Be You're Own Hero (Ahren Stringer Fanfic)

*Ahren's P.O.V* (Chapter 14)

When I woke up, she was gone. I mentally, and physically, sighed. She told me last night that she was going somewhere that morning. I couldn't remember.
I grabbed my phone from her side table and walked to my room groggily. As I was walking I shot her a text. "Goodmorning. Where'd you say you were going again?"
I put on my moon joggers. I checked my phone for messages and it read "I went out running. I'll head home now. It'll probably be about ten minutes. You wanna do something today?" I smiled.
"I'll take a shower. :)" I replied.
I took a quick shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. When I stepped out Emily had just walked into her room. She looked me up and down and walked towards me. She kissed me very hard and pushed me against the wall. She's so much stronger than she looks.
When she pulled away, she looked down blushing. "Go get dressed." She said before walking into her bathroom and closing the door.
"Somebody liked what she saw." I yelled at her and laughed.
Emmy took a quick shower and I got dressed while she did. I looked in my jean drawer, they're all black. I put on a pair with the knees missing and looked for a nice shirt. Something she would like. I decided on a white shirt that had three small potted plants on it that read, "plants are friends." It was quirky but she will probably like it. I decided that instead of taking her to the animal shelter today, (and letting her fall in love with a dog just to be heartbroken) I am going to take her to a pet store and buy her a tank and a betta fish. She told me this really cute story of how she had 5 Bettas when she was younger and that she loved them very much. She is very passionate about animals, and I love that about her.
I went downstairs to wait on her. "Hey, you know where my keys are?" I asked Joel.
"No. Why? You going out?" He asked back.
"Yes indeed. I'm taking Emmy to get a betta fish. She told me this really cute story about how she-"
"YOU'RE GETTING ME A BETTA?!" Emily interrupted and screamed.
I looked over and she was wearing a long sleeve, floral black dress with combat boots. She looked absolutely stunning. She ran up to me and Joel and looked at us with wide eyes.
"You are getting a betta." I said and smiled at her.
She had absolutely the biggest smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She hugged me really tight and said thank you over a million times. I saw Joel smiling when I opened my eyes. "You ready?" I asked her.
She nodded her head, still with that big, goofy smile. I looked for the keys in my room and found them. I headed downstairs and we said our quick goodbye to Joel. I opened the car door for her and got in myself.
"You remembered." She stated and smiled at me.
"Huh?" I asked and looked over at her.
"You remembered what I said about my betta sorority I used to have, and you knew I wanted one." She said.
"When someone talks that passionately about fish, you can't really forget." I teased.

I handed her the aux cord so she could play music. "Is it weird if I turn on your songs? Because that's literally what I listen to." She asked innocently.
"It's not weird babe. It is weird hearing my own voice though. I feel like I sound different." I admitted.
"You don't." She stated. "I want you to sing to me. You don't have to like right now. But I want you to." She admitted while looking down and blushing.
"Okay baby. One day I will." I reassured her. She started playing a variety of music. From the band, to Disney, to the Sweeney Todd soundtrack (which was very cute listening to her sing by the way). I couldn't help but to watch the beautiful girl beside me bob her head and sing. When she saw me looking at her, her face would burn with embarrassment and she would look away. I put my hand on her thigh and squeezed it lightly. "You're beautiful." I reassured.
She bit her lip and looked down at my hand. She wrapped her own around mine and genuinely smiled at me. That was the smile I lived for. Genuinely happy smiles.
We arrived at the store and she looked up at me. "I have a little money. You really don't have to buy this for me. It could be kind of expensive." She stated.
I rolled my eyes and kissed the top of her head. "Babe, were not exactly poor ya know? We don't really blow our money on stuff because we like being lazy when we can, so we have a quite bit of money saved up. You could spend $500 in here and I wouldn't be the slightest bit worried." I told her.
She grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Thank you. And I mean it. Thank you." She hugged me tightly. By now there were a few people wondering what the hell we were doing and Emily got a little embarrassed, so I walked her to the aquariums.
Every time she would point one out that was suitable, she would look up at me for permission. She's so stubborn and humble. I don't think she wants to spend my money, honestly. Finally I got her a ten gallon tank, which would hold up to 4 Bettas. She looked at me with wide eyes.
Next we picked out a low current filter. She insisted on carrying the tank, but let's be honest.
Now comes the fun part, picking out decorations. I kept asking her questions on what she wanted the tank to look like, which was always responded with "Baby I don't want to spend all of this money. You could use it to buy yourself something..."
"Pick out ten or more plants and decorations or I will straight up buy all of them in this store." I told her. It was cute how she thought I was playing. I started grabbing stuff off the shelves one by one until she stopped me.
"Okay fine!!! I just feel bad!" She admitted.
"Baby, honestly, it's way more than okay. I wanted to do this for you. I want you to be happy today and tomorrow and forever. Spend as much as you'd like okay? Please?" I begged.
She stood on her toes and kissed my nose. She picked out five live plants that were all very beautiful. They'd look amazing in the tank. She then picked up a quite big castle. It looked like stone and had other colors that made it looked aged. Very beautiful. She then decided on black pebbles with white stones. She had obviously pictured this in her head before. "Anything else?" She asked.
                I smirked at her. "Time to pick out the betta,".
                 Her face lit up. She followed behind me to the aisle where they kept the Bettas. Her eyes were overwhelmed. She carefully examined every female betta they had. "Something wrong with the males?" I asked.
                 "I've never adopted a male. Only females. Males get adopted  faster because people say they're prettier. But I think the females are way more beautiful." She stated.
                 "Same." I added playfully.
                 "This is the one. She's the one. I'm in love with her." Emily said as she showed me a cup with a very, very, very tiny fish in it. The fish was blue in its mid-section and ombre'd to green, and had a black head with a black line reaching down to its tail. It was a very beautiful betta. She was also smaller than any of the leaves on the plants so she'd have plenty of room. I kissed Emily's forehead and led her to the cash register.  The total was around three hundred I think. Em felt really bad but she'd forget about it sooner or later.
We carried all of the stuff to the car. When I went to open the door for her, she put down the betta and looked up at me. She had a small tear in her eye and a smile on her face. "Thank you so much. I completely adore you, bear." She said to me.
"Bear?" I asked, wondering what she was talking about.
"You're my bear. You seem tough on the outside, look like it too-" she winked, "but on the inside, you're soft and sweet. You're my bear." She repeated.
"I'm your bear." I replied. I kissed the top of her head and she got into the car.