Wanting You - Mandy Gonzalez X Chris Jackson - COMPLETED

11 - Fireworks?

Chris and I stood on opposite sides of the room to do the final song. The first thing we did was walk towards each other and hold hands, intertwining our fingers. Our hands fell together so naturally, I loved it. We never held hands like this, unless her were rehearsing the song, as we both agreed that it was too romantic for our connection we had with each other. We sang through the song. Every line, my heart beating faster and faster.

We get to the end of the song in one piece. As we head into my favourite part of the song, I finally control my inner feelings. I bring my hands up to his shoulders as he brings his to the sides of my upper back. "When the sun goes down." I close my eyes and go to kiss his cheek, as we had done in all the rehearsals so far. When my heart suddenly stopped.

I didn't feel his cheek against my lips, I felt something else. For a spilt second I was frozen before I realised that Chris had gone in and kissed me on the lips. My hands naturally shot up to the back of his head as I pulled him closer to me feeling more pressure against my lips. I kissed him back with a little more passion than what was meant in this kiss. I felt fireworks fly in every direction inside of me. I felt a stronger feeling of love than I had ever felt before in my life.

Chris made the kiss stronger as he slid his hands to the centre of my back and he pulled my body closer to his. I opened my eyes for a second, to see that his were shut. I closed them again and we continued to kiss each other. Our lips moved in sync with one another before I eventually pulled back and smiled at him. I saw his eyes open, they were sparkling more than I had ever seen before. He still held me close to his body as my arms were loose around his neck.

"I've been meaning to say this for a while, but I feel like now is the right time. I like you Mandy. More than just as my best friend. I really really like you Mandy, like a lot." I smiled up at him. I'd been wanting to hear this for months. Instead of responding I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him again. I closed my eyes as I gripped his neck and kissed him gently yet passionately. Chris kissed me back again as the fireworks in my heart started once more. I could feel the stares of the other 5 behind me but I didn't care. I had Chris.

We mutually pulled back. "I like you too Chris, I don't know how long I've liked you for, but I can tell you it's been for quite a while." I gave him one final peck on the lips before turning around to see the others.

"Called it." Lin said first. I looked up at Chris who just glared at the slightly younger man. "Okay, sorry guys. But you two are super cute together though."

I simply smiled as Chris wrapped his arms around me. I held his arms to my body. "Um guys, can I just talk to Chris for a moment outside so we can discuss what we want to do about everything."

"Of course." Lin said. Chris thanked them then took my hand in his intertwining our fingers. I smiled so wide as we stepped out the room. As soon as the door shut Chris bent over and kissed me again. Of course I kissed back, so happy that this moment was finally here.

"Okay, so what do we do?" I asked when I pulled away. I rested my hands on his chest, feeling his beating heart.

"You can say if you don't like this idea. But what I think is best, is keep it between us. We can still be romantic in rehearsals, and just not kiss on the lips in front of anyone except when doing a number where we are meant to kiss. So I can still hold you in my arms, kiss your forehead, kinda do what we've been doing for the last two weeks, except we now do it as a romantic gesture and not just a friendly gesture. Then, if someone asks if we are a thing or not, we tell them we are, but not to let anyone else know."

"So you say we play a game with the cast and crew to see who takes the longest to figure it out." I giggle.

"Yeah basically. We tell the guys out there not to tell anyone else either and we just see how it goes. I also want to keep it quiet in public, if that's okay with you. I don't want anyone being snarky online about how quickly I've moved on. Obviously Veronica still holds a massive space in my heart. But I can't let that stop me. I never thought I could be happy again since she passed away, but I've found so much happiness in you and being around you. I know six months isn't very long but I'm ready, and that's what matters."

I had a few tears in my eyes. When Chris finished I attacked him in a hug. "I'm happy with that. And I understand about keeping it private against the public." After a few moments of just hugging him I spoke again. "Um Chris?"

"Yes babe." He actually just called me babe, I smiled just at that.

"You know when I was a little teary earlier after talking with Doug?"

"Yeah." He rested his hands on my arms.

"Well what he said to me was this. 'Thank you for making Daddy happy again.'" I smile up at him. "Knowing I'd made you happy meant so much to me. You've made me so happy as well Chris. I can tell by how much I've smiled. I rarely used to smile, only when I was really happy did I even crack the smallest of movements in my lips. But since being around you I've smiled so much more. Thank you for everything babe." I kissed him again before suggesting we go back out.

"Daddy, Mandy. Where did you go?" I heard the little boy calling as he ran towards us. I lifted him up into my arms. I had to lie to him. Of course we would tell him eventually. But for now, it was best he didn't know.

"Daddy and I just had to get a drink. We're back now and if you pack your toys up we can go home." I kissed him on the cheek and ran my other hand through his hair.

"Okay Mandy. I love you." He kissed my cheek and smiled at me.

"I love you more, now go get your thing Dougy." I put him down and he ran off to get his stuff. "He's so cute." I said smiling and stepping into Chris's body. He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my temple. We told the others about what we wanted to do with regards to our relationship and the show and they all understood.

As we talked, Douglas brought things over, dropped them by our feet and returned to the corner, repeating his process until all his toys were surrounding us. Just as we finished talking, we saw him dragging his blanket on the floor. He dropped that and look up at Chris. "All done Daddy."

"That's a good boy." Chris crouched down and put all the toys on the blanket, picking up the four corners so they gathered all the toys inside.

"I'll grab our thing Chris." I picked up both our bags with our scripts and scores in. I put Chris's rucksack on my back and then put my bag in the crook of my elbow.

"Thanks honey." We each took one of Douglas's hands. "Say goodbye Douglas."

"Goodbye." He got a chorus of goodbyes back which made him giggle."

"Bye guys, I'll see you Monday at nine thirty." We walked towards the door all three of us together, holding hands.

"Bye love birds." I heard Lin yell.

"Not a word to anyone!" I called back before the door shut. Chris and I kissed over the top of Doug. "Thank you for letting me be apart of your family Chris." I said.

"I wouldn't want anyone else other than you Mandy." He kissed me again and I kissed back, smiling against his lips.

This was everything I wanted. I had a family now. Douglas may not have been my child. But he means so much to me, and I love him as if he was my own. Chris may have been married before and his wife passed away, but I was there for him to help him through the stages of grief he had to go through.

Of course she was still there in his heart, but I was in there as well. This would be a day I knew I'd never forget.