Tis the Damn Season | Ethma

13

TWO YEARS LATER
Emma

There's a lot to catch up on. I know.

Ethan and I are getting married three months from now. We've spent the last two years with me finishing school, and Ethan and I both getting promoted at the marketing company.

Ethan was an assistant brand manager, and I was working in reception for the company. It was an easy job with good hours and high pay. Ethan and I had the same lunch break, and his hours only lasted a half hour longer than mine.

I usually just worked the extra thirty minutes while waiting for him.

It was good working at the same place as Ethan. Carpooling made it easier, plus we could eat lunch together every day.

I mean, it wasn't like we were spending every second of the day together, but that wouldn't be healthy anyway. It's good to find a balance of together time, separate alone time, and alone together time. 

A balance makes for a way healthier relationship. You don't want to be together too much, or else you'll get sick of each other. You don't want to be apart too much, because then communication might die out.

I still remember a couple of years ago when we went through that breakup. It was all because me being in a different time zone than Ethan proved to be way harder on us than we anticipated.

Now that we live and work together, we find a balance. 

At least once a week I go with Olivia and Tessa to a cycle class. I'm trying to stay super fit for the wedding, and Liv and Tessa are my motivators. They make sure that I don't give up.

Ethan usually spends the day with his brother when I'm with Olivia and Tessa. 

I know how much they need their twin time sometimes, so I give Ethan as much time as he needs with his brother. 

He does the same for me when I hang out with the girls.

Wedding planning has been stressful, but in a good way. My mother has been so helpful, and the only things left to do is order the cake, and get our passports and the marriage license.

We're going out of country for our honeymoon, and we both had expired passports. So, we're getting new ones.

Ethan has been super helpful throughout the planning process. He helps as much as he can, and he's even come up with a few really good ideas. We hired a band instead of a DJ. We're gonna serve freshly baked cookies at midnight for a 'midnight snack'. 

Everything about our big day is already so special to the both of us.

Something I haven't told Ethan yet is that I have two wedding dresses. 

A traditional one for our ceremony, and a classy, yet comfy, sexy, and fun dress for the reception. It's shorter and shows a lot more skin than my ceremony dress does. It'll be easier to dance in it too. 

Both of the dresses are white, but my reception dress has some silver detailing on the bodice of it. Ethan's going to love it so much.

Every time I thought about our upcoming wedding, I found myself smiling like an idiot. 

I seriously couldn't wait. I could tell Ethan was getting eager for it to finally be here soon. 

August 28th couldn't be here soon enough. 

Ethan and I even bought a small starter home across the stateline border in Jersey. It was a really charming fixer-upper, that luckily didn't need too much work. Perfect for a newly married couple. 

We were painting and redoing the kitchen, but everything else was set up, so we started living there about two weeks before the wedding. 

Lisa's orders called for Ethan to stay at her house for the last week and a half before the wedding. She said that it was bad luck for us to be in the same bed, hence him staying at her house for the week. 

It was harder to fall asleep, but FaceTime helped slightly with that. Knowing we'd never have to be in separate beds again after this week made the process so much more easier.

Suddenly, we found ourselves at our rehearsal dinner two nights before the wedding, and I was shocked at how fast the week had gone by.

"We just want to say thank you to everyone in this room who has helped us in any shape or form for our wedding. We probably wouldn't be as ready as we are for Friday without any of you," Ethan said. "Just like you all have been here for us through this, Emma has been there for me in my life," he said, smiling at me as he kept talking to our wedding party and close family through the microphone. "She's the only person in the world that understands me more than my own twin brother, and I don't understand how that's even possible, but she makes it look effortless. Emma, you're the absolute love of my life, and I can't wait to walk the rest of this forever with you holding my hand."

I smiled at him, wiping a tear off of my face before he gave me a hug. Once I had the microphone, I made my little speech.

"Ethan," I said. "I think I met you when I needed you most, and I just didn't realize it. It was like the second we became friends, I felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I knew you were the piece of life that I was missing. You have brought so much joy and light into my life, and I couldn't be thankful enough. You have such a kind heart, and I wouldn't be the same if I didn't have you. You changed my life for the better in so many ways, and I'm so excited to live the rest of my life with you. I love you so much."

Ethan pulled me into his arms for another hug, Olivia letting me hand her the microphone so I could actually give my almost-husband a real hug.

"I love you so much, Emma," he said. "So much. I always will."

"I love you always," I said. "So much."

He gave me a sweet peck on the lips before we pulled away, his hand tangling with mine as Olivia started making a speech to us. 

Even though my mother wasn't married to Liv's dad anymore, Liv was just as much my sister as she's always been.

I was so grateful for this life.