Forever

22

Shannon POV

"i told you not to take that extra shot"

"cari, we have to go"

"are you listening to me"

Cari was yet to get out of bed and we had to be at our first open house in 30 minutes. Luckily for her it was only 5 minutes down the road.

I knew cari was awake, i could see her eye lids fluttering. I was stood watching her and she could sense it. she broke a smile.

"you're just too cute" i said jumping on the bed smothering her in kisses

...

We were in the car on the way to our first house i was driving and my hand was on Cari's knee, but she didn't put her hand on top like she always did, something was off.  Cari just sat playing with her ring and looking down. i tried to make conversation but she either didn't answer me or gave me blunt answers

"hey whats up with you, this is exciting, you should be excited" i said to try and get her back

"i am, i am, sorry, its just"

"just what"

she sighed "i'm scared"

"scared of what" i was confuse, i thought we were on the same page

"of myself, of you, of us. it's stupid its fine, im fine" she immediately put on a fake smile and grabbed my hand

"no, cari, you're not fine, and im confused. help me understand"

"i'm scared i will hurt you again. i'm scared to hurt myself. i couldn't live with myself if i did anything to hurt you, or if you hurt me. i know we have had this same conversation a million times but i cant help it."

"baby, i'll have this conversation a million more times, i dont care. but i'm scared to cari, this is fucking terrifying, you're not alone. this is new for both of us, but i know that i am never going to leave you, so as long as you're not planning on leaving me we're all good. plus, even if you are, im not going without a fight"

Cari laughed and smiled a genuine smile this time

"i'm never leaving you again. you're stuck with me"

she leaned in for a kiss. we had arrived at our destination mid conversation, but we continued to talk without getting out of the car.

"you ready for this" i asked holding my future wives hand as we knocked on the door.

...

"shannon that house was beautiful"

"to be honest, i'm sold already, the pictures did not do it justice"

"i'd probably agree if i actually looked at the pictures"

i turned to Cari in shock

"you said you looked at them" i exclaimed with a smile and playfully pushing her 

we made our way on a 20 minute drive to the next house, but the first one still remained our favourite.

After that house we had one more stop, based on the pictures, it was going to be between this on and the first.

Meanwhile, whilst we were looking at houses, Alex was back at my apartment going 'operation surprise engagement party'

Flashback to this morning whilst cari was still asleep:

After my conversation with Cari last night, i wanted to do something special, something to let her know that i was all in. I spent most of the night brainstorming, but couldn't come up with the perfect thing. At first i just settled on a nice date where we both got dressed up and stuff, but that was nothing we hadn't done before. 

So, after thinking, i decided that we hadn't properly celebrated our engagement with our friends yet, so that was what we were going to do.

I decided to get Alex on board and tell her my plan

"so you are going to get everyone to the venue and i'll distract Cari by saying we are going out for a date or something. We are out all day house hunting so that keeps her busy whilst you set up" i said

Alex just nodded her head in response

"right, i'm going to wake cari, we have to get going soon, do you need a reminder of the plan, i probably wont reply to any texts so make sure your in control" i said firmly

"yes, you and cari are going house shopping, i am going to the venue that you booked earlier to set up, jess will meet me there. You have texted everyone the details. I need balloons, flowers etc. you will keep Cari busy till tonight, distract her with a date or something then text me when your on your way, we will all hide, ill track your location then jump out and boom"

Alex practically recited out whole conversation back to me

"i love you alex you're the best but don't fuck this up for me!" i shoted jokingly as i headed upstairs to cari

...

Back to real time

Shannon POV

"it's between this one and the first one for me" i said to cari as we stood in the garden looking at the property 

"but the views on this one, the pool. but the other one is in a easier location and there is that building at the bottom of the garden we can turn into a studio" cari replied

"the other house had views, and a pool, this is just a better view and a cooler pool. i think i'm leaning towards the first"

we keep talking about it as we walk down the drive to the car

"this one is safe though, gated community, think of it with our family and kids in mind"

"let's just get the wedding over with first" i reply sarcastically 

"you make it out like it's a chore, at least pretend like you want to marry me" cari said, half jokingly, half serious

"i do want to marry you, so much that we are going out tonight. date night"

"you really know the way to my heart" she said, and i kissed her before opening the car door for her

We headed back to Cari's apartment, and she couldn't stop talking about the houses the whole way. As soon as we decided on one we were going to put an offer in, it was just a case of deciding which one we liked best.

the few hours that we were chilling at Cari's flew by, and it was time to get ready to go out.

"right, shower time" i said releasing my grip and struggling to stand up from the position of cari lying on top of me on the sofa

"okay, don't be long, i'll miss you"

"no you're coming with me" i said playfully "date night starts now"

i grabbed her by the hand an lead her upstairs.

...

"wow, you're hot" cari said to me. i was wearing a black jumpsuit kind of look

"dont make me blush, look at you though. we better go on more date nights if you dress up like this"  cari was wearing a pale blue suit with nothing underneath the blazer

"i know, i look hot, we are a hot couple"

we both laughed at how egotistical she just sounded

We got an uber to where i said we had a reservation, remembering to text alex once we left. the place i said we were going to just so happened to be opposite where everyone was. i purposely made us leave 'early' so that  i could get cari into this karaoke bar

"look, cari, karaoke, can we go sing a song, for old times sake? we are early anyway" i said as we got out of the uber

"for you, anything"

i quickly got my phone out to text alex that we were coming in...