Rise Up (Jonathan Toews)

31| Stay With Me

Jonathan

"Hey babe, where's my blue shirt" I yell into my bedroom. My head was stuck in my closet trying to find my favorite blue shirt for traveling tomorrow but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

"It's with your black suit you got earlier this year" Ari yells back from the bed.

I look at my suits hanging up and see my shirt with it's respectful suit right in front of me. I smile because I know she set my outfit out because she's the best like that.

Ariana has been over a lot more often and she's made herself right at home. She knows where everything is and she knows my schedule. She always helps me out and I felt like a married couple even though we're still new to this whole serious relationship outside of the hospital thing. My only fear is that she's not happy here and she's not going to want to stay with me.

So I close my closet doors and I jump on my bed. I pull Ariana into me and she cuddles up into my chest. I place a kind kiss on her forehead and she smiles.

"So you basically live with me now" I start.

"What makes you say that" she questions.

"Well for one you're picking out my outfits and setting them out for me" I start and she laughs.

"You're a busy guy, I just wanted to make life a little easier for you" she insists.

"And two is that this is the third day in a row you've stayed over. If you want to stay here I can get you a key so you can come and go as you please" I insist.

"I'm scared" she claims and I look at her weird. She's not one to be intimidated so I'm not sure what about this scared her.

"Of what baby" I question.

"Of what happens when you leave. At least with my parents there's stuff to keep my mind busy when they leave. When you leave and I'm here by myself at your place and I'm gonna be so sad because I'm gonna miss you so much" she claims.

"But you got Lady" I remind her. That dog practically worshiped her, almost as much as I did.

"She's not you" she insists.

I let it a sigh because I was always afraid of this. I know being with me is going to be hard. And I promised to always be here for her but the bottom line is that I'm not going to be able to be here all the time. And it sucks.

"I know I won't always be here for you. I know it's going to take some getting used to with you being here and me not. But you shouldn't be afraid of who you are without me. Your a incredible girl Ari. My most favorite person and I know that no matter where I am you will always be something incredible. You have to know that.

And it's gonna suck to leave you. But it'll make it so worth it to come home and see you here. Then we can come cuddle like this and I can tell you that I missed you like hell and that there's no place I would rather be than at home with you" I say.

"Can't I just come with you" she asks and I smile.

"Since when were you the needy one" I tease and she smiles. That's usually my job.

"I just love you so much and I don't want to waste time I could be with you" she claims.

"Then stay with me" I beg. 

"I'm right here" she promises.

"Like... forever" I question.

"Forever" she says.

We lay in bed for a little bit longer before going into the kitchen. I pull out all the ice cream she bought not too long ago and she gets the hot fudge and toppings. We set up a ice cream bar because even though both of us like to eat healthy and work out we're still human and ice cream is still great.

"What's you're favorite topping" she asks as she loads her ice cream with a bunch of different stuff.

"Oh that's hard. Probably the cherry" I admit.

"Of course it's your favorite" she accuses and I scoff.

"Alright. What's your favorite" I question.

"Crushed up fruit loops" she claims and I laugh.

"Seriously" I ask.

"Heck yeah. Everyone has weird quirks. I guess mine is cereal ice cream topping" she claims.

"And stoping at every park you see to swing in the swing set and working out to country music and buying colorful shoe strings for all of your tennis shoes and having watched every single Jim Carrey movie five times and wearing your hair in straight pigtails because you're the only person in this world who can make that look attractive" I say.

"Alright alright, I'm a little quirky" she smiles.

"Very. And I love every single quirk about you" I promise. 

"Good because I don't even notice them half the time. They're normal to me" she shrugs.

"And who ever has fun with normal" I tease like she does all the time to me.

"No one" she admits.

We finish our ice cream bar and clean up a mess. I have to admit this is a lot more fun when I'm not eating the ice cream by myself and crying into the bowl.

We decide to call it a night and crawl back into bed. We both don't like to stay up and a good sleep schedule is the best for our bodies so we get to bed early. We decide to listen to music and I make her sing because she has the most incredible voice.

"Why don't you want people to know you sound like god and the angels" I wonder.

"A gift has gotta be protected" she jokes.

"If I sounded like you I would never stop singing" I insist.

"That's like you saying you're a talented skater so you're never going to leave the ice. If you have something good, you gotta protect it" she insists.

"Okay" I say as I wrap my arms and legs around her. I nuzzle my face into her shoulder and she starts to giggle.

"What on earth are you doing" she asks.

"You're my gift so I'm protecting you" I claim.

"Oh sure... I'm the quirky one" she laughs.