hard | daniel seavey

chapter eighteen

Waking up the following morning, I was hit with the smell of food. Confused, I sat up and noticed Daniel was no longer there. I got up and walked down the spiral staircase.

Daniel stood over the stove, his bare back facing me. The jeans he wore to sleep hung low on his hips. I quietly walked over and snaked my arms around his waist from behind me.

"Good morning, Sleep Head." He laughed and turned the burner down a bit. "I wanted to make you breakfast, but you didn't have any food. So I ran down to Wal-Mart and got you groceries."

"Thank you, but you didn't have to." I said and rested my face on his back. I felt bad he really went and bought groceries for me. "I'll pay you back."

"No, don't worry about it." Daniel swiftly turned around. He had a couple of inches on me, so he had to look down to see me. "I hope you like pancakes. It's really the only thing I know how to make without my mom's help."

"You would be a momma's boy," I laughed and removed my arms from around him, walking over to the fridge. He had stocked the entire thing. I sighed, feeling even more bad. I noticed two packs of juice boxes on the bottom shelf. "Juice boxes?"

"Apply juice always tastes better in a box!" He said with a childish smile. I shook my head and laughed at him.

We ate breakfast and talked about random things. He told me about music he's been working on, I told him about school and work. There were moments where he would just sit and smile at me while I talked, which sent my heart into a whirl. My phone vibrated next to me, interrupting my thoughts. Daniel took our empty plates and placed them in the dishwasher as I looked at it.

Aaron: Come to dinner with me tonight? We need to talk

I sighed and locked my phone. I placing it back on the counter and rubbed my temples.

"I don't even need to guess, do I?" Daniel asked, coming up from behind me and rubbing my back.

"He wants me to go to dinner with him tonight." I bit the inside of my cheek, a nervous habit of mine.

"You said you wanted to talk to him today anyways. Just go and tell him then." Daniel rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Are you sure?" I leaned my head against his. I really didn't wanna spend more time with Aaron then I needed to.

"As much as I would love to stay here and just be with you, I have a long studio session. You go and call me afterwards." Daniel placed a kiss on my cheek.

---

I stood outside of the restaurant Aaron had texted me to meet him at. It was on the nicer end of Downtown LA and looked kinda pricey. I shook my thoughts away as Aaron approached me.

"Hi," He said, his eyes scanning my outfit. It was just a light blue romper with little ruffle details. "You look.. stunning."

I smiled at him weakly and walked into the restaurant. We were seated towards the back and the waitress took our drinks. We sat there in silent for a while. It was until after our food arrived that he started talking.

"So, how is the new place?" He asked, picking at the food on his plate.

"It's great. I just got all my furniture in the other day." I responded, not looking at him. This was dreadful. But I wanted to know what he had to say before I came out with 'hey I'm breaking up with you'.

"That's good. I found another box of your things if you want me to drop it off for you." Aaron offered while a smile.

"It's fine, I can pick it up on my way to school one day." I almost immediately answered. I didn't want Aaron knowing where I lived. Just incase he had another one of his drunk episodes and came banging on my door. We continued to make small talk throughout the dinner. He still hadn't mentioned the reason why he asked me to come out. I pushed my thoughts away and looked at him. "Aaron, we should talk."

"I know, Madison. I was just waiting for the right moment to say it." Aaron smiled at me. A weight lifted off of my shoulders.

"Okay, because I-" I was cut short when Aaron stood from his chair. He walked around to my side and knelt down on one knee. He wasn't.

"Madison Paige Redding, you have been my best friend since the ninth grade and my girlfriend since the tenth. You have showed me love and life was, and for that I am forever grateful to have spent this journey with you. I could go on, but I'd be down on this knee for the rest of my life." Aaron reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. He slowly opened it, revealing a ring.

"Will you marry me?"