorizing things like that. And then I thought it might be a good idea to just make it up on the fly, but about two seconds ago I realized that is the most idiotic thing in the world to do. And now here I am, in one of the biggest moments that could occur in anyone's life, and I'm completely clueless. So I guess I'll just say the painfully obvious:

I love you so much Josie, and I can't imagine spending my life with or loving anyone else except you. I don't know how I survived so many years without you because right now I have issues when we go on tour, even if it's only for a couple weeks. The past few years have been the best years of my entire life. I want to be with you every day for the rest of our lives and buy a house and start a family and grow old together and I just want to love you. Forever. Will you please, please marry me?"

"This would be a completely inappropriate time to get on the ground and flop like a fish, right? That usually helps me figure out reality."

He chuckles. "This is quite possibly the worst time ever to flop like a fish."

"Oh."

"So is that a yes...or a no...or an 'is this a joke why would I ever marry you get up of your knee you fool'?"

"Is that question a joke? Of course I'll marry you!" I grin and attack Liam with a hug. "But wait, will you marry me? You know I'm the type of girl that over explains stories that are usually pointless, the type of girl who would usually prefer to stay in rather than have social interactions, the type of girl who will cut off your statements and always correct you if you're wrong, and the type of girl that not only kicks but talks in her sleep. Do you really want to marry all that?"

"More than anything in the world." He slowly slips the ring onto my finger and kisses my nose. Then he looks up at the mistletoe. "Oh, hey, look. A mistletoe. I guess that means-"

"Shut up," I grab him by his shirt and pull him into a kiss.

He separates our lips, just barely, and says, "And just to let you know, I'm already aware that you talk and kick in your sleep. I also know that a couple weeks ago you had a dream about marrying me just seconds before you proceeded to kick me in the balls. That hurt a lot, by the way. You have quite a kick for such an unathletic girl."

"I love you, Liam."

"Cheesy or normal response?"

"Eh, cheesy," I nod with a shrug. "We just got engaged."

"Jyotsna, your eyes light up my entire world and your hair is like a beautiful waterfall and you're gorgeous and amazing and I think you're perfect and I love you too."

I smile. "Ditto."

And then as I kissed Liam, I realized that we had the most cliche love story you could ever hear. Best friends falling in love - how original.

But you know what? It's my love story. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

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I uploaded, I know, it's a Christmas miracle. Sorry the epilogue is, like, a year (literally) late. I'm the worst and have zero valid excuses (do I overuse school??), but I hope you liked it! Happy holidays everyone, and happy almost new year! :)

I also might write a couple of one shots for this story because I love it so much, so keep an eye out for that!

(Also in case you were curious to what extent I am the worst, I wrote this epilogue like 6 months ago and thought I posted it but I really never did)

xoxo