𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎 ~ 𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚕𝚢𝚗 𝚊𝚞

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗: 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚢

Ashlyn had recorded her song. They quickly decided to release it as a single, one which would likely support the album she was currently working on. That album wouldn't be out for awhile, but Ashlyn's song was to release at midnight.

She was back in Salt Lake, celebrating with friends and family. This included nearly all her theatre friends, excluding Nini and Carlos who were both unable to attend. Sure, it was one song, and she had released many more in the last, but she was proud. And everyone was proud.

"Congrats Ashlyn." Mrs. Caswell handed her a glass of wine.

"Thanks Mom!" She smiled, taking a sip. "Thanks for everything."

"Of course." She kissed the top of Ashlyn's head. "I'll let you guys be, I'm catching up with Big Red's parents." She walked away.

"Your parents are here?" Ashlyn turned to Big Red. "I thought they had some event."

"I kinda convinced them to skip."

"Aww, that's so sweet, but you didn't have to."

"I miss them, and this is big." He kissed her cheek, pulling her closer. She set down her glass, instead curling up in his arms. "You wanna talk to them in a minute?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ash, how's my favorite cousin?" EJ asked, walking inside the house and sitting beside her.

"Eej!" She hugged him. "Great, how's my favorite cousin?"

"I'm doing good. How 'bout my cousin-in-law?" He asked Big Red.

"I'm good." He smiled. "Good to see you."

"I missed you!" Ashlyn hugged EJ again, feeling extremely sentimental.

"I missed you too Ash." He hugged her back, laughing. "My parents probably wanna talk to you."

"Yeah. I think we're about to make our rounds." Big Red told him.

"We should probably get on that. See you in a little Eej." She said, taking Big Red's hand. They walked all around the house, catching up with various family members and their parents' friends. Last but not least, they made it to Big Red's parents.

"Big Red!" Mrs. Redonovitch wrapped her son in a hug. "Ashlyn, so good to see you!" She gave Ashlyn a hug as well.

"How are you?" Mr. Redonovitch asked them both.

"Good!" Ashlyn beamed. "And this is all just so surreal."

"I'm good too. And you better believe it." Big Red kissed her cheek.

"We're so excited to hear it."

"It's pretty spectacular." Big Red gushed.

"Shut up." She nudged him. "But I'm proud of it, yeah. Hey, uh, babe, I think my mom needs some help in the kitchen. I'll be there in a sec, but could you give her a hand?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." He gave them all a smile before walking away and making his way to the kitchen.

"Hey, um, I kinda wanted to ask you something." Ashlyn turned back to both his parents.

"Ask away!" Mr. Redonovitch encouraged.

"I know we joke about it all the time, and it feels like a given, but I still wanna ask." Ashlyn prefaced. "I'm not sure exactly when, but I want to soon, and I want your blessing. Can I marry him? Can I propose to Big Red?"

"Ashlyn!" Mrs. Redonovitch cheered, bringing her into another hug. Mr. Redonovitch joined in.

"That's a yes?" She asked hopefully.

"Of course."

"Okay, great. Again, don't know when." Ashlyn reminded them. "But I really wanna do it."

"That's amazing. He's gonna be so happy."

"Yeah? Yeah." She smiled to herself. "Speaking of which, I should get to the kitchen. Thanks you guys so much, for everything!"

Soon enough the clock was ticking down to midnight. A few people had left, but most had stayed to listen to the song.

"Three minutes!" Big Red called out. Ashlyn, previously in conversation a little bit away, flopped onto his lap. "Hey baby." He brought her in for a kiss.

"Hey." She gave him another quick kiss. "Excited to hear the edited version?"

"Am I? You're joking."

"Well, thank you." She laughed.

"Your voice is wonderful." He ran his fingers through her hair, soon enough finding them tangled in her curls.

"You're wonderful."

"You're wonderful."

"Get a room!" Carlos inputted.

"Maybe later." Ashlyn smirked.

"Fair enough." He admitted.

And soon enough, Ashlyn got to press play on her newest song, one which she was extremely proud of.