Only Ones Who Know - Derp Crew High School AU

Chapter 26: Big Changes

December 2023

I was awoken by the announcement over the plane PA. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving at the New York-LaGuardia International in just around 30 minutes so begin to collect your belongings for offload. Once again, that is 30 minutes to LaGuardia. Thank you, and we hope you fly with us again soon."

Once the flight attendant was finished with her announcement I stretched as far as I could go and looked over at my sleeping boyfriend leaning against the window. I brushed some of his curls out of his eyes and gave him a light peck on the cheek. The touch was just enough to make his eyes flutter open.

"Yes?" he asked sleepily.

"We'll be there in 30 minutes. It'd be bad if I left you sleeping here, now wouldn't it?"

He chuckled and stretched, then returned the peck. "Thanks for the heads-up, babe."

"Anytime." I smiled and began putting up my laptop, then leaned back in my chair. Christmas is in a couple days and Steven and I are on our way to spend the holiday in New York with my family, then a drive up to Canada to visit his for the new year.

We all graduated from Sacramento State two years ago. Since then a lot of stuff has changed but we're all still the same friends from eight years ago. We still spend holidays and vacations together, and we all live within an hour of each other. And of all our friends, Steven and I are the last to be engaged or married. Tom and Johanna are about to have their second anniversary on Christmas, GaLm and Myla have been married for eight months, and Smarty and Marissa have their wedding scheduled for next month. We may be a little late on that, but I plan to change that pretty soon.

I've been trying to keep it secret for the last few weeks, but sometime during the next few days I plan on asking Steven to marry me. I already have the ring and an idea of how I want to do it. If I ask him soon, then we will have made our goal of being married by age 25, the same promise we made to each other at 16.

As I thought about my proposal plans I felt a jostle under our plane and LaGuardia International outside our window. I guess I'll have to wait for a little while longer.

Steven and I grabbed our carry-on stuff and headed through security and luggage claim, then out to the front to be picked up. While we waited in the lobby to stay out of the cold, Steven leaned against my shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Don't worry, babe," I cooed. "We're almost home." "Home" is a little city on Long Island, about an hour away. Night time came around three hours ago, so getting home will be a welcome relief.

After we moved to Sacramento, my mom's brother Tony bought our house for sentimental reasons. All of our family gatherings take place there, and he even saved mine and Cielo's old rooms just for us instead of getting a hotel. This is also a big Christmas for her since she married her college boyfriend Edwin "Eddie" Cardona four months ago. It feels weird to know that my little sister got married before me but she's really happy with him, and that's all that matters.

A few minutes later a blue Civic pulled up in front of the airport doors and Uncle Tony got out of the driver's side. Steven and I grabbed our bags and lugged them through the doors and into the trunk.

"There they are!" Uncle Tony chirped, wrapping his arms around us."How's everything been?"

"Great, pretty tiring though." Steven yawned and nodded, then got in the back seat on the driver's side. "I'll be up front if you wanna lay down and sleep," I whispered to Steven as I pushed back his hair. He nodded and stretched out in the back seat to sleep on the way home. I got in the passenger side in the front to chat with Uncle Tony.