Falling for You

Chapter 35

Tears continued to stream down my face. My heart raced at a speed almost equivalent to the speed of light. I was trying to refrain myself from screaming "yes" from the balcony out into the night and the city below me.

'Josh,' I stuttered. I saw a hint of fear flash in his eyes. 'I'm no expert but aren't you supposed to have a ring?'

Josh's eyes widened. 'Oh shit!' he exclaimed. 'Yes, I forgot.'

He fumbled around with a pocket on the inside of his suit. He eventually pulled a black ring box out.

'Let's try this again,' he said. 'Take two.'

We both chuckled at his use of film-set jargon.

'Jennifer,' he said, looking directly into my eyes. 'Will you marry me?'

He opened the box with shaky hands to reveal a beautiful ring.

'Yes,' I whispered.

'Really?' Josh asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

'Yes, silly!' I exclaimed.

Josh took my left hand in his own shaky hand and slipped the ring onto my fourth finger.

He then stood up and pulled me into a hug. We were both crying tears of joy.

'I love you, Jenn,' he whispered into my ear as he held me in a tight embrace.

'I love you too, Josh,' I whispered back.

---

'He forgot the ring,' I chuckled.

The audience around me laughed.

'He forgot the ring?' Ellen laughed.

'Well, he had it in his pocket, but he just forgot to take it out when he proposed,' I explained.

This received another laugh from the audience.

'But I reminded him and we did a second take,' I continued. More laughs. 'He got it right the second time.' I smiled smugly as I held my left hand out to Ellen, showing her the ring.

The audience cheered.

'Wow, it's beautiful!' Ellen said, admiring the ring.

'So,' she said, readjusting her position in the chair. 'You two kept your engagement a secret for a while; how long, exactly?'

'Um,' I thought for a second. 'About ten months.'

Ellen's eyes widened. 'Ten months?!' she exclaimed. 'That's gotta be some kind of record!'

I laughed. 'Well, yeah,' I said. 'It was hard keeping it a secret for that long - only our close family and friends knew. We couldn't even tell our cast mates!'

'Why did you decide to keep it a secret for so long?' Ellen asked.

I shrugged. 'I guess it was just because we needed some privacy and some time to come to terms with what was happening and to start organising the wedding.'

'Right,' she understood with a nod and a smile. 'Now, have you decided when the wedding is going to be?'

'Probably some time after we've finished filming Catching Fire and finished with all the promotional stuff after the film is released,' I explained. 'We're just going to be so busy with all that stuff so we'll wait until our break.'

'Fair enough,' Ellen said. 'Well there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for coming in, Jennifer, it was wonderful having you on the show again.'

'It was a pleasure being here,' I smiled graciously.

Ellen turned towards the camera. 'Catching Fire hits the cinemas in November later this year.'

The music sounded, signalling that it was an ad break, and Ellen and I chatted a bit before I was escorted back to my dressing room.

While I enjoyed being on Ellen's show, I was a bit sick, and I was in desperate need of a rest. We'd been busy promoting the film for months, and all I wanted was to crawl in bed next to Josh and sleep. 

I got changed into some more comfortable clothes and readied myself to leave. As I waited for someone to come and get me and take me to a car, I gazed down at the ring on my finger.

I was still adjusting to the sight and the weight of it, even after ten months. Its symbolic beauty never ceased to amaze me and scare me both at the same time. 

I was eventually escorted out of the studio to where a car was parked, waiting for me. The drive home wasn't too long, but it felt extended by the exhaustion that was consuming me.

Josh was waiting for me when I arrived home. 

'Hey Jenn, how was the interview?' his voice echoed through the house as I closed the front door behind me and sighed heavily before placing my keys down on the white marble table that sat adjacent to the door.

'It was great,' I smiled at him as I saw him approaching me down the hall. 'Definitely my favourite interview of this promotional tour so far.'

'That's great!' he beamed at me and pulled me into a tight embrace. 'Anyways, on another note,' he said, releasing me from his embrace and placing his hands gently on my lethargic shoulders. 'We need to set a date for the wedding.'

'Ok,' I said, a look of surprise crossing my face. 'Why so urgent?'

'Julie, our wedding planner, wanted us to get onto it as soon as possible,' he explained. 'She called me this afternoon and said that we need to start getting on to planning this wedding.'

'Right,' I nodded. I felt a seed of excitement flourish within me, extinguishing any hint of lethargy. 'Let's get onto it then!'

Josh and I spent the afternoon deciding on a date, as well as scouring the internet for inspiration for aspects of our wedding.

Josh found a folder with plastic sleeves on it, and I wrote "Josh & Jenn's Wedding Planner" on the front in an ornamental font. We printed off different things we liked and cut and pasted them onto sheets of paper before sliding them into our planner.

Surely enough, our planner was soon decorated with images of purple orchids, and lilac table cloths and table settings. We'd decided on the colour purple as the primary theme for our wedding.

Orchids, while unconventional flowers for a wedding, were of some significance to me. Not only were they my favourite flowers, but some cultures used to believe that they were used to make love potions which seemed appropriate for the occasion.

Planning a wedding should've been a stressful affair, but it turned out that it was quite therapeutic for Josh and I. We'd both had a lot on our plates in recent months, and it was nice to have some time to ourselves to do something for ourselves. 

That night, as I lay in bed next to Josh - whose arm was wrapped protectively around my waist - I reminisced about the past I had with Josh and came to the conclusion that deciding to marry Josh was the best decision of my life. Unsurprisingly, I slept incredibly soundly that night.

Hey guys! I am sooooooo sorry I haven't updated lately. I've been incredibly busy during these holidays, working every day. I know that this isn't really an excuse though. However, I've been suffering from major writer's block. It seems that ideas and motivation to write always come at the most inconvenient of times (eg. during my exam period....). 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Unfortunately, there won't be many more to come, but hey, let's enjoy it while it lasts :-)

I attached a photo of the orchids I had in mind, just in case you didn't know what they were. Also, thanks for over 35k reads!!

I'm not sure when I'll update next, but until then, I hope you're all having a wonderful day and leading fabulous lives!

Lot's of love,

~ JS xx