Forever

23

Shannon POV:

We walked in, hand in hand, with me making sure that Cari was kind of leading the way

"are you sure it's open? it looks empty?" cari questioned

"no, it says its open, lets just go check it out" i replied

We walked through the doors and everyone jumped out from behind various obstacles that worked as a good shield

"SURPRISE" everyone screamed

"happy engagement baby" i said turning to cari who was in shock

"you didn't" she said turning to me, and i just smiled in response

Everyone came running over to say hi or congratulate us if they hadn't already.

I lost cari for most of the night. literally everyone we knew was here and so it was hard to stay with her, but it was fine as i knew she was somewhere having a good time

i was talking to the bartender when Alex came over and handed me the microphone

"speech time shannon"

i took the mic and made my way through the crowd up to the stage

"eh-hem" i cleared my throat and tapped the microphone to make sure it was on

Everyone stopped what they were doing and focused their attention towards me.

"hi, um, hi everybody" i stuttered

i scanned the crowd for cari and found her stood in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by our friends. our eyes met and she smiled up at me making me relax.

"firstly, i just want to say thank you all so much for being here, i'm sorry it was short notice, and i know many of you cancelled your plans to be here with us tonight."

 everybody cheered as i paused

"so yeah, the main reason we are all here is to celebrate mine and Cari's engagement, and no body is more excited to celebrate that than me. its been an interesting journey, but i think you will all agree that it has been one of the best journeys to witness and be apart of."

-more speech about their journey etc that i won't bore you with-

"recently Cari and i have been having the same conversation. we have been talking a lot about the future, obviously, but we keep coming back to the fact that both of us are fucking terrified. you know, this is knew to us, a few months ago we hadn't spoken in years, and thats something that we are trying to navigate together. Life is a scary thing, marriage is a scary thing, but i guess what im trying to say is that you're stuck with me now Cari, you're locked in, and whilst im scared, im also so fucking excited, and im glad i get to spend the rest of my life with you."

Everybody cheered

"To cari everybody" i shouted lifting my glass in the air

"to cari" everybody shadowed

i made my way off the stage and was met by Cari who greeted me with the biggest hug.

"that was beautiful, you better be saving some good stuff for the wedding, hope you haven't wasted all your material" she smiled 

"we have about 5  years worth of memories that i could spill on, so watch out" 

We continued on with the night, and multiple rounds of shots later, cari decided it was her time to make a speech

"there is a reason i just quick fired 3 shots before coming up here, so let's not mention this tomorrow if i cant remember it, speeches are not my thing, surprising isnt it"

everyone laughed

"where to start. As you will probably know Shannon and i broke up and have spent a lot of time apart figuring our own shit out, and i hate to be that cheesy person, but distance really does make the heart grow fonder. you know, we broke up for a reasons and i had things that i had to do, and i did that, i spent time for myself, but along the way my love for shannon never died."

"when i drink i ramble so im gonna end this here. i am so thankful for you shannon and i'm glad you are the person i get to wake up next to everyday"

I was looking up at my future wife as everybody cheered. There were hundreds of people in the room but it felt like it was just the two of us. we held eye contact until she reached me at the bar.

"baby that was so good" i said grabbing her face

She didn't say anything, just fell into my arms and started crying

neither of us said anything, this moment was special, even though she was crying, which was probably tequila induced. 

we just stayed there for a few minutes until cari broke the silence

"fuck, im a mess, i love you, shannon"

i wiped the tears from her eyes and said "you're allowed to be a mess, i love you too"

the night went on until i cant even remember what time, i don't remember much after that moment, not even how i made it home, i woke up the next morning with no memory and the worst headache.