One Journey, the Final

Chapter 30:

Around 1:30 in the morning while I was in a deep sleep, dreaming of myself being chased around by chickens, my phone buzzed with a phone call. Drowsily it woke me up, and I blinked a few times before looking at the ID. The screen read, “Harry.” A little freaked out, annoyed, and altogether exhausted I clicked the green button.

                “Love?” he asked nervously.

                “Yes Harry,” I asked sarcastically. He was calling at 1:30 in the morning. This had to be important.

                “I’m sorry I’m calling so late. I just…needed to talk to you,” he said quietly. I could tell he was feeling guilty for waking me up, so I lightened up.

                “It’s alright. I was having a bad dream anyway…” I didn’t bother telling him it was about being chased around by chickens. Too embarrassing.

                “Really? Me too. I couldn’t sleep, and I just kept thinking about you,” he said. My heart melted. I was more awake now, and could carry on a conversation without dozing off. My mind was alert.

                “You ready for tomorrow?” I asked nervously. He sighed a breath of either nervousness or excitement, I couldn’t tell.

                “I think so. I don’t know. I mean, I know I’m ready to be with you. There’s no doubt about that in my mind. It’s just that…marriage. It honestly scares me,” he said painfully. I understood. Marriage…what did it really mean? The end? The beginning? The end of that confusing and so new-to-me romance that was always unpredictable? The beginning of our boring lives? I wanted our life to be unpredictable. I wanted to not know what was around the corner for us. I wanted to be surprised every single day.

                “It’s alright. I know how you feel. Marriage. It’s so final. The love that I have for you is not like any other feeling I’ve had for anyone else. And I’m afraid, that when we’re married, we’ll become normal boring couples. I want to play hide and go seek with you, I want to look up at the clouds, I want to make crazy foods with you in the middle of the night. I don’t want to grow up. I don’t want our love to grow up and become stiff. I still want it to be random and winding and changing,” I said, pouring out my deepest thoughts from the past few days. Harry was quiet for a while, I thought maybe he’d fallen asleep to my boring and long fears. Just as I was about to hang up, Harry said,

                “I don’t know what’s in store for us. I don’t even know what I ate for dinner tonight. The feelings that I have for you won’t ever change, I know that. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to wake up and have your smile be the first thing I see every morning, and the last thing I see at night. I promise to give you everything I have, everything that I am. I’ll love you every single day,” he said calmly. Even while lying down, he could make my head spin. Tomorrow we’d be married.

                “You sound like you’re reciting vows,” I said sarcastically. I chuckled at myself, and he joined me. “But it was beautiful. I love you too.” Harry was a lot better with words. He could easily say what he wanted, and make is sound so poetic, yet he says all the time that he isn’t very educated. I know better though. “Will you say that again to me tomorrow when I wide awake and can remember it?” I asked.

                “I promise, love,” he said. My heart fluttered. I loved it when he called me, ‘love’. I had no idea where the conversation would carry on next, but I could feel it coming to a close. And suddenly, I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to keep talking to him, I wanted to hear his voice.

                “I should probably—” he started to say until I cut him off.

                “—Wait. I can’t go to sleep, without hearing you sing. Sing to me Harry. Sing me to sleep. And it’ll feel as if you’re right next to me, holding me close, where I can fall asleep in your arms,” I said quickly. I could sense him smiling.

                “Okay. Lay you down though. Relax. Close your eyes, and let my voice be the last thing you hear tonight,” he began soothingly. I did as he instructed, and felt my entire body quickly unwind all of its problems and just enjoy this moment. He soon began softly singing a classic song, “The Way You Look Tonight.” He sang it slowly, elongating many notes, making the song dreamy and wonderful. I tried to keep my eyes open, wanting to hear the entire song. But his voice was too calming. I felt myself losing by the second verse. I finally surrendered as he was saying, “And the way you look…tonight.” I was asleep after that. I slept peacefully after that, relaxed and even more ready for tomorrow.