the fourth roommate » alex ernst

BONUS CHAPTER

** in honor of 10k reads (literally wtf) ((by the time i finished this chapter since im a piece of shit its at 11k literally wtf thank u all so much its an honor to have written this)) here u go <3 **

Alex and I had been dating for a little over two years when he asked me. It was unexpected, spontaneous even, but in the most simple way. We weren't skydiving into the Amazon with two grizzly bears; no, that wasn't Alex.

We were in a drive thru—Taco Bell, if you want to paint the picture— when he asked me. We had stolen David's Tesla while he and Liza did God knows what in his bedroom, and our joyride consisted of driving to Target to pick up Halloween costumes, then picking up Taco Bell on the way home. We weren't crazy kids.

We had already paid for our food and we sat in a comfortable silence, waiting for the lady on the other side of the window to bring it out. I was driving, of course, because Alex was whipped beyond belief and I liked the Tesla. He was playing with my right hand, the one with the ring, when he slipped it off. I didn't think twice about it. We messed with each other's shit all the time and it didn't seem like a big deal that he had pulled my ring off while playing with my fingers. His next words, though, did throw me a bit off guard.

"Babe," he said to catch my attention, and my eyes moved from the window behind the counter to his face. He was fiddling with the ring in his hand, and a warm, knowing feeling spread across the car. "Remember what I said when I gave you this?"

"I could probably quote it word for word," I tried to joke but the seriousness of the situation made it come out as more of a weak chuckle. He reached across the dashboard to grab my left hand. It felt too real in that moment, and for some reason, I was expecting another speech about how I was it for him and he thought it was time to get married. That's not what I got.

Instead, Alex sighed in relief and said, "Thank God, I don't have to say all that shit again."

To say I was shocked was an understatement. My jaw dropped and I half laughed through the tears that were accumulating in the corners of my eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Wanna get married, Mas?" it was such a question that I can't even think of an adjective to go in front of it. It was shocking, to say the least, especially the way he said it. I expected roses, maybe, from Alex on the proposal day, and some lengthy, drawn out plan, but we were in the fucking Taco Bell drive thru and somehow it felt perfect. "I know it's kind of random, but sometimes you just realize how in love with a person you are, you know? I'm in love with you. I want to get married."

"Alex..." I trailed off, still majorly in shock despite the fact that I knew it was coming. I was half a second from saying yes until the window beside us swung open and jerked us back to reality.

"Sorry for the wait; here's your food." Alex sighed and fell back into the seat, and with shaky hands, I grabbed the bag of food from the lady at the window. I nodded at her and drove off, pulling up to a parking spot and shutting the car off.

"Guess I should've saw that coming," he laughed and despite the circumstances, I let a loud giggle fall out of me. I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, grabbing the ring from his hand and slipping it onto my left ring finger.

"Looks better on this hand anyways, doesn't it?" I smirked and watched as the smile grew wider on his face. As if he expected me to say no.

"That's a yes?" he asked for confirmation, and I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous question.

"Duh, it's a yes. We're in love, Alex. Let's get married," I interlocked our hands and stared at him.

"Holy guacamole, we're getting married."

"Yes we are, baby. Can we eat our Taco Bell now? After that, we'll call David," I told him, twisting my body to snatch the food bag from his lap and pull out my nachos.

"He's going to announce it, you know. He won't let us announce it before he can get views out of it," Alex seemed slightly upset with the fact, but I honestly didn't care.

"Oh well, David can do whatever he wants. Neither of us regularly post on Youtube or actually anything because all we do is lay in bed. Honestly, more people will know if David tells instead of us. Don't you agree?" I asked him, rubbing my thumb over his fingers to soothe him. Alex always got a little angry when David made a big deal out of something that was ours to make the deal about. On our one year anniversary, Alex got me something simple because that was just us, but David flew us out to Paris. Obviously, I loved Paris, but it made Alex feel bad that he hadn't thought of it first. He constantly thought David was showing him up, which, though true, didn't matter to me. I liked having simple dates and the calm atmosphere that Alex gave me. David's ideas were always fun, but got to be too much quick.

"I guess. Don't you want pictures or something though? Something memorable?" he seemed upset still, but I think showing him I didn't care eased him a bit. He only wanted me to be happy.

"Yeah, a sex tape. I get a diamond ring and you get a cock ring," I joked and he chuckled, leaning his head onto my shoulder and nearly dropping his quesadilla. "My mom would not be happy with that."

"S'okay. Neither would mine. It would be memorable, though. That what you want?"

"No," he sighed, nuzzling his head slightly into me. "Love you. Wanna marry you."

"Okay, then it's settled, yeah?"

"Why are you always right? It pisses me off," he half smiled at me to prove he was kidding, but I didn't think it was totally a joke.

"Get used to it, babe," I smirked, grabbing his chin in my hand to make him face me. "You're going to have to deal with this for the rest of your life."

"Oh boy."