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The crowd went nuts, I bawled my eyes out, and in the crowd was my mom and dad, both doing the same as I. Yes, my dad, under his sunglasses he all of a sudden decides to wear. I sniffled and moaned like a baby while Zach grasped my hand and kissed it, staring up at me with his hopeful brown eyes, intent on my answer. I hesitated, but only because my mind was spinning and I was heaving like a dumbass, until I finally got a grip and began to nod.
"Yes. Yes Zachary Abels I will marry you."
He stood to his feet and took me in his arms while the noise level in the room soared to new heights. He squeezed me hard, then kissed my neck like he always did. He cupped my wet face in his hands and whisked my tears away with his thumb as he presented me with two rings in a silver metallic box.
"Engagement and wedding." he said to me. The top ring was a platinum gold band like what my mother and father had.
"This is just like what my mom and dad have." I said to him. He smirked.
"Why do you think I got it?"
I looked at my parents amongst the faces. Things were piecing together.
"But look on the inside."
I took the ring out of the velvet lined box and turned the cold, shiny object in my hands while I read the inside.
"Does the date look familiar?"
There was a date on the inside, one I had seen before on more than one occasion. It snapped in my head.
"This is today. It says today's date."
Zach reached for the pendant at my throat and opened the locket. The date on the inside was the same as on the ring.
"Zach you were planning this!" I exclaimed, grabbing him and holding him so close. His laughter rumbled my body.
"Of course I did." he leaned back and looked me dead in the eyes. "Of course I planned for this moment. It had to be perfect."
Another tear fell down my cheek. "Well it is. I love you Zach."
"I love you a thousand times more."
I was overcome with so much joy and excitement I was shaking as I held out my hand for him to slip the engagement ring on. It fit so devine; I turned my hand over and over just looking at it.
"I'll hold onto this until after the show." he said, tucking the box with the wedding ring back into his pocket. "Don't need someone stealing it from you. You know how people can be."
"I know." I rubbed his jaw. "Thank you."
"Forever and always baby."
"Forever and always."
I looked at the band as staff came to escort me backstage. Jeremy, Mikey, and Bryan all were clapping, and I even think Mikey shed a tear or two. Zach blew me a kiss. But when I looked at Jesse... his eyes were cast downward staring at his Jordans. He gripped the mic, flexing his hand a little before turning back to talk to the masses and leaving me with a feeling of grief in the pit of my stomach. What was on Jesse's mind? Had he felt all this was a mistake? Surely he knew about this, I know Z would tell his brothers about this indefinitely. My heart cracked at the sight of the man I once thought I loved, and maybe at one point I did love him like that, but now was a different story. We hadn't settled our differences, hadn't had any form of reconciliation since the argument between all of us about the affair. This was something I pushed to the back of my mind whenever I thought too long about Jesse or The Neighbourhood as my family in general. Jesse wasn't over the me-and-him that we had... or at least it seemed like he wasn't. I pondered this all the way to the VIP lounge where my parents were and management, where I was greeted by claps and hugs and cheers, much like the roaring similarity of actions out in front of the stage.
My mom came and hugged me, tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks. "Oh baby I'm so happy for you!" she cooed. Behind her my dad came, standing there arms crossed, sunglasses off but eyes faintly puffy.
"We cried so damn hard." my mom said.
"YOU cried so damn hard." dad replied.
"Oh don't believe him. He cried just as hard as me under his sunglasses."
"Yeah I saw that." I laughed. "Sunglasses indoors and in a dim arena."
We shared laughs until The NBHD's manager spoke, gathering our attention.
"I propose a toast to the new future Mrs. Zachary Abels. Congratulations, and may your life be full of love, laughter, and music, as it is now with The Neighbourhood."
Popping the cork and filing wine glasses, everyone clapped and came by with their glasses to congratulate me and to meet me for the first time for a few of them.
"Zach talks about you all the time." said a woman maybe as old as my mother who reminded me of P!NK both in style and in voice. "Always talking about you and getting carried away."
"Absolutely." said a tall man with the likes of Christian Grey from 'Fifty Shades of Grey', with only a bright red tie on over his silver-grey suit. How befitting.
"That's a beautiful ring." said the same woman earlier who had told me about how much Z spoke of me. "Me and your mother were talking about how they were the same; platinum gold.
"Thank you." I looked at the silver band. "I only want to know when he came to my parents to ask them all this."
The woman and my mom shared laughs. "That's a secret I will keep." mom rubbed my arm before kissing my cheek.
I sat on the plush sofa and watched my boys continue their concert to the adoring fans. A few camera angles revealed the box making a square shape in Z's back pocket as he walked in circles and played "A Little Death".
My Scarlet Ibis. I read on my ticket/tag around my neck.
"Forever and always." I mumbled to his face in the screen before it turned to Jesse's almost whimpering expression at the mic.
