Ripped Away

Chapter 25

*Flash forward, 13 years*

"Alright, little babe, time for bed!"

"But I'm not tired, Uncle Richie!"

I watched them arguing in the living room from my seat in the kitchen; Richie and Tess, Sara's little girl.

"I want mommy to tuck me in!"

"Mommy will tuck you in tomorrow."

"You always say that."

Sara had had Tess five years ago. At the time, things were good for her. She had a long-time boyfriend, a steady job, and a home. But somewhere along the way, both Sara and her boyfriend got into drugs. Richie and I willingly took Tess away from them.

I mean, we were old enough now to have our own family. Tess had basically been our kid for two years. She was like a test drive.

"Noah, can you get her red pajamas out of the dryer?" Richie called to me from Tess' bedroom.

I rolled my eyes and walked across the apartment to the laundry room, grabbing the tiny clothes and bringing them to Richie. When I entered the room, both Richie and Tess were sitting with their arms crossed over their chests and a stubborn look on their faces.

"Tessy, why couldn't you wear your other pajamas?"

"Because the red ones are more fabulous." Richie huffed in a mocking tone.

A moment of silence passed before we all started laughing. Tess got dressed, she told us a story, and then we left so she could sleep.

"I think we make some pretty kick-ass parents." Richie said to me when he came back inside after smoking a cigarette.

"That's so scary." I sighed, moving over so he could sit down on the couch with me.

"What is?"

"We're basically parents." I said. "Richie, we're old enough to have our own kids."

"Ah, thirty isn't that old."

"Hey. I'm still in my twenties for two more weeks."

"Well either way, you're still just as pretty as you were when you were sixteen."

I smiled and leaned to kiss him.

"And I'm still not tired of those lips." He said quietly.

"If you get tired of them, then I'm afraid you'll have wasted a decade of your life."

"I won't." He sighed, laying his head down on the back of the couch.

He was holding my hands, lacing his fingers between mine.  I glanced at the space between his middle and ring fingers.  My initials were printed in the same spot that I had his. The look in his eyes was the same one I was so used to seeing, but would never get sick of. There was just so much admiration in his eyes. After all this time, he still loved me just as much as he always had.

"I still can't believe you're my husband." He smiled. "Six years and I have yet to believe I got this lucky. I mean, who can honestly say that they're still just as in love as they've been since the beginning?"

"People who are with exactly who they're meant to be with."

I watched his smile grow and spread to his eyes. He didn't look much older than he'd looked when I met him. His hair had ended up a little darker, but he still wore the top long and continuously ran his fingers through it. He was two inches taller than me now, which I didn't mind. Even with the stubble that he now liked to keep on his face, he was still the same person he'd always been. I'd fallen asleep to the same heart beat, the same body, the other half of me, every night for the last thirteen years.

"You know, I'm still mad about the way you proposed." I sighed, standing up to scare him a little.

"It was a harmless joke!" He laughed, getting up to follow me.

"A terrible joke."

We'd been on the roof of our apartment building with all of my friends and the ones that were left of his. Keep in mind, it was a very tall building. It was my twenty second birthday. Richie started talking over everyone, saying how much he loved me. I knew what he was about to do. I'd been expecting it for a while.

He sat down on the ledge of the building, already too close to the edge for me to feel safe. But then he stood up a little to take the ring out of his back pocket. He "lost his footing", and fell back. As soon as he started falling, Darren had to hold me up. I couldn't breathe and my body went numb. I'd already suffered through this. I wasn't about to do it again.

"Noah, you might want to look at this." Tanner said next as he stared down over the edge.

The next thing I knew, Darren was dragging me towards the side of the building. I tried to fight, but he forced me to look down. Instead of seeing the love of my life on the street twenty stories down, I saw him just a few feet away.

I'd forgotten that the balconies on these apartments stuck out oddly far.  He'd landed safely on a pile of pillows, and was holding a sign that said Marry me? on it. I screamed at him for an hour after that and threatened to break up with him so convincingly that he cried. But of course, after I calmed down, I said yes.

"I'm not having this conversation again." Richie said as he shut our bedroom door. "We're both alive, and our wedding kicked ass."

I laughed at the thought of it.  We didn't invite a lot of people.  So we went rafting with some friends in a river near Richie's home town.  Our parents met us at the end with Richie's uncle, who happened to be a marriage official.   As soon as we both said "I do", Richie pulled me into the water.  We kissed there, so nobody saw us.  We had to do it again when we came up so it could be considered official. 

"Does kissing twice make us extra married?" Richie smiled.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I watched him start changing.

"What? You want some of this?" He asked, raising his arms above his head and turning in a circle to jokingly show himself off.

"Only always."

"Well, that sucks." He shrugged and finished taking off his clothes, then jumped into our bed. "I've got to be up at seven for a lesson."

"Who schedules a guitar lesson that early?"

"Crazy parents that pack extra curriculars into their children."

"Well they're taking away my valuable cuddle time and I don't appreciate it." I sighed.

"See that's why we have to go to bed now instead of staying up." He smiled and gave me the look that he always did before things started happening.

I got in bed next to him, but stayed at the edge of the bed.

"I can't be near you. You have to get up early." I said, laughing slightly. "Go to sleep."

"I can't sleep without you." He pouted.

"Well you turned me on. I can't touch you now without it getting worse."

"Think about your grandma naked."

"Boner killed." I shuttered after a second.

He opened his arms for me to roll into, which I did. I pulled myself into the same position that I'd slept in so many nights before. My head on his chest with my face by his neck, his arms holding me tightly, and our legs intertwined.

And I fell asleep to the sound of his heart working inside his chest. The same way I had for years, and the only way I would ever want to again.