Always There - Part 2 || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 202: You Deserve It

As we pulled back up to my house, I could see the light on in my mom's room, despite how late it was. She was typically always asleep by this time. Before getting out, I peeked over at him, unable to contain my smile.

"We should tell her." I said. He sighed, playfully rolling his eyes.
"I figured you'd want to." He laughed, hopping out of the car and making his way around to my side, opening the door.
"We can be really quick, and then I'll grab my stuff and then we can go." I said, reaching up for him, pulling him into a quick kiss. He nodded.

"There's no rush." He said, taking my hand and helping me out. "This is exciting. We can take our time." I squeezed his hand tighter, now feeling him move his fingers over the ring as we made our way inside. As we opened the front door, she instantly called down to us.
"Did she say yes?!" She yelled. I looked over at him, shaking my head.
"She knew?" I laughed. He nodded.
"Y-yeah.. I.. I kinda.. asked her."

I stopped, suddenly feeling myself start to get emotional again. When I was younger, I always imagined how my boyfriend would one day ask for my Dad's blessing, and when he passed away, a part of that dream left with him. I had never mentioned how important that was for me to him, so the fact that he just knew..

"And what did she say?" I asked, giggling to myself. His smile grew.
"Yes, of course. You know how much she loves me." He joked, now guiding me up the stairs and down the hallway towards her room.

He gently knocked on her door, waiting for her to answer.
"Come in! Come in!" She exclaimed. I could already hear the excited smile in her voice. He peeked his head inside as she flashed us a wide, toothy grin.

"Oh! Let me see!" She yelled, holding her hands out. I hadn't seen her this enthusiastic in years. I quickly made my way in behind him, going over and sitting down on the edge of her bed, eagerly holding my hand out for her.

"Oh my goodness, Jaime.." She sighed, gently taking it, holding it up close to her eyes. "This is absolutely beautiful." She reached over, pulling me into a tight hug.
"I am so happy for you." She whispered into my ear. I could already feel the tears starting to form, but the last thing I wanted to do right now was cry, no matter how happy I was.

"Thank you." I managed, finally moving away and wiping my eyes. She gently caressed my cheek, holding her stare on me for a moment before turning to Josh, waving him over.
"So, he told me that you knew." I laughed. She nodded, smirking over at him.
"I might've had some idea." She said. "Oh, how did he do it? I'm sure it was beautiful."

And it was.

We made ourselves comfortable, telling her every little detail about the night that eventually lead up to him on one knee where everything started.
"What did he say?" She asked. I peeked over at him, seeing him already giving me a nervous look.
"I think he wants me to keep that between us." I laughed. She nodded.
"Alright, I respect that. But.. oh, I'm so happy. So when are you gonna star-"

"So, I'm pretty sure we talked about after school." Josh laughed, somehow knowing where she was going with that. I felt my cheeks burn, having a suspicion myself. I wondered if they two of them had talked about it too.
"Alright, alright.." She laughed. "But I'm not getting any younger."

We stayed for a little while longer, discussing possible wedding plans, when and where, and how we'd like to do it, to which she always insisted on adding in her two cents. And as someone who knew nothing about weddings, I made a mental note of everything she said.

"Probably Spring." I said, peeking over at Josh again who was still staring back at me with dazed eyes and a tired grin. He nodded, his smile growing as he reached over for my hand, closely inspecting the ring again.

"I like Spring." He said softly. "That'll give us plenty of time, all depending on what you want to do." I nodded, leaning my head against his shoulder, knowing that I didn't need much. As long as I was going to be walking down the aisle to him, I would be happy.

Completely happy.

"Well, we should get going. Josh made a reservation for us to stay downtown tonight and-"
"Oh.." She said. I felt my face get hot again as she winked at me.
"Okay, let's go." I laughed, now jumping up from the bed and taking his hand. I could hear him giggling to himself as he climbed off, heading over to the door.

"Okay, well.. have a great night, honey. You deserve it. Thank you for coming to see me. It means a lot that you want to include me in this too." I nodded, going back over to her and pulling her into a tight hug.
"Of course." I sighed, feeling her squeeze me tighter until I let go first. "And I should be back sometime tomorrow afternoon."
"No rush." She said. "Please, enjoy yourself."

I nodded, taking one last look at her, lingering in the doorway before shutting it behind me and making my way down the hall to my bedroom.

Josh went over, plopping down onto my bed and watched me as I quickly gathered some clothes, thoughtlessly tossing them into a bag.
"You know.." He said, cuddling underneath the blankets. "Staying here might not too bad either." I smirked back at him, hearing his muffled laughter as he shoved his face into my pillow.

"We have plenty of time to stay here." I said, zipping up my bag and tossing it over my shoulder. He sighed, sitting back up to face me with tired eyes.
"I mean.. we do leave tomorrow." He said. I stopped, leaning up against the door as I stared back at him, just admiring the fact that someday soon, we'd get to spend every night coming back home to each other.

I hope he would always hold onto this same enthusiasm when it came to staying home in bed together.

"You ready to go?" I asked, holding my hand out to him. He nodded, finally forcing himself up and hold over, pulling me in closer and onto his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning into a long kiss.

"You know.. I noticed the light on in your house too." I said between the gentle series of kisses. He nodded, kissing me again.
"Mhm.."
"You don't want to.. go and tell them the news too?" I asked. He stopped, backing away and holding his stare on me for a moment, reluctant to answer.

I hated knowing that just a few months prior he wouldn't have hesitated to run through their front door, singing the news for all that would listen. But now..

"We.. we can tell them tomorrow." He said, forcing a smile. I nodded, but couldn't help but feel guilty now.
"If you really want to wait, then we can. But.. I would hate for them to get hurt that you didn't think you tell them right away." He sighed, playfully rolling his eyes before pulling me into another long kiss.
"You're already acting like a wife." He laughed. "Is this what it's gonna be like?" I nodded, giggling to myself, pulling him into another kiss.

"Fine." He groaned, leaning his forehead against mine. "We can go tell them. But.. we're gonna make it quick."
"We're gonna take as long as it takes." I said, grabbing his hand and helping him up, my heart beating faster at the sound of his quiet laughter behind me, now willingly following as I guided us down the stairs and across the lawn to their house.

How much I prayed that his laughter would never stop making my heart skip a beat, and how much I hoped I'd always have the same affect on him.

Too many times I've seen couples, so in love, slowly trickle away alongside the mundane of every day, and how much I always hoped I would never be one of them; we settled so much in life, but romance, love, it was never something to settle for. It was work, but work that should be effortless, constantly reminding yourself as to why you chose this person, this one person out of everyone in the world to have alongside you on this journey, and to choose them every day, and finally.. that stress was gone.

Because I had found him.

"Ready?" He asked, stopping at his front door. I nodded as he knocked, feeling just how tense he was about the whole thing. Part of me wanted to just take his hand and drag him off to the car and leave this for tomorrow. We'd be leaving and wouldn't have to deal with any of it..

And then the door opened, my heart sinking as Jake stood there, his eyes jumped from Josh to me, his attention instantly being brought to my left hand that still sat on Josh's shoulder, now glistening in the golden light above.