Falling For Sadie

Chapter Twenty-Two

                  

Sadie wrapped her hands securely around the two steaming Styrofoam coffee cups, fighting back the remembered chill of Northern winter. She huddled her face farther into her scarf and slid briskly across the icy sidewalk to her car. The sun was gone from the horizon and the sky was a hazy grey from the low hanging clouds that threatened more snowfall. Sadie unlocked her car then took a moment to look around. The air held a fantastic haze, yellow light pooled into the snow drifts at the bases of the street lights and each house and business along the street had decorations awaiting the upcoming celebration. Light glowed from everywhere and Sadie looked behind her as the door to Jeremiah's opened and Christmas music blasted into the silent night air. After the lady smiled, waved, and disappeared around the corner with her own hot drink in tow, Jeremiah stepped up to the door and flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED. He caught Sadie's eye and waved. She waved back then slid into her chilly car and drove away while letting the radio station's Christmas carols fill the car.

Logan's apartment was in the middle of Jeremiah's and Campus. Sadie pulled into the parking garage and nodded at Benny, the security guard. She stepped into the aging elevator carrying the pizza, hot chocolates, and Christmas movies in her arms. The past few days they'd both gone to each other's family's Christmases, finished up their semester exams, and spent next to no alone time together save for studying. Sadie stepped up to the door with 251 dangling from one screw and rapped lightly with her forehead. Logan opened the door and she stepped inside and promptly dropped the pile of things on the kitchen counter.

Sadie turned around and jumped onto his back while he was walking towards the tv to get the DVD player working. She laughed and playfully bit his ear. "We're done! We're done!" She chanted, flopping off his back onto the sofa.

He laughed with her and flicked on the DVD player before flopping on top of her. "I can't believe that we actually made it. This semester has not been fun at all. Who knew college was so hard?"

"Get off me you brute." She laughed, shoving him off to stand and start removing her winter gear. Sadie grabbed two plates out of the cabinet and shoveled them both full of slices while Logan grabbed the movies and thumbed through them all to make the line up. He popped the first one in while Sadie walked back to the living room area, carrying both plates and the hot chocolates without spilling them. Everything was placed on the coffee table and they each grabbed slices and curled together to start the movies.

Sadie hummed gently, burrowing herself into Logan. She smiled at having him with her and felt a pang in her chest at the things that they had to go through to get where they are now.

The screen lit up with the swirling snowflakes and the Who's singing as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas started up.

***

Logan looked down at Sadie as the ending credits for the second movie rolled. She was drifting asleep and he was careful about moving her too much to switch movies. He was wide awake and wired by her presence.

Right after coming home from the funeral four years before, they'd made their relationship official and Audrey had not been happy about it. At graduation she had confronted Sadie and, although Sadie could hold her own against Audrey, Logan had stood up for her. It was the least he could do since she'd stood up to Jax for him. He'd finally broken things off for good with Audrey. He'd told her to just leave him alone and that he'd never been interested in her. He wasn't even ever attracted to her. She had cried, his friends had oohed, and Audrey's friends had huffed and tended to their friend. Sadie's friends however had nodded approvingly to him. Sadie had looked at him curiously. Just that. Then she turned and sprinted away. Though she hadn't said anything, something in him told him to chase after her and he listened.

"Why'd you do that?" She'd asked, huffing lightly from running in her heels. She leaned against the brick side of the school, her graduation gown flowing around her in the breeze. She was breathtaking to Logan.

"I needed to. She wouldn't have left me alone if I hadn't said that. I had to be the one to tell her to leave me alone. Besides you stood up for me and us to Jax so I felt that I owed it to you." Logan had stood away from her and she had looked at him, a curious glint that he picked up in her eyes.

She pushed off the wall and ran up to him, laughing all the way. Sadie jumped up into his arms. The momentum spun them around and it was a scene from a movie as she had whispered, "I love you and I'm really glad it's you that I do."

***

Sadie rolled over and, for a brief second, had a heart attack as she crashed to the ground. "Oww." She whined lightly as she pushed herself up from the ground and shuffled to the kitchen where Logan stood making eggs.

Sadie wrapped her arms around him and huffed lightly. "I don't like your couch. It hurt me."

Logan chuckled softly. "Or maybe you just fell asleep on it and fell off when you woke up. The couch didn't do anything."

Sadie smacked his back playfully. "You're supposed to be on my side."

Logan laughed and slid the eggs off the pan and onto a plate. Sadie backed up and let him through to the table.

"I am on your side." Then he stepped from the plate so that Sadie could see the ring seated in the middle of eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns with "Will you marry me?" written on the napkin next to it. "And hopefully by it till death do us part."