One More I Love You

Prologe

As I stand in the middle of this gas station I stare at myself in a small mirror with a $5 pair of sunglasses hiding my eyes. I find myself criticizing more than usual. I've never liked the way I look in sunglasses. Maybe it's the shape of my face? I'm not sure, but in my defense, they are cheap gas station sunglasses so theirs only so much you can do. Though something tells me that this defeated feeling has less to do with the glasses and more to do with the whole coming back to life bit. I've just had this empty feeling in my chest. It's not a painful or visual thing, but I just feel like a part of me is missing. As much as I've been trying to hide it Isaac was able to notice. I mean he's always been able to see right through me so I'm not sure why I thought this would be different. This is why we are out in the middle of nowhere. After discussing with the parents, they decided that giving us a few days off school wouldn't be the worst thing in the world considering everything we went through to get them back. Amid the decision making, Isaac and my mom decided it would be good for me to get away from the crazy for a while. So Isaac and I took the 20 hour road trip to take my mom back home to Seattle and we spent most of the week with my family, and it was exactly what it was supposed to be. I was surrounded by fun and the people I love, Isaac was able to see my dad, sister, and brother who he hasn't seen in 3 to 4 years now. It was great but we have school on Monday, so it's back to our regular scheduled craziness. But before that, we have to get through the second half of this drive back home, 10 hours away from reality.

I hadn't realized that I was lost in my thoughts until a hand reaches across my face to grab a pair of sunglasses off the rack in front of me. I was so caught up that it took me a minute to even register that it was Isaac in the mirror. I don't know if I can contribute that to the fact that I'm still a little bit off or the fact that he is supposed to be getting gas. When my eyes finally do focus on him I see him posing with frilly pink sunglasses that were definitely made for a small child. I can tell that his goal was to get me to laugh because as soon as I giggle he breaks pose and engulfs me in his arms and I instinctively grab his hands. Once he releases me I take the sunglasses off my face and go to put them back but he grabs them out of my hands. I turn to glare at him annoyed. "What? Do you not like them?" Isaac asks me as he pretends to inspect them to see what's wrong. I reach up to grab them but he holds them just out of my reach.

"I don't like sunglasses, you know that." I jump for them but yet again he pulls away making me pull back into a pout. He pushes the hair out of my face and places the glasses on the top of my head with a kiss on my forehead.

"Well, I think you look beautiful." He smiles down at me endearingly. I would blame his cheesiness on the mate bond if he hasn't been telling me that I'm beautiful every day since we met all those years ago. He truly is the most amazing person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, but I'd never tell him that. So instead I roll my eyes and drag him to the candy aisle by the hand. Once we get there I drop his hand and begin my search for my favorite snacks.

"Hey, Isaac?" I ask not even bothering to turn to look at him because I can feel his presents behind me. I earn a grunt in return, allowing me to continue. "Do you ever wish we were like boyfriend and girlfriend legitimately?" I know this grabbed his attention. I could basically hear him whip his head in my direction.

"I mean, we've been dating since we were like ten." I see him out of the corner of my eye trying to act nonchalant as he checks out some red vines, which he always has and always will hate, before placing them back on the shelf. "Until you moved away."

"Exactly my point! The only things holding us together are feelings and a mate bond." He begins to silently laugh causing me to smack him on the arm even though I'm giggling as well. "It's not funny! Doesn't it bother you that we don't have an anniversary?"

"Honestly? No, it doesn't, I don't need a label to tell me how I feel. Does it bother you?"

"I'm a teenage girl, of course it bothers me!" I turn my back to him as I say this. I feel like I'm more bothered by the fact that this bothers me. I guess knowing we're going to be together for the rest of our lives makes things like boyfriend girlfriend labels seem trivial. "Maybe you're right. I'm tired and I'm making something out of nothing."

Even though I know I'm right I was half expecting him to disagree with me, or at least some words of reassurance. But his silence was cold. Did he not hear the part when I said this bothers me? "Isaac?" When I turn around I see him down on one knee with his hands behind his back and a goofy smile. "Isaac, what are you doing? Get up!"

Instead of heeding my whisper warnings, he proceeds to pull out a ring ... a candy ring. I get to take a breath as my heart starts to beat again. Knowing that he scared the living hell out of me, he continues to smile, looking at me as he always has. "Rowan Souline Hayes, will you make me the happiest man in the world be my girlfriend?" Now it's my turn to smile. Though I hate how cheesy he's being and how much of a scene he is making, I really do love him and he loves me.

"Of course I will." I laugh. After I let him slip the ring on my finger, he quickly stands up and engulfs me in a hug, swinging me around.

"She said yes!" Isaac screams basically at the top of his lungs earning an awkward and scattered applause from the three other people in the store, and that's including the cashier. I on the other hand smack him on the chest trying to get him to shut up, though he does this to me on purpose. When I get embarrassed, I turn really red in the face. He thinks it's cute, I on the other hand think it's everything but. Not only did he not put me back down as I had wanted, but he switches me around to carry me out to the car bridal style after handing the cashier money to cover the sunglasses and snacks.

Though he is right, I don't need labels and a date on the calendar to show him how much I love and appreciate him. But it sure as hell feels good. October  1st, our anniversary. I know we got off to a rocky start this school year, but I mean no one died. Trust me, this is gonna be a year to remember.