You Belong With Me

Chapter 34

“What are you doing here?” I finally let him go and step back.

“I figured I’d help you pack,” he answers, but I know that’s the last thing he wants to do.

“I’m almost done.”

“Really?” He seems a little surprised and his eyebrows arch up.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I shrug.

“You’re going to be so jet lagged tomorrow and you didn’t even sleep.” He forces a small laugh and picks the flowers back up, following me inside.

“Aren’t you supposed to go to dinner tonight with someone?”

“Well, I’m obviously not going.” I turn around and look at him in disbelief, as much as I want him to stay.

“You can’t miss that dinner! I heard you talking about how good it would be for y’all.”

“It got rescheduled.” 

“Liar.”

“So maybe I forced it to be rescheduled? Who cares?” He gives a little shrug and walks towards me, bringing his hands together at the back of my waist.

“So how long are you gonna stay?” A small smile creeps across my face, and then I remember my mom.

“The whole night.” He says it as if it’s completely normal and there’s no problems with it whatsoever.

“Good luck with that.” 

“I already talked to her. She’s learned to trust me.” 

“Has she now?” He nods and looks down at me and I know he’s not lying, but I know she’s not okay with the situation. She just wants to make me happy.

“Well then let’s go.” I pull his hand up the stairs and we finish packing all the clothes I have left, but he mostly just makes a mess of everything. 

“Alright, before you break, stain, or rip something else, let’s go,” I laugh. I pull everything out of his hands and throw it on the floor, walking in front of him down the stairs. I curl my feet up on the couch and lean my whole body on his shoulder, feeling more than ever that he’s my safe haven. I eventually doze off, his hands playing with my hair, and when I wake up I’m in a cold sweat. His arm is around my shoulders, his thumb stroking my arm. He still didn’t turn on the tv. I bring my hand up to wipe my hair out of my face and let him know I’m awake.

“Hey,” He says it softly and I assume I was twitching; I always do when I have a bad dream.

“Hi.” I sit up and my head throbs, the skin on my cheeks tight. 

“You alright…” I can tell he’s apprehensive.

“I was crying, wasn’t I?”

“And a little twitchy. Bad dream?”

“I guess so.”

“Can’t remember it?”

“I don’t think I have to to know what it was about.”

“Come here.” He pulls me up off the couch and embraces me, lifting me up slightly so my feet are on top of his.

“What are you doing?” I laugh. He starts swaying back and forth, carrying me with him, and at first it takes everything I have to not laugh the whole time, but after he does it for awhile I just lean my head on his chest and think. 

I eventually feel my chin start to tremble and I internally yell at myself for crying again. I let the tears fall, the moment too perfect to keep them in, and they leave small spots on his shirt. He doesn’t notice until I let a sob escape from my mouth and tilts my chin up to look at him.

“There’s no way I can stop it can I?” he asks desperately. I just shake my head, knowing no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn’t be able to. “I wanna say something.”

“Yeah?” My voice slightly cracks, my throat tight.

He licks his lips before talking, his forehead against mine, but he looks at the floor. “I haven’t…ever cared this much for anyone before. More than I thought I ever could possibly care for a person. I genuinely did not know it could go this far. And I don’t know how I can possibly express that to you.”

“Lou, you don’t have to try and-“

“I’m not done yet.” He looks into my eyes and gives me a small smile before staring at the floor again. “You caught me from day one and as much as I knew I shouldn’t have given in, I couldn’t have stopped myself. I find myself missing you every single second of the day that I’m not with you, and when I’m with you the hardest thing for me to possibly do is leave. Loads of people would have stopped putting up with me awhile ago, but for some reason you’ve stuck around. And I want you to stick around. For forever.”

“Louis, I’m not planning on going anywhere.” I give him a kiss, but he still looks distracted. 

“I love you, Sarah. And I don’t see myself with anyone else.” I can tell how hard it is for him to spit out the words. Everyone’s told me he’s not the person to make huge commitments, especially after such a short period of time. But then again, he doesn’t let people get away from him either. 

He reaches in his pocket, his hand growing shaky and searches around before pulling out a ring, holding it in between his thumb and pointer finger. I slightly gasp and he twiddles it in his fingers.

“I know this is a big deal, and promises can be easily broken, but I promised myself this when I started falling for you. That I would do everything humanly possible not to lose you, to keep you as mine. So, I’m asking you to take this, and wear it, until I can put something better on your finger. So that no matter what, I know you’re always mine, and I can always come back to you.” He looks me directly in the eyes and it takes me awhile to respond.

“Louis, promise rings are a big deal. You still have a lot of time left with your career, and I haven’t even gone to college yet.”

“Time doesn’t matter. I just need to know you’ll always be mine. I don’t need anyone else, ever.” And when he says it, I can tell he means it, so the tears start to fill up my eyes again and I bite my bottom lip.

His eyes search mine, waiting for a response and I find myself nodding my head up and down, holding out my hand. “You mean it?” He asks, and I nod my head stronger in response.

He slips it on my finger smoothly before putting his hand behind my neck, bringing his lips to mine.

“I love you so much,” he whispers.

“I love you too.”