What It Seems | Wattys 2023

Chapter 47

Her head lulled into my chest and then I knew that she was asleep while I laid wide awake.

I'm almost nineteen years old, only a few weeks to be exact. She'll be eighteen in December of this year. I wonder what it'd be like to sleep in the same bed every night and wake up in the mornings next to her every day.

I love the way she mumbles when she's half asleep, and the mild ill mood she's in because she doesn't want to be bothered. Or the way her hair falls all over the place, or how she sleeps with one hand between her thighs because she can't stand the feeling of her thighs touching.

"It makes me feel like a mermaid - ew, just ew."

Whenever she's in her bed and I'm in mine, her hair scent lingers over my pillow and her smell is in my sheets.

"Baylor, my whole entire bed smells like a cologned guy with a peppermint and Pantene smell to it. It doesn't even smell like me anymore!"

I love to see her lips spread into a huge grin and then the sound of her laugh escapes them.

I love to hold her, to touch her, to feel her. I tend to always want to hold her whenever we're near each other because I love her presence. And to just touch her makes me feel like she's actually here because it seems that sometimes I have to stop and think if this is actually real, to have her here with me, or if I'm just dreaming.

Five years from now, I wonder if there'd be anyone by the name of Adalynne Rose Parker. And if in seven years if there would be any kids involved.

Am I crazy? To be fully in love with a girl that I've had a crush on since I was a kid? Am I crazy to see a future with her: seeing her walk down the isle as she's given away; her cradling our first child; chasing two more kids around the house because they didn't want to take a bath; reading them bedtime stories, was I crazy? Only seven months into a relationship with Adalynne Rose Claire and I already see a future with her. I'm excited to see what the future holds for us.

I can't wait for those nine months that I'd spend, making her laugh as I talk to our baby that's in her tummy. Or just hugging her, and she'd be big, nearly about to pop and I couldn't hug her chest-to-chest because her belly would be in the way. But what I'm really excited for is to wake up to my best friend, every morning, and going to sleep beside her every night. I'm excited to have those pillow fights even when we're in our thirties.

I began to fall asleep in a warm, comfortable haze. I squeezed her tightly to me so I could feel her right beside me. I kissed the crown of her head and thanked God above for sending me my princess.

Adalynne's arm swooped beside mine, and her hand grasped my tricep for support.

"What are you thinking about, Baylor?" her faint voice spoke.

"Us, and what I want in my future," I bluntly answered.

She hummed into my chest. "Are you changing your mind about some things?"

"A little; not career wise, though."

"You're prolly thinking about the same things I've been thinking about."

"And what is that about?"

"Us." I grinned tiredly at the girl that I was holding and soon drifted away into a place that isn't earth-bound.

ADALYNNE

"So what kind of car do you want to get?"

I was flipping through a magazine from the local car dealership. I was currently looking at the cars, cringing at the expensive price that Baylor was willing to pay.