"Just Friends"

Epilogue

(764 words)
There are so many romance novels out there that use a Ferris Wheel, and I liked the idea that the motif might pierce the veil a little bit. Here's my addition.
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The creeks of the slats of the boardwalk and the slap of our flip flops against them created a comfortable rhythm while we walked. Around us, there were people on bikes, children running around laughing, a few people diving into the waves as they crashed down. The sun's beams hit my shoulders softly, and my sundress flowed around my knees as we walked. We'd rented a beach house on the shore for a week in the summer, as a get away for just the two of us. It was an altogether lovely day to be at the beach.

I studied the Ferris Wheel from our position on the ground. It groaned as it moved around, I could see faces of people in the carts leaning down to catch the view from the top.

"You know, I've never been on a ferris wheel before, even after all the times my dad took me to the beach." I said to Calvin.

"Hmm?" He responded, his stare was miles down the walk. For some reason, he'd been distracted all day.

"I said I've never been on a Ferris Wheel."

"Oh well, then we have to go," he snapped back to reality and began to pull me towards the giant ride. "Yes, this is a perfect day for that incredible view. C'mon," He laughed, spinning me around as we jogged to get in line and catch the next ride.

It had been three years since that night in Ally and Jake's apartment when it was finally revealed we were dating. In those three years, she hadn't yet let us forget that we lied to her, but was nonetheless happy that we were together. It broke her heart when I moved out so Cal and I could get our own apartment, but we still held game nights and saw each other practically every day. She and Jake were happy as ever, especially once they adopted a dog and named her Meryl Streep. Brandon opposed this name, for obvious reasons, and called the dog Stephen Jr. after his boyfriend instead. As it turned out, there was a better reason Stephen and I didn't hit it off. Brandon jokingly reminded us that he'd "always been down to fuck Calvin, and now got to."

Cal and I queued in line, most people were down by the water so it took no time at all, and we were able to board quickly. We sat down, the seats swaying slightly with our weight. I gave him a kiss on the cheek while the mechanisms around us whirred and we rose from the ground.

"I hope you aren't afraid of heights," He said.

"I'm never afraid with you next to me," I told him as we climbed higher and higher.

I stared out over the water, letting the beauty of the waves wash over me. Calvin's hand was interlaced with mine, as it almost always was.

Although I'd never been on a Ferris Wheel before, it seemed as if we'd been here before one thousand times, in one thousand different lives, always meant to find each other. Always meant to sit here hand in hand on the ride, enjoying one another's company.

I almost shared the notion with Calvin, but when I turned to him he seemed distracted again, breathing heavily.

"Are you alright, Cally?" I asked him.

"Never been better," he faced me with a nervous smile.

"What's wrong?"

His hand fished into his pocket and emerged clutching something tight in his palm.

"Nothings wrong. I'm just thinking about how beautiful you are," he told me with a smile. "Do you ever feel like we were soulmates?" He asked suddenly.

How curious. "I was just thinking about that." I admitted to him.

"I think about it all the time. How happy you make me, how perfect we are for each other, how I never want to let you go." He paused to bring my hand to his lips for a kiss. "And I realized a little while ago that I would never be the same without you in my life, so I figured why spend one more moment wasting our time as if I ever had plans to stop loving you."

I felt a rush of pink to my cheeks. "Calvin?"

"Ash..." he opened the small box in his hand, revealing a gold ring bejeweled with several small and large diamonds. "Will you marry me?"

I would never truly know what happened in those other thousand life times we shared together on that Ferris Wheel, but I had a feeling I already did.

"Yes, Calvin! A thousand times, yes!"

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Cliche? Maybe. Made me happy to write? Yes.