Keep Me In | DR3 | BOOK 1

33 - An Expansion

"Yeah, this is the first time, um..." I trailed off, loosing my breath. I caught myself, quickly drawing in a sharp stream of air. "He actually asked me to be his girlfriend today."

"I can't believe it! She's officially off the market."

--

I drove Mason to the airport at 7 AM the next morning, so he could catch his 8 AM flight back to the Netherlands. I was excited to get back into the regular flow of the week, but yet hit by a deep wave of disappointment as I watched his back bob into the Heathrow crowd, out of existence.

Long distance. Not something I ever thought I'd have to tackle again since Eric.

I hopped back into the drivers seat of my Range Rover, making sure the seat warmers were on to combat the cold blast in the air on this Monday morning. I had about an hours drive to the Hangar, with traffic looking hopeful, to sit with myself and reflect on the happenings of this weekend.

Mason and I had made things official.

I had mixed feelings about uttering those words. There is a part of me that knows this has a lot of potential to be a good thing for me. The timing was right, Mason is really a great guy and someone that I can be proud to call my boyfriend, and if there is anything that this past weekend proved, it was how easy it could be to see each other. The flight to the Netherlands is change in my pocket, and with the right planning in place and Rory to cover for me I can easily take a day or two off of work. I bit my bottom lip as I smiled; we could do this. I could do this.

Mason was over the moon when I had said yes. People around us had probably thought the situation drew closer to a proposal the way he had hoisted me from my thighs, twirling us in circles in front of Whole Foods. Seeing him that happy almost brought me to tears, a deep uncontrollable laugh burst from my chest as I threw my head back, enjoying the moment. We even considered just heading back to my place at that point, you know, to commemorate the moment (I insisted we at least make it to Buckingham first, for his mother.)

I'm not quite sure what had me so hesitant. Looking at the whole situation on the other side, and examining my feelings before I had said yes, I guess I could amount them to my overthinking. Something I was known to do.

And something I still am doing, don't get me wrong. Though I was trying my best to push all of the negative thoughts to the side. They had no place taking up real estate in my mind and putting a dampener on something in my life that is positive. All of the invalid worries about my abilities to make Mason happy, to be a good girlfriend. I would meet his expectations and more, Carlee was right. If Mason didn't think so, he wouldn't have asked, right? He is an intelligent human being. If he thought I wasn't someone that was worth holding a place in his busy life, why would he bother?

So I had to be confident. We had to have confidence, together. In myself, in Mason. In us.

I turned on the podcast I had put on the night before to help Mason and I fall asleep, rewinding it to the point I remember being at before we got... distracted. I let the podcast, some story about a girl in Australia disappearing (those never end well), take over my thoughts until I reached work. I slid my car on the far side of Rorys and Noahs, grabbed my purse, hastily trying to escape the cold as I entered the Hangar.

My heeled boots clicked against the glazed concrete floors as I rubbed my arms, "We have heat in here, you guys know that right?" I stated, blowing into my hands before rubbing them together.