Stay - William Nylander [Toronto Maple Leafs]

2: Just Say I Do

"I have an idea"

I looked at William expectantly.

"Oh yeah? What's this idea of yours?" I asked taking a bite of food.

"We could get married" he said quickly.

That made me choke on my food. Once I had settled and caught my breath I looked at him. I'm sure I looked at him like he had two heads.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I looked at him with wide eyes.

"I said let's get married. Marry me Brynn"

"Do you have food poisoning? Is it making you go a little bit crazy?"

"I'm serious" he chuckled taking one of my hands in his. "Marry me, it'll show your mom she's wrong. She's wrong about why I'm friends with you and why I care about you so much, she's wrong about the kind of girl you are and she's definitely wrong about your looks. You're gorgeous and you don't even see it. Any guy would kill to be with you and put a ring on you I know it, let me be that lucky guy and I'm sure your mom will see how wrong she's been about everything"

He looked at me so seriously, like he actually thought getting married was a good idea.

"You don't want to marry me William" I lightly laughed tugging my hand away from him.

"I do" he smiled. "See what I did there?"

I breathed a laugh, he did always know how to make me laugh no matter what.

"You can't be serious, I would ruin your life" I said seriously straightening up in my chair.

"How would you ruin my life?" He looked at me confused.

"Well for starters I would completely ruin your dating life, how would you explain it to your family? We've never even kissed, I would be throwing a wrench into your entire life. And add to that the fact that-" I ranted before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.

"Ok, wow. But what was that?" I looked at him shocked.

"Now we have kissed, my family knows how much I care about you already they probably won't even be shocked, I don't need a dating life when I have a wife and having you as my wife would make my life better, both of ours"

I took a deep breath and looked at him seriously.

"You don't have to marry me, Nylander. There's got to be a different way of showing my mother other than me dragging you down with me"

He stood up and moved to stand in front of me. In one quick motioned he dropped to one knee and took my hands in his again.

"I'm not asking you to marry me because I feel obligated to. I'm asking you to marry me because you're beautiful, smart, thoughtful, caring, loving, sweet and honestly one of the most amazing people I've ever met. Plus I know it would help your mom get off your back yes, but we already do almost everything together anyways why not just add a legal technicality. Nothing has to change if you don't want it to, except maybe come live with me for a little bit" he laughed making me laugh with him. "Come on Brynn, it'll be good for both of us. Will you marry me?"

I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. His expectant, beautiful eyes. He was always so sweet to me. Him proposing proves he would literally do anything for me, anything to make me happy. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing friend.

I battled with myself in my head for a good minute before I decided I needed to know one last thing before making my decision. I leaned forward slowly and kissed him gently before pulling away. I saw the smile on his face and that's when I knew.

"Let's do it" I barely said above a whisper.

"Really?" He smiled.

"Yeah, let's do it. Let's get married"

He popped up to his feet and took me with him to a standing position by my hands. He wrapped his arms around my middle slightly lifting me off the ground in a crushing hug.

"I'm sorry, I don't have a ring" he said cautiously once he had put me down.

"I don't need a ring, you willing to do this for me is all I need" I placed a hand on his cheek.

"Looks like we have some planning to do...fiancé" he smirked at me.

"Well, not a ton" I giggled.

"Big weddings take a ton of planning though"

"Maybe having a big wedding isn't a great idea though" I explained.

"Why? Don't girls always want a big dream wedding though?" He looked at me confused.

Yeah, preferably with the man she loves that she wants to be with forever and who's marrying her because he loves her and not just to spite her horrible mentally abusive mother who has completely ruined her.

"I'm not most girls, all I need is my groom" I smiled rubbing his cheek gently with my thumb.

"Are you thinking...eloping?" He asked almost shocked.

"Would that be so bad?" I looked at him hopefully.

"That sounds fantastic honestly" he smiled at me.

"Thank god, a big wedding means attention on me and I definitely do not want that" I laughed.

"You never cease to amaze me" he gave me a look I couldn't quite place. "You're always so selfless"

"Me? Look what you're doing for me, it doesn't get more selfless than that"

"I mean it's kind of selfish" he shrugged sitting back down at the table.

"How so?" I looked at him confused as I sat back down as well.

"Never mind" he smiled at me.

"My fiancé is so weird" I giggled lightly.

"We have to get you a white dress" he said taking a bite of his food.

"I have a few white dresses" I shrugged.

"I meant a new white dress, a special dress" he took a bite of food off my plate.

"Ok one, just because we're getting married doesn't mean you can touch my food" I giggled. "And two, I don't need a special dress"

"One, yes you do so we're getting you one. You can take Kara to help you look since I'm not supposed to see it and two, it absolutely means I can touch your food" he chuckled taking a little more off my plate.

"Fine, you win, I'll go get a new dress" I lightly laughed.

"And I'll take care of everything else" he smiled leaning back in his chair.

"You don't have to do that, I can help you know" I explained.

"Don't worry your pretty little head babe, I'll take care of everything"

I smiled at him softly. He really was truly amazing. Not only was he taking a big risk and making a huge sacrifice in an attempt to help make my life easier, but he was already fully willing to take care of me.

This isn't at all where I expected my life to be at my age, but if getting married was possibly the solution to my life long problem I'm glad I have someone like William by my side to share it with. There's no one else I'd be able to do this with.