A gleeful reality

Chapter 26

Cory let out an unsteady breath, resting his hand on the knot of his tie as he stared at his reflection in the full-length mirror; a breath filled with nerves and excitement. Today was a day in culmination of the years he hoped, then knew, would come. After a year of pining for her, a year of dating and another of engagement, Cory was finally going to marry Dianna, the love of his life and next.

He brought his hand up to his face and over his eyes in an attempt to rub some of the sleep out of them. Soon his makeup artist would come to cover up the slight baggage that rested underneath. He was on the cusp of appearing like he hadn't slept in days. Many might think his nights were full with sleepless thoughts of fear that he was making the wrong choice but it was far from that. His restless after hours came from forfeiting the needed eight a night to wake up, roll over to make sure Dianna was sleeping peacefully, and to lay thinking for at least an hour at a time, how perfection had found his life at the most quintessential time possible. He would stay awake, gaze at the beautiful, blonde, and let all his thoughts and memories invade his mind—particularly of the night they finally got engaged.

"I'm so going to beat you," Dianna bragged. "I'm a literary genius. My Instagram follower count proves that one. Call me a master of words."

It was one of their lazy nights in that week. Cory rolled his eyes in playful defeat, knowing well that Dianna was much better at scrabble than he would ever be. It was a tradition they had started a few months prior when they closed on the sale of their first place together—a modern yet somehow quaint penthouse apartment they shared in a high rise in Beverly Hills.

"Perplexed?" The word sounded just as puzzling coming out of his mouth as its definition.

Dianna smirked knowing that she was yet again up another twenty points on her boyfriend. 'Tally em up, folks!' she thought to herself.

Cory's brow furrowed slightly.

"You've got to be cheating! There's no way you're…" He glanced down to their score sheet. "Sixty-seven points ahead of me?!"

"Hey, the paper does not lie," She smirked yet again.

'Ugh, that smirk,' Cory's thoughts ran wild as he admired that smirk.

It was the same smirk that appeared quite often in their life together. The smirk that she dons when she knows she got away with something; the smirk that appears when she's hiding something; the smirk that shows up when they're laying in bed and she runs her hand down his body and… Well, you get the point. In any situation, that smirk was utter perfection and would be the death of him in the best way imaginable.

When Cory was finally able to draw his attention from her lips back down to the board, he surveyed all the options he had left and grinned. Thankfully, a few proper letters were still left for the right placement he planned on.

Before making the next move, he grabbed the little silk bag that held the extra letter tiles and gave them a quick shake to ensure there were a couple Ms and Rs sifting through.

'Perfect.'

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Finally, the food's here!" Dianna exhaled an exasperated sigh, clearly thanking the lord that their takeout had arrived. Only twenty minutes after the tentative delivery time she was told over the phone but who was counting, right? Not her… Okay yeah, her.

Cory waited until he saw Dianna's figure slip out of view past a corner before he hurriedly dumped out the bag of excess tiles into his lap and started arranging some words of his own onto the board.

Only about a minute later, the excited blonde sashayed back into the living room; too busy rummaging through the takeout bag to see her boyfriend arrange the last second letters together.