Just Friends... (Mature Content)

Chapter 20

We finally get to our home town, "I really missed being here. I'm laying on Ethan's lap and every so often, his hand squeezes my bottom. I sit up and look out the window, "The Lagoon!" He smiles, "The best place to swim." He looks over at me, "Among other things." I shake my head, "We can't act like this in front of our parents." Ethan stops at the stop sign, "We're engaged and live together, they have to know we don't stay in our own rooms every night." I laugh, "I've never even slept in the other room." Ethan turns into the city hall for the party, "Exactly."

My mom greets us at the door, "Isabel! Ethan!" She gives us hugs and brings us inside. I go find Jess and give her a hug so she knows we are here. Ethan joins me a minute later, "Hey Jess." She gives him a hug, "Hey! Alex is around here somewhere." Ethan goes and looks for him. "I can't believe you're leaving." I say as we sit down. My mom joins us, "I know, but I'll be able to write to you and stuff." I nod, "That's true!" My mom butts in, "I'm sorry ladies, but Bella I need to see this ring of yours." I show her my hand and puts her hand up to her mouth, "It is so beautiful." Ethan joins us, "Ethan!" He looks over at my mom, "Yes?" She hugs him again, "I love this ring!"

Jess joins in on the conversation, "You have no idea how hard it was keeping it a secret." I hug her, "It was amazing." Ethan puts his hand on my shoulder, "I love her, Jennifer." My mom smiles, "I knew it would happen someday." We continue hanging out , I talk to old friends from school. Jess pulls me aside, "Hey, can I talk to you about something?" I raise an eyebrow, "Yeah, what's up?" She fiddles with her wedding ring, "Alex and I are going to get married tomorrow." My eyes nearly pop out of my head, "What?" She shushes me, "No one knows about it. We only want a few people there, it is going to be at the courthouse." I continue to give her a confused look, "We found out I can only go with him if we are married. We want you, Ethan, and all of our parents there. We are going to have a real wedding when we get back." I hug her, "I'm so excited for you!"

I go and tell Ethan the plan about Jess and Alex, he is just as excited as me. "Why don't we do that?" I take a step back, "What?" He brings me into an unused room of the hall, "Yeah. We can get married now, and just celebrate it later." I shake my head no, "Ethan, you know we can't." He shrugs, "I don't see why we can't." I fiddle with my ring, "Because I want everyone we love there, I want my whole family to see me become your wife. I want all of our friends see me become your wife, I don't want to run off to the courthouse and get married. We aren't even in college yet, we need to wait." Ethan runs his fingers through his hair, "I don't think I can wait that long." I kiss him, "I know, but we have to." He leans against some cupboards, "Plus, we can't take away the special event for Alex and Jess." I mention. Ethan nods, "Yeah." I walk up to him, "I'm sorry." He shakes his head no, "Don't be. It's okay if you don't want to marry me." He brushes past me and leaves me in the room by myself. What just happened? I run out of the room to look for Ethan. I walk over to Alex, "Have you seen Ethan?" He shakes his head no, "I haven't seen him, go ask Jess." I walk over to her and she thinks he went outside. I walk out of the hall and I find him sitting in the truck. "What are you doing?" He shrugs, "Just sitting here." I roll my eyes, "You know what I'm referring to." He shrugs again, "What?" I hop in the truck, "I never said I don't want to marry you. I have wanted to be with you ever since we were little. You are my prince charming, Ethan."

He looks at me, "It doesn't sound like it." I sigh, "It came out weird. I do want to marry you, I just want to wait until we are graduated you know?" He looks away from me, "You want me to wait four years? I want to marry you now, I want to call you my wife." I reach for his hand, "You can still call me your fiance." Ethan nods, "I know, but it isn't the same. I've been wanting this for a long time. Every time I make love to you, I think about our future. I think about what we will have and what will become of us." I leaned my head back and think about it. I see Ethan and I running around with our future kids, me teaching and him owning his own business, it is a dream come true. "I think about it too, Ethan. We need to get jobs, we need to go to school, we need to get this stuff done before we do any of this." I start to tear up, "Don't cry, Bel." I shake my head, "I didn't mean to hurt you, Ethan." He wipes my tears away and pulls me into him, "I love you, please don't forget that." I beg.