Hayes Grier fanfic: After All

Chapter 36

I started walking and hayes's head shot up from staring at the ground, he got up from the bench and stood tall with his hands behind his back while flashing me a wide smile.
I smiled back at him.

When I was now standing in front of him I twirled around a little bit in the dress which cause both of us to laugh. I felt my cheeks get warm.

Hayes laughed, "so I see you wore the dress I got you"
I smiled, "yeah well.. Of course. But Hayes..?"
"Yeah?"
"How'd you know where to get a dress exactly like the one I wore at the Christmas party that was YEARS ago"
"Well, first of all, 5 years isn't THAT long, and second, I never forgot what you wore that night. I mean, you were beautiful, so how could I forget? And, I messaged your mom and she told me where she got the dress from before. So I went to the exact store here in LA and luckily they had one exactly like it but in a different size"
"So you went through all that trouble just to get me a dress?" I felt my cheeks get even warmer. Like they were burning from the heat, but funny thing is, the sun was already setting and was blocked by a wave of clouds.

"Of course" Hayes said.
"But...why?"
"Because I wanted to make up for that night."
"What are you-?"
"That night was the night I asked Haley to be my girlfriend... And that night was also the night I screwed up by not seeing the girl I truly needed to be with." He gave me a little half smile and he looked down at the floor. The goofy smile taking over his face and his cheeks turning a light pink. He giggled a bit. I wonder if he was just as nervous As I was.

Silence overcame us for a few minutes until I asked Hayes what this whole park night thing was about.
"I have 3 reasons why. Wanna know?" He asked.

as if that was an actual question. We both laughed,

"Tell me Grier" I replied.
Hayes let out a deep heavily sigh. "Well, reason 1 was what I just told you. I wanted to re-live that night and see you in that beautiful dress again."
"Well what's reason 2?"
"Here." Hayes said. He handed me a small box that was about the size of my whole hand stretched out. I lifted the lid. I felt my heart jump out of my chest a bit and a smile flooded my face.

"Hayes...I..."

A necklace. Just like the one he gave Haley before. But instead of it having the letter 'H' it had the letter 'A' instead.

"This leads us to reason 2. Do you remember the time we were at the mall? And cam and Nash saw me put a necklace that I bought for Haley on you?"
"Yeah?"
"Well I wanted to re-create that moment... But this time, I wanna do it right." He said as he gave me a shyly smile.

Hayes took the necklace from my hand which caused our fingers to touch and almost do a little dance. A part of me was craving for his touch. No, not like that. But I just wanted to hold him and thank him. Thank him for never giving up on me. Because after a while, people always get bored of me and then leave me, and find someone better. Just like my ex boyfriend did a long time ago.

I turned around and pulled my hair to the side so Hayes could put the necklace on me. He wrapped the necklace around my neck gently and for a second it felt like a memory flashed through my eyes. Hayes put the necklace on me and it was a perfect fit. Not really loose, but not really tight either. It was just right.

Just like how this moment was, just right.

Hayes didn't pull away, I felt his warm breathing on my neck and his gentle heartbeat on my back. I turned around not moving farther away from him and gave him a little peck on the lips.

"You tease" he said, and we laughed, and we stood there, so close that our lips were inches away apart, "so what's the third reason?" I asked, still not pulling away from our distance and our gaze.

"Well." Hayes said as he pulled away from me farther, he back up a little bit.
"There was something you never really gave me an answer to a few years ago..."Hayes said.

I gave him a little look and suddenly he started kneeling down on one of his legs, he pulled out a little box and opened it and held it out to me.

I felt my heart stop.

"Will you marry me?"