The Final Showdown - The Moon Trilogy - Book 3

Chapter thirty-eight:

  Johnny became visibly agitated now as he dove forward to snatch the shining drop of metal, but she beat him to it, being closer and all. He made a faint noise of protest as she scooped it up from the floor.

  What could he possibly be making such a big deal about?

   She turned it over and over in her hands before it finally became clear. She stared at it, and the shape seemed to elude her, but then she saw.

   It was a beautiful silver ring, the thin band of metal set with a delicate sapphire.

   Still, she couldn't figure out why he'd had it... and then it dawned on her. She grinned from ear to ear. He'd been, at least trying, to propose. She let out a giggle. She could appreciate the thought... but he was really, really bad at it.

   "Umm, sorry." Johnny said, shifting his hands, first in front of him, then folded behind his back, and then hanging at his sides. "I've just never—it's different— you see, I'm..." it wasn't the first time she'd seen him at a loss for words, but it was definitely the first time she'd seen him stumble over himself like that. "I had to look it up, because it's different where I come from." He finally managed to stutter out, with an awkward half-chuckle.

   She laughed and slipped the ring over her finger. It fit perfectly, glittering in the light from the lamp. It was so pretty. She felt tears filling her eyes, but she blinked them away.

   "So..." Johnny said, obviously still nervous, anxious, fumbling with his hands.

   "Of course!" she fairly shouted. "Yes!" she ran to him, and threw her arms around his neck. She peppered him with kisses and laughed again.

   "What's so funny?" he asked under her perpetual rain of smooching.

   "You tried to propose?" she laughed again, this time stopping with the kisses. He nodded sheepishly, smiling slightly. "You didn't need to!" she laughed again, stepping back.

   "Well, I didn't know how you felt about it." He said. He seemed to finally be done with his nerves. He was partially right. She had once dreamed about her wedding, what the ring would look like, what her dress would look like... what her husband would look like. She nearly laughed at the thought. Ever since she'd realized that she loved him, she hadn't even though about a wedding. Not even once.

   "That's nonsense." She said, then as an afterthought, "How did they do it where you came from?"

   "They didn't. At least as far as I know. They just sort of started living together, unless they were too young, of course." He replied. He still sounded so awkward talking about the soulmate bit.

   "Then that's what we'll do." She smiled. "Actually, we've technically already been doing that." She added.

   "That's not the same." He shook his head with a smile.

   "Well then, what do you mean? Do we need our own house or something?" she asked.

   He looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head again. He seemed unable to stop smiling. "You're ridiculous." He muttered, almost too quiet to hear.

   "Ridiculous?" she pretended to be hurt. "Well, if I'm ridiculous, then you must be..." she thought for a second, trying to find a good synonym for ridiculous. "Absurd."

   He laughed. "See? You are ridiculous." He pointed.

   Both of then burst out laughing. She had to admit, she was being just a bit ridiculous, but it didn't matter. She had made him laugh, and that mattered. The sound seemed to fill the room with light. She could hear it as it started down somewhere deep in his chest and cane bubbling up to the surface.

   "Could you tell me more?" She asked, unable to keep the grin from her face. Another bout of laughter threatened to pour over.

"About what?"

"Anything you can remember..." she rested her head against his chest.

And so he did. And then she did. They talked for what seemed like hours, about nothing and everything. Their childhoods, so many stories, different things that bunny-trailed off of each other in an endless chain. Johnny talked about a few of the different planets that he'd visited, and the way he described them made her feel like she was there. She told him stories too, but none of hers were even half as interesting as the ones he had to tell, so she made him talk whenever she could.

   She realized just how little she'd appreciated their romp around the galaxies. She'd been so busy worrying that she hadn't properly let any of it sink in.

  Johnny was quick to propose a solution... just a quick trip. They would hardly even need to pack...

   She laughingly agreed, unable to help herself. She really couldn't think of anything she'd rather do, nor did she want to try.

   How could a day that started so sour end so unbelievably, impossibly perfect?

   It was sunset before they finally finished talking, at which point they went out to eat dinner with the others, which had just got out of the oven: undeniably perfect timing. Then they ate. During the meal, which was a delicious gumbo, compliments of Rachel, they broke the news of their little vacation.

   Of course, no one seemed too keen on them leaving, but as soon as Clarity finished her bowl, she ran to pack. She didn't know what she would need, so she packed everything she could think of. She met Johnny in his room as soon as she was done. He didn't have any bags, but he insisted that he was ready.

   She let him lead her, and they teleported away.

   The first thing Johnny did, on the very first planet with green skies and a pinkish-red star as the sun, was buy her a translating device that fit in her ear like a wireless earbud. She understood every conversation from then on as they hopped their way across the galaxy, one place after another. There was hardly ever a moment when she wasn't smiling.

   She wasn't sure if life could ever get any better, but she did know that as long as she was with Johnny, it couldn't get any worse.

***

And thus marks the end of The Moon Trilogy... Sad, I know, but it had to happen eventually! And now we can all be off to bigger and better things, eh?

It's been a long journey, and more than once I was tempted to give up entirely, especially on The Last Showdown, but I pushed on and I hope you're just as glad as I am that I reached the end in one piece!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and I can't thank you enough for caring to read through so much of my humble writing!

Until next time, dear reader <3