Tomorrow Never Dies

Chapter 66 - "Yes."

2 years later

Michael and I had officially been together four years, and to celebrate, we were going to a theme park. It was one I'd been to before, but not in a long time, and as we drove I realised Michael and I had never been to a theme park together before. We pulled into the car park, went straight through the ticket office to avoid the paparazzi that somehow knew we were there.

"I'm so excited," I grinned as we made our way towards the largest ride in the park, a twelve loop rollercoaster that exposed the body to 5Gs of G-force. We'd decided to go to the biggest ride first, so we couldn't say we were scared of any others and wimp out. We'd also challenged each other to the haunted house, which included a shoot out, and the person with least points had to buy lunch. We stood in the queue for the rollercoaster, cuddling, playing hand games, and singing little songs, and somehow we ended up at the front of the coaster. As we were strapped into the ride, Michael grasped my hand.

"Ready?" I locked my eyes on his.

"Ready." The engines whirred to life, speeding the carriage forward, and we plummeted downwards almost immediately. I screamed, a mixture of terror and excitement causing adrenaline to flood through my veins. As soon as I spotted the camera, I pointed it out to Michael, and we grinned at it as we sped past, and I prayed that the picture would come out well. I'd always treasured a keyring I got when I went to a theme park with Grace - I was crying in the picture but my highlight was absolutely glowing.

Once the ride came to a halt, I stumbled off, my sense of direction slightly skewed thanks to the amount of tossing and turning and being thrown about in the seat. I linked arms with Michael, and we wandered towards the hut where we could view and decide to buy the picture taken. We pointed ours out, debated for a minute, and ordered a large copy of it to go on our memory board, which now consisted of five connected cork boards, covered in photos of the two of us doing exciting things. The clerk offered us a deal, something about 5 photos in any form for twenty dollars, and when I went to shake my head, Michael accepted immediately. I frowned, sure that we'd decided to only get one, but shrugged it off anyway. Michael paid, we were given the image of the two of us beaming at the camera, my hair everywhere, and we set off through the rest of the park.

The rides we went on varied, from small slow ones, to the rocking pirate ship, to a massive log flume that soaked us both. We decided to go for the haunted house next to battle it out, then we could have lunch to dry off. After only a few moments in the queue, we boarded, grabbed the plastic 'guns' and got ready to fight some ghosts. We shot in every direction, missing the illuminated targets more than we hit them, and just as my eyes grew accustomed to the dark, we reached the end of the ride and the sunlight made me wince. We looked at the leaderboard to see he'd won by only fifty points, and I rolled my eyes, knowing I had to pay for lunch. We found a fairly high end restaurant within the park, in which the food came down as if it were on a rollercoaster itself, found a table and began ordering. The novelty didn't wear off at all, and after we finished eating, I got up to pay, the fact burning at the back of my mind that actually the money was coming from our joint account.

Michael and I continued to walk around, giving lunch time to settle before we risked any more rides, and we chose boat ride on the lake to break us in again gently. After half an hour floating on the tranquil water, we were back on dry land, and we carried on onto the bigger rides again. We repeated all the ones we loved, bought another photo on the Ben 10 themed ride, and eventually the time came to leave. Excpet we'd not been on one ride. I'd been trying to put it off as it was the one that scared me most, and strangely Michael hadn't been putting up a fight as he'd said it was the one he was most excited for.

"Dystopia?" I asked with a gulp, and he nodded. I clung onto his hand as we made our way through the almost empty maze of a queue. We were strapped in, and the ride started to rise. It was a nearly 200 foot high drop ride, and I was terrified. As we ascended, Michael shifted slightly in his seat to look at me.

"Flora, you know today is our fourth anniversary. And I just wanted to say how glad I am to have had you in my life for so long, because you make me so happy. And I's so happy that I've managed to help you recover from everything." I bit my lip as I looked out over the park, the ride getting higher and higher, his words ringing in my head. It was true; I was eighteen months clean from self harm and I'd not tried to end my life since before I went to rehab. "Flora, baby, I couldn't be more in love with you." The ride stopped at the top, more than fifty metres in the air, and the camera came down slowly. He rummaged in his pocket for something, and pulled it out. Before I had a chance to register what it was, he spoke again. "So that's why I want to ask, Flora Jessica Lighthawk, will you marry me?" The camera flashed as my hands flew to my mouth, and suddenly we were free falling. We slowed down as we approached the ground, and my mind rang with emotions. I wiped tears from under my eyes, tears I didn't realise had fallen, and as we were unstrapped from the ride, Michael got on one knee.

"Yes," I laughed, falling out of the seat. "A million times yes." He stood up and kissed me, taking my hands. He pulled my promise ring off my left ring finger and switched it to my right, and slipped the new ring on. The park employees applauded, along with the two people in the queue, and I laughed, in shock at what had just happened. "I love you so much."

"I love you more," he whispered, taking my hand and guiding me to the photo booth. There it was: a picture of him holding out the ring, and me looking absolutely ecstatic. He ordered it, one large copy and two keyrings, and as they printed the clerk grinned at us.

"Congratulations, guys," she smiled, and I looked from her, to Michael, then back again.

"Thank you," I beamed, admiring the ring again. It was very simple, a slender rose gold band with a tiny diamond, and I was in love. It was absolutely beautiful. I looked back at my boyfriend - no, my fiancé, my husband to be - and fell even more in love with him than I ever thought possible.

*****
so before you ask no i did not cry writing this (i sobbed lol)

anyway, its time for me to tell you all. tomorrow never died is comimg to an end. there's going to be a few more chapters, and an epilogue, but this is just about it. i'm not as motivated for this any more - i'm more excited to start the next book in the series, beside you. flora and michael are still going to star (obviously) but none of the other characters except the 5sos boys. it's going to be a whole different ballgame to this.

song of the chapter: superheroes by the script