forever // m.c (book 3)

22 - what's different now?

song for the chapter: i'll be around by harbor and home (they're a minnesota band and i saw them last weekend and they were really good)

Michael's POV

I woke up the next morning with my arms wrapped around Summer. The night before, after the kiss, we had a long talk about both of our feelings and where we wanted to go from here. I confessed that I had been thinking of proposing before she had the miscarriage. She was taken aback by this, but after a few minutes of silence, she asked if I still wanted to get married. Of course I did, she is the love of my life and the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I explained that we should start slow, rediscover the love we developed for each other in our teens. She still needed time to recover and feel like she was in control of her life again.

I wasn't quite sure what changed in her last night, but I had a glimpse of her spark again. It wasn't as bright as it used to be, but I was happy it was returning. She seemed to be thinking through her actions and realizing what needs to happen for her to get better.

I smiled down at Summer, admiring her simple beauty and loving how she looked in one of my t-shirts. I pressed a light kiss to her temple and settled back into the sheets. It was still early and we had at least an hour before we needed to wake Hope up for school.

Summer stirred awake from my movements and turned to face me, still in my arms. "Good morning," she said, a small, bashful smile on her face.

"Morning," I smiled back. "So I was thinking that maybe Sophia could watch Hope this Friday so we could go on a date."

"Are you asking me out, Michael?"

I burried my head in the crook of her neck, nodding. "Please say yes," I lifted my head and stuck out my bottom lip.

"Well, how could I say no to that face," Summer laughed and it was a sound I hadn't heard in quite some time, but had never forgotten.

"Good," I grinned and kissed her cheek, not wanting to cross any boundaries by kissing her on the lips.

Summer's POV

That Friday, I stood in front of my closet trying to find something pretty to wear. It was the first time I was putting serious effort into how I looked in awhile. In the back of my closet, I found a navy maxi skirt I had never worn and paired it with a cream sleeveless top. It was a simple outfit, but it made me feel beautiful; I was never much into fancy clothes. I didn't bother with make up, but I gathered my blonde hair into a bun near the top of my head.

I had no idea what Michael had planned since he wanted to surprise me. I walked out into the living room and Michael was entering my apartment, on his way back from dropping Hope off at Sophia's. Butterflies formed in my stomach at the sight of him in a maroon sweater, black jeans, and black converse.

"Ready, beautiful?" he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

I blushed at him calling me beautiful and nodded, grabbing my purse off the table next to the door. I followed behind out the door and as we were walking down the stairs, he slid his hand into mine. This made me feel safe, like he was going to protect me from everything. He had tried to keep all of the news articles about my attempted suicide away, but of course I stumbled upon them the other night. It upset me that personal aspects of my life were in the tabloids and had caused me to fall back a step, spending all day in bed. The writers were cruel and held nothing back and I wondered how they even got their information.

"Hey," Michael turned the stereo down and placed a hand on my knee. "You'd tell me if something was bothering you, right?"

I nodded, even though I didn't want to burden him with thinking of the tabloid articles again. He would think that the only reason they were writing about me was because of him. Even if this was the case, I didn't blame him for any of it. Nothing about those articles was his fault because I knew he wouldn't have given them any information about what happened.

"We're here," he smiled, turning off the car.

I had been zoning out for the majority of the car ride, so I had no idea where "here" was. I took a look at my surroundings and noticed a man-made lake. Michael went to the trunk of the car and pulled out a basket and a couple blankets. I slowly got out of the car and we walked to a hill leading down to the lake. Michael set out the blanket and we sat down facing the water.

"I was thinking the other day of that weekend we went to my family's cabin. It's one of my favorite memories because it was just us and I felt like we got so much closer on that trip. It was too hard to fly to Australia for the night, so this is what I came up with," Michael rambled.

I teared up at the thought of that weekend and how I thought I couldn't love him more than in those moments, but I was wrong. My love for him grew more every single day. Even when I thought I hated him, I still loved him.

"Was this a bad idea?" A look of concern crossed his face.

I shook my head. "No, it's a great idea," I reassured him.

We spent the rest of the night eating the sandwiches that Michael made along with champagne and cupcakes. The sun was beginning to set, a mix of pinks, oranges, and reds.

"Let's take a picture," I told him and he nodded. We stood up and as Michael brought up the camera on his phone, I wrapped my arms around him and put my head against his chest.

"You need to smile," he urged, poking me in the sides and causing me to laugh. He snapped the picture when I wasn't expecting it, but caught my new favorite picture. Both of us have our mouths open in laughter and instead of looking at the camera, we're looking into each other's eyes. I watched as Michael pulled up twitter, attaching the picture and typing out:

@Michael5SOS: perfect night with the perfect girl.

sorry for the long wait, but i hope you like it. school has started back up for me, so i have less time to write but i'm trying. please vote and comment bc it makes me happy. xx zoe