i still love you • blake griffin

•fourteen•

February 1, 2016

It had been a week since Amari's birth and Blake's proposal, and Vivian still hadn't given him an answer. She felt terrible for making him wait so long, but Blake didn't mind—for the most part. As much as he wanted her answer, he wasn't going to pressure her. If they were going to be together, he wanted it to be because she wanted them to be together; not because he twisted her arm.

After Amari fell asleep, Vivian put her in her crib, then went downstairs to answer the door. She called Sloan & Natalie because she needed advice.

"What's up?" Natalie asked, sitting on the couch.

"Yeah. Your message sounded urgent," Sloan followed up.

Vivian pulled the ring out of her pocket to show her friends, and their eyes widened in surprise—the same way hers did when she first saw it.

"What is that?" Natalie asked with her eyes glued to the ring.

Vivian fiddled with the ring and sighed. "Blake kinda sorta proposed."

"Huh? What? When?! Where?!" Sloan asked.

Both Sloan and Natalie knew Blake was up to something; they just didn't know it was a proposal. They were just as shocked as Vivian, if not more.

"Last week at the hospital," Vivian answered. "He really wants to get married again and do this family thing."

"So what are you doing with this in your pocket and not on your finger?!" Natalie asked.

Sloan shook her head at her overly excited friend. "What did you tell him?"

Vivan blew out a breath and sat back in her seat, unconsciously sliding the ring onto her finger. "I didn't tell him anything."

"Why not?!" Natalie shouted in a whiny voice.

Vivian couldn't help but laugh at her friend because she didn't understand when Natalie became "Team Blake." In the middle of the divorce, Natalie was pretty much anti-Blake, and she set Vivian up on numerous dates to make her forget about him. She wasn't sure what changed, but she made a mental note to ask about it later.

"I just gave birth," she said. "It was already an emotional day, and I probably would've said anything. I didn't wanna give him an answer then regret it later."

Both women nodded, understanding where Vivian was coming from.

"Well...do you want to be with him?" Sloan asked.

Vivian shrugged, unsure of what she wanted. The day before, she made a list of all the pros and cons of being with Blake. She managed to fill one side of paper with all the pros but when it came to the other side, she only had one con. She wasn't sure if that one negative outweighed all the good, or if all the good outweighed the one bad thing.

"Are you afraid he'll cheat again?" Natalie finally asked after a brief silence.

"Pretty much," Vivian answered with a nod.

"Can I just say Blake has really grown and matured since you guys separated," Sloan said. "He's not the same little boy he was when you first married him, and I'm not just saying that because he's my cousin."

Vivian groaned and covered her face with one of the couch pillows, causing her friends to laugh at her. After talking to them, she knew what she wanted to do; she just didn't know how she would do it.

•

When Blake got home, he went straight upstairs to the nursery. He looked in the crib and smiled at his sleeping daughter, then he went to his bedroom. He figured Vivian was asleep, so he opted not to bother her—even though he desperately wanted to ask her if she'd thought about their talk at the hospital.

He sighed and lied across his bed, and he stared at the ceiling with his hand behind his head. He was close to falling asleep until a knock at his door jolted him awake. He looked toward the door, and Vivian stood there with a shy smile on her face.

"Did I wake you up?" she asked. "I'm sorry. I'll just talk to you later."

"It's okay. I wasn't sleeping," he said, sitting up. "What's up?"

She walked into his room and stood in front of him, biting her lip. His eyebrows furrowed a little, but they raised in surprise when Vivian wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She slipped her tongue in his mouth and straddled his lap while their tongues roamed each other's mouths. Reluctantly, Blake pulled away to catch his breath, but mainly to see what was going through Vivian's head.

"What was that?" he asked as she ran her thumb over his bottom lip.

"Yes," she said simply with a smile. His face twisted in confusion, so she pulled the ring out of her pocket and slipped it on her finger. She then wrapped her arms around his neck again. "My answer is yes."

He finally put two & two together, and his confused face was replaced with a grin. "Really?!"

She chewed on her bottom lip and nodded. "I never stopped loving you, Blake." She looked directly into his eyes as she spoke. "I was just too proud, and a little scared, to admit it. But I do love you, and that's why I'm willing to give us another chance."

Blake couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. He put his arm around her waist and leaned forward to kiss her again.

"I love you so much, Vivian," he said in between kisses. "I promise you I won't let you down again."

She rested her forehead against his as their lips lightly brushed past each other's. "I know you won't."

Blake captured her lips in a sweet kiss and tightened his grip around her waist as if he were afraid to let her go. Vivian laid her head on his shoulder, and he ran his hand up & down her back as a sigh of content left his lips. He finally got his wife back.

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another book done! i'm sorry it took me so long to update and i know it's short (and boring), but i didn't know how i wanted to end this. but thank you for reading and if you read this even tho i hadn't updated in 47 years, i love you.

—b. 💋