Together is Where We are Meant to Be

Chapter 2

"Micah, it is beautiful," I thanked him in my own, appreciative words as I flipped through it in awe. The entire first page was of me growing up, my life prior to meeting Micah. I immediately knew that Paris had something to do in this project which made me feel grateful to have such an amazing older sister.

The next spread was of my family and me over the years, I noticed that although we were older, none of the pictures were with the Stevens' family. I didn't even remember taking that many pictures with just the four of us to be completely honest. As I flipped the page, tears hit the inner corners of my eyes and I let out a loud, exasperated gasp. It was pictures of my parents that lined the pages. They were from a lot of different years I knew by looking at my mother's glasses. She got a new pair every two years just to keep up with the fashions and so I knew there was a great time length represented here.

"You did not have any pictures of them. Paris got the originals copied for this. That is the only reason I spent money, it was to pay her back for the printing costs," Micah explained as I had to close the book to stop the tears. He kneeled down in front of me and took my face into my hands to stare me in the eyes.

"Micah, it is so thoughtful of you. It means the world to me that you did this. Seriously, you made me cry, you bastard." I tried to get a grip on the tears, but they just fell into a stream on my cheeks. Micah placed the album on the table and wrapped his long, hockey weathered arms around me. I responded by burying myself into his shoulder.

For the longest time, he just held me, even after the tears stopped and I just could not push away. It is days like these that I wish that Micah was more than my best friend. At this moment, I would love nothing more than to call him mine in front of my friends, even as close as we are, he is not mine. Not how I want him to be anyways.

"You good?" he asked me as I slowly separated us, afraid to stay too close or I might try something we were not ready for.

"Yeah, I just can't believe how great this is," I replied with a gesture towards the book lying on the table. "Are there more pictures than that? If there are, I would feel super terrible since I only made it that far into the book before having a complete meltdown."

"There are more, but you can look through them at any pace you would like. There's no rush. Don't worry about it. And hey, since it is not a surprise that your sisters are coming, you should probably get dressed as they are set to arrive in about an hour. Aires may attack you if she sees you in that," he referenced my battered old Sewickley Slashers shirt and pajama bottoms. I let out a soft laugh and thought about my fashonista/artist sister and the rest of my family in New York. Literally my entire family besides me lives in New York City. I have always been the independent one, so it does not surprise me, but it surprised a lot of others. When our parents died and Paris decided to move to the East Coast of the States, she brought everyone with her except me because Micah needed a roommate here in Pennsylvania. That was the reason I ended up in photography courses at the University of Pittsburgh. Now I take the photos of the Slashers for a paid career. It is an amazing job, I get paid quite well for not having a finished degree, and I get to see Micah play hockey which is truly amazing. He is such a natural on the ice and no one in his family ever even tried hockey before him. Yet he went professional.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate my fashionista sister? She will not even let me wear sweats and a hoodie at all when she is in town."

"At least they come here to see you. I have just as many siblings as you do and I have to go to see them, or worse, Canada." I shrugged before taking the black material bound album to my room. Micah followed me there, not saying anything for the moment. Then he opened his mouth and what he said surprised me. "Do you ever think about how our siblings are all together except us? You know, like, dating?" I had to bite back a cough that I was dying to let go in the comedy of that statement.

"I guess I have thought about it, but nothing ever comes from it. Why?" I downplayed my apparent interest in this subject.

"Well, you and I were friends first which would mean that we are technically the matchmakers for all of them." He leaned against my door frame as I moved about my small room, tidying up so I didn't look like such a slob in front of my sisters. "And you and I are the most comfortable around each other too," I glanced up to meet his gaze. I saw a silent question there in his deep brown eyes.

"What are you saying? You are talking in circles, Micah." I admitted because truthfully, my head was swimming with all the possibilities.

"I guess I'm wondering why you and I never tried the whole dating scene, together. Do you have any clue as to why?" he smirked and pushed away from the doorframe and headed towards me. He reached where I stood; he grabbed my hands which were suddenly clammy and shaking terribly.

"None," I admitted as I lost all trains of coherent thought. All I could think of was him possibly kissing me, and then, he did. All too fast his arms encircled my waist while I stood on my tip toes to be closer to his enormous height, still not being tall enough. I just kept my hands clenching his tee that covered his broad chest really well.

There was a knock at the door, across the apartment, and our moment was broken. Seconds later, I could hear my sisters letting themselves into the open door to the apartment's main hallway that would take them to the kitchen and living space. They shouted for us. Micah's lips left mine and slowly, I let go of his t-shirt. He looked down at me for a brief second before placing a kiss on the top of my head and letting me go to welcome my sisters who were more than an hour early.