Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 51: Exciting

They wake at almost the same moment the following morning, still pressed tightly against each other. She'd fallen asleep before thinking to take the ring off, but her subconscious had evidently protected it through the night as her left hand rested gently on his shoulder over the top of the covers.

"Hey, beautiful," he breaks their comfortable silence a few moments after they wake, both shifting slightly into a more comfortable position to talk.

"Hi," she answers softly, bringing her left hand down to rest on the pillow they're sharing, between them.

"We're engaged," he grins, moving his own hand to wrap around hers, thumb resting just below the ring.

"We are and I am so fucking happy," she smiles just as widely, "when we going to start telling people?"

"I guess now? I want to tell our families," he admits, "I wish our phones weren't in the other room."

"I'll get them, don't move," she answers, reluctantly rolling out of bed and wandering across the apartment to grab her own phone from the coffee table and his from the kitchen bench. She immediately slides back under the covers and into his arms when she returns, handing his phone to him in the process.

"Can I take another photo of just our hands, to send to the family?" Shayne requests, and she nods. They twist around slightly, hands reaching up to have the plain ceiling in the background. Courtney's hand sits in front of his, ring clearly visible, while he holds onto her hand with his thumb resting just below the ring.

"Send it to me?" She requests, and he does just that, before flicking into his group text with his parents, brothers, Julie and Courtney. He attaches the picture first, toying with the idea of sending it without a caption for a moment as his thumb hovers over the keyboard, until he decides on something simple.

"I asked last night. We're engaged," he types, pausing before he hits send.

"I think my Mum is going to want to call us the second she sees the message, that cool with you and you want to send yours first?" He asks, Courtney laughing lightly and nodding.

"Shayne & I are engaged," she types her own simple message, sending it separately with the attached photo to each of her parents. She figures she'll leave the bulk of her family for later - they're not as close - but she hesitates a little over her message to Kari.

"He asked me last night. I said yes (of course). I've never been this happy in my life," she types, eventually, pressing send. Her parents both send through excited congratulations as she sends Kari's message, and she shows them to Shayne before resting her own phone on the bed between them and gesturing towards his.

"Congrats guys!!! So happy for you!" Chris' reply comes within thirty seconds of Shayne hitting send on his message to their family group chat, immediately followed by Dianne.

"Is now an okay time to call?"

Courtney laughs at her predictability as Shayne switches to his solo contact with his mother and presses call to ring her first, immediately switching to speaker phone.

"Oh my god, my darlings!" Diane starts, clearly crying the second she answers the phone, "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, Mum," Shayne answers.

"We're really happy, too," Courtney adds, letting her voice turn more affectionate than she usually would in front of family.

"Your Dad is crying too Shayne, don't let him pretend he isn't- he told me you were planning soon, but we weren't sure when, and oh my god this is so wonderful," she rambles, her voice full of emotion.