Hold On

Chapter 28

~Ethan's  POV~

I was excited to bring Claire to her surprise. I could see her nervous excitement from the small smile placed on her lips without even having to see her eyes which were now hidden beneath her scarf. We walked into a restaurant I had grown used to from vacations over the years. I had always loved it here, and I wanted to enjoy a dinner with Claire. Just the two of us.

We walked through the door and a crowd of conversations filled our ears. Claire bit her lip, obviously a little more confused than before. I looked at the host who had known me well, and I put my finger to my lips to make sure he didn't say anything that could ruin the surprise for her. He nodded at me and motioned me for me to follow him.

"Alright baby, there are about ten steps you have to climb. Okay?" I said to her as we approached a staircase. She nodded and gripped my hand as we started climbing to a place about the restaurant.

Once we got to the top, she started fiddling with her hands. I could tell it was driving her nuts not knowing where she was going. I stepped away from her for a second before I brought her around the corner where her surprise was. I looked around at the setup that I had paid some of the workers of the restaurant to put together for me while I went to Claire's hoping to fix things. I don't know what I would have done if she turned me away. The host, who guided us up there, silently asked how it looked. I nodded and gave him a slight thumbs up. I know she's going to love it. I finally went back to her, giving her a light squeeze on her arms.

"Alright, I'm going to take the scarf off, but we're not there yet. I just want you to cover your eyes for these next few steps." I told her. "So, once I take it off just look at me before you're able to cover your eyes." She nodded with that cute smile plastered on her face.

I slipped my hand over her head to untie the scarf from her eyes. Once it fell from her face, her eyes fluttered open and I couldn't help but grin down at her. She smirked before sliding her hands over her eyes, sheepishly. I shook my head, quietly laughing to myself. I started to bring her around the corner.

"No peeking!" I said sternly.

"I'm not!" She squealed out, while laughing.

I took a quick glance around to make sure everything was perfect, then walked a few steps away from her, standing in front of her.

"Okay. You can look now!" I said nervously.

Claire's POV

"Okay. You can look now!" He said sounding a little bit hesitant.

I took my hands away from my face and opened my eyes. My eyes widened and my jaw instantly dropped. I stared around in amazement. We were on a restaurant rooftop, looking over the city. There were plain while old-fashioned Christmas light; the ones with the big bulbs. There was a table set us with a white tablecloth, and although some people would argue that they don't match, he had my favorite flowers as the centerpiece; Japanese Cherry Blossoms. It took me a second to catch my breath. There was candles also set up on the table. I glanced over at Ethan, who looked amazing under the light; He looked flawless, almost. Ordinary People By John Legend was playing in the background. I swallowed hard and was completely speechless. I didn't want it to, but tears filled my eyes.

"What do you think?" Ethan smiled at me.

I breathed out and shook my head as I smiled through my admiration. "It's amazing," I said, it is the only thing that I could get out of my mouth.

He came closer to me, took my face in his hands and searched my features, "Baby, why are you crying?"

I laughed in embarrassment and wiped a tear from my cheek. I shook my head, "Don't worry about it. This is incredible. I love you so much." I said as I leaned up and pressed my lips to his, not wanted to do anything more.