See Me

Epilouge Part 2

"So, when you're driving, you've got your foot on the gas pedal, but you need to have it ready to switch to the brake pedal at anytime, okay?" Zane instructed, and he looked a little panicked. His hand was gripped over the centre console, his skin stretched white over his knuckles.

He had a smile on his face, however, even though it was partly fake. That was Zane, wasn't it? He would try to convince me everything was fine as the world itself crashed around us.

I don't even know why he was panicked. I could do this, right? He was the one who told me I could, he's the one who's been asking to teach me how to drive for years now.

"I remember, Zane," I told him, as I checked my mirrors again for the third time.

Though, I might have been just as panicked as he was. I really didn't want to do this. I was perfectly content on letting Zane drive me around for the rest of my life, but it turns out, a twenty five year old women being driven around by her boyfriend wasn't exactly normal.

Well, I wasn't twenty five yet. I would be tomorrow.

"You're going to do fine, babe," Zane reassured me, catching my eye.

He looked at me in a way I could feel in my stomach, he wasn't looking for a truth any longer when he searched my face. He knew the truth, he was my truth.

"Alright, I'm doing it," I muttered. I pressed my put against the brake, just like Zane told me, and out the car into drive. I gently tapped against the gas pedal, lurching the car forward.

"Look you're already a natural," Zane let out, even though I had steered the car barely ten feet from where it had just been parked. "I knew you could, Seren. Just, oh, um, yeah just try to look in your rear view mirror before you pull into the next lane like that, and check your side mirror, and you know, check your blind spot."

"I have to do all of those things before I move lanes?" I asked him, starting to feel a tad overwhelmed.

"Well, yes, unless you want to hit a car, like you almost just did," Zane's voice changed, and even though I was focused on the road, I could picture the cringe on his face.

"We don't want that?" I asked him, but his silence let me know it wasn't the time for joking. "Okay, fine, we don't want that."

"You're doing great, babe," Zane ignored my attempt at humour completely. "Just, oh, Seren, you don't want to get into this lane."

"What?" I asked, my voice panicked. I looked in my mirror like he said to do, feeling my chest start to tighten as I realized there was no way out of the lane. "I can't, Zane. There's someone behind me. Why? Where does this go to?"

"It's okay," Zane said, turning in his seat to confirm I was right in saying there was no way out. "It's okay. You're going to have to go on the highway."

"On the highway?" I rushed out. "No, no, no. Zane I'm not ready for the highway! Zane, no."

"Just take a breath babe," Zane said from beside me. "I'm right here. Do you really think I'd let something happen to you? I'd dive across the car and steer for you if I thought you needed it. It's okay. You can do this."

I listened to his voice, and the way it calmed me. Nodding along with his words, I tried to push my panic away, checking my mirrors as I merged onto the four lane highway.

"Good job, just stay in this lane, and we'll take the next exit, okay babe? You're going to be fine, I promise you," Zane continued, letting his hand fall against my leg. He squeezed it gently, the same action that he's used to calm me with for years.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, my stomach in my chest as I looked around at the cars driving so tightly as a pack. I briefly thought about how quickly things could go wrong, all it would take is one car to stop, and the rest of us would crash into each other.

102 people die in car crashes every day in the United States. 102.

"Zane," I called for him, not taking my eyes off the road.

"I know, baby, we're almost there. One more minute and we can exit," Zane's calm voice entered my ears. "You can do it. You're the strongest person I know, you're the smartest person I know, you can do anything you put your mind to."

His words were doing what they were supposed to do, he was talking the anxiety out of me, in the same way he's always been able to.

"Okay, Seren, you can take this exit," he looked into the blind side on the right of the car. "You're good to pull over, babe."

I did what he said, feeling better every second we travelled off the busy highway.

"Just pull in here, Seren, I think that's enough practice for today," Zane gestured to a parking lot on our right.

I didn't answer, I just drove the car to the spot he told me to. I put in into park as soon as I poorly pulled into an empty space, taking my hands off the steering wheel as if it was a cursed object.

"See, Seren, I knew you you could do it, and you did! You did it, baby. I know the first time is scary, especially on the highway, but you..."

Zane continued speaking, but I wasn't really listening to his words. I was too busy thinking about how he always knew what to say. How he knew how to talk me off any ledge. How he knew exactly how to calm my soul. He's never failed at that, has he? Even from the beginning, the very beginning, he's always known what to say. He's always known what to do.

He's always known me.

I felt the love I had for him rise in my body, like a warm bath of oil it felt. The most comforting kind of love, that's what Zane and I had. Reassuring love, comfortable love... forever love.

"I want to marry you," I interrupted him, turning and looking at him.

He stopped speaking immediately. His mouth stayed open, his eyes widening like he wasn't sure he heard me correctly.

"I want to marry you," I repeated, just in case he hadn't. "I want to get married to you. I want you to be my husband."

Zane tilted his head, his brows relaxing as he looked at me. I wasn't sure what was going through his head, what thoughts he was having. I didn't ask, I simply let him process.

After a moment, he shook his head. He opened his glove compartment. He rooted around in it for a little bit, shuffling around papers as whatever he was looking for what seemingly in the far back. Eventually, he pulled out a small white bag. It reminded me of so many years before when he did the same thing, the day he had given me the blue bracelet that was still linked around my wrist.

He didn't speak as he opened the bag, pulling out a silver box. He opened it, turning it to me to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. It was subtle, an oval diamond on a plain band. Though, it's subtlety didn't take away from its beauty, it made it even more beautiful.

"I bought this the day after we graduated," Zane told me, looking down at the ring.

I was stunned by his words, remembering our graduation and counting the years in my mind. "That was five years ago."

"I know," he told me, slowly raising his eyes to look into mine. They were serious now, crinkled at the sides. "I've always known, Seren."

My eyes started to water, I took a breath through my nose. "Known what?"

"That you're my forever," Zane whispered, as he took my hand, and slid the ring over my ring finger.