Was It Always Us? | COMPLETED ✔

𝙰𝚞 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚛, 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚜

I woke up, groggy yet excited for today. Lily was sleeping soundly, with Emerson wrapped in her arms. After having the time of our lives, we came back to our hotel and slept soundly. Lily was in a really good mood, and so was I. Our honeymoon was going really well so far. Today, we were supposed to spend some more time in the City of Love, after which we would take a two hour flight to Barcelona, Spain. I had planned a lot of things to do for the two days we would be spending there. I had booked fun activities for all of us, and I planned to make it even more interesting than Paris.

I quickly took a bath and got dressed to head downstairs and pick a bouquet of lilies for, well, Lily. I also picked a pretty sunflower for Emerson, because I knew it was her favourite. When I came upstairs, I saw Lily and Emerson sitting at the table and talking together. Lily's eyes lit up when she saw me, and I handed her the bouquet of lilies, to which she kissed me so hard I almost toppled over.

"Why?" she asked me once we separated.

"Why what?"
"Why do you have to be so amazing? It's like you're too good to be true."
"That, I am." I said, and she began laughing. I handed Emerson her flower and she looked at me real sweet and then hugged me real tight. I picked her up and twirled her around as she laughed. Lily took a quick video of us and then I put Emmy back down. 

"Where are we heading today?"

"Firstly, we'll check out of the hotel and then ride on a bus, eating croissants and holding hands like you once told me you wanted to. Then--"
"You still remember that?" she asked, genuinely amused.
"How could I forget?" I grinned. "Anyway, the bus would get us to the airport, where we will sit on our two hour flight to Barcelona. And we'll stay there for two days instead of one."
"Wait. We're supposed to visit about four cities here, right? Then how will we make up--"
"Four cities? No, Lily, we're visiting six or seven in total. We may even stay an extra day or two" I winked. She looked flabbergasted.

"Wait, so when you said--"
"I lied." 
"Why?" she asked, looking confused.
"Have you seen the expression on your face? That lie was so worth it." I chuckled and she hit me on my chest, before I pulled her in for a hug. 

"Come on, n-now let's go! I wanna eat!" came Emerson's voice, and I couldn't control it anymore, bursting out into laughter.

"Emmy's hungry, you know, and you do not want to mess with a hungry Emerson." Lily warned.
"Come on, then, let's get you some food." was my reply.

***

We were standing in the bus, which was a little crowded, but we didn't mind. In our hands were a cup of coffee and some fresh croissants we picked at a stall. Emmy was drinking a milkshake. Lily took a dozen pictures and seemed really satisfied with them. We enjoyed the sights as we headed to the airport, saying goodbye to the City of Love.

Lily and Emerson found some seats, and sat down, but before I could take mine next to them, an elderly gentleman sat down. I just nodded at Lily, telling her I was fine. As Lily was busy tending to Emmy, I took my chance to call Theo. We hadn't talked for long, and he'd promised me he would give me pointers.

Look at me, taking pointers from a teenager.

"Hey." I said quietly. Theo's eyes lit up when he saw me.

"Hey!" he said, pretty loud. I motioned him to decrease his volume.

"So, what're you up to with Lily, huh? You didn't deter her with any of your cheesy pick up lines, did you?" he asked, slyly.

"Can you not let go of that one thing? 'We finally reached the shore' was pretty romantic." I argued. Even after all this time, boy did that wound me.

"Keep telling yourself that." Theo simply stated, and I gave up. 

"Hey, listen, so I told you the plan for my honeymoon, right? We're heading to Barcelona now."
Theo nodded seriously.

"Did Paris go well?" he asked.

"Uh huh. She loved it." I replied.

"So now you have to choose one out of the two surprises we narrowed down." he said, thinking.

"The maze seems more fun." I said.

"But the park is really famous." he argued.

"We're on a honeymoon. The centre of the maze, don't you remember? She'd love it." I tried to reason with Theo. Both of us had planned surprises for Lily in each city we'd go to. Though I slightly regretted it, considering Theo constantly pestered me with his stupid one-liners. Barcelona was a bit difficult for us to decide, considering it had so much to do. Our original plans were hazy and they still were, but all I knew is that we were doing something nice. For her. For Emerson.

"Yeah, maybe, I guess. Are you going to travel through the maze together or separately? " he asked.

"Together, I think."

"Alright then. Are you gonna take her there today or tomorrow?" 

"Tomorrow would be better, don't you think? We could get accustomed to the city."

"Yeah, I guess. Still don't know why you picked me to help you, though."
"I don't know that myself. How's Josh?" I asked. I hadn't checked up on him yet.

"He snuck out to meet a girl."
"Wait, what?! "

"Yeah, he said he'd asked you about it."

"I only told him he could go on a date as long as he didn't do anything serious and informed Brad!" That boy sure does know how to twist my words to his advantage.

"Eh, just letting you know, though, that if you think I'm gonna be sensible about this and talk to him, then you're wrong."
I shaked my head and sighed. I would have to warn him, but I also didn't want to impose anything on him. Sneaking out was wrong, but it wasn't like I didn't do similar stuff at my age. Still, I couldn't just watch him do all that and not do anything. I would probably just let the matter rest and if he tried to sneak out again, I'd confront him.
"Hey, Atlas?"
Lily's sweet voice called me from behind and I signalled to Theo with wide eyes. He just rolled his eyes and whispered "Go to your darling fish." before hanging up.
"Yeah?" I said, turning around to see her smiling at Emmy, who was now limp and fast asleep, sitting in her lap and pressing her head to her chest. I grinned and she beckoned me to sit on Emerson's vacant seat. I did that and then ran my hand through her hair, tracing her jawline, her nose, her lips. She just smiled lightly and squirmed a bit in her seat so she could hug me. I held her close to me, so very happy and content in that moment, that I wasn't sure anything else could come close.
"Thank you for this. It means more than everything to me, Atlas."
"Thank you for everything you did for me. Now, just stay quiet so I can trace your face and stare at you."
She laughed at my blunt remark, but I was serious when I placed my finger on her lips. She grinned against them.
And all I could do was just stare longingly at her, wondering how in the hell did I get so lucky as to get someone like her and Emerson.