The Stroud Family and I

Chapter: 29

Chapter 29: Happiness all around

"Yes!"

I bounced up and down in my spot, smiling widely at the medium sized envelope in my hands. I skipped into the kitchen and slid on the wood flooring with my fuzzy socks, almost knocking right into Colton who was at the stove making scrambled eggs. I giggled when he turned around and raised a brow at me, wiping his hands in the process. Still smiling, I bit my lip and waved the envelope in front of his face. He snatched it out of my hands and grinned.

"It finally came," he chuckled.

Probably referring to the fact that it has been well over two moths since we got the pictures taken. Suddenly, he held it above me and ripped the top of the envelope off. I stuck my lip out and crossed my arms over my chest.

"That's so not fair! I'm the one who wanted to get the picture done in the first place."

Colton's face softened from his silly composure, into one more similar to sympathy. His arm lowered, and his other came up to my cheek, and he caressed it. He rolled his lips inward and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

"I'm sorry, babe. Here," he handed me the envelope.

I smiled sweetly and leaned up on my tippy toes to kiss his cheek. I looked back at the envelope and then reached inside, feeling for the material of the photograph. My fingers gripped onto it, and I slid it out, eyes bulging as soon as they landed on the content of the picture. In the photograph, I was laid down in the snow, and Colton was halfway leaned over me, laughter escaping my mouth with happiness, and Carson was leaning over Colton, smacking a big, sloppy lick to the side of his face. There was snow in Colton's dark hair, adding to the effect of the picture, and the way he was looking down at me, was almost indescribable.

It was as if he was holding the world underneath him, and my heart swelled with warmth. The camera had caught the magnificent blue of his eyes, and they were solely trained on me below him. My cheeks were tinged slightly pink, either from the cold, or from the effect that Colton has on me, I'm not quite sure. I was about to gush to Colton how much I loved the picture, when it was suddenly snatched out of my hand, and Colton's face had gone blank.

"Shit, you don't like it. Dammit, out of all the pictures, he printed this one out, the one you don't lik-"

"Colton-"

"It's okay, I promise we can go and do another shoot, and this time I'll actually listen to what you say. I wi-"

"Colton, stop, I love it," I grinned.

"Alright, I'll book an appointment ne-," he paused, "wait, what?"

"I love the picture."

I pulled the photograph gently out of his hand and stared down at it.

"You do?"

"Yes," I laughed.

Colton's face morphed into a smile, and butterfly's fluttered throughout my stomach.

"I didn't think you liked it because it was not a perfect picture...it's sort of out of order," he chuckled.

"It's perfect because it describes who we are, not just a cookie cutter couple with a perfect image. We are silly, and dis functional, and we are out of order most of the time, but I love you. And I want people to see that, once it goes up in a frame," I smiled.

Colton's face was blank for a moment or two, and I was beginning to actually second guess whether or not he had actually processed what I just said, until his eyes ignited and lit up. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around my torso, picking me up and spinning me in a circle. I screamed when he just kept going and going, until he finally slowed down and placed me back onto the ground. He peered down at me and rubbed his thumbs over my cheeks.